Diversity and Culturally Responsive Practices In Physical Education

1. Diversity and Culturally Responsive Practices In Physical Education Darlene Sampson, Ph.D., Director of Culturally Responsive Education/Office of Post-Secondary Readiness

2. Today’s Goals Goals • To open the equity and culturally responsive lens specifically relating to physical education • To look at how difference, bias, and perceptions impact physical education programming • To practice ways in which to maintain our equity lens • To push up, out and through our zones of discomfort

3. Our Agreements • This work is hard and intrusive • Give yourself permission not to know….we are all emerging • Work on barriers that may prevent you from experiencing, feeling, and incorporating • Consciously utilize self • Monitor hegemony • Watch power, privilege, and entitlement inhibitors • Push back when you feel resistance • Assume positive intent • Stay present and engaged • Remember: We all have thoughts that we are uncomfortable with-the key is to challenge them! Any Other Agreements?

4. Sliding Our Way Out of Our Comfort Zone • The Cha Cha Slide

5. Debriefing Our Teamwork • How did working together feel? • What does it feel like to be out of your comfort zone? • How does it feel to teach others something you do or don’t know? • What teamwork did you observe? • What challenges did you observe? • How does all of this relate to your work with ALL of our Students?

6. How Do You Begin The Process Of Becoming Culturally Responsive Physical Education Teachers?

7. It Begins With An “Inside Out” Process ASSESSING OURSELVES

8. WHERE ARE YOU ON THE CULTURALLY PROFICIENT CONTINUUM? Dr. Sampson (9/12) *adapted from Lindsey et all (2009) Cultural Proficiency Cultural Competence Cultural Precompetence Cultural Blindness Cultural Incapacity Cultural Destructiveness

9. Cultural Destructiveness – Leading in a manner that you seek to eliminate the cultures of others in all aspects of the school and in relationship with the community served. • Cultural Incapacity – Leading in a way that you trivialize other cultures and seek to make the culture of others appear wrong. • Cultural Blindness – Leading where you don’t see or acknowledge the culture of others and you choose to ignore the discrepant experiences of cultures within the school. • Cultural Precompetence – Leading with an increasing awareness of what you and the school don’t know about working in diverse settings. At this level of development you and the school can move in a positive, constructive direction or you can falter, stop, and possibly regress. • Cultural Competence – Leading with your personal values and behaviors and the school’s policies and practices being aligned in a manner that is inclusive with cultures that are new or different from you and the school. • Cultural Proficiency – Leading as an advocate for life-long learning with the purpose of being increasingly effective in serving the educational needs of cultural groups. Holding the vision that you and the school are instruments for creating a socially just democracy.

10. Assessing Our Culture 1--------We have a great deal of work to do 2……..We have thought about the process, but haven’t operationalized it yet 3…….We are emerging in this area 4…….We are making some movement consistently 5…….We are consistently leading, acting, and thinking in an equitably and culturally responsive manner

11. Reflection Question #1 How can physical education teachers maintain or decrease stagnant gender-related roles and racially-based perceptions?

12. SOME IMPORTANT ANCHORS/CONCEPTS Equity Equality Bias Culture Culturally Responsive Teaching Culturally Responsive Curriculum Guardians of Equity/Climate Watcher

13. How Does Bias Impact Perceptions?Did You Know We Are Wired For Bias?How Is Bias Demonstrated In Physical Education? What is your perception of this young lady? What is your perception of this young lady?

14. What is Culture? What is Your Culture? • Culture: Implicit and explicit characteristics of a person that are developed through background and current experiences, knowledge disposition, skills, and ways of understanding that are informed by race (the social construction of one’s skin), ethnicity (history, heritage, customs, rituals, values, symbols), identity (how one perceives and represents himself or herself), class (economic/resource situation), and gender (Milner, 2006).

15. CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE MYTHS • Big Myth #1: Culturally Responsive Teaching requires that teachers know all of the cultural aspects about every student in their classroom. • Big Myth #2: Culturally Responsive Teaching is a new teaching technique relevant only to urban Students of Color. • Big Myth #3:Only same-race teachers can connect and educate same-race students.

