Teach Out Project Slides

Teach Out Project Slides

Towards Ending Ableism in Education

 We are often told that "everyone is unique", "we are all different" and other such statements meant to convey that we appreciate the differences that make up our community, but when those differences require effort, funding or change, society tends to show a rather different face. In Hehir's "Towards Ending Ableism in Education" he confronts us with the reality of disabled people's educational opportunities. One parent of a disabled student remarked that "while disability is not a tragedy, society's response to disability can have tragic consequences..." 

Having to fight for standard educational opportunities is something that any parent of a disabled child must anticipate. Sometimes schools will balk at providing necessary accommodations because of funding, sometimes it is seen as "not fair" (having talk-to-text technology for dyslexic children but not others for example) and sometimes popular ideas and ideologies over-ride effective research based strategies - the move away from ASL to oralism in the deaf community for example. But student rights are protected, and every student in the United States has the right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education, in the Least Restricted Environment. The practical application of these laws is often left to the parents to figure out on their own however. The parent may need to provide diagnosis evidence and petition the school to provide resources, which often relies on the parent to have good knowledge of the legal educational system. It also relies on the parent being willing to label their child. Parents of a child with a learning disability may not want the stigma of an Autism Spectrum Disorder on record, but without it, the school is not obligated to provide any additional services. Hehir noted that not wanting to label children with disability "undoubtedly reflects the deep stigma associated with disability in our culture."

In the video "Examined Life" with Judith Butler and Sanaura Taylor, Sanaura Taylor commented that "a walk can be a dangerous thing". She was born with a syndrome with fused her bones and she uses a wheelchair to take a walk. Her disability is visible and can make her vulnerable. She commented that her disability has the ability to make others deeply uncomfortable. She asked "at what point do we become non-human?" Hate crimes against the visibly different are all around society, and the murder of a young man in Maine simply because he walked differently was highlighted. Sanaura Taylor's point was that society will often help those it deems deserving of help. Why is it a struggle to help those with disabilities? Are they undeserving? Are they not really human? It is a question we should continuously ask ourselves as educators. If everyone is deserving of a Free and Appropriate Public Education, why is it such a fight to get one?

Hehir referred to the Deaf community that had long established itself in Martha's Vineyard. The Deaf community there used ASL and was a highly educated community with many of its members holding heading roles on the island. Literacy rates were high. Though both history and recent research it has been acknowledged that "developing the manual language (ASL) in deaf children is the foundation for literacy and for later educational and occupational success." However, as a focus of oralism and lip reading become popular, this focus on developing manual language declined...alongside deaf literacy rates. The focus on "be like us!" harmed the deaf community and their educational opportunities. Ableism at its worst. 

Hehir argues that acknowledging the different abilities of individual people and finding ways to still provide appropriate education and occupational opportunities is our duty as a community. And if we don't, we need to ask ourselves why? Perhaps we don't see everyone as being completely human and deserving. How does that make you feel?

Literacy With Attitude

 Patrick Finn writes a condemning piece in "Literacy With Attitude", as he looks at the style of teaching we give different economic classes in the United States of America. He takes the position that, depending on your economic class, you are either taught "Empowering Literacy" or "Functional Literacy". Empowering Literacy tends to lead to positions of authority and leadership. It encompasses not just the rules, but the reasons and the history and the connections to real life situations. Functional Literacy is about domestication; being productive but not troublesome. It encourages obedience and rules, but not questions and creativity. Finn claims that literacy is being taught in ways that limit students based on their social and economic class. If you are in a poor school, you are being taught what you need to know to live, but not lead.

