The Contemporary School - EDU 2370

What makes an equitable learning environment?

This was the guiding question for our work this semester. Our course objectives were as follows:

1. Gain knowledge of the structure and social function of contemporary schooling in societies around the world, including cultural conditions that influence beliefs and goals, instructional theories and practices, and research trends.
2. Acquire strategies for analyzing learning environments using frameworks of equity and excellence.
3. Develop an informed, critical perspective regarding the arrangements of conventional schooling.
4. Construct a vision of schools as arenas for enacting progressive social growth.

Our course materials were incredibly relevant to the question of equitable learning environments. Finding Joy in Teaching Students of Diverse Backgrounds by Sonia Nieto was our main text. It's an inspiring book that combines Nieto's insightful thoughts on teaching for social justice with real-life stories of current teachers who are applying these ideas in their classrooms. Some key take-aways from the book are:

• teaching is a political act
• relationships are at the heart of excellence in teaching
• education is about making a difference for all students

Nieto defines social justice as having four parts:

1. It challenges, confronts, and disrupts misconceptions, untruths, and stereotypes that lead to or exacerbate structural inequality and discrimination.
2. It provides all students both material resources (books, curriculum, adequate funding, etc.) and emotional resources (believing in their ability and worth, caring for them as individuals and learners, honoring both their individuality and their group membership, having high expectations for them, and giving them the cultural and social capital to succeed.
3. It draws on students' talents and strengths. This requires having a critical perspective while also rejecting deficit theories about children of particular backgrounds, and understanding that all children have strengths that can enhance their education.
4. Finally, social justice in education is about creating a learning environment that promotes critical thinking and supports agency for social change, in effect providing students with an apprenticeship in their role in a democratic society.

We also read the YA fiction book Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper. The story is about an eleven year old girl, Melody, who can't speak or control many of her movements, but who is cognitively typical and actually quite smart for her age. At one point in the book, she receives a talking aid--a computer that allows her to type in messages and then it speaks for her. Suddenly she is able to communicate with her family, her teachers, and her friends. Her family, and particularly her mother, were strong advocates for her, but some of her teachers were reluctant to see Melody as anything other than the disabled kid in the class. Her classmates struggled to include her, too. The book's story is fictional, but, unfortunately, all too typical for kids facing challenges like Melody's.

During our first class meeting, we discussed how knowing a child's history makes one a better teacher. As we know from studying Bronfenbrenner, one's ecology affects all manner of development and helps to shape who we are. We talked about how schools and societies are "co-constructive", meaning that each contributes to the gradual change and growth of the other. One of the main things we all agreed on is that schools are arenas for enacting progressive social growth.

To better understand how public education in the US has gotten to where it is today, we watched the video "The Story of American Public Education". During the 18th century, schooling was mainly a tool for preserving the status quo in society. Most Americans were educated just enough to read the newspaper and the Bible and to do taxes. Around the time of the American revolution, there was a big push to eliminate British textbooks. Noah Webster led this reform, and he pushed to teach/create a new national history and ideals. His Blue-back Speller helped create a new national language and taught moral ideals; because of it, kids learned spelling words such as mask, humor, and public rather than the traditional British spellings of masque, humour, and publick.

Thomas Jefferson believed that democracy depended on the education of "all Americans", however he didn't include slaves in this ideal. He proposed that all Americans be guaranteed to at least three years of universal education; with the idea that the "cream of the crop" would rise to the top during those three years. Those students, then, would be chosen to go on to higher education. Jefferson's bill for universal education did not pass, however.

Horace Mann, who became the Secretary of Education in Massachusetts, visited schools throughout the northeast to see their conditions. He visited 1,000 schools in over six years and found that many schools were in poor condition. There were inadequate materials and the buildings were in terrible shape. He said that "livestock were better cared for than students". He advocated for common schools in northern states that would be free, open to all, of high quality, and funded by taxes. He believe that education is the great equalizer.

We also learned about the City Hall debates in NYC, when different religious groups in the city protested the system and demanded public funding for their specific religious schools. Near 1850, Benjamin Roberts sued the city of Boston because he could enroll his African-American daughter in the school nearest his home. Instead, she was to sent to the "black" school, which did not have adequate resources and was not in her neighborhood. The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court, and the Massachusetts legislature ended up passing a law to ban school segregation.

At this meeting, we also discussed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and how it will apply to our teaching.

We ended that day with a discussion and video from Gloria Ladson-Billings about Critical Race Theory. Ideas I took away from this were:

• racism is normal, not aberrant, in US society
• stories or counter-narratives are useful in explaining how racism operates
• there is an everydayness to racism
• Interest convergance: decisions regarding equity and civil rights are more likely to occur when subordinate groups can align their interests with those of the dominant group.

     example: Brown v Board of Education --  a political strategy to align Third World countries with the US during the Cold War

     example: the election of Barack Obama --  an economic interest of the mainstream

At our second class meeting, we talked in depth about social justice and developing a critical perspective. We discussed the need to become a multicultural person rather than a multicultural teacher. We spoke again about teaching as a political act, and asked questions like: "Who has access to quality education? Who does not, and why?" We spent some time reflecting privately about our own blindspots and how they might affect our teaching.

During this class researched different countries' education systems and presented on them with partners. I learned about India's system and, working with a classmate, developed this Prezi to share with the class.

 
In our third class meeting, we discussed the meaning of pedagogy. Pedagogy is:

1. The philosophical framework for our teaching.
2. The lens through which we plan, carry out, and reflect on our teaching.
3. The art and science of teaching.

