Taking It All Home

Teaching at the Intersections, by Monita Bell explains how a female African-American student is only seen for her academic short comings despite the fact that her success is being halted by the need for her to be a caregiver to her younger siblings while her parents work. Her lack of privilege and her adult responsibilities make it impossible for her to be on time for school or get her work done. Bell states, "Multiplied oppressions accompany her particular combination of identities." She is expected to put the well-being of her siblings ahead of herself. If teachers would take the time to understand more than just what they see, perhaps they could find a way to help her succeed. Would they be more willing to dig a little deeper if she were white? If she were male?

Watching 5 Tips for Being a Good Ally helped put a lot of things in perspective. Step one is understanding your privilege. While I am aware that this is something I still need to work on, and will continue to work on for the rest of my life, this is a new concept to me. Like I had written in previous blogs, I hadn't thought of myself as having power. I grew up lower middle class/working poor. I have been homeless. I have gone to bed with a hungry belly so that my brother could eat and extra helping of dinner. I have worked for everything that I have, and I wouldn't change that. It was not until learning about social justice that I realized that while yes, there were times that I struggled or that my family as a whole struggled, I was able to overcome a great deal of that likely do to my privilege. I am White, straight, cis female. I did not have the same hurdles to clear that a Black female or even a White gay male may have had. 

Step two and four also stood out to me. 2. Listen and do your homework. Even after this course ends, I intend to continue reading about privilege and power to remind me to keep mine in check. 4. You will make mistakes - apologize when you do. When I think back about reading Colorblindness is the New Racism,  I remember being afraid to speak up. What if I use the wrong terms? What if I offend someone? This class has taught me to try. Try to say what I am thinking. Try to speak up. If you don't know the proper term, ask. The only way to do better is to try! I came across this article, 6 Ways to Respectfully Be a Better LGBTQ Ally and one of the lines that stuck out to me was:

"Get comfortable with being uncomfortable."

Language and Power

 I watched the first three episodes of "Teaching Bilinguals Even If You Are Not One." Prior to taking this course, I hadn't thought about how educators would teach bilingual students if they did not speak the students' native languages. I think I had mentioned it in another blog post, but I had never even thought about how I would communicate with a student visiting the health office if he or she didn't speak English. Someone in our class had asked me and the question caught me completely off guard. Having had time to think about it, I could use a communication board or a translator (such as google). I am in the process of moving my office back to our school's original building which has been under construction. I plan to incorporate a multilingual communication board into my new office in the fall and I am excited to make it over the summer. 

As for the videos, I loved the graphic novel that the students created. What an excellent and creative way to help them learn another language while allowing them to embrace their native language and heritage and express themselves. 

I felt bad reading Richard Rodriguez's "Aria." By gaining confidence in his English and allowing the author to find his public identity, he lost his connection with his family. There has to be a way to learn another language without sacrificing relationships with those closest to you. I find it amazing that Richards parents were able to practice their English with him, but his teachers were not willing to accommodate him by allowing him to use his native language. If he was able to use his Spanish in school, as teachers in the "Teaching Bilinguals Even If You Are Not One" demonstrated, perhaps his relationships with his parents would not have been so strained. They gave up their closeness to ensure he succeeded in a very American world. This brings me back to Leslie Grinner's "SCWAMP". He had to conform to gain any power. 

I found "Teaching Multilingual Children," by Virginia Collier to be very insightful. Educators can use students' home languages and cultures to promote a better understanding of the English language, rather than use English to replace their primary language. Allow students to use words they are familiar with, especially when learning new concepts. This would help to avoid issues like Richard encountered, where his parents became alienated because he was no longer able to use their primary language to talk to them. Embrace and encourage differences. People are not made from cookie cutters!

