A Teaching Practice that helps students achieve Academic and Cultural Excellence!

1. Culturally Relevant Teaching: A Teaching Practice that helps students achieve Academic and Cultural Excellence!

2. Focusing on Teaching Minority and Economically DisadvantagedStudents

3. DRUGGED BY MY PARENTS... Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

4. Why Are we Here? • We are here because we have a strong personality and passion for working to improve education. • We believe in Educating ALL: students, parents, teachers, the community, and school leaders. • We continue to worked to bridge the gap among and between parents and the schools. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

5. Why are we here? • We are committed to a quality and equitable education for all. • We are here because students’ needs come first. “We are not here to make ourselves look good. We know we have work to do and many students to reach. “It is not about you, it is not about me, it is all about the students!” Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

6. Today’s Purpose To help teachers and others to successfully work with All students in a manner that is fair, equitable, respectful and rewarding Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

7. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

8. Typical Heterogeneous Classroom 5041 Regular Ed 6-9 EC 3-4 Classroom Econ. Dis. 4-5 ESL 1-2 Close the Gap! AIG 2 Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

9. What is shared here today isimportanttoALLstudents learning, butessentialfor working with minority and economically disadvantaged students! Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

10. “Education, like electricity, needs a conduit, a teacher, through which to transmit its power….” Rev. Jesse Jackson Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

11. Group Activity • Each participant should have 5 small cards with numbers 1-5. • As a question is asked each participant will choose a card to identify where they fit on the knowledge line. • After identifying where they fall ask participants to stand for each number called out. • All participants are asked to look around the room and reflect on the results. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

12. Cultural Competence Continuum Destructiveness Causes intentional harm Incapacity Causes unintentional harm Evasiveness (denial) “I don’t see differences” Pre-competence Seeks to learn about self and others Competence Actions consistently reflect stated values Proficiency Advocates for change Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

13. Cultural Competence Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

14. What does it mean to be white? Race identity is like oxygen: It’s taken for granted when plentiful and frighteningly apparent when deprived. White people are taught that our lives are morally neutral, average, and ideal (D.W. Sue 2004) Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

15. Racial Identity Models Identity models explain the stages we are at in terms with our connectedness with our race. When we discuss, for example, the Black, Latino, or Asian identity models, we look at assimilation and acculturation within and around the White Euro-American culture. When we look at the White Identity Model, we look at how Whites deal with being the majority and acknowledgment of their privilege vs. others’ disadvantage. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

16. White Identity Model • Naiveté phase: It lasts the first 3 years of life. Social meanings are absent. The child is innocent, open, and spontaneous regarding differences. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

17. White Identity Model Conformity phase: The white person’s attitudes and beliefs are very ethnocentric as there is minimal awareness of the self as a racial being. There is a strong belief in the universality of values and norms governing behavior. They know very little about other ethnic groups and rely on stereotypes as the main source of information. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

18. Dissonance phase: “Movement into the dissonance stage occurs when the White person is forced to deal with the inconsistencies that have been compartmentalized or encounters information/experiences at odds with denial. In most cases, a person is forced to acknowledge Whiteness at some level, to examine their own cultural values, and to see the conflict between upholding humanistic nonracist values and their contradictory behavior.” “Dissonance may result in feelings of guilt, shame, anger, and depression.” Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

19. Resistance and Immersion phase: “The white person who progresses to this stage will begin to question and challenge his or her own racism. For the first time, the person begins to realize what racism is all about, and his or her eyes are suddenly open. Racism is seen everywhere (advertising, television, educational materials, interpersonal interactions, etc.). This phase of development is marked by a major questioning of one’s own racism and that of others in society. ” “Realities of oppression are realizedas well as “the advantages being white grants”. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

20. Integrative awareness phase: “Characterized by 1) understanding the self as a racial/cultural being, 2) being aware of sociopolitical influences regarding racism, 3) appreciating racial/cultural diversity, and 4) becoming more committed toward eradicating oppression. The person values multiculturalism, is comfortable around members of culturally different groups, and feels a strong connectedness with members of many groups.” Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

21. Commitment to antiracist action phase: “This phase is most characterized by social action. There is likely to be a consequent change in behavior and an increased commitment toward eradicating oppression. Seeing ‘wrong’ and actively working to ‘right’ it requires moral fortitude and direct action.” “Objecting to racist jokes, trying to educate family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers… are examples of individuals who achieve this status.” Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

22. “When someone pushes racism into my awareness,I feelguilty(that I could be doing so much more);angry(I don’t like to feel like I’m wrong);defensive(I already have two black friends… I worry more about racism than most whites do – isn’t that enough);turned off(I have other priorities in my life with guilt about that thought);helpless(the problem is so big – what can I do?). I HATE TO FEEL THIS WAY. That is why I minimize race issues and let them fade from my awareness whenever possible.” Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

23. If anything can help ease the conscience of an unintentional suppressor, it is that all races, including White, are victims of racism. We have all been programmed by society to be racist . Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

24. Not only is everyone a victim of racism, everyone isRACISTOnly when we accept it can we do something about it Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

25. What can we do? • Realize that all cultures are valid and valuable. • Begin appreciating other cultures. • Ask others about their cultures. • Take field trips to cultural centers. • Point out the elephant in the room “We are not from the same culture, do you feel comfortable discussing this with me?” Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

