Culture or Chaos in the Village: The Journey to Cultural Fluency

Culture or Chaos in the Village The Journey to Cultural Fluency Edited by Ursula Thomas Published in partnership with...

Author: Ursula Thomas

58 downloads 458 Views 1MB Size Report

This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form

DOWNLOAD PDF

Culture or Chaos in the Village The Journey to Cultural Fluency

Edited by Ursula Thomas

Published in partnership with the Association of Teacher Educators

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD EDUCATION

A division of ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

Lanham • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

10_546_Thomas.indb i

10/27/10 11:07 AM

Published in partnership with the Association of Teacher Educators Published by Rowman & Littlefield Education A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmaneducation.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2011 by Ursula Thomas All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Culture or chaos in the village : the journey to cultural fluency / edited by Ursula Thomas. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-60709-924-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-925-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Learning, Psychology of. 2. Urban schools—United States. 3. Minority students— United States. I. Thomas, Ursula, 1972– BF318.C85 2011 371.1—dc22 2010037875 ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America

10_543_Thomas.indb ii

10/28/10 5:44 AM

The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. —Audre Lorde

10_546_Thomas.indb iii

10/27/10 11:07 AM

10_546_Thomas.indb iv

10/27/10 11:07 AM

Contents

Preface

vii

Acknowledgments

ix

1

Racial Identity Development: You Are Here!

1

Ursula Thomas

2

Mediation Framework and Teacher Education Dynamics

13

Ursula Thomas

3

Brown Girl in the Ring

27

Ursula Thomas

4

5

6

7

The Three Rs: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic or Race, Relationship, and Reflection Janet Strickland and Ursula Thomas

35

But They Don’t Speak English: Mapping Out How We Teach Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners Hema Ramanathan

63

The State of School-Based Speech-Language Pathology in Teacher Education: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Karen Harris

79

Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way: Cultural Mediation, Social Justice, and Educational Leadership Noelle Witherspoon

87

v

10_546_Thomas.indb v

10/27/10 11:07 AM

vi

8

9

Contents

Are We There Yet? Culture, Communication, and Relationship: Making It to the Village Ursula Thomas

103

The Family Reunion: Community and the Journey

109

Ursula Thomas

10

Pardon the Policy: Unpacking the Standards

117

Ursula Thomas

Appendix A Cultural Mediation and Leadership Questionnaire

127

Appendix B Assignments / Tools to Surface Culture

129

Appendix C Charting Family Relationships

135

Appendix D Multimedia Resources Database

137

About the Editor and Contributors

143

10_546_Thomas.indb vi

10/27/10 11:07 AM

Preface

This book was written in response to my research about cultural mediation in the early childhood classroom. I sought to examine the relationship between teacher knowledge and developmentally appropriate practice in the context of the urban kindergarten classroom. After finding that the teachers in the study culturally mediate their instruction for their students, I wondered, “How do they learn this and who taught them how to do this?” I felt it was a constructive behavioral adjustment as well as culturally responsive in most of the cases. I started to mull over how we as teacher educators could attempt to harness, synthesize, and replicate this set of behaviors and disposition. I humbly ask that you (the reader) consider this wonderful opportunity to assist in furthering the “courageous conversation.” In a time when others see teacher education as “irrelevant,” this text will heighten our ability to critically selfexamine and make our work public. The motivation for reading this book is to learn how to create and/or examine critical issues about culture and beliefs, and how they influence perceptions of how diverse learners experience learning. This book motivates readers to examine, rather uncomfortably, their own biases about instructional choices in the context of culture in classrooms. The situated context for this discussion is within teacher education classrooms. This book seeks to provide a framework for examination of the factors that influence mediation of culture in the minds of teachers. The text moves in a manner that sets the tone for a courageous conversation. Each chapter starts with a brief research base or theory for a hook, and then extends the conversation from there. It ends with a practical applications component that is user friendly and encourages the reader to explore vii

10_546_Thomas.indb vii

10/27/10 11:07 AM

viii

Preface

reflective behaviors. The applications are appropriate for individuals and small groups. This book is an extension of my dissertation research. I found conclusively that teachers of color culturally mediate instruction for children of color in data-driven schools in an urban school district. The implications for teacher educators from this study lead to further questions about how mediation takes place with preservice teachers and graduate students in teacher education programs across the United States. I was also curious as to what happens with mediation in discrete programs in education like educational leadership and speech pathology. The research from this book results from countless hours spent researching and interviewing teacher educators and teacher education students, and examining the dynamics and volatility of classroom instruction.

10_546_Thomas.indb viii

10/27/10 11:07 AM

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the contributing authors, Noelle Witherspoon, Karen Harris, Hema Ramanathan, and Janet Strickland. A special thank you to Allison Lutton and Wylma Blanding as well. I would like to acknowledge the following institutions: Alabama State University, the University of West Georgia Prekindergarten, and the University of Alabama. I would also like to acknowledge the organizations that have supported me in my research of teacher education: the National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Association of Multicultural Education, Georgia Association of Teacher Educators, National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, and the National Black Child Development Institute. Finally, yet importantly, I would like to thank the late Dr. Asa Hilliard, III, Dr. Lisa Delpit, my sister Undriss Thomas, and the Harris and Everett families for their encouragement. With all the love in my heart, I would like to thank my son, Julian Christopher Thomas Fitts, for making me better at teaching “other people’s children.”

ix

10_546_Thomas.indb ix

10/27/10 11:07 AM

10_546_Thomas.indb x

10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter One

Racial Identity Development You Are Here! Ursula Thomas

Many times, as an avid shopper and traveler, I may get lost or as I call it, “turned around.” My pride tells me that instinct will lead the way, just follow my gut. Common sense then rules that out and says find a kiosk or map with a legend that tells me where I am so that I can get where I am going. In all actuality, though my pride is not happy about this, I feel a sense of security when I know where I am. This is true, even if I am not familiar with where I may be. This kiosk or map gives me the ability to make a plan or plot a course to my destination. There is a small sense of control that reduces my anxiety level and provides focus. Our journey in examining who we really are, who framed us, and how we are perceived is similar to the “you are here” experience. That journey ultimately begins with who we think we are. In the Western world, this journey often begins with race and who we “think” we are. Let us not be naive and think we are all “Americans” and that is the end of the story. Our history, socioeconomic issues, state of public education, and political milieu are a glaring reminder that it is not that simple. Given the heritage of the country’s forefathers, the people who were here first, and the people who were brought to this country via the slave trade, it is imperative that we examine white privilege via racial identity development.

HELMS’S THEORY OF WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY Let us go through and review the stages of White racial identity development and the stages of non-White racial identity development that originally were devised by Janet Helms (1990). Be mindful that Helms uses the terms White and non-White. For the sake of continuity in this text, the author interprets 1

10_546_Thomas.indb 1

10/27/10 11:07 AM

2

Ursula Thomas

White as the dominant culture of White Americans (European Americans) and Jewish Americans (by ethnic origin). The author also interprets non-Whites to include people of color in major ethnic categories of Arab and Middle Eastern Americans, Black Americans (African Americans, African immigrants, Afro-Caribbeans, etc.), Asian Americans (Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Japanese Americans, Pacific Islander Americans, etc.), Hispanic and Latino Americans (Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans in the United States, Cuban Americans, etc.), Multiracial Americans, and Native Americans (American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, etc.). This becomes even more discrete as the chapters unfold for its specific purpose. For Whites, the stages are contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudoindependence, immersion/emersion, and autonomy. The term non-White is the term used by the researcher to explain her theory. This term, on the outset, may seem divisive to some audiences, but to remove that term in this chapter would disturb the integrity of reporting the researcher’s theory. For the rest of the text, the authors will use the phrase “people of color or people of diverse backgrounds.” As well, specific cultural groups will be referred to during discussions, case studies, and end of chapter activities. The author has chosen to include Cross’s theory of racial identity development as well as Helms’s. More research has indicated that the Black identity model developed by Cross is more accommodating and encompasses Asian, Latino/a, and Native American identity formation (Highlen et al., 1988; Phinney, 1990, cited in Tatum, 1992). For the purposes of this text, the author has chosen to amend Cross’s stages to include other diverse cultures (Tatum, 1992): Preencounter: The diverse cultural group has grasped many of the beliefs and values of the dominant White culture, including the impression that “White is right” and “culture of color is wrong.” Though the internalization of destructive diverse culture stereotypes may be outside of his or her deliberate awareness, the individual seeks to conform and be received by Whites, and aggressively or submissively distances himself or herself from other diverse cultures. Encounter: This phase is characteristically triggered by an incident or series of incidents that compels the individual to recognize the influence of racism in one’s life. For example, an occasion of social denunciation by White acquaintances or colleagues may lead the individual to the conclusion that many Whites will not view him or her as an equal. Confronted with the actuality that he or she cannot in all honesty be White, the individual is forced to concentrate on his or her identity as a member of a group besieged by racism.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Racial Identity Development

3

Immersion/Emersion: This stage is typified by the concurrent desire to surround oneself with obvious signs of one’s racial identity and an active evasion of symbols of Whiteness. As individuals go through the Immersion stage, they keenly seek out opportunities to explore views of their own history and culture with the reinforcement of peers from their own racial background. Typically, White-focused anger disperses during this period because so much of the person’s vigor is directed toward his or her own group and self-discovery. The result of this exploration is a budding security in a recently defined and avowed awareness of self. Internalization: While still preserving his or her connections with diverse culture peers, the internalized individual is willing to launch meaningful relationships with Whites who acknowledge and are respectful of his or her selfdefinition. The individual is also prepared to develop alliances with members of additionally oppressed groups. Internalization/Commitment: Those at the fifth stage have found practices to translate their “personal sense of diverse into a design of action or a universal sense of commitment” to the concerns of the specific culture as a group, which is perpetual over time (Cross, 1991, p. 220). Whether at the fourth or fifth stage, the process of Internalization allows the individual, affixed in a positive sense of racial identity, both to perceive and go beyond race proactively. Janet Helms (1990) has developed a theory of dominant member cultural awareness that helps explain how the dominant group, by merit of its manipulation of the economic and cultural magnitude of our society, diametrically and unfavorably affects marginalized groups—and itself in a roundabout way. Dominant member cultural awareness proceeds through five stages starting with the contact stage, in which dominant group members are conscious of the existence of marginalized group members, but they do not view themselves as racial beings; they tend to take for granted that racial and cultural differences are trivial. Next is the disintegration stage, in which dominant group members concede that prejudice and discrimination exist. Culpability or some form of guilt may materialize as racial and cultural differences become more apparent, and dominant group members may either recoil to the contact stage or overidentify with the marginalized. In the reintegration stage, dominant group members hold responsible the victim (marginalized members) for producing their own problems. They belittle marginalized groups and believe dominant group members are sufferers of reverse discrimination. In the fourth stage, pseudoindependence, Helms believes dominant group members accept marginalized group members at a conceptual level and


10/27/10 11:07 AM

4

Ursula Thomas

Figure 1.1.

become interested in understanding racial and cultural differences. Connections will tend to be with marginalized group members who appear to be similar to oneself. Lastly, in the autonomy stage, dominant group members become knowledgeable about racial and cultural similarities while acknowledging, regarding, and grasping both marginalized and dominant group members.

HELMS’S THEORY OF NON-WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY For non-Whites, the stages are preencounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, and internalization.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


5

Preencounter: In this stage, the person is programmed to view and think of the world from a European American frame of reference as he or she thinks, acts, and behaves in ways that devalue Blackness. The individual in this stage considers race as a minor component of personal identity. The person also denies and devalues anything Black and feelings of self-hatred may arise. In addition, a person of color in the preencounter stage concedes the White culture as the prevailing culture, and renounces the subsistence of racism (Parham & Helms, 1985). Encounter: The individual abandons old points of view due to a shocking personal or social event, such as having been deprived of access, or viewing a noteworthy member of their own race assassinated (e.g., Malcolm X) for a Black issue or cause. The individual’s self-image is shaken, and he or she begins to examine his or her outlook about race. He or she realizes that the worldview of racism is inappropriate. The individual then begins to delve into aspects of a fresh identity, and starts to value Afrocentricity. The person then begins to transition toward greater accessibility to new conceptualizations of identity. Immersion/Emersion: The person makes an effort to eradicate all old perspectives. The person experiences psychological and physical withdrawal. At this stage, the individual also has general anger toward Whites, where he or she may display that anger. He or she also idealizes Afrocentricity (i.e., high levels of “Blackness”), and becomes immersed in Black cultural experiences (e.g., joins sociopolitical organizations or attends think tank sessions that focus on Black issues). The person’s ideology is that everything of value must be Black or relevant to Afrocentricity, and everything White or pertinent to Whiteness is undervalued. Internalization: This stage exemplifies a resolution of racial identity conflicts. The person internally acquires a better admiration for the Black selfidentity, as well as an awareness of inner confidence with his or her Afrocentricity. The person experiences a decline in anti-White feelings, where he or she is no longer generalizing anger toward all Whites. The person at this stage also comes across serenity, and is adaptable in his or her ideas or thinking. This theory is graphically organized to provide a visual sense of what Helms constructs, as shown in appendix C.