Finn draws off the studies of Jean Anyon, who studied 5th Grade classes in 5 public elementary schools from different economic situations. She looked at what was taught, how it was taught, as well as the language and attitudes of teachers in those schools. She noticed pronounced differences in the way students were taught, and labeled schools with themes to sum up the experience. In the poorest schools, the theme was Resistance. Resistance to learning, education, rules, teachers, even opportunity. In response to that resistance, the teachers were dictatorial and focused on a product, not on understanding. At the other end of the spectrum was Excellence. Students coveted, sought out and expected excellence.  Teachers encouraged creativity, exploration and independence. A pdf of Anyon's study can be found here

As a teacher I have experienced the shock of culture difference when adjusting to a new school. I taught at a school that would fit nicely into Anyon's category of "possibility". Students had at least one working parent, but would be middle class for the majority. These students saw possibility in education, and for the most part accepted the rules and traditions of the schooling experience. We may have trended towards the Individualism/Humanitarianism category, but teaching methods were quite rule based and traditional. As I transitioned from that experience to my current school I received the shock of my life. I found myself in a teaching situation that reeked of resistance. I had to rethink all my teaching strategies because what worked in my previous situation did not work in my new situation. When reading this article about teachers saying the kids "can't handle" group work, I thought they were quoting me. Interestingly, those same students, 3 years later, have stopped resisting and are open to the possibility of what I have to teach. Their social and economic status' have probably not changed, but we have built relationships and shared experiences over the years. I have become a steady fixture in their lives and instead of resisting they now choose to participate. Because of this I have been open to less rigid lessons which allow more freedom of expression and creativity. We have a sense of shared expectations and trust now. So is it a student's low economic status that leads to educational resistance? Or the lack of trusted relationships? Why are they intertwined? I certainly never told my students to "shut up" or doubted their intelligence as reported in the study, but I did realize that I had to teach them social skills before music skills. Mutually we had to learn to trust each other before we could learn from each other. This article made me revisit that transition and view it will new eyes. Your teaching style will always change based on the needs of your students, but should their economic status guide your classroom? I would hope not. 

 

Sex and Gender in Schools

 Starting this blog post reminiscing about my summer job rounding up sheep for castration might not be an obvious connection. But hear me out. 

I grew up in rural New Zealand. Talking about sex and gender was not a thing one did, and I was as oblivious to the world of the LGBTQ community as it was possible to be. I was a girl, I was happy to be called "she", and when the teacher began the school day with "Hello boys and girls" I never felt uncomfortable or excluded by that greeting. 

However, in the summer, I worked on farms and orchards to earn money, and one summer I helped with "Docking". Docking is when the young lambs are rounded up, and one by one a rubber band is put over their tail and male genital organs. The band restricts blood flow and both the tail and genitals fall off over time. This prevents fly-blight in the tail area and unwanted pregnancies in the herd. It is a standard process for all sheep farmers in New Zealand and it was a long hot day in the sun for the teen workers helping the farm hands. During the day, the workers casually showed me when a lamb appeared with 2 visible sex organs. On the farm, they called them "muftis", but they would have been called hermaphrodites if a veterinarian was present. It was a point of interest, and a new thing to show the teenagers, but not uncommon.

I bring this up, because I grew up with a point of reference to biological differences. Sure there are boys and girls, but sometimes nature gives you something a little different. And it is okay. Our article from RIDE shares that "it is estimated that 1 in 2000 babies is born with biological characteristics of both sexes or of neither sex entirely". As teachers, educators, parents and community members, it is our responsibility to make sure that all students are a right to a "Free and Appropriate Public Education", even the ones that don't fit nicely into societies basic categories. The guidance from RIDE focuses on highlighting the vulnerability of Transgender and Gender Non-conforming youth, and asserting their right to attend a school they feel safe in. 

The article "Queering Our Schools" echoed Johnson's plea to "Name It". "The cornerstone of nurturing classrooms is community...Community is built by working through differences not sweeping them under the rug". Like the communities pushing towards a more multicultural education, LGTBQ advocates want more representation across curriculum. They suggest that traditional activities like "Father's Day/Mother's Day/Family Tree" may need re-imagining. I recently experienced the difficulty a "Daddy Daughter" dance can bring. One of my daughter's friends did not have a male role model to bring for a variety of reasons - none of which were her fault or under her control. We welcomed her into our family group, but she had weeks of agonizing over something that excluded her by its very title, through no fault of her own. 

