Chps. 2, 3, & 8 - mjc - Part III

Chapter 8 – Strengthening the Home-School Bond

“In spite of the difficulties that family-school partnerships may entail, working together is critically important for students.” –

·         Good teachers and administrators must assume a greater professional responsibility by actively enlisting parental involvement at every grade level by….

·         Maintaining a positive attitude

·         Making the first contact positive

·         Be consistently positive

·         Advocate for more parent education classes in your school or district

·         Plan a family fun night at your school

·         Involving the community, role models, and mentors

Chps. 2, 3, & 8 - mjc - Part II

Chapter 3 – Institutional Barriers to Student Achievement

“Unfortunately, many…teachers…share the general belief of educators and the public that racial differences in intelligence were innate, real, and fixed.” – Diane Ravitch

·          Examples of Institutional Barriers – institutional racism, socially unacceptable norms, and reflect on Table 3.1 – page 55

From Rage to Hope

Strategies for Reclaiming Black & Hispanic Students

Author – Crystal Kuykendall

Chapter 1: Dealing with Differences

·         An historical overview of many of the polarization and racial animus that existed in America targeting Blacks, Hispanics, Mexican, and Japanese people. The atrocities continue to plague this country because of ineffective practices that lead to injustice, inequality, and sometime death.

·         Despite the rapid increase of cultural diversity, many Americans still refuse to accept and embrace people that are different from themselves. The author suggests that people have been conditioned which often causes them to draw conclusions about others based on limited cultural perspective.

·         Dealing with differences in a school or classroom can be dangerous, especially when educators may not have a cultural awareness of their students. Therefore, the author challenges all

“Merchants of Hope- anyone who enriches the life of another” to step outside of their own cultural orientation and develop an appreciation for people of diverse cultures.

·         Teachers must embrace and use a variety of strategies that celebrate and show appreciation for cultural diversity and learning style differences.

·         Inequality in the classroom is a result of ineffective instructional practices and teacher behavior, especially for Black and Hispanic students. They receive the message that they must adopt the mainstream cultural standards and behaviors to succeed in school.

·         Many educators negatively respond to students that are different by:

o   Isolating them

o   Expelling them

o   Ignoring them

o   Failing to love them

Unfortunately, this type of relationship negatively impacts student attitudes about their teachers and students’ classroom performance in school.

Teacher attitudes are affected by the following student differences:

o   Prior achievement

o   Prior behavior

o   Prior placement

o   Socioeconomic status

o   Language ability

o   Physical attributes

o   Gender

o   Race/ethnicity

o  

Dealing With Differences- Provide supportive feedback to ALL students

·         Make direct, sincere, loving and encouraging eye contact

·         Provide adjusting feedback on a specific behavior in private

·         Provide descriptive rather than evaluative feedback

·         Provide feedback that reflect care and concern for a student’s needs

·         Provide feedback in a timely manner

·         Develop relational capacity with ALL students (check in with students to better understand their comments and feelings

Promote Lifelong Success in Students:

·         Self-assess how you’re dealing with student differences (answer 8 questions on page 28-29)

·         If you answer “yes” to these questions, you have the capacity to augment, strengthen, motivate

and enhance the self-image of all students.

Chapter 4: School-Related Obstacles to Student Achievement

Black & Hispanic Students

·         Lack of pluralistic curricula – deficiencies exist in knowledge of their history and literature, curriculum must be inclusive and emphasize positive aspects of their life experiences, lifestyles and social and behavioral norms ,students’ cognitive development. shapes a

o   What is taught?

o   Why is it being taught?

o   Who is educating our Black and Hispanic children:

o   How is instruction being provided?

·         Incongruent teaching and learning styles

o   Black and Hispanic students become less motivated and begin to question their self-worth. Culture plays a crucial role in shaping student learning styles, cognitive development and approach to academic achievement. Therefore, teachers must become eclectic; expand their repertoire of instructional strategies that include a variety of approaches that children use to learn.

o   Research indicates many of our Black and Hispanic children ad field-dependent learners (f-d learners attend to the social and personal relevance of learning experiences). They prefer more personal environments which are student-centered, and they prefer small-group activities, think-pair-share, where they can have opportunities to exchange information with peers. (accountable talk)

·         Academic tracking and ability grouping

·         Test bias

·         Negative labeling

Chapter 7: Creating a Positive School and Classroom Climate

·         Generates enthusiasm, clarifies values, builds self-confidence and strengthens relationships

·         Students who are pleased with the physical structure of a school are more comfortable about being in school.