HELMS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS It is imperative that a critique of Helms’s theory is offered in conjunction with the issues of teacher education and students. First, we must consider that treating development as a constraint for learning has been a psychological framework tradition. Educators should demand revamped educational and professional


10/27/10 11:07 AM

6

Ursula Thomas

investigative practices. We must be cognizant that both development and progress are notions based on an underlying recognition of what is good. It may be that psychology’s attempt to be quantitative and value neutral has led education to duplicate this so-called objective scientific approach, notwithstanding that in education participants are subjects first and only marginally objects (of pedagogical actions). Education deals with prescription, not description, and is primarily concerned with “how people can best be enabled to reach a particular, explicitly described end-state of educational maturity” (Parham & Helms, 1985). The problem with “development” emerges when we try to disguise these values as common sense or universal (natural) norms. School is fundamentally a site for social design, and while these designs may differ widely, they are strikingly similar in sharing the value-laden and social goal of “designing human kinds” (Matusov, DePalma & Drye, 2007). We must also acknowledge that “whites cannot disavow whiteness.” A White person may choose not to avail herself of her privileges, but she remains eligible for those privileges even if she “work[s] hard to avoid them” (p. 17). For structural or material theorists, what matters is how the system functions to serve Whites even without their knowledge or consent (Alcoff, 1998). Many teachers are faced with limited understanding of diverse cultures and linguistic patterns other than their own, and the possibility exists that this limitation will negatively affect their students’ abilities to become successful learners (Montgomery, 2001). This is inclusive of preservice teachers as well. According to Bell (2002), most White teachers still graduate with very little knowledge about other cultural groups or about their own racial socialization. Moreover, White preservice teachers have been found to have negative attitudes toward American subcultures, in fact, even more negative than those of their predecessors over the last sixty years (Cooney & Akintunde, 1999; Finkel & Bollin, 1994; Sirota & Bailey, 2009). This leads to an affirmative assumption that many of our White preservice teachers finishing teacher education programs are overwhelmingly still in Helms’s contact-to-disintegration stages. This is supported by the fact that fewer preservice teachers, however well intentioned, challenge their invisible privileges as members of the White middle class (McIntosh, 1988; Sleeter, 1992) and their conscious and tacit assumptions about race and racism (Bell, 2002). We have also made the affirmative assumption that Helms’s stages or schemas are linear as we have in the field of education with other theories of development. This White racial identity theory was then used to construct the White Racial Attitude Identity Scale (WRAIS), which measures each of these statuses


10/27/10 11:07 AM


7

(later called schemas) (Helms, 1990; Helms and Carter, 1990). The WRIAS was designed to measure Whites’ progression from an abandonment of racism to a positive, nonracist White identity (Helms, 1990). While individuals can have various combinations of these schemas, there is an underlying assumption that the schemas do progress from racism to antiracism. This may not be consistent in all cases. How can teacher educators encourage students to determine their own stages of development? Classroom activities that require students to assess their own values and cultures may stimulate disequilibrium and resistance among some students. Such activities are located at the end of this chapter. Let us be mindful that resistance may take the form of comments to the effect that talk of various cultures emphasizes differences and division, rather than similarities and unity. Further, they may say, such discussion concentrates attention on groups to the exclusion of individuals. The instructor and other students may counter with the idea that an understanding of culture facilitates an understanding of individuals. We cannot possibly understand the thought processes of others until we are able to examine our own, which is uncomfortable at best. In the teacher-education classroom, that begins with finding out where we are right here and right now. Some of us are farther along in our journey than others. That still does not mean that we cannot journey on together. This includes learning how to follow as well as lead. Students may lead teachers and vice versa. In reviewing Helms’s theory of racial identity development, think of it as a map with progressions. Where do you mark the “you are here” spot?

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES The survey in table 1.1 was created by the Center for Cultural Fluency. Complete this survey and use it as a discussion tool or for reflection.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Why would knowing where you are be personally important to you? 2. What are the challenges in finding where you are based on Helms’s theory?


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Table 1.1.

ASSESSMENT FOR CULTURAL FLUENCY Race: Age: Gender: For each item identified below, circle the number to the right that best fits your judgment of its quality. Use the scale above to select the quality number. Extremely

Not at all

Description/Identification of Survey Item

1. How comfortable are you with talking about your cultural background?

1

2

3

4

5

2. How comfortable are you with asking others about their culture?

1

2

3

4

5

3. How aware are you of biased attitudes in yourself, in your colleagues, and in our society?

1

2

3

4

5

4. How comfortable are you with addressing issues of prejudice, intolerance, and conflict that arise in your daily life?

1

2

3

4

5

5. How comfortable are you with exploring the diverse places within your own community?

1

2

3

4

5

6. How committed are you in your own journey toward cultural fluency?

1

2

3

4

5

7. How open are you to introducing multicultural themes and resources into your classroom?

1

2

3

4

5

8. How ready are you to use: • Community resources • Museums • Books • Videos • Art work • Music

1

2

3

4

5

9. How aware are you of where to get help with multicultural resources?

1

2

3

4

5

10. How much do you know about your county’s or city’s cultural resources?

1

2

3

4

5

11. Did you learn about your own heritage from your family?

1

2

3

4

5

12. How much are you willing to admit that you use race or class privilege when it suits you?

1

2

3

4

5


10/27/10 11:07 AM


9

Case Scenario I am observing a White young female student teacher teach first graders about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks; the children knew more than she did and they corrected her definitions of lynching, boycotting, and segregation. There is one little Black girl who knows more about the movement than both the student teacher and the classroom teacher. Before class began, I overheard the grade-level teachers discuss this little girl and how knowledgeable she and her mother were. I observed that three little Black girls in this class were extremely vocal about the injustices toward Blacks by Whites; they were keenly aware of the terms “colored” and “for whites only.” The student teacher said that the water fountains were the same, just segregated. The “knowledgeable” young Black girl and the other two little girls corrected her, saying that they were dirty and the water was nasty. I watched as the student teacher completed her lesson and conference with me about her teaching and instructional choices. During her conference, she let me know that she was nervous but she enjoyed teaching her lesson. She said that some of her student teaching colleagues questioned her choice of stories and the vocabulary (words like “colored” and “Negro” and “lynching”). She said that she did not regret her choice of using nonfiction books or the vocabulary that accompanied them. However, I must admit that those three little Black girls dominated her discussion held during and after the story. Case Questions 1. 2. 3. 4.

What was she was thinking? Should she have questioned her choice? What would you have liked to ask this student teacher? What information would you have like to known that could better inform your response to the questions above (that was not in the case observation)?

Journal Questions 1. Where do you think you are and why? 2. If someone who knows you really well were to put you at the stage prior to the one you chose, what do you know about yourself that may confirm his or her choice? 3. You may be able to remember a time in your life when you were at a particular stage. Describe it in detail. 4. Write your philosophy of education. How could knowing where you are affect your philosophy of education?


10/27/10 11:07 AM

10

Ursula Thomas

Table 1.2. Impact statement/review Using this outline, support or defend a statement in the text that affected you. You may use your personal experiences or any research as support details. Proposition/Support Outline Topic:

Cultural Awareness

Proposition:

The construct of race is powerful because…

Support:

1. Childhood

2. Educational experiences

3. Community

4. Work Experiences

5. Other (religious, etc.)

REFERENCES Alcoff, L. M. (1998, Summer). What should white people do? (Special Issue: Border crossings: Multicultural and postcolonial feminist challenges to philosophy, part 2.) Hypatia, 13(3), 6–26. Retrieved from InfoTrack database (A21261712). Bell, L. (2002). Sincere fictions: The pedagogical challenges of preparing white teachers for multicultural classrooms. Equity and Excellence in Education, 35(3), 236–44. Cooney, M. H., & Akintunde, O. (1999). Confronting White privilege and colorblind paradigm in a teacher education program. Multicultural Education, 7(2), 9–14. Cross (1971, 1978, 1991) cited in B. D. Tatum (1992). Talking about race, learning about racism: The application of racial identity development theory in the classroom. Harvard Educational Review, 62(1), 1–24.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


11

Finkel, J., & Bollin, G. (1994). Integrating race, class & gender. Teaching Education, 6(2), 113–19. Geismar, K. & Nicoleau, G. (1993). Teaching for change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Helms, J. E. (1990). Black and White racial identity: Theory, research, and practice. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Helms, J. E., & Carter, R. T. (1990). Development of the White Racial Identity Scale. In J. E. Helms, (Ed.), Black and White racial identity: Theory, research, and practice. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Highlen, P., et al. (1988). Self-identity development model of oppressed people: Inclusive model for all? Symposium presented at the American Psychological Association Convention (Atlanta, GA, August 13). Matusov, E., DePalma, R., & Drye, S. (2007). Whose development? Salvaging the concept of development within a sociocultural approach to education. Educational Theory, 57(4), 403–21. McIntosh, P. (1988). White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women’s studies. (Working Paper No. 189.) Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College Center for Research on Women. Montgomery, W. (2001). Creating culturally responsive, inclusive classrooms. Teaching Exceptional Children, 33(4), 4–9. Olssen, M. (2008, February 1). Foucault as complexity theorist: Overcoming the problems of classical philosophical analysis. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 40(1), 96–117. Parham, T. A., & Helms, J. E. (1985). Relation of racial identity attitudes to selfactualization and affective states of Black students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 32, 431–40. Phinney, J. S. (1990). Ethnic identity in adolescents and adults: Review of research. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 499–514. Sirota, E., & Bailey, L. (2009). The impact of teachers’ expectations on diverse learners’ academic outcomes. Childhood Education, 85(4), 253. Sleeter, C. E. (1992). Keepers of the American dream: A study of staff development and multicultural education. Washington, DC: The Falmer Press. Tatum, B. D. (1992). Talking about race, learning about racism: The application of racial identity development theory in the classroom. Harvard Educational Review, 62(1), 1–24.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Two

Mediation Framework and Teacher Education Dynamics Ursula Thomas

Why bother making the case for examining cultural mediation? The sheer myriad of dynamic changes in demographics in our public schools gives us just cause. The data for these changes will be provided later in this chapter. It is also critical that we mention the ripple effect in the case of diverse learners and No Child Left Behind (NCLB). No Child Left Behind’s influence on referrals comes through two avenues: accountability and testing. Though the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) allows for testing with testing accommodations, NCLB has focused heavily on compliance and protocol. In this assessment and testing frenzy, language minority students have been underserved and inaccurately measured, as districts do not have the skilled professionals to administer assessment (NCLB, 2003). Research shows the connection between race and ethnicity and other variables for students’ position in special education classes. Variables such as language, poverty, assessment practices, systemic injustice, and professional development opportunities for teachers have been cited as features that play a role in disproportionate representation. The National Research Council (2002) reports that 20 percent of students in special education programs are of color, namely, African American. The council also conveys that Congress expressed its trepidation regarding the unbalanced representation of racial and ethnic minorities (IDEA, 1997). Congress also recognized the problems associated with misidentification and misclassification and called for amplified efforts to reduce the associated intensification of problems. If the education community wants to acknowledge the true challenges of educating diverse learners, including social capital and equity, the power of mediation must be explicitly recognized. Mediation is not an aside or 13


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Figure 2.1. 10_546_Thomas.indb 14

10/27/10 11:07 AM


15

by-product but a filter that alters the information or makes it value added. This value-added or mediated meaning is then disseminated into the masses. In this particular conversation, the masses refer to preservice teachers. An integral part of examining what goes on in the minds of teachers begins with looking at teachers in the beginning of their teacher preparation journey. There are many facets of the preservice teacher. Their makeup consists of what is seen as four major categories of essential knowledge bases: experiential belief, racial identity development, teacher preparation knowledge, and finally, future learning experiences with others. In mapping the journey to cultural fluency, we have to take a risk and map the subject. Why do I mention the word risk? Pile and Thrift (1995, p. 25) share that “there is always difficulty and risk in mapping something that is always on the move, culturally.” In this conversation, the context of “teacher” is mapped as a subject through the actions of the physical self and subjectivity; instructional practices that are viewed as natural by way of location, choice, encounters, and visual interpretation. Mapping refers to not only the individual but also the space that appears on the map that charts the journey for cultural fluency. That space, uncharted by stagnant norms, created “for others by others,” is an actual space where identity plays hide-and-seek, breaks and cracks, tears and bonds. Let us now take this information and correlate it with the terrain of knowledge bases and facets.

BELIEF SYSTEMS AND THE TEACHER To be clear in what comprise the knowledge categories I will share examples of each facet. The experiential belief system includes prior/personal knowledge like past education experiences and cultural (community) experiences. Racial identity development, as defined in chapter 1, is essentially how race is fashioned to represent a person or group of people. The teacher preparation facet includes the teacher education experience through coursework (foundations and methods courses) and field experiences—placements, observations, student teaching. The final facet or dimension of the preservice teacher is the future learning experiences with others. Who are the others? They are students and colleagues in the context of learning and teaching. The element that is normally not included is how the racial self is constructed. This element is touchy because reflection must be modeled. Let’s just be honest, how comfortable are we as teacher educators and instructional leaders at modeling the dismantling of one’s ethnic identity, let alone performing this examination in front of others.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM


17

This examination will take place in chapters dealing with content areas and leadership as it should be ongoing throughout life. Now that we have managed to look at the elements of the preservice teacher, it is imperative that we look beyond as well. The concept of “evolution” in this book will refer to the makings of a culturally fluent and reflective teacher, from preservice to veteran. Beyond the evolution of a culturally adept teacher, the education community should come to the table of learning and teaching with great expectation (no pun intended).