26. Multiculturalism • Multiculturalism “Refers to the process of recognizing, understanding and appreciating cultures other than one’s own. It stresses an appreciation of the impact of differences…” • Cultures are more than racial, they include class, age, physical, sexual/affectional orientation, and religions. • If you struggle with how to proceed, ask yourself: What does it feel like to be older, a woman, of a different religion? (We can feel the other side when we look at differences in this light) Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

27. Research and Resource Culturally Diverse Counseling D.W. Sue, 2004 Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

28. European American Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

29. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

30. So what…..? I must know; Myself in order to understand others My values, my beliefs, my opinions and how they impact my decisions and others. The impact of my power to influence. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

31. Topics of Discussion • Why Culturally focus teaching? • Being conscious of what you do unconsciously. • Building Relationships with All students. • Build relationships with parents and the community • Shift in Thinking How we work with students • Culturally Relevant Teaching what does it look like? Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

32. What do we know? • Minority students continue to lag behind their counterparts on all standard measures of achievement. • Minority students are three times more likely to drop out and twice as likely to suspended from school. • These same statistics correlate to minority students coming from harsh social and economical realities. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

33. What do we know? • Most minority students are already segregated in “community schools” usually in the inner city area. • African Americans and other minorities who attend private or independent schools consistently show higher levels of achievement than those who attend public schools. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

34. What do we know? “Although the 1960s produced a large body of literature on teaching the disadvantaged and the 1970s produced a body of literature about effective schools none of it was aimed at specifically preparing teachers to meet the needs of minority and disadvantaged students. Even today some of the more popular educational innovations, such as cooperative learning and whole language approaches to literacy, were developed and refined to improve achievement among disadvantaged students. Unfortunately the relationship of these practices to minority learners is rarely made clear.” Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

35. What do we know? • Society fails to recognize African Americans as a distinct cultural group. • Society tends to relate minority low performance and achievement to environmental and social factors (poverty and lack of opportunity). • One in three Latino children live in poverty. • Poor children are much more likely than non-poor children to suffer developmental delay and damage to drop out of high school, and give birth during the teen years. • Children from poverty are more likely to be raised by a single parent. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

36. What do we know? • Poor youth living in the inner city are more likely to be victims of child abuse or neglect than are other children. • Poverty is caused by parental employment status, earnings, family structure, and a parental education. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

37. HMMMMMMMM??? “It is not that we don’t want to change; it’s that we often don’t realize there’s a need for change or how to go about making the change.” Megan Milani Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

38. Group Activity Stop, Think and Discuss it! Think of a time when someone’s message, tone, body language or actions affected your feelings or your thinking. 1. Describe what the person did? 2. How did this action make you feel? 3. Were you able to determine if it was intentional or a perception created by yourself? 4. How do you know? Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

39. Be Conscious of what you do unconsciously! “If we were to look closely at even the simple things we subconsciously do each day, we would probably be stunned by the implications and the impact on our students.” Sometimes what we do unintentionally: our actions, tone, words, and body language may imply a wrong perception to others. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

40. Scenarios/Role Play • Scenarios/Role Play • Act out or read the scene. • Discuss what the issue is. • Explain how you would handle this. • What could have been done differently? • Are there any hidden innuendos? • What other factors might we need to consider? Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

41. Be Conscious of what you do unconsciously! The teachers who communicate to children through words and actions what they believed to be their true potential, empower students to begin to believe in themselves. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

42. Shift in Thinking • We have to believe that every student in our classroom can reach their full potential and will learn. • We must observe students through a new lens, and refrain from making judgments that put limits on kids. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

43. Shift in Thinking Change your thinking from “there is something wrong with this kid, to perhaps there is something wrong with the way we are teaching or approaching this child. Hmmmmmm? Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

44. Shift in Thinking Bring your assumptions down to where you can challenge them. “Assumptions have a truth status that are uncertain.” Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

45. Shift in Thinking Think of different way to approach the child. Every day is a new day, forget what happen previously and rethink your approach. Find a mentor to work with your students. CAP-Caring Adult Program Contact outside agency Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

46. Milani’s Research from “The 3 Habits of Highly Successful Reading Teachers” Students have a good sense of what we think of them, if we believe in them, and what we expect of them. Teachers indicate true feelings all the time. Expressions on our faces may be fleeting, but they are there and others are easily able to pick them up and ascertain what they mean. It is vital to know how much you can affect the students you teach, and how well they do. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

47. “Students don’t think like adults think, but they feel like adults feel.” Lee Jenkins Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

48. Building Relationships with Students • Think about the message you send to students, by your tone, your words, your body language • Convey positive messages to All students • In your classroom, remind students everyday that you know they are smart, and that sometimes learning is hard work but that you’re there for them. • Try something new Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

49. Building Relationships with Students • Observe your students to see how they learn best • Make sure the classroom environment is one where students feel comfortable, appreciated, and safe. • Look at your students in a new way Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini

50. Building Relationships with Students • Don’t assume you already know what to do for a child look for the truth. • It is imperative that you tell each child that she or he is capable and is making progress. Celebrate every step toward the goal. Created by Marlene Bryan Smith and Robin Ambrosini