Approaches To Teaching a Diverse Student Body

1. RESISTENCE THEORY E-RESERVES KOHL, H. “I Wont Learn from You” pages 1-32. (New York: The New Press, 1994).

**2. CULTURALLY RELEVANT TEACHING E-RESERVES LADSON-BILLING, G. Preface, Chapter 1 “A Dream Deferred“, and excerpts from Chapter 3: pages ix-xvi, 1-14, and 31-33 in Dreamkeepers Successful Teachers of African American Children (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1994.

**3. CUTLURALLY RELEVANT TEACHING TOZER, SENESE, VIOLAS Chapter 13 “Diversity and Equity Today” pages 430-432 (details on Ladson-Billings’ Culturally Relevant Teaching).

REREAD ANYON, J excerpts from “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”. Journal of Education, 162, 1, 1980. See Tozer’s reference to Anyon’s research in Chapter 13 pages 422-423.

4. ANTI-RACIST TEACHING E-RESERVES TENORIO, K. An interview with Enid Lee “Taking Multicultural, Anti-racist Education Seriously” pages 19-23. Rethinking our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Social Justice (Rethinking Schools, 1994).

What are the causes of poverty?

Poverty is a function of the political economy

– wages, jobs, social supports

In Finland, single parents who work are not poor.

Right now, in many schools

Socioeconomic status is a powerful predictor of student achievement in school—

in the absence of good instruction.

Adam Urbanski, AFT, Rochester, NY

(in Tozer, 464)

How is poverty likely to impact life chances?

School Performance: K-8, 9-12

School Outcomes: Dropping out, post secondary participation

Economic Prospects: Jobs

Family Structures in Adult Life

Adult Life

Health: Status

How does poverty affect children’s economic prospects? Explains the chart.

Why are poor children’s economic prospects so limited? Research shows that, all else being equal:

Low-income kids start to fall behind in cognitive development at a young age and have difficulty catching up.

They fall further behind when they attend lower-quality public schools.

Consequently, they are more likely to drop out of high school in their teens, and less likely to get a college degree.

They thus enter adulthood with lower levels of education as well as achievement.

Why are poor children’s economic prospects so limited? Research shows that, all else being equal:

Their health also suffers—gaps in wellness appear early in poor children’s lives and only widen over time.

Lower education and worse health, among other factors such as discrimination and weaker labor-market contacts result in lower levels of employment and earnings over their working lives.

At least some of those with the lowest levels of employment are more likely to become single parents or engage in crime and become incarcerated.

What are the costs of poverty?

All this adds up to: lower productivity, less tax revenues

and larger health care and criminal justice costs.

The grand total: Child poverty costs us at least $500 billion a year and the cost is going up due to increased hardship facing children and young adults in the Great Recession.

“What Teachers Need to Know About Poverty” Sue Books

What ethnic group has the highest number of people living in poverty? ____white____

What percent of all children live in poverty? ____13%_________

What percent of children under the age of twelve live in poverty? ___30%_______

What percent of children in minority families live in poverty? ____40%______

Main Problems with Cultural Deficit Theory

OUTCOME:

NEGATIVE APPROACH TO DIFFERENCES

--Cultural deficit approach was not effective, many students never “caught up”

--No recognition of cultural differences--Did not examine school structure or teaching approaches

EDUCATORS KNOW THAT POVERTY does have an IMPACT on school readiness (lack of preschool, good health care, stable housing, food, safety in the neighborhood, etc.). Schools do need to address some of the effects of poverty.

Exactly how should society address the issue of poverty?

How does poverty impact schooling?

The Essential Supports for School Improvement (Tozer, pages 439-442)

The Essential Supports for School Improvement (Tozer, pages 439-442)

Sebring, Allensworth, Bryk, Easton, Luppescu

Excerpt from a 2006 report, Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago

Research on Chicago Elementary Schools 1990-1996

Framework needed to raise achievement in low income elementary schools, natural experiments took place with local control of schools.