MAPPING AND THE MINDS OF TEACHERS As part of mapping how we analyze experiences in the minds of teachers, from preservice to teacher educators, we must examine a conceptual model of expectation and evolution. Why is looking at this concept important? In order to be transformative educators, we have to look beyond the facets of the preservice teacher to a new creature and process that is the concept of teacher expectation and evolution. Notice I put expectation before evolution. On a journey, we hold an expectation that we will first find what we are looking for, and second, somehow be changed by the process of the journey. This conceptual model sets an expectation of coming out on the other end as a better teacher. This is where the evolution comes into play. Figuratively speaking, we plot the facets on the map and journey on running, bumping, and/or hurdling over these landmarks. Let us start with preservice teachers’ prior knowledge. We acknowledge the power of prior knowledge and the foundation it provides for examining awareness of biases or components of the racial self. In moving through this process, we review how biases can influence instructional choices. From there we hope that the preservice teacher becomes uncomfortable with the limits biases place on learning and teaching. In the context of this connection, they struggle to find resolution. It is during this process that preservice teachers become novice teachers, searching for resolution during the first three years of teaching. This is critical because during this time it is possible for teacher burnout to begin. Now that the novice teacher has established a place in the classroom, the novice uses students’ diversity and challenges to seek resolution and continues to struggle. During the next several years, the novice joins the rank of veteran teachers. Veterans, who are cognizant of their evolution, use failures and successes in conjunction with seeking resolution to enhance learning for self and students. When optimal support is provided, veteran teachers find resolution


10/27/10 11:07 AM

18

Ursula Thomas

in the fact that the only factor that is constant is change, and the struggle to enhance learning is the same as the struggle for social justice and equity. Finally, the veteran teacher discovers the process is the product when viewing learning and teaching as a form of social justice and equity. This concept sets a purpose and an outcome for a successful transformative process. That process is being a culturally fluent and adept teacher. If we want to avoid teacher burnout, we must prepare teachers for real-world experiences that will manifest into maximized triumphs and minimized tragedies.

RESEARCH AND THE URBAN TEACHER Research shared with us much information about preparing the urban teacher. A large body of research states that teachers with similar racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds to their students have a constructive impact on student academic success. A recent large-scale study (Clewell, Puma, & McKay, 2001) shows that for Hispanic and Black students (particularly for Hispanic) having a teacher of the same race or ethnicity results in increased test score gains in reading and mathematics. Research also reports that the presence of a teacher from the same racial/ ethnic group develops students’ motivation to succeed (Meier & Stewart, 1991; Torres Campos et al., 2009). The source of teachers representing culturally and linguistically diverse children’s racial/ethnic backgrounds is still insufficient. To boot, few White teachers are sufficiently prepared to teach culturally and linguistically diverse students (Aronson & George, 2003). The National Center for Education Statistics reported in 2000 that 84 percent of kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers in public schools were White, barely 7 percent were African American, 6 percent Hispanic, and fewer than 3 percent were from other minority groups (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). Simultaneously, the achievement variance between White students and students of color continues to increase. The high school dropout rates of African Americans (13 percent) and Hispanics (35.5 percent) are still greater than Whites (7 percent), with larger dropout rates for Latino immigrants (44 percent) (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2002; Laird et al., 2007).

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TEACHER EDUCATION What is already known about urban teacher preparation is complex. Notwithstanding millions of charitable and public dollars contributed to the


10/27/10 11:07 AM


19

conscription and preservation of teachers of color almost two decades ago, a conduit concern continues for potential educators from these groups. A significant number of possible teachers of color fail to complete high school, engage in and/or complete college coursework, and obtain a license to teach. Numerous challenges stop teacher aspirants from underrepresented populations from attending university-based teacher education programs. Universities do not typically provide students with essential benefits such as medical insurance. Student teaching requirements conflict with the typical workday. In some districts, teacher preparation programs are not readily available. Comprehensive teacher education degree programs do exist. Teacher education programs, particularly those targeted at culturally and linguistically underrepresented adults, do not support their participants adequately and are weakly designed. Scores of participants fall by the margins, while others, in

Figure 2.3.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

20

Ursula Thomas

the face of tremendous sacrifice, take an excessive quantity of time to complete such courses of study. If we want to make social justice and equity a true and permanently explicit component of education, we must examine teacher training pedagogy. We have looked at the facets, expectations, and evolution of a teacher on a journey to cultural fluency in learning and teaching. Let us dissect the cycle of past and present teacher education conceptual models. Most conceptual frameworks in teacher preparation move in this way: foundations courses, theory to practice courses, field experiences/practicum, and finally reflection. The bulk of teacher research as far as program assessment comes after students are exiting the programs right after student teaching. This cycle does not allow for much introspective behavior on the part of teacher educators or preservice teachers until after the fact.

MODELS OF REFLECTIVENESS IN TEACHER DEVELOPMENT Reflectiveness, based on the definition and ideals of John Dewey in the era of progressive education, is what teacher education programs have added to their conceptual models over the last twenty years, but there is still a gap. How can we add the meaning-making that is enriched by experience and dialogue from the perspective of the preservice and inservice teacher? Let us consider a revised conceptual model. This is what a teacher preparation model would look like if we include a meaning-making avenue to add to the conversation in the village. Future teacher preparation/professional learning models are inclusive of the previous models’ component as well as components that are more reflective. This model starts with foundations with respect to historical, psychological, and sociopolitical contexts. We carefully move to the examination of implicit belief systems. This is critical and should come early in the program, not later. Why make this suggestion? If this examination takes place prior to field experiences, there is a playground or a context in which to test out the examination. This leads us to the next idea of examining how the belief system interacts or counteracts with critical race theory. This propels us to investigate how the interaction of belief systems and critical race theory reflections materialize during field and learning experiences. This is where the sweat equity begins. It begins with the application of reflection strategies in constant practice. This is why field and learning experiences are critical. They provide the context in which to actually practice being reflective. The burden of sweat


10/27/10 11:07 AM


21

Figure 2.4.

equity is now transferred to teacher educators and instructional leaders. It is our responsibility to update the foundations to include reflections. What can this do for all of us? Making these multilayered reflections a part of foundations provides for more inclusiveness for richer discourse. The outcome is that learning experiences are more authentic and representative of diverse learners in teacher preparation programs and diverse learners encountered in the nation’s school systems. This is a cyclical model. This suggested model directly addresses the pitfalls that teachers (preservice, novice, veterans) and teacher educators/instructional leaders share. This next model is important to this conversation because it reveals the Achilles’ heel of the interaction that takes place throughout the duration of


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM


23

a teacher education program. If we look at the perspective of replicating meaning-making, we are lost on the silence of critical discourse of race, class, and gender. Teacher educators must be aware of implicit biases that are replicated during instruction at the expense of minority teacher education students (Banks, 1993; 2008). This is also at the expense of school dependent, diverse learners in many elementary and middle school classrooms. That is what it looks like when biases go unchecked. The conversation of biases gone wild could lead to a new pathway. This pathway could be vital to a larger conversation, a more courageous one. It is located within the teacher preparation/professional learning model, the presence and interaction of the teacher (preservice, novice, veteran) and the teacher educator. The two are different in several aspects; let us compare and contrast. On the one hand, teachers (preservice, novice, veteran) can be unsure as to how to use prior knowledge other than as a security blanket or habit. Research for the last twenty years tells us that when in doubt teachers go back to how they were taught, even if it was ineffective for them. There is also a great chance that teachers possess less theoretical knowledge than teacher educators. Finally, teachers (novice and veteran) usually have more practical experience with the present generation of diverse students. Teacher educators on the other hand have their own issues. We have greater theoretical knowledge and a better grasp on prior knowledge along with more exposure to pedagogy. Both the teachers and teacher educators share some possible pitfalls that can hinder the pathway to cultural fluency. Both can be short on critical discourse and theory, as well as short on viewing learning as circular not linear. Both parties are also susceptible to being shortsighted on examining the construction of race as a part of an explicit conversation. Finally, both parties are susceptible to the “it’s a small world approach” or the “drive-by approach” to multiculturalism. The next conceptual model is the final model to reconstruct the village. The structure that connects one village to the next is the bridge. The power of the bridge connection is activated by the relating factor. In the case of this parallel model, the comparable characteristic is the change agent. The change agent is critical for the evolution and expectation of a positive teacher development model. As the educator progresses and changes from one stage to the next, so does the change agent. Field experiences act as the change agent for the preservice teacher (PT) as the critical race theory is a change agent for teacher educators. The production of conducting action research is a change agent for veteran teachers as cultural awareness communication strategies are change agents for


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM


25

novice teachers. These change agents are interchangeable and appropriate for all the phases of teacher in this parallel graphic representation. See figure 2.6. What better way to facilitate a journey than with a vehicle to provide a frame in which to move? Attempt to see the relating factor as the vehicle. Which vehicle would be most interesting to you?

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES Argue-Defend-Justify Protocol 1. Get with a partner and see if you can add more to the analogous graphic in figure 2.6. 2. Argue, Defend, Justify, Support. Give evidence to show why an idea or view is appropriate or logical. Directions: In this activity, use the parallel graphic representation to support why the correlating change agent is appropriate or possibly inappropriate as a vehicle for the corresponding educator. This is to be completed in your reflection journal. Here are your guidelines: • Clearly state your view at the beginning • Support your opinion with strong reasons • Emphasize advantages; defend your view—do not attack opposing views • Stress evidence or reasons most likely to persuade your audience • Reemphasize your main and/or strongest reasons 3. Now, use your reflection as a basis for a roundtable discussion in a small group setting. Reflect on these questions as you debate and debrief: • How is this discussion relevant to the professional development you participate in or present coursework you are taking? • Think back to your past educational experiences. Did you ever have a teacher you considered radical? Where would he or she have fallen on the Analogous Model of Cultural Awareness and why? • Describe your past or present teacher preparation programs. Where do you think they meet or fall short in comparison to the Future Teacher Education Model?

REFERENCES Aronson, P., & George, P. (2003). How do educators’ cultural belief systems affect underserved students’ pursuit of postsecondary education? Briefing Papers. Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL). Available at www.prel.org/products/ pn_/cultural-belief.htm.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

26

Ursula Thomas

Banks, J. A. (1993, 2008). An introduction to multicultural education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Clewell, B. C., Puma, M. J., & McKay, S. A. (2001). Does it matter if my teacher looks like me? The impact of teacher race and ethnicity on student academic achievement. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Amendments. 1997. Pub. L. 105–17. Laird, J., Kienzl, G., DeBell, M., & Chapman, C. (2007). Dropout rates in the United States: 2005. Compendium Report. NCES 2007–059. National Center for Education Statistics. Available at nces.ed.gov/help/orderinfo.asp. Meier, K. J., & Stewart, J. (1991). The politics of Hispanic education: Un paso pa’lante y dos pa’tras. Albany: State University of New York Press. National Research Council. (2002). Minority students in special and gifted education. Committee on Minority Representation in Special Education, M. Suzanne Donovan and Christopher T. Cross, editors. Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. (2002). Pub. L. No. 107–110, 115 Stat. 1425. Retrieved March 12, 2004, from www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html. No Child Left Behind: A parent’s guide. (2003). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Available at www.nclb.gov/next/faqs/testing.html. Pile, S., & Thrift, N., Eds. (1995). Mapping the subject: Geographies of cultural transformation. London: Routledge. Torres Campos, C., Phinney, J. S., Perez-Brena, N., Kim, C., Ornelas, B., Nemanim, L., Padilla Kallemeyn, D. M., Mihecoby, A., & Ramirez, C. (2009). A mentorbased targeted intervention for high-risk Latino college freshmen. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 8(2), 158–78. U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (2002). Early Estimates of Public Elementary and Secondary Education Statistics: School Year 2001–2002. Retrieved December 27, 2002, from nces.ed.gov/edstats/. ———. (2003). Digest of Education Statistics, 2002, NCES 2003–060, Washington, DC.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Three

Brown Girl in the Ring Ursula Thomas

The journey that we take is not void of sight, sound, and song. Oh yes we follow, but what do we do without senses as we proceed? It is already established that sight is being utilized as we “read the map,” but what of our ears? The song that plays in my childhood memory mind is “Brown Girl in the Ring.” This song resonates on African American and Caribbean playgrounds and classrooms all over, so why is this important in this journey? Listen to the words: “There is a brown girl in the ring / sha nah nah nah nah / a brown girl in the ring / sha na na nah. / There is a brown girl in the ring / sha nan na na nah / and she looks like the sugar in a plum / yum yum.” This little childhood song speaks volumes when you look at it in the context of our journey. Let us look at it based on what Gloria Ladson-Billings says about the tenets of culturally relevant teaching. The first four are • Teachers and students participate in a broad conception of literacy that incorporates both literature and oratory. • Teachers and students engage in a collective struggle against the status quo. • Teachers do not accept the prevailing belief that their students will not do well. They have high expectations for their students and convey their belief to the students. • Teachers are cognizant of themselves as political beings. (Ladson-Billings, 1994, pp. 117–18) What if the “brown girl in the ring” was appreciated through multiple literacies, especially oral (which are a greater part of the literacy model than written in many Afrocentric and American Indian cultures)? Would the “brown girl in the ring” have more to offer than previously thought? Would this encourage more “brown girls” to participate in a language of learning 27


10/27/10 11:07 AM

28

Ursula Thomas

that is inclusionary and not exclusionary? Think, what are the possibilities in a classroom? Let us list them and add more if I miss a few: • • • •

Greater class participation Greater reflectiveness on other students’ thoughts A safe place for academic and social discourse A greater chance for authentic work products that delve into understanding other peoples’ thought processes . . . (and I digress)

Understand at this point the “brown girl in the ring” is no longer a character in a childhood playground song but a student of circumstance, whether it is race, class, or gender. In this journey, the “brown girl” is a valued member of the education community, not just on the receiving end but a stakeholder as such (Baker, 2005). On our journey, one verse is not enough. Indulge me and let us examine the second verse, “Now show me your motion / sha na na na nah / show me your motion / sha na na na na / now show me your motion / sha na na na na / and she looks like the sugar in a plum / yum yum!” Initially this seems like the behavior of an exhibitionist but in all actuality, it segues into what should happen next. The “brown girl” in the ring can show her motion and show what she knows confidently because that “brown girl” in the ring is really a student at the center of the curriculum.