·         Students should feel pride in the physical condition of the school

·         Use student artwork to enhance the school’s appearance, and give students ownership of the beautification of the school

Internal Climate of the School

·         Safe and orderly

·         Appropriate standards of behavior

·         Recognition of diverse gifts & talents in students

·         Positive commitment of all staff to student achievement (food service staff, custodians, engineers, secretaries, bus drivers, nurses, crossing guards and other support staff)

·         Display of student work on bulletin boards, murals, walls of fame, school slogan, school song and other school-spirit activities

Recognition of Diverse Gifts and Talents in Students

·         Create clubs and programs that reflect appreciation of diverse gifts and talents in all students

o   Rappers Forum

o   Artists’ Alley

o   Music Makers

o   Leaders Forum

o   Current –Issues Debate Team

o   Comedy Club

Classroom Climate- To enhance the academic self-image of all students.

·         Physical Setting

·         Teacher Behavior

Foster a Climate of Acceptance and Understanding

Chps. 2, 3, & 8 - mjc

From Rage to Hope: Strategies for Reclaiming Black and Hispanic Students

By Dr. Crystal Kuykendall

Chapter 2 – The Impact of Self-Image on Achievement and Motivation

“We cannot possibly bring out the best in our children unless we’re willing to give the best of ourselves.” – C. Kuykendall

·         Some believe self-image is enhanced by increasing student achievement.

·         Evidence to show that there is a correlation between student performance and how the student sees him/herself in comparison to others.

·         For many minority students, self-image not only affects academic performance, but also affects how they respond in social settings.

·         Social self-image is developed through home/family connection, peer groups, and other social systems.

·         Low Academic Self-Image and High Social Self-Image comparison table (page 41)

Motivating the Unmotivated

I begin this chapter overview with a question and three choices.  Why do you feel many students lack motivation when it comes to formal learning?

a. They do not see their strength as valid strengths.
b. At times they fear failing.
c. They do not benefit from strong home school relationships.

In chapter 5 of "From Rage to Hope", the author Crystal Kuykendall offers 10 explicit strategies we as educators can use to rekindle student motivation and achievement.

Lets talk about the imperative:  Why is it important to motivate and inspire learners?  What can and often happens when we fail to do so?

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/video_derrion_albert

Jim Collins the author of Good to Great and Built to Last expressed a thought that we in education have come to accept as an operational truth.  He said "When you start with an honest and diligent effort to determine the truth of the situation, the right decisions often become self-evident . . .  you absolutely cannot make a series of good decisions without first confronting the brutal facts.

Kuykendall opens the chapter by laying out the "cold hard facts".  She shares:

"Since 1999, one out of every four U.S. High School students dropped out of school before graduation.
-this data however does not include the huge number of students who are "pushed out of school when they turn 16.

According to the Schott Foundation for Public education the states of Georgia and New York represent 2 of the 10 lowest graduation rates for Black males in the country.  With Georgia Black males at 43% (White Males 62%) and New York State Males at 25% (White Males 68%).

Kuykendall asserts that students have become alienaited from the learning process.
Actionable Suggestion:  As educators we shou target strengthening our student's desire to be in school and to work to "turn them on to learning".
Actionable Suggestion: We must do more to teach children how to "learn" and "research".  We must successfully prepare them for the "real world".

Evertthing begins for us (relative to meeting our goals) with the setting of Expectations
Kuykendall shares: "Some teachers may be unable to give hope to children of color because they do not really believe these children can succeed academically".

What do you believe and does your rhetoric match/align with the reality of your practices? Let's see!

Task: Below are for ideological descriptions shared by Eaker and DuFour in their publication of "Whatever It Takes".  Your task is to review the four, reflect on your practice and select the one that closest aligns with your actions (not what you say you believe).

1.  The Charles Darwin School: "I believe all kkids can learn based on their ability".
2.  The Pontius Pilate School:  "I believe all kids can learn if they take advantage of the opportunity we give them to learn".
3.  The Chicago Cub Fan School: " We believe all kids can learn something, and we will help all students experience academic growth in a warm and nurturing environment".
4.  The Henry Higgins School" "We believe all kids can learn and we will work to help all students achieve high standards of learning.

Kuykendall then goes on to share her 10 strategies for rekindling and or establishing higher levels of student motivation/achievement.

1. Develop strong bonds with diverse students
2. Identify and build on the strengths of all students.
3. Help students overcome their fear of failure
4. Help students overcome their rejection of success
5. Set short and long-term goals with and for your students
6. Develop appropriate teaching styles that are more congruent with the learning style preferences of Black and Hispanic students.
7. Use homework and television to your advantage
8. Communicate to ensure your real intentions are understood.
9. Establish a good school and classroom climate where children receive the ongoing support and encouragement they need to succeed.
10. Strengthen relations between the home and school.