That's a wrap!

What an incredibly eye-opening book!  I was aware of many of the problems addressed already, but really looking at issues that so many of our students face and seeing how intertwined and detrimental the problems are really grabbed me.  Hearing the personal struggles was really heartbreaking.  I wonder what path Miguel Fernandez ended up on, and what path his future children will end up on.  When addressing No Child Left Behind, a quote that really stood out to me was “Will our society truly be better off if thousands of students are denied high school diplomas, unable to go to college and significantly less able to find decent jobs?” (p. 178).  Of course- the answer to this is NO!  When Noguera argued that the basic needs of children must be met before they are “left behind” under NCLB, I thought obviously basic need must be addressed first!  It is shocking that this is not always the case, and that the weight of test scores can sometimes be considered heavier than that of a child’s well-being.  The costs of these tests are astronomical as well, and it makes we wonder what could be accomplished with those funds if they were put towards the education and basic needs of the students. 

While reading this book, I stumbled upon this blog outlining a Chicago Public School principal’s experience at a budget meeting and I immediately thought of this book: http://troylaraviere.net/2015/07/16/adding- insult-to-injury-a-look-inside-a-cps-principals-budget-meeting/.  In the blog, Principal Troy LaRaviere discusses how CPS officals gave a one-hour presentation citing things that they were “forced” to cut and refused to address any questions from the principals.  Principal LaRaviere asked, “Do you plan to address the purchase of $10 million dollars in office furniture for Central Offices after you closed 50 schools?  … $20 million expenditure on SUPES academy that is now under federal investigation… $17 million in pre-k money spent on unnecessary interest payments to three Rahm Emanuel campaign contributors… the diversion of $55 million from public schools and parks on a private hotel and stadium… the $100 to $200 million in financial penalties due to the toxic financial deals of board president David Vitale… the $340 million spent on two custodial management firms that have failed to keep our schools clean? Do you plan to address how CPS repeatedly diverted money away from paying its debts toward wasteful spending like this?”  He was called a loud-mouthed principal and was asked to be quite, no questions were allowed.  The Trouble With Black Boys shows us that as teachers, principals, advocates for children, etc, we MUST ask these questions! 

Many of the students discussed specifically in the book were in high school, so much older than the Pre-K students that I teach.  Pre-K or Kindergarten, however, is where many students get their start in the public school system.  Early childhood educators have the responsibility to set these students up for success.  As Noguera ends the book, he asks us to consider relationships with parents.  He explains, “when parents are respected as partners in the education of their children and when they are provided with organizational support that enables them to channel their interest to the benefit of the school, the entire culture of the organization can be transformed” (p. 250).  Starting positive relationships early on with parents is a responsibility that I am excited to put more focus on as a teacher.  Several times throughout the year, I ask parents to come in to read a story, share a family tradition, etc.  I am excited to create ways to better use parents as a resource in the classroom.  Something that I have not done in the past but plan to create is a Culture Questionnaire, in which parents can tell me more about their family’s culture, and I can use this information to create engaging lesson plans that the class can relate to. 

All in all, I found Pedro Noguera’s book to be informative, shocking, but also inspiring.  This has been my first class towards my ELL certification and I truly felt like I learned a lot!  I especially enjoyed hearing your perspectives, both as from your days as students and now as educators.  I find it very interesting taking a course with such a variety of educators, college, high school, grade school, administration, etc. and love to think about how we all work together for a student’s educational career.  I wish everyone the best and hope to ‘see’ you in more courses.

-Ilana

CLASSROOM LITERATURE RESPONSE BLOG

CLASSROOM LITERATURE RESPONSE BLOG

Ilana Bailey

            I believe the classroom is an important part of a child’s life that helps to shape the rest of the child’s life.  In the classroom, children learn through both the visible and invisible, through the manifest curriculum and latent curriculum. Teachers need to be aware of both of these aspects of the classroom and actively work to ensure all students are given a fair opportunity to learn in an environment that respects their culture, including their language, history, beliefs, and way of learning. 