22 Things Educators Can Do NOW to Support Multilingual Learners

Article Summaries

Race and Respect Among Young Children: One Teacher’s Journey
Written by Rita Tenorio

The author teaches children just like you. One day in her class, a little girl was almost in tears because another student called her a mean name based on the color of her skin. He thought she would not say anything to the teacher and he could get away with it. He was wrong. Words we say to others can be very hurtful. Our words matter to our classmates. We can’t pretend that everyone is exactly the same, but the things that make each of us different should not be seen as bad things. The teacher realized that she had to figure out how to teach children to embrace, or support their differences in her classroom, rather than ignore them. When children said naughty things based on how a child looks or acts in her class, she used it as an example to teach why we don’t do that.



“Colorblindness is the New Racism”
Written by Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman

Some people have more power than others. Sometimes, people with power don't even know they have it. How we look can change the amount of power we have. White people tend to have more power and often say they are “colorblind,” meaning they don’t see that other people look different from them. Pretending differences are not there doesn’t make everyone the same. “Color insight” gives us a better way to think by having us see that we can have differences and still be equal. It is okay to notice other people's differences, but not to treat them a certain way because of those differences. 

Going to School - Ir a la Esquela

Richard Cohen's film, Going to School ~ Ir a la Esquela, shines light on the treatment and segregation of students with disabilities. One of the topics that struck me was when we see Ruben's mother going to an IEP meeting. I am assuming the woman she is speaking to is Sonia because that is who's office they are meeting in. Sonia does not seem to know what the meeting is for, and no one bothered to inform Ruben's mother that his teacher, a key member of the IEP team was out for the day!

        Sonia: "The I.E.P. I have is for assisted technology. That is the reason they called you, right?"
        Mom:  "That and the evaluation too."
        Sonia:  "What do you want to do mam? Do you prefer another appointment?"
        Mom:  "I prefer to meet with all the people who should be here."

HELLO!!! Doesn't that go without saying?!?!
I have so many questions!

Where is the principal? Why did the technology woman leave if that was what the meeting was originally intended for? If obtaining a report from her was going to take several days, why was that not completed prior to the scheduled meeting? What were they planning to discuss then? Why did the nurse not know where the meeting was going to be held? If Ruben is having increased secretions and requires additional assistance, why would Sonia think it would be acceptable to have him continue on the bus for the next four weeks without assistance? Why is everything that is being said not being translated for the mom? How can she advocate for her son properly if she doesn't even have all of the information? 

It bothered me to see how segregated some of the special education students were. In the video, we see a teacher explaining that people only pass through the special education hall when they are coming in or going out of the building. Richard Cohen states, "There is a tendency to think of special education as a place, rather than services." One of the mothers responds, "No. Services. Because you can give those services virtually anywhere." Inclusion needs to be normalized. 

The video ends with this quote: "The promise of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act will become a reality when parents know their rights and exercise them." That is incredibly true. 

Woke Read Aloud and Gender Identity

I loved this! I was sitting on the couch watching the video on my phone  asked my 4 year old, Oliver, to join me. He was so excited to do homework with mommy. He had so many questions. I was amazed at how comfortable he was asking them and that he was completely accepting of the answers. 

• Mommy, what is a pronoun?
• What is tree? (To be honest, this one was new to me too.)
• Why do girls not want to be 'she'?
• What do you like to be called?
• What am I?

I told him that my preferred pronouns are she/her/hers. He insisted on calling me "SHE" for the rest of the night. 

• She, can I have a treat?
• Good night, She.
• I love you, She.

Well, that's not quite how pronouns work, but I was happy he was listening to what I was saying and respecting my wishes. I explained that he gets to choose whatever pronouns make him feel happy, just as Ki had said in the video. I then asked what he would like to be called.  (Click the link below.)

     OLIVER     

We ended up watching a couple other videos together. It was a great teaching moment... for both of us. 