16. WHAT IS CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING? • Culturally Responsive: “Recognition of the diverse backgrounds, knowledge, perspectives, experiences, and abilities that students, educators, and families bring to the culture of a school that result in the use of relevant, research-based instructional and behavioral support practices, which are implemented with intentionality, measured with fidelity, responsive to the needs of each learner, and systemically valued as a means of promoting equity and achievement for all students.” DePry, & Cheesman (2010) • How does this apply to Physical Education?

17. In a Culturally Responsive Classroom, effective teaching and learning occur in a culturally supported, learner-centered context, whereby the strengths students bring to school are identified, nurtured, and utilized to promote student achievement. Richards, Brown, Forde (2007) • Culturally responsive pedagogy has three dimensions: (1) Institutional; (2) Personal and (3) Instructional • Institutionalrefers to administration policies and the values and climate of the school • Personalrefers to cognitive and emotional processes teachers must thoughtfully engage in to become culturally responsive • Instructionalrefers to the teacher’s pedagogical toolbox of skills, materials, activities, and instructional abilities

18. Culturally Responsive Curriculum • Curriculum that is augmented to include the experiences/perspectives of children of difference/color • Uses cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically/linguistically diverse students as conduitsfor teaching more effectively • Takes the “lived experiences” and frames of reference of students to provide personal and meaningful curricular stimulation REMEMBER THE FOUR R’s of CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING: (Rigor…Relevance…Relationships…Resilience)!

19. Climate WatchersGuardians of Equity • Climate Watcher:A Climate Watcher is responsible for monitoring the school climate for equitable and culturally responsible practices • GUARDIANS OF EQUITY: Guardians of Equity practice infusing equitable practices and consciousness in their daily lives Are the concepts the same? (Both behaviors are not based in privilege)

20. Other Important Culturally Responsive Concepts • Other Mothering/Fathering • Warm Demanders

21. Other Mothering/Fathering(Collins, 2002) • The concept of Other Mothering/Fathering is present within urban elementary schools when teachers play an integral role in fulfilling the psychological and educational needs of the urban child • What evidence do you have that this concept is being demonstrated? How do you document this? How have you made this a priority? • Is this concept only applicable to the urban child?

22. A Warm Demander Approach (Ware, 2006) This educator simultaneously utilizes warmth and high expectations…they don’t take any______but also demonstrate great love and respect for Children of Color/Difference Have you witnessed Warm Demanding in a Physical Education Classroom? Have you acted as a Warm Demander in your current role? If so, what did you do?

23. Behaviors of Warm Demanders(Ware, F. 2007) • They have highly effective relationships with students and instill a classroom of caring • They have no or low behavior problems and utilize low level interventions • This teacher helps students develop self discipline (This is no-nonsense but not mean spirited) • They demand exceptional growth, and reject the deficit model. “These students can’t..or won’t” is not a part of this educator’s vocabulary • A warm demander educator practices culturally responsive teaching that encapsulates relationships, rigor, relevance and resilience

24. Warm Demander Behavior Cont… • They speak greatness into their students • They know their content and how to make connections to the knowledge and learning styles of their students • They are nurturing… “I’m going to give you grace, because everyone deserve grace (i.e., allows students to save face) • They employ an Ethic of Caring… They provide multi-levels of caring. This is authentic- not aesthetic care (Valenzuela, 1999). You care about kids right where they are at this moment in time • Care is expressed as an action (Grant & Sleeter, 2007) • Care is expressed as academically focused…not management focused (Townsend, 2000)

25. Who Benefits From Culturally Responsive Teaching? • EVERYONE…BUT PARTICULARLY CHILDREN OF COLOR/DIFFERENCE- AS IT IS ALIGNED WITH CULTURAL COMPONENTS SPECIFIC TO THE LIVES, RACIAL, CULTURAL, AND LINGUISTIC IDENTITIES OF CHILDREN OF COLOR/DIFFERENCE • MANY STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING HAS MANY BENEFITS (Au, 1980, Banks, 2000; Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 2001; Murrell, 2001; Ogbu, 2003, Brown, 2011) • Most importantly, student engagement and academics rise as teachers provide the