            The manifest curriculum can be easily seen and includes factors such as guides, textbooks, bulletin boards and textbooks (Banks & Banks, 2010, p.23).  More formal manifestations of classroom life are encompassed by the content of the classroom (Hernández, 2001, p. 16). The manifest curriculum in a classroom can easily be biased if not carefully considered.  Materials should give accurate and unbiased accounts from perspectives of different groups, including race, social class, and gender.  Banks & Banks (2010) explains that a “teacher’s failure to consider the integration of race, social class, and gender can lead to an oversimplified or inaccurate understanding of what occurs in schools and, therefore, to an inappropriate or simplistic prescription for educational equity and excellence” (p. 66).  Students are the most motivated and have the best potential to learn when their own cultures, experiences and perspectives are reflected in the curriculum, and feel alienated when this does not happen (Banks & Banks, 2010, p.248).  It is also a huge problem when culture and/or language misalignments occur with standardized tests, which can give students horrific disadvantages. Miguel Fernández is a student that suffered one such disadvantage; he was bright and praised by his teachers, but was not able to go to college because of the scores he got on tests that he took in his second language, and because of his citizenship status (Noguera, 2008, p. 48).  I believe incorporating high quality diverse literature in the classroom is an important step in developing the manifest curriculum.  When choosing literature for the classroom, choosing a “varied and balanced collection of book” that are pluralistic and include “works by and about people from many diverse groups” while avoiding stereotypes (Harris, 1997, p.18).  I was intrigued to read Blackburn & Clark’s suggestion of presenting both complementary and competing materials and ideas to provide opportunities for conflicts and deep consideration (2011, p. 247).  This made me reflect on the benefits of these competing materials.  Students can practice higher-level thinking as they dissect and compare what they read a look for inequities.) 

            In addition to the manifest curriculum, the latent curriculum is always present.  Aspects of learning such as language, conversation, questioning, friendships, competition and teamwork, and socialization are part of the classroom process and the latent curriculum.  The latent curriculum is curriculum that is not explicitly taught by the teacher, but all students learn (Banks & Banks, 2010).  Schools are places where children learn important life lessons, such as how to listen to and follow directions, how to interact with other people, and how to work with authority (Noguera, 2008, p.28).  This has been evident in my experience as a teacher.  At the beginning of the school year, I put forth great effort to teach my Pre-K students the classroom routine, and how to follow our classroom instructions and rules.  By the end of the school year these things are old hat for the students.  Teachers need to be aware that students experience classroom life differently from each other. Hernández (2001) explains teachers must be aware of the classroom process and must “be able to identify how learner preferences, beliefs, attitude, and behaviors are influenced by culture and how this relationship affects performance (p. 15).  The classroom experience will be very different for a native speaker of the classroom language than the experience of a non-native speaker.  I was interested in an example that was given by Perry & Delpit in which Ph.D. candidates were asked to read aloud in an unfamiliar dialect.  As pronunciation errors were made, a teacher interrupted with statements and comments elementary teachers routinely make to their students.  The Ph.D. candidates lost all intonation, begin to subvocalize, stumble, fidget, and switch letters around for no reason (Perry Delpit, 1998, p. 25).  Clearly, these language-learning students are not benefiting from this and teachers should consider other methods that benefit these students.  Different cultures have different verbal and non-verbal patterns of interacting (Garcia, 1992, p. 59).  The way students both interact with and respond to their peers and their teachers is often affected by cultural differences (Hernández, 2001, p.164).  Writing allows children the opportunity to take their time and edit their work while having rules displayed before them.  It alleviates students of the pressure of unplanned public reading or oral language (Perry Delpit, 1998, p. 25). 

