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This train-the-trainer summer institute focuses on understanding the development of a positive male identity for boys of color. It addresses the current crisis facing boys in school and offers strategies to enhance their success.
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Enhancing the School Success of Boys of Color Grades PreK-3Train-The-Trainer Summer Institute Lansing Public Schools July 14, 2011 Dorinda J. Carter Andrews, Ed.D.
Module 3 Understanding the Development of a Positive Male Identity for Boys of Color
The Current Crisis • The issues boys face in school cross economic and ethnic groups; yet, these issues disproportionately negatively affect boys of color. Issues like: • Discipline policies • The structure of the school day • Classroom structure • Assignments
The Current Crisis: Did You Know? • Boys get the majority of the D’s and F’s in most schools – in some, as high as 70% • Of children diagnosed with learning disabilities, 70% are boys • Boys make up 80% of school discipline problems • Of high school dropouts, 80% are young males.
The Current Crisis • Ask yourself: • Do more boys than girls in my classes chronically underperform? • Are boys in my school receiving a disproportionate number of lower grades? • Is medication becoming a first or second resort for far more boys than actually need it? • Are boys in your classrooms giving up on learning, becoming labeled, getting in more trouble than they should be?
Revive the Role of Family in Education • Families matter! • Develop a parent-led team (Gurian & Stevens, 2005) • Rethink what we mean by parent involvement
How Boys Learn • The new gender science sees children as creatures of three formative powers: nature, nurture, and culture • Boy Energy • Boys tend to learn by innovating in risk-taking ways • Many boys need a lot of physical movement and manipulation of physical objects
Activity 3.1 – The Box Exercise • Debrief Questions • What surprised you about your ideas about manhood? • What surprised you about your responses for identifying men of color? • What surprised you about the responses of your partner/group members for mainstream constructions of manhood? • What surprised you about your responses from the perspective of a male of color? • What was easiest about completing this exercise? Hardest? • How did this exercise help you understand constructions of masculinity in mainstream society and across racial groups?
Constructions of Masculinity • Activity 3.2 – Tough Guise video clips • Activity 3.3 – Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes
Tough Guise • Debrief • What are the implications of the Tough Guise clips for understanding young boys’ (of color) identity development? • What can you do to nurture the development of a positive male identity in your classroom?
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes • Debrief Questions • How did you feel watching this video clip? • How is the masculine box that Byron Hurt describe similar to/different from the masculine box that Jackson Katz describes in Tough Guise? • Do you agree with the argument that ‘the violent masculine identity’ is historical in nature (in the U.S.)?
What Stuck? • An ‘Aha’ moment • A pleasant surprise • Something that you had to struggle with to understand • Something that you don’t agree with • Something that you agree with strongly • Something you thought was particularly interesting • Something you didn’t expect • An insight or solution • Something you want to know more about/A question that you have
What Stuck? • Aha moment: The dominant social groups and their issues remain invisible; this frames conversations – the invisibility does • Violence committed by subdominant group members is always highlighted; dominant group members remain invisible • I want to incorporate some of the positive hip-hop in my classroom to support movement • I’d like to organize a field trip that allows kids to practice code-switching (and even teachers) • There are hip-hop CDs for early childhood education