STUDENT-CENTERED CURRICULUM Brown (2005) found, in his study of middle-grades curriculum, educators who employ several amendments in their teaching strategies that profit middle-grades learners: imparting better occasions for student expression, devising activities that endorse critical and creative thoughts through extensive opportunities for management of concepts and standards, and use of more student-to-student interaction during learning experiences. Adjustments in educators’ teaching behaviors are crucial and have the influence to improve student learning, educational success, and by and large, teacher efficacy. Perchance most notably, many of these educators are willing to modify preceding curricular capacity and succession to fall in sync with the requirements of middle level learners who take classes for part of the school year. Inclusive inservice programs are obligatory for educators to make alterations in their instructional approaches that equal the task of executing longer episodes for gaining of knowledge. Middle level curriculum should be structured around chief themes that are interdisciplinary and student centered. Educators must be afforded the time to


10/27/10 11:07 AM


29

collaborate as squads to aid learners in the framing of interdisciplinary units and to direct student learning and decision making about how concepts will be learned and measured. Brown found that the 4 ⫻ 4 semester block schedule examined here thwarts teaming, therefore decreasing the occasion for educators to develop concept-based interdisciplinary units, or to allow time for learners to create units. Flexible scheduling episodes are desirable for learners to connect in consequential learning for either long or short blocks of time supported on learners’ requirements and welfare. Teacher squads should be given the power to alter class periods on a dayto-day basis founded on learners’ needs for investigation, joint planning, presentation of information, or extended coursework. This powerful study gives us evidence of the positive effect a student-centered curriculum could have. Professional learning informs the point of view you bring to a dialogue or conversation. It implies speaking powerfully and listening in a committed way and it brings about change in your knowledge, skills, and attitudes. You do something differently as a result. It is the foundation of innovation and invention. (Learning Points, 2007)

ADMINISTRATORS AND STUDENT-CENTERED CURRICULUM How can administrators and instructional leaders support a culturally studentcentered curriculum? Administrators shore up teachers by providing professional development time and opportunities to work toward examining, putting into practice, and reviewing the above instructional strategies. Administrators and teachers integrate a coaching model of supervision for the improvement of instruction and for evaluation, thereby encouraging the development of faculty’s individual improvement plans, with follow-up observational conferencing that can be described as a communally enhancing learning process. Administrators meet with students, teachers, parents, and other community constituents to confer about how to reach the goal of selfregulation, fortitude, and effectiveness in the school at large.

SCHOOL REFORM AND STUDENT-CENTERED CURRICULUM What do other researchers say about the power of a student-centered curriculum? In the report from Framework for Assessing the Implementation


10/27/10 11:07 AM

30

Ursula Thomas

of Comprehensive Schools Reform Demonstration Projects Comprehensive School Reforms (Borman, Hewes, Overman, & Brown, 2003; 2004) schools selected reorganization that reflects their existing attitude and, in many instances, broadens present practice rather than drastically changing it. The Comprehensive Schools Reform Demonstration (CSRD) models current core theories/philosophies linked to how teachers enhance their teaching on how teachers should both identify and educate students. For example, despite the fact that underperforming students are at risk for school failure, there is a philosophy of high expectations for students articulated across the models. Also, commonly expressed is the belief that students learn differently, and a North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) Comprehensive School Reform student-centered curriculum is necessary in order to echo these differences. There is also an accent on genuine and pertinent instruction. Improving teacher quality stems from a viewpoint of inquiry, with “teachers as researchers.” Teachers are encouraged to make choices about professional development, as well as instruction, based on a methodical collection of information. The learner-centered approach is built on the understanding that each learner is distinctive. When integrating culturally relevant instruction into a learnercentered classroom, students’ individualized learning styles and strategies become perceptible.

COGNITION AND STUDENT-CENTERED CURRICULUM Reviews of research conclude that low-achieving students, or those with little prior content knowledge, are likely to require more structure and instructional guidance than students at higher levels of achievement or with more content knowledge. Explicit strategies we can offer include promoting students to set their own objectives for individual development and instructional enhancement, and planning ways to accomplish these goals. According to Hom and Murphy (1983): A growing body of research indicates that when students are working on goals they themselves have set, they are more motivated and efficient, and they achieve more than they do when working on goals that have been set by the teacher. (p. 104)

When we help students develop awareness about their own thoughts and learning methods, we are assisting them in thinking about the usefulness of the approach they use in reaching the objectives they have set. In essence, they are “thinking about thinking,” also labeled metacognition. Commonly, use of a long-standing metacognitive strategy of planning what is


10/27/10 11:07 AM


31

to be completed, observing the progress, and assessing the results are useful ways of helping students take more power over their own ideas and points of view. When students acknowledge that their own cognition can limit or unlimit their actions and choices, they can affirmatively craft motivation, efficacy, and student achievement (McCombs, 1991). Students build up personal worth by ascertaining, appreciating, and employing dispositions and “habits of mind” (Marzano, 1992; Perkins, 1992; Dermitzaki et al., 2008). They include the following: recognizing how thought shapes actions, believing in one’s ability to succeed, persisting, accepting blame for individual actions, overcoming recklessness and fostering purposefulness, becoming more open to others’ thoughts, listening, collaborating, and believing in the obligation for care and transparency of thought. As stated by Ladson-Billings, “student’s real-life experiences are legitimized as they become an official part of the curriculum.” As the journey continues, we look around and remember that we are the brown girls and as students on this journey, we want to ensure that • Students whose educational, economic, social, political, and cultural futures are most tenuous are helped to become intellectual leaders in classrooms. • Students are apprenticed in a learning community rather than taught in an isolated and unrelated way. • Students’ real-life experiences are legitimized as they become part of the “official” curriculum. (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 117) The “brown girl” not only represents the students at the center of the curriculum, but the teacher as well. The teacher is in the ring, serving as a change agent. The teacher showing his or her motion—advocating for all students—is a forum for exhibiting his or her implicit belief system. This journey is clearly one that is multisensual. The song informs our journey, but when it comes to how the brown girl constructs the way others view her, how does the journey alter or does it alter at all? Let us look at the following chapter to see where the brown girl goes next on the path of content areas, culture, and learning.

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES Case Scenario I am sitting with a group of teachers of European descent and I am trying to make sense of what I see and hear. The crux of this activity was to use a tuning protocol to assess student work. In this case, the middle school stu-


10/27/10 11:07 AM

32

Ursula Thomas

dents were to write a summary journal entry to close out their Peace Corps journal simulation. I hear comments from the teachers like “what if the kids say, ‘are we going to study Africa the whole time?’” The protocol or the rubric they used was not the problem. The piece that troubled me or that was problematic was the voice from which the students were coached into speaking. I felt the ghost of the missionary or the great White (American) hope over my shoulder. I did my best to focus on the structure of the protocol, but the content problematized me. It is my sneaking suspicion that a “WASP” frame was the coaching model for this “Peace Corps activity.” The essential question chosen by the teacher is the anchor of what problematizes the entire assignment and thus reinforces the stereotypes propagated by our books and media outlets other than public television and public radio or the Internet. As I continue in this protocol, I participate in the farce of “evaluating” writing assignments. 12/6/05 Case Questions 1. From what cultural frames do you think the teachers in this case are working? 2. What are the problems with this “assignment”? 3. What do you think would be the problems in this class for students who have emigrated from other countries? Journal Questions 1. How do you think the “brown girl” in the ring has her future framed for her based on the teachers in the case? 2. How can teachers participate in the learning community when exploring students in an apprenticing community? Panel Question 1. How do you think teachers develop the notion that students who are “brown girls” by circumstance, race, class, and gender will not do well?

REFERENCES Baker, P. (2005). The impact of cultural biases on African American students’ education. Education and Urban Society, 37(3), 243–56. Barell, J. (1985). “You ask the wrong questions.” Educational Leadership, 42(May), 18–23.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


33

Borman, G. D., Hewes, G. M., Overman, L. T., & Brown, S. (2003). Comprehensive school reform and achievement: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 73(2), 125–230. ———. (2004). Comprehensive school reform and achievement: A meta-analysis. In C. Cross (Ed.), Putting the pieces together: Lessons from comprehensive school reform research (pp. 53–108). Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Comprehensive School Reform. Borman, K. M., Carter, K., Aladjem, D. K., & Le Floch, K. C. (2004). Challenges for the future of comprehensive school reform. In C. Cross (Ed.), Putting the pieces together: Lessons from comprehensive school reform research (pp. 109–50).Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Comprehensive School Reform. Brown, R. (2005). Learning collaboratively. In D. Pendergast and N. Bahr (Eds.), Teaching middle years: Rethinking curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Sydney: Allen and Unwin. Dermitzaki, I., Andreou, G., & Paraskeva, V. (2008). High and low reading comprehension achievers’ strategic behaviors and their relation to performance in a reading comprehension situation. Reading Psychology, 29(6), 471–92. Friedman, L., Brandt, W., Charak, D., Hudgens, S., Shapiro, S., & Weinstein, T. (2005). Michigan statewide comprehensive school reform evaluation: 2001–04. Center for Evaluation and Education Policy. Hom, H. L., Jr., & Murphy, M. D. (1983). Low achiever’s performance: The positive impact of a self-directed goal. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 11, 275–85. Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Learning Points. (2007). Educator quality: The link between teacher quality and student outcomes. A research synthesis. Retrieved March 12, 2009, from www .tqsource.org/publications/LinkBetweenTQandStudentOutcomes.pdf. Marzano, R. (1992). A different kind of classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. McCombs, B. (1991). Metacognition and motivation in higher level thinking. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. Perkins, D. (1992). Smart schools: From training memories to educating minds. New York: Free Press. U.S. Department of Education. (2000). Early implementation of the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) Program. Washington, DC: Author. Available at www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/compreform/csrdimprpt.doc.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Four

The Three Rs Reading, Writing and Arithmetic or Race, Relationship, and Reflection Janet Strickland and Ursula Thomas

In this chapter, we will examine cultural mediation on the content areas specific to elementary education: social studies, mathematics, literacy, and science.

CULTURAL MEDIATION AND THE SOCIAL STUDIES Cultural mediation and the social studies classroom are a perfect fit. Social studies educators are in a unique position to influence preservice teachers who, in turn, influence countless numbers of young children and adolescents. While one part of the social studies methods course is to teach preservice teachers content and methods of instruction, perhaps our biggest role is to help our students understand and appreciate their own and others’ culture and how this culture influences all of the social studies. For how are we to learn concepts and ideas in history, psychology, economics, or geography without this understanding and appreciation? This chapter looks at ways that social studies educators promote cultural mediation. The National Council for the Social Studies (2004) defines social studies as the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. 35


10/27/10 11:07 AM

36

Janet Strickland and Ursula Thomas

While one part of the social studies methods course is to teach preservice teachers content and methods of instruction, perhaps our biggest role is to help our students understand and appreciate their own and others’ culture and how this culture influences all of the social studies. How are we to learn concepts and ideas in history, psychology, economics, geography without this understanding and appreciation? This chapter looks at ways that social studies educators promote cultural mediation. MOVING BEYOND TOLERANCE Tolerance should never be a goal of cultural understanding. It is one step in the process of fully understanding and appreciating others and ourselves. The chapter will look at how we engage in cultural mediation at levels of cultural understanding. Again, no discipline in social studies can be acquired without this understanding and appreciation of culture. The steps of cultural understanding used for example in this chapter include cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, cultural competence, and cultural proficiency. This is also reflective of Helms’s (1990) theory of racial identity development. The goal, then, is to identify the level at which preservice teachers operate and move them through the levels of understanding. It is important to mention that we all operate at different levels depending on the difference in question. For example, someone with a family member who is a Buddhist may have a really deep tolerance and understanding of that religion but be totally “in the dark” about Hinduism. That is, he or she is operating at or below the cultural awareness level. Cultural Awareness: students have knowledge that there are differences in the ways people think and behave and the things they value. Some would argue that juniors and seniors, or even graduate students in college, have this basic level of knowledge but such is not the case, especially on the global scene. Cultural Sensitivity: students understand that differences between people and groups exist and are aware that people have different values and beliefs. Students at this level may not endorse these differences but they do not actively attempt to impinge on others’ rights. Many graduate and undergraduate students operate at this level. That is, they know people have different values, beliefs, and ways of seeing the world, yet they fail to see how these differences influence the social studies. Cultural Competence: students have a full understanding of others’ values and beliefs and understand that this difference can influence the way people behave and view the world.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

37

Cultural Proficiency: students can appreciate the differences in others and understand that a more in-depth understanding of their own culture enables them to fully appreciate the differences in others beyond political correctness. This level of understanding is rare for many individuals, but attainable with careful attention and dedication. Scenario 1 Professor (to class): “Do you believe religion should be taught in elementary school?” Graduate Student (young African American female): “Yes, the lack of religion in school is what is wrong with our children.” Professor: “What would you do if your seven-year-old son’s teacher, who is Jewish, teaches that Jesus is not the Son of God?” Graduate Student: “She cannot teach that. That is not the truth.”

