Crushing the Gap- Strategies to close the Achievement Gap

1. Crushing the Gap- Strategies to close the Achievement Gap BLC 2013- Russ Facione Principal Bingham Farms Elementary School rf03bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us

2. Respond to this Quote “Mediocre teachers tell; Good teachers explain; Superior teachers demonstrate; Great teachers inspire;” William Arthur Ward • What makes someone GREAT?? • Turn to a person nearby and share your most important “GREAT” Characteristic.

3. So what will we do over the next hour? • Understand what the gap truly is. • Explore ourselves so we can begin to fully understand what we need to do. • Understand what we can do within our classrooms – via pedagogy and culture.

4. Realities about the gap….. • There are different gaps out there, the one that is most pressing is the race/gender gap of African American Boys. • That group will be our focus for our session. • But whenever you do gap work you need to work at the internal (yourself) and the external (pedagogy) pieces.

5. From Kunjufu- “Understanding Black Male Learning Styles” • The Problem- • 12% of AA Boys are Proficient in reading • >70% of Remedial Reading Students are male • 80% of AA students in Special Ed are male • 53% of AA males drop out of high school. • My building (BPS) – • A 30% Proficiency Gap in MEAP. 26% Gap in NWEA. • Strengths over looked by teachers: • Unique, Clever, Witty, Creative, Sensitive, Strong Auditory Skills, Oral Skills, Visual-Picture Skills, Tactile Kinesthetic Skills • Thought to be disruptive and aggressive;

6. Internal- A Look at Ourselves as Teachers. • Your personality- It’s the thumbprint of you and in essence of how you teach. • What color is your dominant color? • GREEN (Logical Frame) • BLUE (Emotional Frame) • GOLD (Organization Frame) • ORANGE (Spontaneity Frame) • Does your color match your classroom? • 70% Teachers are GOLD, 75% of Boys are ORANGE. • These are opposite!! • If you know your color, or what you think it is, share with a neighbor whether you feel you match your kids or how you work on it if you don’t True Colors, that’s another presentation!!

7. Bonnie Davis -“How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You” • 4 Parts to her Model, First Part is “Looking Inside Ourselves”; • Use the 12 prompts to address the WHO of your teaching there is--- which impact greatly the What How and Why. • Questions include: • Do my students leave my class liking the subject more than when they started? • What does my body language say to my students? • Do my interactions with colleagues model the kind of interactions I expect among my students? • Do my interactions with students mirror how I want them to act toward me? • Do I know the culture of my students? And others!

8. WHAT IF… • You teach Social Studies but next year had to pick up a few Science classes, but you’ve NEVER done it!! • You would have to get intentional training in order to begin to pull that off in an effective enthusiastic engaging way.

9. WHAT IF… pt. ii • Now figure you are in your specialty area but have students (instead of content) you are not familiar with… • Wouldn’t you approach it the same way, but why don’t we? • In some of our buildings, we have a sizable number of African American boys in our classes: • Are you ready to connect with them? • Do you know how to motivate them? • Can you maintain that motivation for long periods? • Do you know what their classroom needs are? • Do you know how to address those needs?

10. From Kafele -“Motivating Black Males to achieve in school and life”@ Oakland SchoolS 9-24 • Need for Inspiration- • Concentrate on building strong relationships; • At same time make learning fun; • How to build a quality relationship with AA males? • Treat them respectfully; • Demonstrate a genuine interest in them; • Go beyond academics; • Listen to them and offer suggestions when needed; • Interactions outside of academic; • Build TRUST • You are a teacher of STUDENTS first, subjects second.

11. From Kafele -“Motivating Black Males to achieve in school and life” • His 10 Essential Questions- 1. Do I see Myself as the #1 determinant of my black male students success? 2. Am I passionate about my role as a teacher of black males? 3. Have I Defined my Purpose for teaching black male students? 4. Do I treat this as my mission? 5. Do I have a vision of what my black mlae students should achieve?

12. From Kafele -“Motivating Black Males to achieve in school and life” • His 10 Essential Questions (Pt. II)- 6. Do I set Goals with my Black Male students? 7. Do I plan each day through their lens? 8. Do I have high standards and expectations and do I believe they can reach them? 9. Do I see myself as a role model and always conduct myself professionally? 10. Do I conduct daily self reflections of my teachings and interactions? Share with a neighbor what is one take away you could see making an impact in your class or school?

13. Relationships- What do we do? • What rituals in your classroom do you have to build relationships with your students? • Talk with a neighbor about the things that are done by you to enhance relationships. • What rituals in your school do you have that enhance the relationships amongst students? • Talk with a neighbor and share some ideas about what you do in your class?

14. Let’s work on relationships-Davis “Classrooms that Welcome Students” • Students need classrooms where: • Strong sense of community • Students KNOW there’s a Teacher who cares; • Teacher refuses to allow them to fail; • Talk with a neighbor about how you welcome students into your classroom? • Review the handout of chapter 10 from Davis that walks you through developing those relationships of a culturally diverse classroom.