Keeping our schools open and welcoming to all students should be an ongoing priority. Sometimes it is as easy as changing the name of an activity, or making sure the family tree has a larger number of branches. Sometimes it involves adults re-learning something they thought they already knew. While the New Zealand docking season is over for the year, and a little hard to access from New England, maybe watching a TED talk about biological differences might help open your brain to what some students feel every day. 

"I am different." 

"Where do I fit?"

"Will they still like me if they know ME?"

Maybe understanding more, will help create that community that works through differences instead of sweeping them under the rug. 

TED talk here

The Teach Out Proposal

 Text Selection

The texts that have stayed with me the most have been Lisa Delpit's "Cultural Conflict in the Classroom" and Richard Rodriquez's "Aria". I appreciated the acknowledgement of real world realities instead of  being hyper focused on a fictional world view that doesn't exist. Yes, it would be great if every student's culture and language was of equal value in the world we live and work in, but the reality is that every country has it's dominant culture, standards and codes. As Rodriquez learned, his success was dependent on his ability to assimilate into that dominant culture.

Sharing

I teach at a charter school that pulls people from all over Rhode Island. We have students from Providence, South and North Kingstown, Coventry and others. A big focus of mine, as a music teacher, is to create a community feeling for all students, regardless of how far away they have come from. Some students are with us from Kindergarten, others transfer at higher grade levels, but I always want students to feel welcomed and valued in our community. I was the 4th music teacher here in 4 years, and I realized that I needed to establish MY dominant culture and expectations when I started. The students and I had very different ideas about what was appropriate in the classroom. With these ideas in mind, I would like to create a Teach Out proposal for elementary students to learn about classroom expectations and codes, specifically music class codes. 

Format

I would like this activity to be a small group discussion/art project/roleplay scenario. I have an idea in mind that I would create some fictional pirates that are used to different behaviors and language. Those behaviors are fine when they are on their pirate ship, but we have to teach them the rules for music class so they can learn, so they don't disrupt other students learning and so we can have an enjoyable learning community. I'd like to have these pirates also teach us a pirate song so we can learn about their culture, even as we teach the pirates about our music class culture. The Wellerman is a popular sea shanty, and this video shows the singer using his guitar as a drum (which is NOT allowed in class, and a great way to talk about different behaviors in different spaces.)

Teaching Bilinguals

 The two articles this week have two differing views on the same topic, and come from very different perspectives and places of power. The first article, "Aria" is a fascinating glimpse into the thoughts of "Richard"/"Ricardo" a man who remembers his youth as a Spanish speaking child of immigrants who is lost and overwhelmed at his English speaking school. The teacher sees his lack of progress and speak with his parents to convince them to begin speaking English at home to help their children succeed in school and life outside of their tight family community. The family follows their advice and Richard sees changes wrought because of their chosen assimilation. It is confusing and difficult, but ultimately he thinks he was better prepared for the world because of this choice his family made. 

"...But the bilingualists simplistically scorn the value and necessity of assimilation...they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality"

This quote reminds me of Lisa Delpit's article which pointed out the frustrations of those within the system being told the "right way" to do things by predominantly white academics who would "listen, they don't hear". Richard offers his perspective as a learner that he needed to leave his Spanish behind, and follow the example of his parents to welcome the English language into their home lives. 

The second article was a very direct article to guide teachers who are teaching Multilingual children. The recommendations were:

1. Be aware that children use 1st Language acquisition strategies for acquiring a second language.

2. Don't consider yourself a remedial teacher.

3. Don't seek of challenge of eliminate the first language.

4. Teach standard English

5. Don't forbid code-switching.

6. Provide literary development specifically for English Language Learners.

7. Provide a balanced and integrated approach using all 4 skill areas: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

The conflict I see, is between 2 well meaning ideals: multiculturalism and assimilation. Multiculturalism may ignore the idea Lisa Delpit expounded; that "success in institutions - schools, workplaces and so on - is predicated upon acquisition of the culture of those in power."