This student demonstrated her lack of knowledge of other religions. She was surprised that a teacher may have beliefs different from her own. This student is operating below the level of cultural awareness. That is, while she may have a deep understanding of cultural differences related to race, she lacks awareness of religious differences. Within Helms’s (1990) theory, this student is in the preencounter stage. Scenario 2 In an undergraduate social studies course, the class was discussing their new internship placements. One young African American girl expressed her fear of being in a mostly White, rural area of the county where she was referred to by the students as “Black Lady.” During this discussion, the professor noticed a group of young White students “rolling their eyes” and whispering among themselves. When asked to share with the class their thoughts, one of these young students responded that “racism is so 1960s,” minimizing the experiences of the intern and even going as far as to blame the non-White intern as responsible for producing her own problems. This group of students demonstrated their lack of knowledge of current racial tensions. They may lack this knowledge because they are not on the receiving end of racial discrimination, illustrating what some refer to as “White privilege.” This is reflective of the reintegration stage according to Helms.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

38


Questions 1. What are the thought processes of each of the students mentioned above? How did they come to believe what they said was true? 2. How do you move college students to cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, cultural competence, and cultural proficiency? 3. How do you make college students comfortable enough to engage in meaningful conversations about cultural differences? An excerpt from the current draft of curriculum standards for culture from the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) is included in textbox 4.1. NCSS supports teacher standards in addition to curriculum standards. Textbox 4.2 contains an excerpt related to culture from NCSS National Standards for Social Studies Teachers.

Textbox 4.1. Current Curriculum Standards Draft for Culture Culture Social studies curriculum should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity. Human beings create, learn, and adapt to culture. Culture helps people to understand themselves as both individuals and members of various groups. Human cultures exhibit both similarities and differences. All, for example, have systems of belief, knowledge, values, and traditions. Each is also unique. In a multicultural democratic society, students need to understand multiple perspectives that derive from different cultural vantage points. This understanding allows them to relate to people in this and other nations. Cultures are dynamic and change over time. The study of culture prepares students to ask and answer questions such as: What is culture and what roles does it play in human and societal development? What are the common characteristics of different cultures? How is unity developed within and among cultures? What is the role of diversity within society? How is diversity maintained within a culture? How do belief systems, such as religion or political ideals, influence other parts of a culture? How does culture change to accommodate different ideas and beliefs? Through experience and observation, students will identify cultural similarities and differences. They will acquire background knowledge through multiple modes of research and recognize the complexity of cultural


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

39

systems. In schools, this theme typically appears in units and courses dealing with geography, history, and anthropology, as well as multicultural topics across the curriculum. Young learners explore concepts of likenesses and differences through school subjects such as language arts, mathematics, science, music, and art. Socially, they begin to interact with other students, some of whom are like the student and some are different. In the middle grades, students begin to explore and ask questions about the nature of culture and specific aspects of culture, such as language and beliefs, and the influence of those aspects on human behavior. As students progress through high school, they can understand and use complex cultural concepts such as adaptation, assimilation, acculturation, diffusion, and dissonance drawn from anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines to explain how culture and cultural systems function.

Textbox 4.2. Culture Teachers of social studies at all school levels should provide developmentally appropriate experiences as they guide learners in the study of culture and cultural diversity. They should: • assist learners to understand and apply the concept of culture as an integrated whole that governs the functions and interactions of language, literature, arts, traditions, beliefs, values, and behavior patterns; • enable learners to analyze and explain how groups, societies, and cultures address human needs and concerns; • guide learners as they predict how experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference; • encourage learners to compare and analyze societal patterns for transmitting and preserving culture while adapting to environmental and social change; • enable learners to assess the importance of cultural unity and diversity within and across groups; • have learners interpret patterns of behavior as reflecting values and attitudes, which contribute to or pose obstacles to cross-cultural understanding; • guide learners in constructing reasoned judgments about specific cultural responses to persistent human issues; • have learners explain and apply ideas, theories, and modes of inquiry drawn from anthropology and sociology in the examination of persistent issues and social problems.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

40


CULTURAL MEDIATION AND MATHEMATICS The current state of mathematics in teacher education has heralded a call for change. The mathematics community recognizes that the demands of mathematics have changed and become more universal. “The state of mathematics education of teachers requires a partnership between faculty in mathematics and mathematics education” (MET, 2009). Other influences include quantitative demands of mathematics and science from the business community, as well as demands of computers and technology. Underdeveloped mathematics skills of students have also manifested in the performance of students enrolled in college mathematics courses. Essentially, students in the United States are becoming teachers who have insufficient mathematical knowledge (CBMS, 2001). This mathematical milieu is even more damaging for students who are marginalized for a number of reasons. Most important of all, they are more likely to have an ill-prepared teacher. This serves to further the widening of the achievement gap. The Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences (CBMS) has provided a number of general recommendations for the mathematical community. The recommendations refer to the needs of prospective teachers, amount of content area training, foundations for mathematical education, deeper involvement of mathematics specialists in training of prospective teachers of K–12 students, ways of thinking about mathematics, and the role of the community and teacher education in the development of mathematics educators. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2009) has developed a number of legislative priorities to address and enhance mathematics education and its current issues. I will highlight the priorities that directly address issues of cultural mediation and have a direct impact on marginalized students. Invest in teachers at every stage of their development to ensure the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers. • Support policies that offer tax credits for inservice teachers in urban, rural, and high-need schools and offer loan forgiveness for beginning teachers as a means of retaining and attracting effective teachers. • Support “Math Skills for Secondary Students” in the America COMPETES Act, which would provide for the development or selection and implementation of the following research-based resources: mathematics programs, including those for students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

41

Support greater focus and coherence in standards, curriculum, assessment, and accountability, grounded in research. • Support curricula based on how children learn, especially the discoveries that (a) having a strong start gives children significant advantages, (b) conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and problem-solving skills mutually reinforce one another, and (c) effort, not just inherent talent, counts in mathematical achievement. Realize the untapped potential of all of America’s children by ensuring equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students. • Advocate for all children of poverty, English language learners, urban and rural students, students of all races and ethnicities, students with learning difficulties, students who are female, and students who are mathematically gifted as equal claimants to a mathematics education of the highest quality. • Engage families to support the efforts of classroom teachers as well as the overall goals of public education, including expanded learning opportunities and resources. • Advocate for the inclusion of mathematics educators on the proposed Presidential Early Learning Council. (NCTM, 2009) What is cultural mediation in math education? Let us revisit or original definition of cultural mediation at the beginning of the text. Cultural mediation, in the context of this text, is defined as a process for bringing about dialogue or reconciliation between opposing views or audiences in a situated environment—in this case, the world of teacher education. Mediation implies deliberation that results in solutions that may or may not be accepted by the audiences. This definition is also comprised of cultural awareness, cultural competence, and cultural sensitivity (Goode, 2001, 2006). This information is useful as we plan a path to examine the subject of cultural mediation in mathematics education. A poignant example of cultural mediation is identified in Murtadha-Watts and D’Ambrosio’s (1997) research of transformative approaches to multiculturalism in the context of mathematics instruction. Essentially the researchers viewed mathematics as an apparatus to dissect the inequities of race, class, and gender. Their goal was to inject democracy within the sphere of mathematics instruction that is normally viewed as problems of social science and humankind. The conceptual framework for the project considered the research, being undertaken, from a transformative, social action standpoint. What the researchers found was that personal constructions of social justice and equity were explicit. The teachers in the study were not able to


10/27/10 11:07 AM

42


articulate how mathematics could be used to explore and deal with the social issues and ills of society. What was discovered was what happens quite often in other content areas; there was an indifference to the link between a personal connection and the “subjectivity” of mathematics. This leads the pathway to a crossroads. What does cultural mediation look like in a mathematics education classroom? Chappell and Najee-ullah (2000) designed this scenario with a number of caveats in mind. First, in an effort to reach all children, multiculturalism in mathematics has been benignly relegated to surface activities with a hit or miss approach. This often includes artifacts and holidays. This refers to the “it’s a small world” approach discussed in previous chapters. This is topical at best and random. Often this does not began to scratch the surface of culturally relevant pedagogy. Teacher educators do an exceptional job at teaching human development but fail sorely at teaching the knowledge bases for culturally relevant pedagogy. The mathematics education community is aware of this and attempted to address diversity issues (K–12) by its inception of programs like Diversity in Mathematics Education. Diversity in Mathematics Education (DiME) is one of a network of Centers for Learning and Teaching (CLT) funded by the National Science Foundation. DiME/ CLT is building an integrated program to develop and enhance the instructional workforce from kindergarten through graduate school. The program consists of three interrelated components: a doctoral/postdoctoral component; a teacher education component for teachers and instructional leaders; and a comprehensive research agenda. These components are integrated by a strong focus on the ideas of algebra and issues related to learners with diverse cultural, language, and cognitive backgrounds. The Center is a consortium led by education and mathematics faculty of three research universities, two school-system partners, and a group of teacher professional-development providers for inservice teachers.

Though this is an important step, still, we are essentially stuck at awareness. This would be similar to Helms’s disintegration stage. This is definitely a dangerous impasse for marginalized young learners and preservice teachers. The authors contend that in order to be successful in the area of mathematics education, critical discourse in the mathematics classroom must surface early in the college experience for preservice teachers. The mathematical understanding and point of view of different cultures must presuppose more than a facade in the foundation and continued evolution of mathematical cognition, and they must be comprehended and welcomed as respected benefits. The beliefs of recognition and positive reception affect how, for practical purposes, teachers are equipped to value, convey,


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

43

and act in response to students from cultural backgrounds that are different from their own culture and heritage. As a vital part of instruction, future mathematics teachers must encounter effective procedures that display multicultural issues. As a result, culturally relevant pedagogy should, without fail, be replicated in the preparation of mathematics teachers. Moreover, multicultural issues are matters for all who are in charge of preparing mathematics teachers. A lack of coordinated effort is evident among mathematicians, mathematics educators, history and philosophy teachers, and clinical teacher educators to make multicultural ideas an integral part of their practice. This is case in point for the justification of DiME. This is evident in the standards document of such organizations as NCTM and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Such an endeavor is necessary. By pledging cooperatively to the previously mentioned concepts, we can sail past awareness of the importance of multicultural issues in teacher education to more practical and intentional labor. This harkens back to chapter 2 and the issues of teacher educators. Another question to pose is, “What happens when you have a culturally fluent teacher educator who recognizes these issues?” (What are her concerns and challenges?) In order to investigate what authentically takes place in a university’s teacher education classroom, Dr. Jill M. Drake was interviewed about her approaches and opinion of the state of cultural mediation and mathematics. Dr. Thomas: What do you attempt to provide for math education students in teacher education to surface culture in mathematics instruction (assignments, tools, strategies, techniques)? Dr. Drake: During my first meeting with students, I conduct a discussion on NCTM’s Equity in Mathematics Education Principle. I also have a class assignment related to international perspectives on mathematics education. In each class session, we discuss connecting the mathematics content standard covered that night to P-5 students’ background and daily lives. The use of literature is also discussed as a tool to surface culture in mathematics education. Dr. Thomas: Pitfalls for math education students in teacher education—what tools are they missing to attempt mediation (knowledge, skills, belief system, prior experiences)? Dr. Drake: I can only speak for the students and teachers I serve in this regard. The biggest pitfall I have observed is the belief that being “color blind” is the best response to diversity (cultural/sexual/social economic/etc.). The second biggest pitfall I have observed is the lack of exposure (prior experiences) both by inservice and preservice teachers to diversity in general. I don’t think many have ever spent any extended time with a Jamaican, an African, a European, an Asian, a Middle Easterner, etc. Therefore, they rely on the limited experiences


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Textbox 4.3. Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences Recommendations Recommendation 1. Prospective teachers need mathematics courses that develop a deep understanding of the mathematics they will teach. Recommendation 2. Although the quality of mathematical preparation is more important than the quantity, the following amount of mathematics coursework for prospective teachers is recommended. Recommendation 3. Courses on fundamental ideas of school mathematics should focus on a thorough development of basic mathematical ideas. All courses designed for prospective teachers should develop careful reasoning and mathematical “common sense” in analyzing conceptual relationships and in solving problems. Recommendation 4. Along with building mathematical knowledge, mathematics courses for prospective teachers should develop the habits of mind of a mathematical thinker and demonstrate flexible, interactive styles of teaching. Recommendation 5. Teacher education must be recognized as an important part of mathematics departments’ mission at institutions that educate teachers. More mathematicians should consider becoming deeply involved in K–12 mathematics education. Recommendation 6. The mathematical education of teachers should be seen as a partnership between mathematics faculty and mathematics education faculty. Recommendation 7. There needs to be greater cooperation between two-year and four-year colleges in the mathematical education of teachers. Recommendation 8. There needs to be more collaboration between mathematics faculty and school mathematics teachers. Recommendation 9. Efforts to improve standards for school mathematics instruction, as well as for teacher preparation accreditation and teacher certification, will be strengthened by the full-fledged participation of the academic mathematics community. Recommendation 10. Teachers need the opportunity to develop their understanding of mathematics and its teaching throughout their careers, through both self-directed and collegial study, and through formal coursework. Recommendation 11. Mathematics in middle grades (grades 5–8) should be taught by mathematics specialists.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

45

they have with diversity to attempt to engage in cultural mediation. In regards to tools missing, the university not consistently offering a course on diversity has resulted in those groups of individuals having virtually no tools to engage in cultural mediation short of what is offered by the Internet (Drake, 2009).

The Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences has provided a number of general recommendations for the mathematical community. See textbox 4.3.

CULTURAL MEDIATION AND LITERACY Before this conversation begins, we must deal with various definitions of literacy. They complicate the journey yet it compartmentalizes for certain group of people. Let us look at a few. Literacy is the ability to construct, communicate, and create meaning in many forms of representation (e.g., writing, math symbols, musical notation, and visual art) (Eisner, 1994). Langer (1991) takes this notion of interaction of reader with text a step further, contrasting “literacy as the act of reading and writing and literacy as ways of thinking” (p. 13) and “literacy can be viewed in a broader and educationally more productive way, as the ability to think and reason like a literate person, within a particular society” (p. 11). Langer contends: It is the culturally appropriate way of thinking, not the act of reading or writing that is most important in the development of literacy. Literacy thinking manifests itself in different ways in oral and written language in different societies, and educators need to understand these ways of thinking if they are to build bridges and facilitate transitions among ways of thinking. (p. 13)

The current issues and policies in literacy instruction, in the context of teacher education, are mixed and data driven courtesy of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and a data-driven school culture. The report from the National Reading Panel has thrust a “teaching agenda” on reading programs across the nation. The challenges of literacy in the teacher education classroom mirror that of what happens in the mathematics classroom. Research has shown that preservice teachers lack knowledge in the areas of vocabulary and phonetic instruction. Coupled with teacher belief issues, this can get complicated. A quick review of teacher belief issues is in order. When we examine the impact of teacher belief systems on reading instruction, we find many interesting and disturbing shards. Teachers’ implicit theories about the nature of knowledge acquisition can affect teacher behavior and ultimately student learning (Fang, 1996). Beliefs about classroom pedagogy are often derived from experiences in place before teachers begin


10/27/10 11:07 AM

46


undergraduate courses (Vartuli, 1999). Teacher beliefs are at the heart of the classroom learning socialization process and help set the climate for learning. What is cultural mediation in literacy education? In order to define cultural mediation in literacy for the teacher education classroom, we must look at the definitions or tenets of critical pedagogy that has influenced it. In order to follow the twists and turns of the path, we must examine the intersection of culture and literacy. In order to do that, I will examine the crux of literacy and power. It actually starts with the cultural context embedded in the right to read. Reading or literacy, in the case of the pedagogy of the oppressed as crafted by Paolo Freire (1970), states this: In traditional education, you the teacher as narrator and the student as a listening object. Simply he states that there is too much listening going on and this minimizes the experiences of the oppressed because their power is diminished. This serves the oppressors (dominant culture) by blocking an alternative view of the community or world for that matter. The student is also viewed as an empty receptacle waiting to be filled by the teacher. Learning is viewed as a passive act in which learners regurgitate what has been dispensed and accept the knowledge “as is,” without question. Essentially, the act of literacy is a powerful tool in the fight for social justice and the oppressors seek to disengage the student from such radical notions, to be content with less. Within this theory, he contends that the ability to read is the ultimate tool of the oppressed. This theory is not only within the concept of his native culture, but this is also reflective of the African American experience in the fight for education over the last two hundred years. Reflections of his theory are supported by the impetus and impact of Brown v. Board of Education. Brown v. Board of Education was about more than young learners and education. The laws and policies struck down by this court’s landmark decision were tainted fruits of human proclivities to jump to conclusions, victimize, and pigeonhole other people by their racial, spiritual, physical, or cultural uniqueness. Terminating this behavior as an authorized practice caused longterm societal and philosophical repercussions, which continue to reverberate all over the country to this day. The Brown decision stirred and roused human rights battles in this country and around the world. This battle has extended not only to school culture, but also to literacy instruction in the form of culturally responsive literacy instruction for culturally linguistic and diverse (CLD) learners. We must be mindful of Banks’s admonition that CLD students are not only the learners that preservice teachers will teach, but they too are CLD learners. Culturally responsive instruction in the area of literacy sharpens the blade of the social justice hatchet. How do we identify, model, and encourage preservice teachers to replicate these


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

47

concepts, strategies, and practices? What does it look like from a practitioner’s perspective? In order to address the pathway to cultural fluency authentically, I must talk about issues in my own reading methods courses in early childhood teacher education. I frontload my courses with ample discussion points and dilemmas that out issues of bias and personal belief systems. I provide opportunities for teacher education in reading methods courses to surface culture in literacy instruction using assignments, tools, strategies, techniques. I start all my students off within an assignment to pen a personal narrative about the best and worst reading experience in their lives. Then I code the narrative data into clusters using qualitative coding methods. Once the clusters are identified, we use grand conversations to make correlations between them and look for patterns. The patterns are then recorded and used as a benchmark. We later compare them to anecdotal lesson plans to see if those patterns resurface later on in the semester. I also have my students complete a cultural fluency survey the first day of the course. I utilize text to self, text to text, and text to world connections to allow the voices of marginalized teacher education students’ voices to be heard in the presence of students from the dominant culture. Specifically for my graduate students, I use the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) checklist prior to executing the curriculum analysis and literature response projects. The checklist includes the behaviors I model in our seminars and the ones I want to see them enact in the field (1998). Finally yet importantly, I have my students create a multicultural children’s literature file. Along with the standard citation and summary information, they have to isolate the theme of the text and make an explicit connect to another culture, including their own. Notice, I said their culture. This is important because the base of exploring other cultures is to first “know your own.” Oftentimes, our students from the dominant culture are ignorant of their own heritage and just state “I am American.” These are just a few of the tools I use to surface culture. I engage protocols such as “lines of communication,” “paraphrase passport,” “four corners,” and a “pedagogy check chart” developed by the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA, 2003). I also utilized the “quotable quotes” protocol developed by the National Staff Development Council (NSDC, 2001). This is an excerpt from my reading methods journal. I had an experience with my children’s literature course that I will never forget. Based on Violet J. Harris’s work on the depictions of African Americans in the evolution of children’s trade books, we examined an array of trade books with an antibias checklist in hand. The students examined the texts and notated their findings to share during a grand conversation. I am always aware that students


10/27/10 11:07 AM

48


must have multiple exposures to a concept to become more adept at surfacing issues of culture. A number of students began to feel somewhat comfortable with topical analysis of deconstructing bias, but the path to cultural fluency is not effective or authentic unless disequilibrium is present. I decided that it was time to pull off the kid gloves and demonstrate how to identify insidious, “benign” racism in children’s trade books. I presented two versions of the Brother Rabbit Tales, a collection of traditional African American folktales. One version was the authentic version as retold by Virginia Hamilton, narrated by James Earl Jones. The other book was the Walt Disney version, complete with a cassette tape of Disney actors’ voiceovers. I let my students, twenty-three Caucasian and seven African American, listen, view both versions, and complete their antibias checklists. They discussed their findings in triads. We gathered for a grand conversation and began to share what they said. I listened as they identified surface differences: illustration style, voices, cadence, and length. I pushed them to dig deeper and my Caucasian students were stuck. They asked for clues and as they tried to figure out what they were missing, I watched my students of color. They all happen to sit together and this was not by accident. They deliberated among themselves and held their comments for last. They waited for me to speak. I allowed them to share and explain what they recorded. They noticed differences in the characters, setting, and language. I explained how one version showed the characters as authentic, multidimensional, intelligent, and cunning. I also explained the credible use of Black dialect and the mocking of Black dialect in the other version. The music was authentic to the period and setting. The other version shows the characters as flat, ignorant, and as buffoons. The music was loud, boisterous, and distracting; it was not authentic to the period. The subject of the tale, Tar Baby, was illustrated as an object in the Hamilton version as told for hundreds of years. The Disney version illustrated the Tar Baby as what resembled a Black man. Lastly, Hamilton’s version used an authentic African American voice to tell the story. The Disney version used Caucasian actors in Black voice to tell the story. After identifying other racist nuances in the later version of the story, I asked for comments. The room was drop-dead silent. Finally, a Caucasian female student said that she initially did not see what was offensive about the Disney version and she saw how children would better enjoy the Disney version because the music sounded “happy.” She had no idea that these nuances existed or offended “others.” I respectfully acknowledged her honesty, publicly. The rest of the class time was spent discussing how a steady diet of the previous nuances derail tolerance and appreciation of other cultures.

What does this tell us? There are many pitfalls for teacher education students in reading methods courses, many missed opportunities. What tools are they missing to attempt mediation? This can be surfaced through the examination of knowledge, skills, belief system, and prior experiences. I have addressed a number of the commonalities of the different levels of students.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

49

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the differences in the student categories. I have conducted two research studies at my institution on undergraduate students in early childhood education. I teach at a predominantly White institution (PWI) and it is rural. Consistently, I have found that my students come with a sufficient level of skills for literal questioning and a somewhat plausible inferential questioning skill level with comprehension, but they struggle with critical/evaluative questioning in the context of multiple text literacies. “Preparing preservice teachers for their future classrooms becomes more complex as the school population becomes more diverse. Changing demographics require changing teacher education strategies” (Fuller, 1994, p. 270). Preservice teachers’ knowledge bases are clearly insufficient. Regrettably, many education students have little or no experience with people of other cultures. “In a study of 125 preservice teachers, Hadaway et al. (1993) found that most of these education students reported few personal experiences in culturally diverse settings” (Chisholm, 1994). Commonly, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status influence the propensity to hold narrow-minded attitudes, particularly when these are coupled with restricted travel and the inability to converse in a language other than English (Zimpher, 1989). Teachers’ mind-sets and discernment about students from diverse cultures play a major function in their viewpoint of students (Gollnick & Chinn, 2001; Hernandez, 1989). Therefore, to be successful and just teachers, education students must understand and value human diversity. Awareness and thoughtfulness develop from explicit interpersonal exchanges and from historical knowledge and cultures of diverse groups, including their ethics, narratives, myths, inventions, the arts, and language. Preservice teachers are often culturally ignorant of communication modes. They should understand the interrelationship between language and ethnicity. “Language learning is the means by which individuals become members of their primary speech communities” (Heath, 1986, p. 85) and, as a result, language endorses group characteristics and individual connections. Because language is a task of culture, it echoes the conventions and values of those who speak it. Consequently, they have no idea that cultural communication concepts exist nor do they know how to negotiate them. They also struggle with what literacy looks like in the home. Preservice teachers do not get enough experience working with families. There has been a trend in program revision at four-year institutions to integrate family/ community standards as a strand of each methods course. This was done in order to stay within accreditation guidelines for hours of program completion. This has been an ill-fated solution to a problem that coagulates at the root of culturally inappropriate literacy practices.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

50


When preservice teachers are deprived of the content and field experiences that accompany such a course, we as teacher educators and administrators indirectly assist in widening the achievement gap. How do we know this? “The most important finding is that, among all the parent involvement practices, the percentage of variance explained was greater for minority children than for European-American children and for poor children than for the non-poor children. Although educational resources at home were highly circumscribed in both low-income and minority (especially black and Hispanic) families, the good news is that a stronger relationship was found among school involvement, home resources, and early literacy for these children. The findings support the literature that a positive working relationship between home and school appears important for all children, particularly for children whose families are socially or economically disadvantaged” (Lin, 2003) (e.g., Comer & Haynes, 1991; Reaney, Denton, & West, 2002). This study provides explicit implications for preservice teachers. The above findings advise that preparation and training need to center on constructing school involvement opportunities and a consciousness of the influence of home resources, extracurricular activities, and ethnicity on family involvement and child outcomes.