We talked about the New York Times article, "Where are the People of Color in Children's Books?"

The author of the article, Walter Dean Myers, points out that of 3200 children's books published in 2013, only 93 were about black people. He writes that there is a desperate need for children of color to identify with characters in literature, to read about stories they can identify with, and to be able to share in the experiences in books. Myers says that seeing your story in books you read is a humanizing experience. He says that when he writes about characters, he wants to "make them human in the eyes of readers and, especially, in their own eyes."

During this meeting, we talked about what makes an equitable learning environment, deficit theory and why we need to reject it, and why we need to develop a critical pedagogy.

At our fourth class meeting, we discussed further the idea of critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy is “a way of thinking about, negotiating, and transforming the relationship among classroom teaching, the production of knowledge, the institutional structures of the school, and the social and material relations of the wider community, society and nation state” (Wink, 2000, p. 30). Being a good teacher means being aware of your self, who you're drawn to, and what your blind spots are. Welcomingschools.org is a wonderful resource for schools and teachers wanting to implement awareness and education around inclusiveness, tolerance, and anti-bullying. Outright VT is another great resource for educators. We learned in class that we, as teachers, are mandated by Vermont law to report any incident of alleged bullying. 

At this meeting, we also watched this TED Talk about introverts: 

Susan Cain, the speaker and author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, argues that the world today places much more value on extroverts than introverts, even though as much as 50% of the population identifies as being an introvert. How does this apply to our classrooms? For one, we need to value that some children don't function well in groups and in constant collaboration. Yes, children need to learn how to collaborate on occasion, but we aren't doing introverted children any favors by making group work be the bulk of classroom learning. Cain spoke of three points she'd like everyone to take away from her talk:

1. Stop the constant groupwork. We need more freedom, privacy, and autonomy.
2. Go to the wilderness--unplug. In our tech-centric world, this is something for both extroverts and introverts to take to heart.
3. Value what you have to give, who you truly are, and share it with the world sometimes.

Aside from our class meetings, we completed an inquiry project, during which we were to spend twenty hours observing a teacher in current practice to see what excellence looks like in the real world. I'll close this post with the last bit I wrote for that project--a reflection on the goals I have for my future teacher-self.

           As a teacher, I will commit to establishing an atmosphere of cultural understanding and celebration in my classroom. Only through exposure to different cultures, traditions, and languages can children begin to understand that all humans share basic commonalities. I will work to develop lessons that incorporate as many different cultures, languages, and traditions as I can. My goal is to have a classroom full of cultural learning opportunities. We will study traditions and languages and cultures—not only of the world, but of our own within the class. My students will know that everyone’s heritage is important and meaningful, and that there are things we can all learn from one another.
            When I’m teaching, I will also commit to establishing an environment in which all my students feel valued from the first day they walk in the door. I will create classroom standards of mutual respect, kindness, and generosity. My students will understand that in our classroom, we respect and value each other’s differences, whether they are intellectual, racial, language-based, physical ability, economical, or gender identity differences. John Gunderson, a teacher profiled in Sonia Nieto’s book Finding Joy, believes that teaching is about “improving the human condition, not just improving test scores” (2013, p. 98). Nieto goes on to say that Gunderson’s “goal is to try to bring humanity into his teaching” (2013, p. 98). He is quoted as saying the reason why he teaches is:

“Not to make them better test takers so they can play Jeopardy later in life, but make them thinkers who can really make a difference. I don’t want my kids to grow up to be good test takers; I want them to be human.” (Nieto, 2013, p. 98)

This is the teacher I will strive to be, and I will endeavor to keep these ideals at the forefront of my mind at all times. My hope is to demonstrate through my own enthusiasm with the lessons that learning is a lifelong process. If my students see me working alongside them during activities, if they know that I value their input and their understanding of the world, they will be motivated to continue pushing forward with me. I hope to show them the value of hard work, that there is pleasure to be found in the learning process. When my students leave my class, they will know that, indeed, their accomplishments are important; but just as important are the explorations they’ve engaged in throughout the year. I want to be the kind of teacher who shows her students that there is joy in discovery: discovery of the world around you and discovery of the person within.

References:
Bronfenbrenner, U. Ecological model of human development. Retrieved Apr. 23, 2014 from http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/35bronfebrenner94.pdf.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum, 1993. Print.

Nieto, Sonia. Finding joy in teaching students of diverse backgrounds: Culturally responsive and socially just practices in U.S. classrooms. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2013. Print.

Wink, Joan. "Critical Pedagogy." Critical pedagogy: notes from the real world. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 2000. 27. Print.

Class Literature:

Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher by Stephen D. Brookfield

Critical Pedagogy: Notes From the Real World by Joan Wink

Educating for Democracy and Community: Toward the Transformation of Power in Our Schools by Seth Kreisberg

Ending the Silence by Donna M. Marriott

Finding Joy in Teaching Students of Diverse Backgrounds by Sonia Nieto

Getting Schooled by Garret Keizer

Heterosexim, Homophobia, and the Culture of Schooling by Richard A. Friend

I Won't Learn From You by Herbert Kohl

On Teaching, Knowledge and "Middle Ground" by Jessica Howard

Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol

Subtractive Schooling, Caring Relations, and Social Capital in the Schooling of US-Mexican Youth by Angela Valenzuela

Teaching Toward Freedom by William Ayers

The Courage to Be Constructivist by Brooks and Brooks

The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer

The Lessons of Classroom 506 by Lisa Belkin

Turning to One Another by Margaret J. Wheatley
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh