TL Standard 5: Establish a Culturally Inclusive Learning Climate That Facilitates Academic Engagement and Success for All Students

The course Culturally Responsive Teaching (EDU 6525) was key in my meeting Teacher Leader Standard 5: Establish a culturally inclusive learning climate that facilitates academic engagement and success for all students. At the beginning of this class I felt that I had a good idea on how to be a culturally inclusive teacher. I teach in a school with an ever growing ELL population. I have students from Korea, England, Iran, and India in my class. I consistently seek to include instructional strategies which include both auditory and visual cues. Yet, I realized through this course that expanding what I do in the classroom to the school environment is a next step in my learning.

There were some key points that highlighted my learning. First, was the idea of social justice, compassion, and caring for all students. I loved the quote, “education is what allows children to go as far as their ability will allow them to achieve liberty or freedom in order to ‘seize the day’.” (Paraphrased from Professor Nyaradzo Mvududu, Ed.D.) The lecture then went on to discuss the idea that in America we are very “rights driven” and a little obsessed with litigation. We focus on “hyper-individualization” vs. looking at our responsibility to the community and groups we belong to. We focus on justice vs. relationships.

I truly believe that relationship is the key to making real progress and gains with students. In the lecture it was referred to as the “art of relating”. As teachers we must relate to our students. We must know them, know their families, and engage both to create the most positive and productive learning environment. The other aspect of that is high expectations for all students. As the lecture stated, this is a matter of understanding and study that the achievement gap is not “a result of biology, but of lack of experience.” I found myself putting a name and a face to that statement, unfortunately, multiple names and faces. These are the “lost ones”. The students who by virtue of circumstance and family situation have entered my classroom disadvantaged and not set up for success. However, putting aside their poverty, they are smart kids! They need to be pushed, be inspired, be held to the high standards and told, “You can do it!” If Richard Sherman, a kid from Compton, can go to Stanford and earn a 4.2, we need to embrace that ALL kids have that potential and who are we to say they can’t?

Another idea which guided my learning was, “Spoken language is encoded culture.” This quote resonated with me and I kept coming back to it in the days after I heard it. I know this statement to be true, but what does it mean for me and my students? Most of us in my classroom this year are from a European White background. I do have one black student and one new student from Iran, who both represent their culture through their communication styles. My new student, R, speaks only Farsi and it is clear that his communication in his native language is very developed and very different than what my white students are used to. This has been a huge learning curve for all of us as we navigate both spoken and non-spoken language to communicate.

The next point that stood out to me was the different discussion models used in other cultures such as call-response in black churches or co-narration in Hawaiian culture. The point that students come to us on Monday morning after a weekend in their culture with its different norms was very insightful to me. “Quiet is not always best” and “Exuberance is good if on topic” are two take-aways I had from our readings on communication.

I found myself watching my students in their discussions more closely, also because that was my action research project so I was very in tune with the communication my students were engaged in. I did see some of the patterns described in the course which could be culturally based. The louder, more exuberant, and charming students get the most talk time and others look up to them or just sit back and let them speak. Interestingly, this doesn’t seem to be based on skin color, but more on the culture of discussion that they bring with them from their homes. It also is not gender based. The girls in my room are anything but invisible. Most are not afraid to speak up and go “toe to toe” in discussion with each other or with the boys. In fact, many of them “take over” and are dominant in their groups and discussions. I eagerly took the learning from this course and applied in my classroom to further grow my students in their communication styles including helping them advocate for each other be sure that all voices are heard and understood.

A final step in my learning came in analyzing my curriculum and then instructional materials that I use with my students. One key point I got from the class was the idea that as we have become more multi-cultural in our texts or at least more culturally sensitive, but in doing so we have also “stressed harmony over conflict”. The idea that “society is dressed up prettier than it is” resonated with me. As Professor Mvududu stated, “Conflict in society is unavoidable and kids need to learn the truth about that in an age appropriate way in order to enter our democracy as equipped participants.” (Paraphrased) We do our students a disservice when we avoid that conflict in our teaching and restrict them from analyzing either side, or multiple sides, of the issues which affect our society.

I faced this first hand as a 5^th grade teacher. Our standards and curriculum cover the formation and governments of the Colonies, The Revolutionary War, and the forming of our United States government. Our given “box set” curriculum does a decent job of covering multiple viewpoints such as the Loyalists, Patriots, and Native Americans. Yet, it doesn’t go far enough and basically makes it seem like, yes it was tough to agree, but they had a war and then it was fine. My team knew our students needed deeper understanding and analyzing of this time period and an opportunity to put a face and identity to those group labels. We used The Witch of Blackbird Pond as a way to put a personal attachment to that time period. Then, through the use of that literature and various projects around it (student selected) we were able to help them understand that being a Patriot at that time wasn’t such an easy decision as we think it would be. I love teaching these “controversial” topics and especially teaching during election years when opinions and “truths” are thrown about at will. Teaching our students to be analyzers of our culture will only lead them to be better citizens of the culture in future years.

The Fifth grade curriculum was one that I decided to analyze for my final project in our course. Modifying and updating this lesson showed me that even good curriculum needs to be reviewed and through some simple changes can be made culturally inclusive and relevant. Final Revised Lesson Plan

As a future principal, it is the learning and growth I have seen in my students which I will seek to expand to a school setting. Being a culturally aware and inclusive leader is key, both as the instructional leader and as the most public representative of the school. I must be able to –

Communicate with community to promote learning – Builds effective communication systems between home, community and school that are interactive and regularly used by students, school staff and families and other stakeholders; uses multiple communication channels appropriate for cultural and language differences that exist in the community; practices a healthy discretion with personal information of students and staff. (AWSP Criterion 7)

I look forward to rising to the challenge of continuing to meet this standard in my future work.

 

 

References:

 

Adelman, H. & Taylor, L. (2007). Fostering School, Family and Community Involvement. Portland, OR.: Northwest Regional Education Laboratory.

Association of Washington School Principals |AWSP Leadership Framework

Banks, James A., ed. Multicultural Education, Transformative Knowledge, and Action: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Teachers College Press: 1996.

Constantino, S.M. (2005). Engaging All Families: Creating a Positive School Culture by Putting Research into Practice. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M.G., Simon, B.S., Salinas, K.C., Jansorn, N.R., & Van Voorhis, F.L. (2002). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Henderson. A.T. & Mapp, K.L. (2002). A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement. Austin, TX: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.

Jeynes, W. H. (2007). The relationship between parent involvement and urban secondary school achievement: A metaanalysis. Urban Education, 42(1), 82-110.

Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (2003). The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers can Learn from Each Other. New York: Ballantine Books.

Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2002). Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Schlesinger, Jr., Arthur, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society. Second edition. W.W. Norton and Company, 1998.

Senge, P., Cambron-McCabe, N., Lucas, T., Smith, B., Dutton, J., & Kleiner, A. (2000). Schools that Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares about Education. New York: Currency / Doubleday. See Chapter XII, Leadership.

The University of Calgary AISI Research Findings (2011). Spotlight on Parent Engagement. Retrieved from: http://education.alberta.ca/media/6591254/spotlight_on_parent_engagement_sept_2011.pdf

TL Standard 11: Utilize Formative and Summative Assessments in a Standards Based Environment

Meeting Teacher Leader Standard 11 – Utilize Formative and Summative Assessments in a Standards Environment, took me on a reflective journey of my teaching practice. Having been a teacher for a number of years, it has been a long time since I took such a critical view of the assessments I was giving. We simply gave the test, used the data, and moved on. To meet this standard it meant I needed to go deeper. I needed to be sure the tests that are provided to me by our curriculum and district are really testing the standards that I expect my students to achieve. I needed to look at an even bigger scope and ask, what do the key organizations which helped create the standards say about what my students should know. Finally, I needed to focus on what to do with the data the assessments provided and determine my next steps in instruction to my students.

At the beginning of our course, Standards Based Assessment (EDU 6613) I was asked, “What do I know about assessment?” That was a great question. I felt like I knew a lot, but at the same time in trying to form that answer I realized it was sort of a canned response. I know there are formative and summative assessments. I know that assessment should be timely and on-going. I know that assessment should give me feedback on what my students know, what they don’t know, and what my next steps in teaching should be. There are good assessments and not good assessments. Valid and invalid may be a better way to say that. There are many different kinds of assessments as well. Tests of all kinds; multiple choice, short answer, essay, performance, hands on, standardized, etc. In assessment there is a difference between standards based assessment vs. traditional percentage based assessments. This an area that I identified that I struggle in especially when trying to take former percentage based assessments and make them standards based. Leveling of questions, weighting questions or assessments (quizzes vs. weekly tests vs. unit tests) are all very difficult to do and an area that I wanted to grow in.