CULTURAL MEDIATION AND SCIENCE Like the other content areas, science suffers the same maladies. Science is a unique context for cultural mediation because in addition to cultural issues, the teacher and students must navigate religious issues as well. We must look at the state of standards of science education. What is the state of science education in teacher education? In order to answer that question we must first examine the standards. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) reported its standards for preparing science teachers (2003). The standards address content, nature of science, inquiry, issues, general skills of teaching, curriculum, science in the community, assessment, safety and welfare, and professional growth (see textbox 4.4). Why is science education important in teacher education? Science Teacher Preparation and Professional Development programs are essential elements in the success of contemporary science education. They should reflect the goals, research, best practices, and vision of science education communities. To that end, programs should be developed and maintained by professional science educators collaborating with colleagues in the pure and applied sciences. The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE, 2004) recommends that these programs focus on exercises that


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

51

Textbox 4.4. National Science Teachers Association Standards for Science Teacher Preparation Standard 1: Content Teachers of science understand and can articulate the knowledge and practices of contemporary science. They can interrelate and interpret important concepts, ideas, and applications in their fields of licensure; and can conduct scientific investigations. Standard 2: Nature of Science Teachers of science engage students effectively in studies of the history, philosophy, and practice of science. They enable students to distinguish science from nonscience, understand the evolution and practice of science as a human endeavor, and critically analyze assertions made in the name of science. Standard 3: Inquiry Teachers of science engage students both in studies of various methods of scientific inquiry and in active learning through scientific inquiry. They encourage students, individually and collaboratively, to observe, ask questions, design inquiries, and collect and interpret data in order to develop concepts and relationships from empirical experiences. Standard 4: Issues Teachers of science recognize that informed citizens must be prepared to make decisions and take action on contemporary science- and technologyrelated issues of interest to the general society. They require students to conduct inquiries into the factual basis of such issues and to assess possible actions and outcomes based upon their goals and values. Standard 5: General Skills of Teaching Teachers of science create a community of diverse learners who construct meaning from their science experiences and possess a disposition for further exploration and learning. They use, and can justify, a variety of classroom arrangements, groupings, actions, strategies, and methodologies. Standard 6: Curriculum Teachers of science plan and implement an active, coherent, and effective curriculum that is consistent with the goals and recommendations of the National Science Education Standards. They begin with the end in mind and effectively incorporate contemporary practices and resources into their planning and teaching. Standard 7: Science in the Community Teachers of science relate their discipline to their local and regional communities, involving stakeholders and using the individual, institutional, and natural resources of the community in their teaching. They actively engage students in science-related studies or activities related to locally important issues. (continued)


10/27/10 11:07 AM

52


Textbox 4.4. (continued) Standard 8: Assessment Teachers of science construct and use effective assessment strategies to determine the backgrounds and achievements of learners and facilitate their intellectual, social, and personal development. They assess students fairly and equitably, and require that students engage in ongoing selfassessment. Standard 9: Safety and Welfare Teachers of science organize safe and effective learning environments that promote the success of students and the welfare of all living things. They require and promote knowledge and respect for safety, and oversee the welfare of all living things used in the classroom or found in the field. Standard 10: Professional Growth Teachers of science strive continuously to grow and change, personally and professionally, to meet the diverse needs of their students, school, community, and profession. They have a desire and disposition for growth and betterment.

• are grounded in the research and professional literature on science learning and teaching; • reflect reform expectations outlined in the National Science Education Standards and related literature; • explicate developmentally appropriate knowledge and skills in science and in science teaching at specific grade levels (preK–16); • are based on the candidate’s content and pedagogical knowledge and on evidence of effective teaching, that includes a range of teacher and student performances; and • are amended periodically as the relevant knowledge evolves with guidance from experts in science teaching, science teacher education, and pure and applied science fields. In analyzing the standards identified by the NSTA, standards 2, 5, 7, and 9 directly address issues of cultural diversity. The current literature on science and teacher education is radical and telling. It reports two main points: traditional science views versus pluralistic voices on the margins of science concepts. Science and culture are manufactured by the connection between humanity and nature, as well as society and humanity. What is cultural mediation in science education? The definition of science is “knowledge attained through study or practice,” or “knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, especially as


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

53

obtained and tested through scientific method [and] concerned with the physical world” according to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. On a commonsense level, science is viewed as objective and value free, but the literature tells a different story. It is a valid point that culture is an essential and underestimated factor in science concept learning and teaching. Views of science have migrated from an individualistic setting to a social, contextual setting. Essentially, science and science education are a venture of a wider cultural medium (Najike, McRobbie, & Lucas, 2002). The Western notion of science as “wms” (White man’s science) is described as segmented and partitioned while the notion of science for indigenous people is conceived as holistic and deliberate. It is also perceived as a “diverse wisdom” (Ganjanapan, 2000, pp. 197–98). In science education, we must make detailed note that there are limits to the scope and sequence of science. Cultural aspects fill in the blanks or reinforce scientific concepts. Let us examine what the clashes in the classroom look like when “science” conflicts with culture and religious diversity. What do teachers actually have to mediate? The following scenarios provide the opportunity to see what happens in classrooms. Scenario 3: Stem Cell Research In an eleventh grade biology class, a White female student voices her concern with teaching about the process of stem cell research and its importance because she feels it promotes abortion. She identifies her religious affiliation as Southern Baptist and she states she is pro-life. Scenario 4: Creationism versus Evolution A Georgia county school board adopted a sticker that is not openly religious but served to put students, parents, and teachers on notification that evolution would be taught in a manner that is comprehensive rather than limited. The school board sought to show respect for their constituents’ personal beliefs concerning the beginning of life while still maintaining a position of impartiality toward religion. Teachers felt trapped in the middle. Scenario 5: Earth Science—The Notion of Life beyond Earth (Space versus Pearly Gates) A student teacher prepares to teach a lesson on the solar system to a class of third grade students. The third graders are sitting in small groups and


10/27/10 11:07 AM

54


constructing models of the solar system with found objects. As the student teacher loads her PowerPoint presentation, the supervising teacher monitors the small groups. She hears a boisterous discussion in the front right corner of the room. “I want to be an astronaut so I can see where God lives,” says Shanna. Corbin says, “You can’t see God from a spaceship, silly! If you could see him from a spaceship, the international space station would have sent a picture from the Hubble telescope.” After listening to the discussion, the supervising teacher walks up to the cooperating teacher and voices her concern. She asks, “What are you going to say when that question comes up?” Scenario 6: Dinosaurs versus Religion An elementary education student teacher in a second grade class begins her unit on dinosaurs. She opens her instructional lesson with a class KWL chart (what we know, what we want to know, what we learned) to find out what they already knew about dinosaurs. As she wrote down their statements on the chart paper, she heard an argument brewing between two students about God making dinosaurs. One of the students in the argument asked the student teacher to write his statement on the chart. Scenario 7: Religious Views of Not Treating with Drugs and Medical Technologies A lesson during Black History Month focused on the accomplishments of Dr. Charles Drew and his award-winning work with blood transfusions. The students reviewed his body of work in pairs. There was one pair that stalled, though. During the discussion they argued over the circumstances of his death (the urban legend of him being denied a blood transfusion at an all-White hospital after a horrible car crash), as well as the importance of his work. One of the students in the pair was a Jehovah’s Witness and did not believe in blood transfusions. How should the teacher address this? Scenario 8: Birthing Practices In a secondary biology course, students were learning about the human reproductive system. The teacher had the student discuss what happens before, during, and after the birth of a human being. The students had to interview a parent or relative about his or her own birth. The students captured the stories in video or PowerPoint and shared them with the class the next week. A Native American student of the Navajo nation shared that in her culture, the placenta is buried after birth in a place that represents the parent’s dreams for their child. A White male student voiced his disagreement with this practice


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

55

stating, “Placenta should be examined by doctors and researchers to find a cure for [my] dad’s paralysis.” How should the teacher respond? What do you attempt to provide for teacher education students: assignments, tools to surface culture? There are a number of recommendations for surfacing culture in science education courses. The International Conference on Educational Reform (ICER, 2007) has provided universal recommendation for educators and administrators (see textboxes 4.5 and 4.6). Textbox 4.5. ICER Recommendations for Teachers 1. The ways to apply the local culture into science subject and target group should be expressed as a favorable opinion in school hour. The strategies in applying local culture for teaching in a particular region should use the culture originated in that region and the culture should be able to be explained by science. The diversity of teaching methods and of learning activities should be considered. 2. Teachers should encourage science learning through local culture based on the needs of students. 3. Teachers should be aware of the subtle differences in thinking. 4. Teachers should be aware of the changing world as well as students’ thinking is also shaping. The learning of science through local culture needs to be encouraged due to the importance of its role in society. Students should have experiences of moral ethics, and values of science-culture in accord in terms of science curriculum. Indigenous specialists should be invited to come into science classrooms to teach local contexts, whereas teachers can teach universal contexts. 5. Teachers can prepare learning materials and learning resources found in the local community. The learning resources should be found near schools because the students can visit easily. 6. Teachers should reinforce students in terms of local language when they face difficult technical terms or situations. Students sometimes need a teacher to be friendly and help them happily understand the subject. The formal speeches from the students to the teacher should be decreased because the students feel more comfortable and convenient if local language is used. 7. Teachers have to develop new learning management for science learning through local culture. The LADDA instructional model is suggested as an alternative to learning development. It is an innovative approach of science learning through local culture. Teachers can apply this learning process into the classroom.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

56


Textbox 4.6. ICER Recommendations for Administrator 1. The reinforcement of science learning through local culture has affected the structure and functioning of school, curriculum, teacher, student, and community. The school should be incorporated in science curriculum. At the same time, self-esteem and appreciation in local culture should be promoted. The most successful way is to introduce the importance of both local culture and learning science to students, parents, and teachers involved. 2. The values of science-culture in accord and environmental conservation behavior are the important factors in indigenous science learning. Students should have the opportunity to participate in some local cultures and get more information in terms of scientific explanation. 3. School should allow indigenous specialists to participate in science learning. Students will have a new conceptual system of how science and local culture interact in their everyday life. Also, school should promote the teacher to develop science curriculum including science and local culture.

There are pitfalls for students taking science education courses in teacher education: what tools are they missing to attempt mediation? Teacher educators and administrators must model strategies that provide opportunities for multiple views of marginalized voices about how science concepts are learned within a situated context. I provide my students with the opportunity to start with their own county or community as a point of research. The students are to create a community-based integrated instructional unit. The students identify resources, conduct three interviews with stakeholders of diverse backgrounds (race, class, gender, age), and develop broad learning outcomes with flexible goals. Textbox 4.7 gives specific details of the assignment.

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES 1. Using the outline in table 4.1, support or defend a statement in the text that impacted you. You may use your personal experiences or any research as support details. 2. Create a taxonomy of issues for diverse learners by content area. Use the organizer in table 4.2.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Textbox 4.7. Community-Based Integrated Unit Community Profile ___ includes a map depicting the area (obtained by downloading an image off the Internet or using a scanner to capture an image) ___ includes photographs and/or graphics of the community (obtained by downloading an image off the Internet or downloading pictures from a digital camera) ___ provides a narrative description of the community in which you live ___ includes demographic information (e.g., population, race, ethnic backgrounds, average income, growth rate, etc.) ___ includes historical, scientific and/or cultural information (e.g, cultural events, celebrations, holidays, historical landmarks, etc.) Community Resources ___ includes narrative description of at least two different resources in the community, including the following information: place, address, telephone, e-mail, URL, contact person, special programs, hours of operation, cost, accessibility, and so on. ___ includes photographs and/or graphics (obtained by downloading an image off the Internet or downloading pictures from a digital camera) ___ lists at least two opportunities related to teaching and learning for each resource Personal Reactions ___ provides a narrative response to the Guiding Questions listed below ___ demonstrates reflective thinking Guiding Questions • How did you feel about researching the community in which you live? • What were the reactions from the community (especially those stakeholders of marginalized backgrounds)? • How could you use this information when planning curriculum and meeting the needs in nondominant culture? • What are the connections to the Georgia Performance Standards? • What suggestions do you have for future classes as they complete this assignment? • What suggestions do you have for classroom teachers as they engage students of diverse backgrounds?


10/27/10 11:07 AM

58


Table 4.1. Proposition/Support Outline Topic:

Cultural Mediation and Content Areas

Proposition:

I am a content area teacher and I am aware of cultural issues in my content area through . . .

Support:

1. Childhood


3. Community

4. Work Experiences


Table 4.2.

Letter

Issues: Content Area 1— Literacy

Issues: Content Area 2— Mathematics

Issues: Content Area 3—Social Studies

Issues: Content Area 4—Science

A B C D


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

59

Figure 4.1.