Why did some schools make progress and other schools stagnate? 5 Essentials are interconnected (all need to be in place)

1. Leadership, new reform minded principals (instruction and organization)

2. Parent-community ties (reinforce learning, volunteer, participate in decision making at school)

3. Professional capacity of teachers (ongoing learning)

4. Student centered learning climate (climate and safety)

5. Ambitious instruction (coordinated across grades)

Findings:

Contextual Resources

In some schools, the cumulative stresses of poverty, crime, and other social problems make school improvement efforts especially daunting.

The study finds that social resources in the community, churches and voluntary organizations help to build a social foundation that facilitates stronger ties between school and community

Findings looking at essential supports and community life in low performing schools.

Schools with essential supports were 10 times more likely than weak schools to show improvement in learning (gains in reading and math scores).

Research on urban areas examine the social relationships in the community and how these relationships influence the quality of everyday life and shape the collective capacity to solve social problems. These relationships are called “social capital”.

What defined school community social capital?

Children with documented abuse or neglect In Chicago, 15% of students in CPS In low performing schools 25%

Crime rates in the community Volunteer organizations, churches, collective efficacy

(solve local problems)

All 5 essential supports needed to be in place in schools for these communities with low social capital.

Study finds that:

Schools in communities with low social capital, were less likely to have 5 essentials in place because teachers and administrators in these schools focused on children and their social needs, so there were few resources remaining to focus on the core processes of school improvement.

Finding: SCHOOLS WORK IN INTERACTION WITH THE COMMUNITY

Theories of Social Inequality Summary of Theories in Chapter 13Does social inequality necessarily determine educational outcomes?

What theories have been used to explain group differences in achievement?

Genetic Inferiority Theory (1920s-1960s, now discredited) —individuals are the problem—groups were bound by inheritance (we now know that individuals vary, and there are multiple intelligences)

Cultural Deficit Theory (1960s-still operates today, but discredited) ---individuals are the problem—the poor and minority groups are limited by their culture, blames student and family or neighborhood for a deficient culture (total lack of usable skills, language patterns, behaviors).

Critical Theory (1980s-today)—examines the uneven POWER relationships between different groups in society, examines INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES that privilege some students over others. This category includes Cultural Difference Theory (1990s)--cultures are different, one is not better than another, all cultures contain skills and behaviors that are assets, recognizes the multicultural aspect of American culture.

Teaching for social justice.Small acts make a difference.

Some schools in Chicago have no libraries . We could expand the in-class libraries in one school.

Last week, many in our class indicated they were willing to donate books.

Good quality used or new books could be donated if the class is interested. I will collect donated books for one elementary school until the end of finals. I will contact Greg about a target school. Critically analyze this act!

APPYING THEORIES OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY in CHAPTER 13 TOZER with READINGS FROM THE PAST 2 WEEKS

1. CULTURAL DEFICIT THEORY TOZER Chapter 13 and the views toward capacity to learn in school, SOME GROUPS ARE INFERIOR.

POVERTY BOOKS Article on PovertyCLASS ANYON “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”ETHNICITY BILLINGS Readings

2. HUMANIST APPROACH TO DIFFERENCE AND DISCRIMINATION (Tolerance, Elliot. 1960s)

3. CRITICAL THEORY 1980s (INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES, POWER)a. CULTURALLY DIFFERENCE THEORY LEADS TO CULTURALLY

RELEVANT TEACHING LADSON-BILLING, G. EXCERPTS in Dreamkeepers Successful Teachers of African American Children, and see TOZER Chapter 13 “Diversity and Equity Today” (pages 430-432 (details on Ladson-Billings’ Culturally Relevant Teaching).

b. ANTI-RACIST TEACHING E-RESERVES TENORIO, K. An interview with Enid Lee “Taking Multicultural, Anti-racist Education Seriously” pages 19-23.

c. RESISTANCE THEORY CULTURAL SUBORINATION LEADS TO RESISTENCE THEORY KOHL, H. “I Wont Learn from You”.