26. CULTURALLY RESPONSIVEEDUCATORS EDUCATORS WHO DEMONSTRATE A HIGH REGARD FOR CHILDREN OF COLOR AND DIFFERENCE EMPLOY THE FOLLOWING CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE BEHAVIORS AND SKILLS IN THEIR TEACHING: 7 PRINCIPLES (Brown University/ Education Alliance, 2010)

27. EDUCATORS WHO…. • Have positive perspectives about parents/families • Communicate high expectations • Impart instruction within the context of culture • Utilize student-centered instruction • Culturally mediate instruction • Reshape the curriculum • Teach as facilitators..”Dig out—not fill up” (with your knowledge)

28. How Do These Concepts Apply To Physical Education? Journal Article: Young & Sternod (2011) Practicing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Physical Education Within your groups, please read the abstract on the first page. Now read the area assigned. Pay particular attention to how each culturally responsive technique applies to physical education. Your Group Activity: Jot down on your large sticky paper: (1) An abbreviated definition of your area; (2) Indicate two ways in which the article connects the culturally responsive teaching concept to physical education and; (3) Indicate 1-2 ways in which this concept is currently being demonstrated in your schools; (4) Assign a colleague to report out for your group

29. Let’s Practice • Scenario #1 • School Demographics: 40% African American, 32% Latino & 20% White The Physical Education Department at Arthur Ashe IB Academy is struggling with African American Students who are only interested in football, basketball, and track. How can we increase student participation in organized sports and in a variety of diverse classes?

30. Scenario #2 • In many physical education classes, the 7th grade teacher, Mr. Chase, witnesses the young ladies in the class failing to dress out, wearing earrings during class, and telling him they don’t feel well to avoid involvement. How can Mr. Chase address this issue with his female students?

31. How Can Culturally Responsive Teaching Assist Our Students? • It increases self-esteem and student engagement • It reduces peer-related disrespect by teaching respect for all cultures • It is situated within the learning styles and culture of students • It provides the empathic lens and worldview that is imperative to students who are struggling with various challenges • It provides a safe place where students feel validated regardless of their challenges • It is developmental How does CRT assist you?

32. Ways To Infuse Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) Into Physical Education In Activities In Consciousness Survey your students. Do they want activities that connect to their ethnic/cultural/racial lives (i.e., dance, community speakers who look like them, etc)? Insert real-life examples from various cultures within the existing curriculum Watch for activities that you are comfortable with, but don’t necessarily reflect the diversity of your student population Develop authentic relationships with students that go beyond your teaching role- physical education is an idea place to get to know your students Watch for activities in which only a few students can excel Monitor your biases for racial, gender, linguistic & cultural differences that impact how you view certain students Pay attention to students with physical disabilities and “up” their programming to the highest level Make sure that children have access to equitable programming, activities, equipment, etc. (despite their zip code) Teach that skill level is based in practice and instruction

33. Ways To Infuse CRT Into Physical Education Cont.. In Activities In Consciousness Connect with community groups to come to your class to discuss health, nutrition, diverse cultures, etc. Make sure that some of the individuals look like your students and can frankly discusses myths, culture differences, etc. Make sure your visuals are reflective of both male and female activities, and people of different sizes-including diverse cultural groups involved in all types of activities Watch out for terms like “You guys” denoting only one gender Avoid stereotypical phrases such as (1) Let’s sit Indian Style, “let’s sit criss-cross applesauce—simply say, “sit with your legs crossed” Avoid gender bias, “you throw like a girl,” “man to man (person-to-person..or defense-to-defense instead) Refrain from using words such as “you are a wuss” or any names that denote sexuality Make sure one group doesn’t dominate the other in terms of space

34. THANKS FOR COMINGThis Work Is A Journey!Let’s Maintain Our Cultural Eye!