            While doing the course readings, I became concerned with the dangers of ability grouping and tracking.  Noguera (2008) states, “students can be both unfairly victimized by the labeling and sorting processes that occur within school, in addition to being harmed by the attitudes and behavior they adopt in reaction to those processes” (p.28).  I had a personal experience of this in elementary school when I was placed in the low math group in fourth grade.  I had catching up to do and worked very hard to do so.  When I entered fifth grade, I was automatically placed in the low group again without assessment or any further consideration than my last year’s placement.  Ultimately, I appealed to the teachers and was moved up halfway through the school year, but I missed an entire semester of the math group that was more inline with my current abilities.  Boutte, LaPoint, & Davis (1993) also bring up another concern of ability grouping and tracking; it often leads to segregation by race (p. 12).  This is a form of bias in the classroom.  Research has proven that effective schools maintain high expectations for all students, regardless of their race or gender (Noguera, 2008, p.36).  For these reasons, I believe that heterogeneous grouping should be done in the classroom, and expectations should remain high for all students.  It is important for teachers to treat all different levels and groups fairly, including all gender groups.  Some great ways teachers can reflect to treat groups fairly are:  monitor materials to ensure that they are anti-bias, monitor who you call on, monitor where you stand in class, and monitor where students sit where you stand in relation to the students (Banks & Banks 2010, p. 161).  I think it will be very interesting to monitor myself in these things to see if my intentions match my actual practice.  I believe it is important to monitor myself frequently as well, because even when intentions are good, it is important to reflect on actual practices.  The classroom is such and important part of a student’s life.  Teachers need to actively work to create bias- and racism-free classrooms for all students. 

REFERENCES

Banks, J.A. & Banks, C A. M. (Eds.). (2010). Multicultural education”  Issues and perspectives (7^th ed.) Hoboken, NJ:  John Wiley & Sons. 

Bishop, R. S. (1997). Selecting literature for a multicultural curriculum. In V. J. Harris (Ed.), (pp. 1-15). Norweed, Massachusetts: Christopher-Gordon Publishers In.

Blackburn, M. V., Clark, C.T. (2011).  Analyzing talk in a long-term literature discussion group:  ways of operating within lgbt-inclusive and queer discourses.  Reading Research Quarterly, 46(3), 222-248. dx.doi.org/10.1598?RRO.46.3.2

Boutte, G. S., LaPoint, S., & Davis, B. D. (1993). Racial issues in the classroom: Real or Imagined? Young Children, 49 (1), 19-23.

García, G. E. (1992).  Ethnography and classroom communication:  Taking an “emic” perspective.  Topics in Language Disorders, May 1992,12(3):54-66.

Hernández, H. (2001).  Multicultural education:  A teacher’s guide to linking context, process, and content.  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill Prentice-Hall. 

Noguera, P. A. (2008).  The Trouble with Black boys… and other reflections on race, equality, and the future of public education. San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.

Perry, Theresa, and Lisa D. Delpit (1998) (Eds.) The Real Ebonics Debate: Power, Language, and the Education of African-American Children. Boston: Beacon Press.

More than Good Intentions- Preventing Violence and the Quest for Equity in Education

The chapter on violence was shocking, scary, and sad.  It is hard to imagine either teachers or students wanting to even be at heartbreaking to envision schools with metal detectors, barbed-wire fences, armed guards and police, and even principals carrying baseball bats through the halls.   It makes me wonder what the primary roles these principals play, and what their goals for their schools are.  It also makes me wonder if these precautions give students ideas or act as a challenge to students who would never have thought to bring weapons into school.  As Noguera explains on page 89, “And while most students whom I have spoken to during my visits to schools realize that a student who wants to bring a weapon to school can get it into a building without being discovered by a metal detector or that it is highly unlikely that any principal will hit a student with a baseball bat, the symbols persist, masking the truth that those responsible for school safety really don’t have a clue about what to do to stem the tide of violence.”  It also made me wonder if there have been any cases of a principal hitting a student with a baseball bat, and it so, what became of both the student and the principal?  If I attended one of these prison-like schools I can imagine that I would just bide my time to either finish or drop out of school, because I would not feel safe their.  It seems like waiting for a prison sentence to send. 

The less punitive approaches Noguera suggests to reduce the incidence of violence in schools seemed superior: conflict resolution programs, mentoring programs, curricula on avoiding violent situations, exploring ethical and moral issues to violent behavior, and counseling programs.  These seem like they would work significantly better over time than the more violent and punitive approaches.  One thing that jumped out in my mind when I read this was money.  I think it would cost more money initially to implement these programs.  Many districts may not want to spend the money initially.  I do think that ultimately these measures would be way more economical over time.  I believe police, metal detectors, jails, and the cost of destruction are ultimately more expensive, and finances aside, are detrimental to the students.  It reminds me of the resistance of many big companies have of changing practices to be environmentally friendly.  Noguera goes on to explain on page 110 that “The urban schools that I know that feel safe to those who spend their time there don’t have metal detectors or armed security guards, and their principals don’t carry baseball bats.  What these schools do have is a strong sense of community and collective responsibility.”  This gave me hope for the future.  Hopefully one day, this will be the norm!