15. Learning Styles In addition to relationships, you need to ensure there is a STUDENT-CENTERED classroom; • Differentiation, perhaps center-based or workshop based; • Variety of Learning Styles to ensure Kinesthetic learners Let’s review some • Teacher Perceptions & Gender Differences

16. Teacher Perceptions Is your student…. Or… • Hyperactive Energetic? • Impulsive Sponatneous? • Distractible Creative? • Daydreamer Imaginative? • Inattentive Global Thinker? • Unpredictable Flexible? • Argumentative Independent? • Stubborn Committed? • Irritable Sensitive? • Aggressive Assertive? • ADD Unique?

17. Right Brained Learners in a Left Brain System • “Whole New Mind”- Daniel Pink, great resource for RBL. • Kunjufu talks about right brained learners. (“Understanding Black Male Learning Styles”) • 67% of kids are RBL. • 75-80% of African American students are RBL, yet what’s the percentage of lessons that are Left Brain Lessons? (KJ say 85-90%) • Conflict between Pedagogy and dominant learning styles is the crux of why we are all here!! Learning styles are 80% biological– so you need to go to those styles! • It’s like left handed kids forced to write right handed.

18. So How do we Crush the Gap? • Actively go at this gap by way of learning styles and lessons that are: • engaging • culturally diverse, • rigorous, • Right-brained in origin. • Actively look at pedagogy curricula, lesson plans. What can I do??

19. Gender Differences- “Boys are not broken girls” Male Characteristic Possible Adjustments: • Short Attention Span Shorten or Gear to Male Interests • Greater Energy Levels Allow Movement, Exercise, Recess • Slow Maturation Allow for differences • Less developed fine motor Alter penmanship expectation, allow for keyboarding • Less hearing ability Audio system, speakers, seating; • Aggressive Understand the “showdowns”, allow “dozens” performances, go outside; • Not as neat Help with organization • Uncooperative Provide Black Male Mentors/ Role Models • Influenced by Peers Never humiliate publicly- cooperative groups, praise circles, morning meeting, peer tutoring

20. Within your Classroom • Build those relationships with your AA males. • Respect their culture. LEARN the cultural history of those in your classroom. • Respect students when you work with them • Maintain high expectations • Take action against the action not the person • Discipline privately, praise publicly. • Take them where they are, and build them up. • Consistency with ALL kids! • Give students learning style profiles to assess how they learn and to build their meta-cognition.

21. Within your Classroom • Décor in your room- • is it multicultural enough? • Are their “current” people on there? • Is there a place for Rappers or NBA stars? • Does it represent your students? • Survey your kids: • to ensure learning is meaningful to them; • Encourage them to ask “WHY are we doing this?” • Culturally responsive lessons: • Inclusive, represent your student’s population, • Cooperative, Shared, Moving, Give Menus of Choices • RIGHT BRAINED LESSONS!

22. Within your school • Charge your Diversity Committee for Achievement Gap work • Analyze your academic data • Have a specific plan for instruction, before intervention (i.e just because kids aren’t getting it doesn’t mean something is wrong with THEM) • Classes/Activity specifics • Separate Gender Specific Morning Meetings • Separate Cultural Morning Meetings • READ the latest research about it! • You have a resource list! • Get staff to join you, make it an urgent issue!

23. Within your school • Referrals • Challenge your Spec Ed Referral Team and Process to look vigorously at African American Male referrals. • Have Intervention teams prior to Spec Ed evaluation teams for AA males. • Role Models • Guest Speaker- NAACP, Urban League, Proud Dads Groups, Community House, BYA, Successful High School students, College Students, etc; • Staff- Do you have AA males on staff? Look at your hiring practices? Do you interview enough to find a divers pool to draw from (since there are 50,000 resumes on the Consortium)

24. TaKEaways • You just got a lot of information and strategies, what were one or two that hit home for you. • Share with a neighbor!

25. Summer time HoMEwork • Reading- 5 Must-Read Books • Jawanza Kunjufu, Understanding Black Male Learning Styles, 2011 • Bonnie Davis, How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You, 2012 • Baruti Kaefele, Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School & Life, 2009 • H. Richard Milner IV, Start Where You Are But Don’t Stay There, 2010 • Jawanza Kunjufu, Black Students. Middle Class Teachers, 2002

26. More Summer time HoMEwork • Reflection & Refocus • On a personal level, look at the reflective pieces about your feelings, biases, and how they impact what you do. • Get a solid idea of what types of personality you are, so that you know how to accommodate your learners. • Make this your priority, and share this sense of urgency with others. • Retool lessons and units to accommodate the Right Brain Learners.

27. Thanks for attending! Let me know if I could be of service to your or your school!! Russ Facione Principal- Bingham Farms Elementary School rf03bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us 248 203 3388