I also read through the Guidance for RI Schools on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students.  According to the guidance:

Some students may feel uncomfortable with a transgender student using the same sex-segregated restroom, locker room or changing facility. This discomfort is not a reason to deny access to the transgender student. School administrators and counseling staff should work with students to foster understanding of gender identity and to create a school culture that respects and values all students. Schools could consider gender-neutral restrooms and/or gender-neutral changing facility in the design of new schools and school renovations.

I appreciate that RIDE is encouraging schools to create an inclusive environment where children can understand and accept others' gender identities. This should be something that is taught, not only in school, but also at home. I look forward to the class discussion this week. I think it is safe to assume there will be some varying opinions. 

 

Rethinking Schools

 

"Race and Respect Among Young Children"
By Rita Tenorio

While reading the article, "Race and Respect Among Young Children," I imagined the scenarios that Tenorio described happening in my school setting. I questioned how I would respond to young student's racial "put-downs" and how the issue could be avoided all together. Honestly, I didn't have answers readily available, which I found disturbing. In the article, a young white male calls a young black female "Brownski." The author explains that the boy expected to get a reaction and he "counted on the power of his light skin to win the argument. He hadn't counted on Angela speaking out." Even in kindergarten, this boy was aware of the culture of power. He knew that being a white male awarded him power within his classroom similar to the dominant ideology described by Grinner in the S.C.W.A.M.P model.

Bob Peterson and Rita Tenorio.
Two of the original founders of Rethinking Schools at the 25th anniversary celebration

Tenorio states, "In my 20 years of teaching I have learned that, contrary to what adults often believe, young children are not 'colorblind.' Instead, they have an unstated but nonetheless sophisticated understanding of issues of race and power." It is evident that colorblindness perpetuates racist behaviors in children. "Researchers have found that between the ages of 2 and 5, children not only become aware of racial differences, but begin to make judgements based on that awareness"(Tenorio.) If we don't teach children that it is acceptable, or better yet encouraged to recognize and appreciate differences between themselves and their peers, then they will likely continue point out and focus on differences in a negative manner. I began to think about the TEACH OUT project and wonder if there was something that I could do to help children end colorblindness. How can we teach color insight to our youth? For additional details on my project, see my previous blog post: Teach Out Final Project - Theory in Practice: COLOR INSIGHT for Children.

After reading about Tenorio's journey as a teacher and finding the information so relevant, I went back to look at when it was written. I was appalled to see that the article was written in 1994. Have we not made any progress in teaching our youth equity and social justice in the last 29 years?

Teach Out Final Project - Theory in Practice

COLOR

 INSIGHT for Children  

“Colorblindness is the New Racism” by Armstrong and Wildman shook me to my core. I have always stood behind the “facts” that we are all created equally and our outsides don’t matter. I was proud of my stance on the issue. As a small child, I can remember my father saying things like, “I am not prejudice, but…” and “I am not a racist, I work with a (insert derogatory term here),” but yet, when a Black child came home from school with my sister, we had to eat off plastic utensils. I was eight when that happened and it was then that I made the conscious decision that I was not going to be like him! I was going to accept people and treat everyone equally. “Colorblindness is the New Racism” made me realize that colorblindness is not the answer to eradicating racism. According to Armstrong and Wildman, “Color insight serves to promote equality and emphasize nondiscrimination among races.” Acknowledging our differences and focusing on each other's strengths is a much better practice than pretending everyone is the same. 

In the Rethinking Schools article I chose, “Race and Respect Among Young Children,” author Tenorio states, “Researchers have found that between the ages of 2 and 5, children not only become aware of racial differences but begin to make judgments based on that awareness.”

For this project, I intend to TEACH OUT color insight to four and five year-olds. My goal is to have children acknowledge similarities and differences in a group of items, such as construction trucks, while highlighting that each truck has a job to do and is an important member of the crew, just like each race is an integral part of society. I plan to use colorful images and 3D models of trucks to help keep the focus of the children. Once the children have a basic understanding of the concept, I will then tie it back to race using additional images.