I began by asking myself, “What do I want my students to learn?” This first critical question can be answered by starting at the standards. In my case, the CCSS for 3^rd grade math. I spent time reading and researching the standards that I wanted my students to meet. Additionally, I researched the National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) to find out what they have determined as the key learnings for 3^rd grade math. In my research of the NCTM standards I was pleased to find that NCTM has adopted the CCSS as their standards as well. In addition, they have published a resource for teachers and administrators to aid in the implementation of the CCSS in schools. This book titled Principles in Action, “Builds on NCTM’s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and supports implementation of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics to attain much higher levels of mathematics achievement for all students.” NCTM also issued the following statement regarding the CCSS – “The widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) presents an unprecedented opportunity for systemic improvement in mathematics education in the United States.”  — NCTM CCSSM Position Statement     Module 1

After I determined the standards my students should be achieving I asked myself, “How will I know when my students have learned it?” To answer this question I looked to the tests themselves, the rubrics, and scoring guides. What information would these assessments give me? What standards were they testing and to what learning level – Knowledge, Reasoning, Skill, or Product. In order to track their learning and determine that my students had met the standards I used portfolios. I questioned how I might authentically use portfolios in the teaching of my unit. I had to decide what kind of portfolio would best demonstrate assessment for student learning and would work best with my learning targets for the unit covered in the exam. The type of portfolio that I believed would work best for my unit was the growth portfolio. The key statement from our reading that helped me choose this portfolio was, “The student writes a self-reflection to summarize growth: ‘Here’s how far I’ve come and here’s what I know and can do now that I couldn’t before’ or ‘I used to.., but now I…” (Stiggins, et. al, 2012) Since I was using a learning target tracking sheet in my unit and each day students would be demonstrating achievement of the daily learning target and documenting their own growth and learning, turning this into a portfolio with artifacts to also document their growth toward the overall learning targets, seemed like a natural progression.

The evidence we collected in the pre-assessment gave us baseline data and information students needed to track their learning and growth. This helped them answer the statement, “I used to…, but now I…” Next, we collected each of the formative assessment quizzes that we took during the unit (quick checks). Those quizzes ensured a representative sample of student work because they were done independently, teacher corrected, and spread out over the course of the unit. Those represented “typical work” of the students as many of the questions are similar to our daily work which students had been learning and practicing with. I also had my students self-select one artifact from their daily work that they felt showed progress and growth toward their learning targets. Particularly if they did poorly on a quiz for that learning target, but they had work to show they had made growth.  Module 3

All of these forms of assessment and the rich data they provide gave me the ability to determine if my students had met the standards I was teaching them. This data also allowed me to know when a student didn’t meet the standard and prompted me to ask myself, “How will I respond when some students do not learn it?” Without Pre-assessment – knowing where my students begin, Formative assessment – knowing where my students are along the way, and Summative assessment – knowing my students learned and met the standards, I can’t answer that third critical question and develop an intervention plan to meet each student’s needs in the standards they have still not mastered.

Finally, pre-assessment is the way to determine if my students already know and have met the standards. I used that assessment data to save precious instruction time from being wasted teaching them something they already knew and created an enrichment program to challenge and deepen their working knowledge of the standards.

My Final Lesson and Assessment Plans,  3rd Grade enVision Topic 03 Assessment with highlights, 3rd Grade enVision Topic 04 Assessment with highlights,  all show the culmination of my learning in Teacher Leader Standard 11. In my future work as a principal, I am excited to share this working knowledge with my staff as we use assessments and data to set student growth goals and continuous improvement (CIP) goals for our school. Learning and doing the work myself I believe has provided me with more than a book knowledge, but has moved me into a working skill and product level of learning where I am now ready to teach and lead others in this standard. My principal has supported this work by providing training and consistent time solely dedicated to PLC work. Those are two things I want to take forward to my staff as well.

 

References:
Arter, Judith; Chappuis, Jan; Chappuis, Steve; Stiggins, Rick. (2011) Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right, Using It Well. Pearson,

Charles, Randall I., Janet H. Caldwell, and Mary Cavanaugh. EnVisionMath Common Core. Glenview, IL: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.

Common Core State Standards http://www.corestandards.org/.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos?landing_page=Common+Core+Landing+Page&gclid=CMjDvoiQ6LACFaQaQgodglZ-xg.

Jacobs, Heidi Hayes. Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2010. Print.
Marzano, Robert. (2009) Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading: Classroom Strategies That Work. Solution Tree

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics – http://www.nctm.org/

O’Connor, Ken. (2009) How to Grade for Learning, K-12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin

Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s website for Washington state http://www.k12.wa.us/Curriculuminstruct/

Stiggins, Richard J., Judith A. Arter, Jan Chappuis, and Stephen Chappuis. Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right — Using It Well. Upper Saddle River,       NJ: Pearson Education, 2007. Print.

Wiggins, Grant P., and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2005. Print.

EDU 6528: Individual Reflection

“…Teaching also involves complex choices about difficult problems that, if left unaddressed, often escalate. A different type of thinking is needed to address such choices. Tough choices call for teacher to engage in sophisticated reflection – including self-reflection.” (Danielson, 2009)

I chose for this individual reflection to keep both a “sticky note” journal in my plan book and a written journal of the overarching ideas of the week. I felt that the sticky notes which I took directly after a lesson would capture my immediate thoughts and reactions for that lesson, while the more detailed and time-intensive journal would allow me the time and space to truly reflect on my practice and provide next steps. After looking at the various methods I felt that this would be the easiest way to capture my thoughts in real time. It is hard to remember details if you wait too long and I knew that would be a key to learning for me.

The beginning of the project went relatively smoothly. Following each lesson I would record positives (+), negatives (-), and next steps for future practice. Then at the end of the day I would reflect on the notes I took on each lesson and write my further reflections, thoughts, ideas, and next steps that were not already documented. I utilized the 4-Step reflection process for my journal portion as detailed in the text. This idea of individual reflection dates back to the work of Dewey in 1933. He suggested, “Reflection begins with a dilemma. Effective teachers suspend making conclusions about a dilemma in order to gather information, study the problem, gain new knowledge, and come to a sound decision. This deliberate contemplation brings about new learning.” (Danielson, 2009) The dilemma I was having is that my lesson pacing seemed rushed and I was struggling to get to my closing activities and implement them with any fidelity. I was hoping through the reflection process that the “why” this was happening would be clear to me.

At first, to be honest, this seemed like another tedious act that would not provide much impact for the amount of work it was taking, but quickly, I realized I was wrong. Each lesson that I reflected on, asking myself the What?, Why?, So What?, and Now What? Questions, I saw easy changes that I could make immediately. I realized things about my students that I had not known before and I would come into the next lesson that day with a different mindset and drive. I discussed some of these observation with my grade level team and one realization we made was that my class this year is very young compared to the other groups of third graders. My students have later birthdays with many in the spring and three of them just turning eight this September, where most of their peers are turning nine during this school year. This observation was clearly linked to the dilemma I was having. This group needs many more examples, visuals, and hands on learning opportunities than my third graders needed last year.

This is an example of “deliberate thinking” which goes beyond just reflecting back on each lesson and having notes for future practice. While that is extremely worthwhile and enables me to plan better for next year and even for lessons for this current group. Deliberate thinking means, “An educator purposefully seeks more information than the immediate context provides by, for example, revisiting theory, talking with colleagues, interviewing students, or reviewing student records. The goal is to learn more to better understand the dilemma.” As the authors stated in Reflective Teaching to Improve Schools, “In preparation for future use, she makes changes in lesson immediately, not only to capture specific ideas that emerge but to document the reasons and thinking underlying the changes as well.” (York-Barr, Sommers, Ghere, & Montie, 2006) As far as addressing my original dilemma, some recurring issues stood out to me in my reflections. I was basically trying to do too much. By incorporating good teaching strategies, wait time, deeper questioning, and allowing for the extra processing time this group needs, I was trying to add too much content into a day. That is why I couldn’t get to that final and all important piece of my closing activity.

I decided to implement some changes right away. This week for science I used my reflection observations as I planned. For each lesson I took out one step and moved that to the next day. Then I added a lesson on Friday which is usually not a science day. Making a few simple switches to our schedule and finding the extra 45 minutes gave me time to complete all the teaching needed, slow down my pacing, and incorporate the closing activities. I saw that my students were less stressed and it seems that their learning has already been deepened. I was also less stressed and enjoyed the teaching much more! Clearly, the time it took to do the reflections was worth it and enabled me to actually make better use of time overall. This realization has made me see that reflecting on lessons and daily practice is not just something we should do as a student teacher or when we have a problem and want to solve it, but should be a part of my daily practice. A next step for me will be to incorporate students’ reflections into my closing activities and then use those comments as part of my own reflection process. Being intentional in reflection can only be a positive to myself and my students.

 

Danielson, Lana M. “Fostering Reflection.” Educational Leadership 66.5 (2009): Web. 1 Nov. 2014. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb09/vol66/num05/Fostering-Reflection.aspx&gt;.

York-Barr, Jennifer. Reflective Practice to Improve Schools: An Action Guide for Educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2006. Print.