I cannot believe that summer is almost halfway over. Where did the time go? Luckily, I still have time to figure out how best to inform my colleagues about what I’ve learned regarding cultural competence and social justice. Because I’m a visual learner, I put together a mindmap (a revised version of Buzan’s format) to see areas where my school could address gaps in our efforts to offer a supportive and nurturing environment for our diverse learners.

Because I serve on the instructional leadership team, I am in a position to offer suggestions for our faculty PD day which typically occurs in February. I think perhaps sharing some resources (see below) along with a presentation with key points about multicultural education would be a good place to start. While our staff is ethnically and racially diverse, most of us were educated in America which means that many of us may not be aware of the unconscious bias that may be reflected in our non-verbal and verbal communication with students and parents.

Reflection is an important aspect of personal growth. Most teachers spend quite a bit of time in reflection, of that I have no doubt. But perhaps the reflection needs to be more targeted in that we should consider how we interact with students–our actions, our words, and, more importantly, our expectations for their academic achievement. In other words, we need to take some time for some serious introspection. Perhaps our faculty PD day could offer time for that.

Resources

Au, K. (2018). Isn’t culturally responsive instruction just good teaching? Social Education, 73, 179–183.  Retrieved from http://www.socialstudies.org

Borba, M. (2009). Caring closes the language-learning gap. Phi Delta Kappan, 90, 681–685. doi:10.1177/003172170909000915

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53, 106–116. doi:10.1177/0022487102053002003

Haberman, M. (2010). The pedagogy of poverty versus good teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 92, 81-87.doi:10.1177/003172171009200223

Lam, W. S. E. (2013). What immigrant students can teach us about new media literacy. Phi Delta Kappan, 94, 62–65. doi:10.1177/003172171209400416

Nieto, S. (2008). Affirmation, solidarity and critique: Moving beyond tolerance in education. In E. Lee, D. Menkart, & M. Okazawa-Rey (Eds.), Beyond heroes and holidays (pp. 18–29). Washington DC: Teaching for Change.

What I love about Twitter is that I am constantly exposed to questions, advice, and reflections from educators around the globe. It’s both a fishbowl and a mirror.

The tweet that you see to the right came across my Twitter feed a few days ago and it resonated with me in light of the book I’ve been reading Cultural Diversity and education: Foundations, Curriculum, and Teaching by James Banks (2016). 

One of Banks’ (2016) five dimensions of multicultural education focuses on an empowering school culture and social structure which is defined as “grouping and labeling practices, sports participation, disproportionality in achievement, and the interaction of the staff and students across ethnic and racial lines” (p. 4). And then it dawned on me…what is the non-verbal story of my school?

When students walk through our gates, what do they see besides an immaculate campus? Do they see evidence of the cultural diversity that exists on our campus? Are there images or media that reflect the multicultural makeup of our local community? What about the MPR? The library/media center? The individual classrooms?

And then I thought…what do our parents see when they walk through the doors of our front office? Our school was newly modernized so parents will see a clean layout in the front office. Our front office staff is super friendly (and represent a variety of ethnicities and races to boot)…but is there anything else that represents the diverse and multicultural makeup of ALL our stakeholders? Are there any connections to local businesses and the community?

I’m not proposing that we hang up posters that represent the various nationalities, ethnicities, and races of our faculty, staff, and students and leave it at that. Because that’s just cosmetic (Nieto, 2008). What my school needs to consider is what is the non-verbal story our school is telling students? What is the non-verbal story our school is telling parents? What is the non-verbal story our school is telling the community?

To foster an empowering school culture and school structure, we need to put our heads together to figure out how our current school structure and physical environment can reflect our multicultural and diverse student body. Because right now, the non-verbal story of our school is pretty benign. I mean, the campus is certainly pretty, but the story is pretty benign.

Looks like we have our work cut out for us.

References

Banks, J. A. (2016). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Nieto, S. (2008). Affirmation, solidarity and critique: Moving beyond tolerance in education. In E. Lee, D. Menkart, & M. Okazawa-Rey (Eds.), Beyond heroes and holidays (pp. 18-29). Washington, DC: Teaching for Change.

I work at an urban school. The students who walk through my doors come from a variety of cultures, ethnicities, races, and geographic regions. I have students who are immigrants and those who were born here to immigrant parents. Most of my students qualify for free and reduced lunch. My school is surrounded by a concrete jungle, jam-packeted between single-family homes, apartments, and strip malls. We are located in an area that used to see quite a bit of violence due to gang warfare (which has luckily died down in the past 10 years #knockonwood). With all that, I have to say that I was unaware of the concept called pedagogy of poverty…but apparently, this is something I have be unconsciously supporting with my teaching practices.

That bites.

What’s the pedagogy of poverty, you ask?

Here’s the cliff notes version:

1. Teaching is what teachers do (Haberman, 2010, p. 83)
2. Learning is what students do (Haberman, 2010, p. 83)
3. Compliance is an expectation for students
4. Ranking or tracking is unavoidable due to the wide disparity in academic achievement
5. Basic skills are a prerequisite for learning and living (Haberman, 2010, p. 83)

The pedagogy of poverty rests on the idea that compliance is what students know how to do. It’s easy. All students have to do is follow the directions of the teacher. And let’s be honest, it’s also easy for teachers because it means we are in control. But that does not mean that students are learning and it certainly does nothing to empower them in their learning process.

How do we break this cycle?

While, I cannot claim any type of expertise on this matter, I do have an idea of what we can do to empower our students in their learning process. As educators we need to equip our students with the knowledge that they (students) are in the driver’s seat (Haberman, 2010). The extent of their learning and the personal growth they achieve is entirely up to them. But it’s not enough to just tell them that (in-one-ear-and-out-the-other, right?). They have to be reminded of it. Like, a thousand times.

So here’s my plan. Since student blogging is something I plan to add to my curriculum next year, I think I’ll have my students blog on ways that they can develop a mindset for empowerment (see image at the beginning of this post) or maybe it’s more a reflective piece about how they were empowered. Whatever the case, the pedagogy of poverty cycle needs to be–must be–broken and it begins with a mindset change. Both for me and for my students.

Challenge accepted.

Reference

Haberman, M. (2010). The pedagogy of poverty versus good teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 92, 81-87. doi:10.1177/003172171009200223