Ladson-Billings believes that teachers should not

treat EQUALITY as SAMENESS.

What does Ladson Billings mean by“dysconsciousness”?

Dysconsciousness means, as teachers, we recognize the privilege of some children and the disadvantage for other children, but we fail to challenge the status quo, or accept PRIVILEGES FOR SOME AS A GIVEN OR INEVITABLE (Ladson-Billings, 32).

ENID LEE suggests challenging the status quo in schools: Curriculum changes that study the SOURCES of

discrimination Involving students in social change in their neighborhoods Giving minority parents more voice in school decisions Examining who is hired at a school Equipping students and parents to combat racism and ethnic

discrimination.

Multicultural Approaches to Teaching

Enid Lee suggests that Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education means to examine the biases of our own education,

Examine what is considered “normal” (Is normal excluding some people?).

Ask: Who benefits from the status quo? How can more people benefit from social institutions?

Enid Lee suggests how to implement a more multicultural, anti-racist education. Implement in stages:

Surface stage—more expressions of culture within the school and begin to transform the curriculum

Transitional stage—create units of instruction on that address different cultural groups

Structural changes—integrate units on different cultures into the regular curriculum

Social change—create a curriculum that helps to lead changes outside the school (Such as media literacy studies-- how does the media portray different people? Study health conditions of a neighborhood)

Critical Theorists believe that:

Many people experience institutions differently based on group membership.

Cultural Subordination Theory helps us to examine inequalities structured in the social system, differences in power between superior and inferior and what it means in schools.

What social processes lead to the lower status of certain groups?

Pluralist Approach to Curriculum for All StudentsExample of recent changes in how history is taught. More inclusive of diverse experiences, but still room for improvement.

Critical Theorists Seek Pluralism For ALL

CULTURE AS NORMS It determines the meaning of: rituals, success, manners, behaviors, language, social status, ethnicity, gender --all meaning…

Definition: You are part of mainstream American culture if you:

Act [and PERCIEVED] like a member

Have income for the lifestyle Internalize its core values Have ready access to participate in

institutions Speak English Accept a mainstream identity

Can teachers build abridge between cultures?Can students respect the mainstream and their ownculture?

History contains blatant racism, sexism, classism, disable-ism…Today, there are both visible and invisible (so very subtle) differences

in treatment in society and in schools.

Visible—when disability is not accommodated in schools, when anti-Catholic stories are in textbooks, when no minority students are taking honor classes, when no women or minority authors are read in literature classes…… (if authors are absent the assumption is that no good literature is produced by that group)

??Invisible--

OK, so it is not really invisible just hard to see, HIDDEN CURRICULUM (so embedded) unless you are looking, using a critical eye.

Authoritarian teaching approaches for some students, how rules are enforced, who has the best teachers and most motivating classes

How much cultural uniformity is needed to be successful in mainstream culture?

How much respect is given to cultural difference today?

In Schools: Can students learn in an environment where they have to reject their home culture? Or if their culture or identity is disrespected?

Chapter 13 Teacher Jane Elliot 414-416 What conditions spurred Elliot’s idea?

What did the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.mean to her 3rd grade students in Riceville Iowa?

Two documentaries were made on Jane Elliot’s Eye Discrimination Experiment

Chapter 13 Teacher Jane Elliot 414-416 What happened during the two-day experiment?

SUPERIOR INFERIOR

Jane Elliot’s Eye Discrimination DayYou can view Eye of the Storm and A Class Divided on YouTube –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCjDxAwfXV0 Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43-QAvekTpU Part 3 6:10

What assumptions operated in Jane Elliot’s class? One group was inferior to the other. One group had power over the other.Negative impact of blatant discrimination.