As Noguera explained that the inequality occurs between races or even the same socioeconomic class on page 131, the readings by Ogbu came to mind right away.  It was not much of a surprise that Ogbu was cited on the next page!  One concept that Noguera spoke of is eliminating or reducing tracking.  I believe that tracking can really limit a student potential and also serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy and can create stigma.  I thought it was interesting that the white parents at a high school Noguera examined,  Berkley High School, were very proud of the fact that it is a diverse school, but inside the school there was total separation of the students.  The extracurricular activities were predominately white, as were the advanced and honors classes.  During social times during, before and after school, the different race groups stuck together.  Reflecting on my time in high school, I most socialized with other students that either played on the tennis team with me or had classes with me.  If the classes and extracurricular were restricted, it seems to make sense that friendships would be too. Noguera  gives home when he explains that we need to “move beyond a search for blame to a search for concrete solutions, the possibility for genuine progress in raising student achievement can be significantly increased” (p.158).  I do believe more and teachers are taking classes such as this one to educate themselves about changes that need to be made.  Hopefully we can all work together to make a change in the education system. 

How Listening to Students Can Help Schools to Improve

            This chapter really made me question the culture of schools and the advantages and disadvantages of both small and large schools.  In the western suburbs where I live, large high schools seem to be the norm.  Many of the large high schools in the area are top rated.  I looked up the rankings of high schools in Illinois on U.S. News Education (http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois), and found many of the top ranking schools to be large school either right in Chicago or in the suburbs.  I am not sure how these rankings are done.  I believe testing is a big factor in them, and as we read in Hernandez and Banks & Banks, much standardized testing is bias towards the standard culture and language.  The advantage of personalization is a clear advantage for small schools.  Safety is another huge advantage listed for smaller schools.  I was surprised to read that in smaller schools, 94 percent of students reported that they felt safe compared to only 46 percent of students in larger schools feeling safe.  I was shocked that less than half of the students in larger schools actually felt safe!  It is hard to imagine actually concentrating on schoolwork when your basic safety is in question! 

Overall what I got out of this of this chapter is the importance of school culture.  Regardless of the size of the school, administration and teachers should work with the students to create a safe and motivating school culture students to strive in.  The quote, “In schools where decisions about reform are made in a top-down manner by administrators with little, in any, input from teachers, it is highly unlikely that such an approach to listening to students would ever be embraces” (p. 70).  This really stuck out to me as something I observed when substitute teaching.  I substitute taught mostly in Kindergarten classrooms.  In classrooms where the teachers had the autonomy to allow students “choice time” and had less of an emphasis on the text books, the students seemed very happy to be in class and I had barely had to give any behavioral redirection.  In the classrooms where the principals enforced a more rigid use of textbooks and did not allow for choice time, I had to spend much of the time redirecting students.  I can see how behavior problems with this “top-down” manner would persist as the students move through the grades.  Because of this variation in management from the top, I was a little skeptical for the suggestion of the students on page 67 to, “Have administrators observe teachers in classes with greatest disruptions so that they can help them to become better at managing students.”  I think that in theory this is a great suggestion, as it allows the administration to be more connected with what is going on in the classrooms and to hopefully be a great resource for the teacher.  I just think that in doing this, it is important for the administrators, teachers, and students to work together as a team. 

I can see how the idea of having conversations with students, especially those who are connected with their peers, even if they are not models of the ideal student conduct.  Being able to incorporate students and letting them make decisions in their school experience reminded me of Banks & Banks Social Action teaching methodology.  The wonderful part of this approach is that it does not require additional resources.  It utilizes the number one resource the schools have- the students.  This chapter left me hopeful for the possibilities of teacher/student/administrator collaboration.