The lenient view of code switching and openness to utilizing the primary language to assist in learning is against the recommendations of the first author, Richard. He finally found success when he embraced assimilation even though it meant leaving behind his first language and some of the cultural safety he had felt in his family home. 

I was once a new immigrant (though English speaking) in the USA, and it reminded me of the citizenship website here. Most countries will have a cultural guide to their culture and society, and it can be very interesting to look through it!

I think every person's language learning journey is unique. Richard was the son of immigrants. He was a US citizen who did not speak English as his first language. His success in his home country would rely on his choice to lean into his idea of public individuality, even at the expense of his private individuality. He needed to be taught the 'codes' and cultural norms of the public at large, even when it seemed to be at the expense of his family culture. The second article was a general article about language acquisition, the first was a article by a man who understood the culture of power, and showed how he understood that, in this country, power was accessed through the English Language

Service Learning with Compassion

The word "patronizing" is an interesting word.

To be "patronized" is to be looked down upon. Someone is showing their superiority and/or wealth to 'help' you, but you feel small and judged instead of being lifted higher.

But "patronized" comes from the word "patron" which has a much more uplifting meaning. To summarize from Merriam-Webster here, a "patron" is a 'supporter...one who uses wealth or influence to help a person, institution or cause". The article Getting to the Why:  Social Learning for Social Justice, read here, brings up the difficulties of encouraging service based projects in schools with grace and humility, and not superiority and judgement. 

Community Service in schools is rising, perhaps partially because of a trend in college admissions to place value on community service projects when considering applications. In Rhode Island, schools can apply to become a "Feinstein Leadership School", and to quote the patron of this program  "It means that you've committed your youngsters to reach out to do good deeds for other people. ... This is, I think, an extremely worthwhile program for the youngsters because it empowers them, it teaches them that they can reach out to help other people, that they make the world a better place, and they respond." Both the middle school my girls attend, and the school I work in, encourage community service. At the middle school, community service hours are a requirement, and at my elementary school it is encouraged through food drives.

My family had already started volunteering at a local Community Market, and we were happy to realize this would count towards the children's community service hours. I had mixed feelings about my children being helpers as people came for their free groceries. I did not want them to be spectators to other people's hardships, and I didn't want their help to be muddied with superiority. I arranged our time slot to be the last time slot of the day. We are the clean up crew who put the food back in the pantry and freezer, and break down the tables at the end of the day. But we still have late comers, regulars whom we have had a chance to meet and get to know over the years. They are all different. Some old, some college students, some people are retired, some are out of work and have moved back home for a while. Some work and still can't afford groceries. Men. Women. Disabled. Able. Black. White. Asian. Immigrant. Local. My children have made me proud. They see everyone as people first, and people who need help second. It is a difficult line to adhere to, but in the article it was explained very well:

David Kirkland of NYU wrote that, in some cases, “service learning has come to mean something equivalent to an extended and sustained field trip for privileged learners who often imagine their roles in communities as agents of salvation as opposed to agents of service.”

This notion of 'service' is such an important idea to return to. As humans we do things that make us feel good, and helping others can be a great way to feel good about yourself! However, if making yourself feel good, look good, sound good, overrides your commitment to serve others it stops being service and becomes self aggrandizement. You stop being a patron, and start becoming patronizing. 

I enjoyed this article as a real world look at teachers who were committed to community service projects, but who were also willing to analyze their experiences and share their learning. One group had gone for a walk in the neighborhood surrounding the school and the students had noticed all the trash. The students decided that focusing on the trash in the neighborhood would be a good project. Later, the teacher reflected: 

 “The walk was useful because the issues they identified are so tangible. But if I did it again, I’d start with listing the great things about the neighborhood because there are so many,” he reflected. 

That balance; seeing the good with the bad, being of service but not patronizing, seeing the need but also the person; that balance should be the goal of everyone wanting to help others.