Superior group was:

Entitled to special privileges Given positive encouragement for learning A group that was assigned positive attributes Individual members’ behavior was attributed to group

membership

Could students in the bottom group ever change their lower status?

MEMBERS OF MAINSTREAMGENERALLY HAVE…..a free pass in many civic, social, political, economic, educational activities-- and ideology is kind and generous to members.

“But I have worked hard to get where I am today.”

How are groups perceived in society?How do perceptions influence teachers?

Social perception comes in part from our membership in groups….--American, New Englander, Irish-American, women, working class, teacher…

GROUPS DO SHARE SOME CHARACTERISTICS Generalizations are limited.

BUT SOCIAL STEREOTYPES OF GROUPS ARE LIMITING When stereotyped, a person takes on all attributes of a group, there is no individualism, and no personal knowledge is considered.

Humanist Approach: IndividualsCritical Theory: Change Racist Structures

Define Colorblind: Can be thought of several ways.

As a positive, Human Relations Approach: What are the main goals of Jane Elliot’s approach to discrimination?

Students learn about discrimination, become tolerant. The experience changes some individuals

“Not to be prejudiced. Not to see color as a negative status. Not to see white as superior. Not to treat students any differently because of their color.” (like Jane Elliot for her students, see Tozer, 431)

As an absolute: Everyone is just the same, no differences.

What occurred in Elliot’s class? Teacher as Wicked Witch of the East?--She was a mean individual?

OR, as a teacher with power and authority in school is she adopting the prejudices of the larger society?

Her aim –TO TEACH TOLERANCE TO INDIVIDUALS Are changes to minds or structures more important to effect real long-term changes in society? What would critical theorist say?

Compare Approaches to Discrimination1. Human Relations (Tozer, 431) Jane Elliot2. Critical Theory (Tozer, 419-424, Ladson-Billings, Enid Lee (Tenorio article), and Kohl

.

What are the main goals of critical educators like Lee or Ladson-Billings?

Show how cultural differences matter in teaching and learning. Create a more inclusive, multicultural curriculum. Examine and change discriminatory school structures.Equip students to combat discrimination.

Provide a high level of education and social awareness. Change school structures.

Change institutions and power relations.

Resistance Theory (Tozer, 424 and Kohl)Students reject negative environments and reject opportunities in schools in order to preserve their identity and cultural connections.

When students experience discriminatory practices, some students retreat into a posture of resistance, a conscious refusal to learn.

Cooperation in schools means capitulating to an alien culture.

Resistance in school is “self-destructive” at one level--a foregoing an education; but it preserves the integrity of subordinate cultural identity.

According to Kohl what is meant by:

Failing to learn? Tried and failed for different reasons—teaching approaches,

materials, readiness skills.

Not learning? Willfully choosing not to learn because of a challenge to self-

respect, self-identity, cultural integrity, or loyalty to family or group.

Kohl acknowledges the essential role of free will in learning.

Resistance by many students is a response to subordinate status in society and school.

Deciding to actively not-learn something involves closing off part of oneself and limiting one’s experiences (Kohl, 106).

As a teacher, Kohl assumes that there are complex factors behind apparent failure to learn, which could be used to transform the situation into positive learning (Kohl, 107).

Kohl concludes that–teachers need to understand why “not-learning” occurs, and education needs to be built on the hard truth of the experiences of our students in society (Kohl, 120)

Teachers should seek ways to address discrimination and racism as it connects to the students’ lives, as it functions in schools and operates throughout the curriculum.

An example in Kohl showing why somestudents resist school (26).

Kohl was consulting for a school in San Antonio that had a large Mexican American population with a high failure rate.

Few Latino teachers, no Latino administrators.

He observes in a History Class—a Lesson on “The first people to settle Texas” (arrived from New England and the South…)

Kohl challenged the textbook’s assumptions, and then engaged students in conversation about racism within the textbooks and the school.