3. Complete the “How do I know about what I know” protocol in figure 4.1. Use the issues from the taxonomy to expand the protocol. REFERENCES Association for Science Teacher Education. (2004). Position statement science teacher preparation and career-long development. Retrieved May 26, 2009, from theaste.org/aboutus/AETSPosnStatemt1.htm. Beaulieu, L. M. (2002). African American children and literacy: Literacy development across the elementary, middle, and high school years. In S. J. Denbo & L. M. Beaulieu (Eds.), Improving schools for African American students (133–45). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. Chappell, M., & Najee-ullah, D. (2000). Multicultural issues necessary for teacher preparation in mathematics: Moving beyond awareness. Retrieved from www .nctm.org/dialogues/2000-10/.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

60


Chisholm, I. M. (January 01, 1994). Culture and technology: Implications for multicultural teacher education. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 3, 2, 213-28. Comer, J. P., & Haynes, N. M. (1991). Parent involvement in schools: An ecological approach. The Elementary School Journal, 91(3), 271–77. CBMS (Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences). (2001). The mathematical education of teachers. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society; Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America. Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K., & Isaacs, M., (1989). Towards a culturally competent system of care, volume I. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Child Development Center, CASSP Technical Assistance Center. DiME (Diversity in Mathematics Education), Center for Learning and Teaching: The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Drake, J. M. (2009, March 26). Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education— Mathematics, University of West Georgia. Interview. Dubin, F., & Kuhlman, N. A. (1992). The dimensions of cross-cultural literacy. In F. Dubin & N. A. Kuhlman (Eds.), Cross-cultural literacy: Global perspectives on reading and writing (v–x). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Regents/Prentice Hall. Eisner, E. (1994). Cognition and curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press. Fang, Z. (1996). A review of research on teacher beliefs and practices. Educational Research, 38(1), 47–64. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder, 57. Fuller, M. L. (1994). The monocultural graduate in the multicultural environment: A challenge for teacher educators. Journal of Teacher Education, 45(4), 269–77. Ganjanapan, A. (2000). Local wisdom and development. In N. Petchprasert (Ed.), Shameless government in crisis. Bangkok: Edison Press Product (in Thai). Gollnick, D., & Chinn, P. C. (2001). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (5th ed.). Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill. Goode, T. (2001, revised 2006). Key definitions. Washington, DC: National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development. Goode, T. D., & Dunne, C. (2004). Cultural self-assessment. From the Curricula Enhancement Module Series. Washington, DC: National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development. Hadaway, N. L., Florez, V., Larke, P. J., & Wiseman, D. (1993). Teaching in the midst of diversity: How do we prepare? In M. J. O’Hair and S. J. Odell (Eds.), Diversity and teaching: Teacher education handbook (60–70). Fort Worth: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich College Publishers. Hamilton, V. (2004). The people could fly: The picture book. Dillon, L. & Dillon, D. (illus.). New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers. Harris, V. J. (1992). Teaching multicultural literature in grades K–8. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon. Heath, S. B. (1986). Taking a cross-cultural look at narratives. Topics in Language Disorders, 7(1), 84–94.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

The Three Rs

61

Helms, J. E. (1990). Black and White racial identity: Theory, research and practice. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Hernandez, H. (1989). Multicultural education—A teacher’s guide to content and process. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill. ICER (International Conference on Educational Reform) (2005). Proceedings of the International Conference on Problem-Based Learning: “A curriculum model for educational reform.” Nakhon Si Thammarat: Walailak University. ———. 2007. Mahasarakham University, Thailand, November 9–11, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2009, from www.icer2007.msu.ac.th/. Langer, J. A. (1991). Literacy and schooling: A sociocognitive perspective. In E. H. Hiebert (Ed.), Literacy for a diverse society: Perspectives, practices, and policies (9–27). New York: Teachers College Press. Lin Qiuyun (2003). Parent Involvement and Early Literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from www.hfrp.org/ family-involvement/publications-resources/parent-involvement-and-early-literacy. MET (Mathematic Education Trust) (2009, May 31). 2009 Annual Report. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from: www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=12498. Murtadha-Watts, K., & D’Ambrosio, B. S. (1997). A convergence of transformative multicultural and mathematics instruction? Dilemmas of group deliberations for curriculum change. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(6), 767–82. Najike, S., McRobbie, C., & Lucas, K. (2002). Learning science in a high school learning environment in Papua New Guinea. For full text: www.aare.edu.au/ 02pap/naj02039.htm. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. (1998). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved May 26, 2009, from www.nbpts.org. National Center for Cultural Competence (U.S.), & Georgetown University. (1999). National Center for Cultural Competence. [Washington, DC]: National Center for Cultural Competence, gucchd.georgetown.edu//nccc/. National Center for Public Policy Research. (2003). Supreme Court of the United States, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+). Retrieved April 6, 2009, from www.nationalcenter.org/brown.html. National Council for the Social Studies. (2004). Expectation of excellence: Curriculum for social studies. Retrieved May 22, 2009, from www.socialstudies.org/ standards/introduction. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2009). Legislative Platform. Retrieved from www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Research,_Issues_and_NewsSection _Navigation/Legislation/2009_Leg_Platform.pdf. National Science Teachers Association. (2003). Standards for science teacher preparation, Arlington, VA. Retrieved May 26, 2009, from www.ncate.org/ ProgramStandards/NSTA/NSTAstandards.doc. National Staff Development Council. (2001). NSDC standards for staff development. Retrieved April 5, 2009, from www.nsdc.org/standards/index.cfm. National Urban Alliance. (2003). Most essential strategies. Retrieved May 27, 2009, from www.nuatc.org.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

62


Ogawa, M. (2001). Nature of indigenous science: A stratified and amalgamated model of knowledge and cosmology. International Meeting on Culture, Language and Gender Sensitive Science Teacher Education Program (CLAGS-STEP Project). Hiroshima University, October 4–6, 2001. Reaney, L. M., Denton, K. L., & West, J. (2002, April). Enriching environments: The relationship of home educational activities, extracurricular activities and community resources to kindergartners’ cognitive performance. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA. Vartuli, S. (1999). How early childhood teacher beliefs vary across grade level. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14(4), 489–514. Walt Disney Productions. (1971). Walt Disney presents the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. Racine, WI: Golden Press. Yan, W., & Lin, Q. (2002, April). Parent involvement and children’s achievement: Race and income differences. Paper presented at the annual conference of American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA. Zimpher, N. (1989). The RATE project: A profile of teacher education students. Journal of Teacher Education, 40(6), 27–30.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Five

But They Don’t Speak English Mapping Out How We Teach Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners Hema Ramanathan

ELLS: IMMIGRANTS AND NONIMMIGRANTS The past thirty years have seen an explosion of not only immigration statistics but also a variety of immigrants. This is represented by the 311 different languages spoken in the United States, 149 of them by immigrants. Further, immigrants are not restricted to particular parts of the country. Though states like California, New York, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico may have significant percentages of population that do not speak English as a first language, others like Georgia and Indiana have seen a dramatic rise in the immigrant population. Thus, the population of non-English speakers is more widely dispersed than ever before. The knee-jerk response to this has been twenty-two states passing “English-only” policies in the past twenty years. The growth in this subgroup has also been reflected in schools. Since 1995, while overall student growth has been about 4 percent, English language learner (ELL) enrollment has grown 57 percent, totaling 5.1 million ELL students, amounting to more than 10 percent of the total student population. In Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, growth rates exceeded 300 percent between 1995 and 2005. However, contrary to all beliefs, a majority of ELLs are not immigrants. Currently, 23 percent of the nation’s children have at least one immigrant parent, with 75 percent of them in elementary schools. By 2015, it is predicted this number will rise to nearly one in three, or 33 percent (Hollins & Guzman, 2005). The impact of these changing demographics on schools has also been dramatic with the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. As per this 63


10/27/10 11:07 AM

64

Hema Ramanathan

act, students who had so far been invisible, and on whom the schools were not expected to report regarding standardized tests, now had to be taken into account. A complicating factor was that each student was required to be taught by a “highly qualified” teacher, and ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) was not identified as an area for this high qualification. The inclusion model in which ELLs are mainstreamed allowed schools to fulfill this requirement. However, the profile of teachers makes it clear what is lacking. As stated in chapter 1, most teachers are monolingual and White, with only 15 percent fluent in a non-English language. Of the 1.2 million teachers in 2002, few had the knowledge and background to teach ELLs; only 11 percent were certified in bilingual education and 18 percent in ESOL. Though the specific influence of monolingual teachers on student achievement has not been studied (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005), there can be no doubt that a lack of coherence between the student and teacher profiles will not help student academic performance. STATE OF ESOL IN TEACHER EDUCATION It is apparent that teachers have to be prepared to teach the English language learners (ELLs) they have in their classroom. However, response by the states in terms of credentialing and by teacher preparation programs has not kept pace with the felt need. While thirty-seven out of the fifty states offer certification or endorsement to qualify teachers to teach ELLs, only twenty-three of these have a legal mandate for ESOL certification. While only 84 percent of the states offer ESOL certification or endorsement, only 50 percent offer bilingual/dual language certification or endorsement (Hollins & Guzman, 2005). Emergency certification with many states allowing “exam-only” credentialing with courses taken while teaching is on the rise. It is not surprising, therefore, that approximately 41 percent of 3 million teachers report they have taught ELL students, but only 12 percent have had a minimum of eight hours training in the past year. Many ELLs receive their instruction from personnel who have not had any training and this hinders academic progress. Further, teacher education programs do not expect teacher education students to be bilingual or have a foreign-language experience (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008; Téllez & Waxman, 2006). The subtext of these policies and expectations is that neither culture nor language that is not akin to teachers’ own backgrounds is considered an important variable in effective teaching. Given the gap between the profile of


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Mapping Out How We Teach Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners

65

teachers and of minority students, it is obvious that cultural mediation is a necessity and that teacher education candidates should be provided opportunities to understand the cultural background of students whose backgrounds are unlike theirs in many ways. Curricula in teacher education programs approach this in two ways. The more common one is for all students to take a stand-alone course on multiculturalism that introduces basic concepts and theories. The second method is less common but more vigorously advocated by scholars of multiculturalism. This is for the concepts to be subsumed in all the courses in the program and students to apply these in all the experiences they may encounter as part of their curriculum. The interventions described in this chapter can be implemented in either of the options described above. They focus on both linguistic and cultural understandings that students should acquire in the course of their teacher education program. If teacher beliefs are to be challenged and changed or modified, teachers need to both know and experience the differences that make up this diverse society. Therefore, the following activities are designed to make the students think and feel, to address the cognitive and affective domains.

MULTICULTURAL NOTEBOOK Description • Artifacts: • Collect a minimum of ten different examples of how cultural attributes are miscommunicated or unfairly represented in our society. • The artifacts must highlight communities and groups of people who are stigmatized for their lack of English language ability. • Use examples from popular media such as TV, newspapers, and magazines. Song lyrics, video games, Internet material, greeting cards, match covers, as well as classroom resources, activities, and incentives for students, and so on may also be used. • Use a camera to photograph billboards, displays, and so forth. Radio and TV material may be included as excerpts with appropriate references of date, title of program, and time of airing. Scan articles neatly. • Search out artifacts in which such misrepresentation is not obvious but is implied, covert, or assumed. • Captions for each slide: • Explain in no more than fifty words what misrepresentations or stereotypes you see in each artifact.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

66

Hema Ramanathan

• State the group that is being stereotyped (e.g., Asian Americans). • State what aspect is being stereotyped (e.g., All Asian Americans are said to be clever, intelligent, and successful). • Refuting the stereotype: • Explain briefly (50–100 words) why you think the stereotype is not appropriate. • Quote facts and statistics where possible to support your contention (e.g., Of Cambodians, Hmong, and Laotians, 22 percent live in poverty and 10 percent receive public assistance, the highest of any group, including Native Americans—www.asian-nation.org/demographics.shtml). Analysis The purpose of this assignment is to document how various stereotypes about immigrants and ELLs are evident in society and how the media unfairly represent (or misrepresent) these individuals or groups. In the course of this assignment, the negative stereotyping of groups such as African Americans and women is apparent. In stark contrast to this is the lack of visibility of non-English-speaking groups in the media; they do not appear on major TV shows, the one exception being The Simpsons, which, not surprisingly, ridicules the Asian owner of the 7–11. As a group, non-English speakers are not targeted for commercial purposes by the media. Stories about immigrants in the media are generally negative, in which they are seen as the problem or which highlight the problems they face in living in this society. Thus, the image of a non-English speaker is of one not usually seen as contributing to society but taking away from it. At the contact stage, students may expect to have difficulty finding artifacts about stereotypes in general and about immigrants in particular. Comments such as “I think this is going to take a lot of time to find artifacts” should be expected by the instructor. After the assignment is completed, students may move to the disintegration stage, where the blame-the-victim mentality is apparent. Students may say that since most immigrants are probably in this country illegally, immigrants who are legal, and a much smaller number, should not be hurt if they are tarred with the same brush. Students at the reintegration stage may lump all immigrants into one group and refuse to distinguish between various countries and communities under labels such as Hispanics and Asians. They may choose not to distinguish between the issues of legal and illegal immigrants. Facts such as numbers of illegal immigrants is much smaller than


10/27/10 11:07 AM


67

legal immigrants, that illegal Hispanics come mostly from Mexico and not from Latin America, that illegal immigration from Asia is minuscule when compared to the legal immigrants from those countries, are not likely to impact their opinion. Students may also suggest that legal immigrants should police their own communities and weed out illegal immigrants so that their own image is not sullied. Those for whom this focused analysis of the media is a wakeup call are surprised by the number of TV shows and advertisements that show stereotypical characters. They are often taken aback and are never able to see these shows in the same light. Some may even go to the extent of stopping to watch some of what used to be their favorite shows. The lack of a positive presence of immigrant groups in the media encourages students in the last two stages of identity development to look for more information about ELLs and search world databases and newspapers for authentic information. Thus is social justice kindled in their hearts.

READING A BOOK BY/ABOUT IMMIGRANTS Description • The book must deal with issues of immigrants and immigration, preferably into the United States. • The book could be fiction, a biography, an autobiography, or a researchbased, nonfiction book. • The book can be authored by an immigrant or be about immigrants. • To ensure that the issues dealt with are current, the book should have been published within the last ten years. • The reviews of the book must include • A summary of the book (300 words). • An analysis of at least three issues raised in the book (500 words). • A reflection: For each of the issues, explain how you could deal with this in your classroom/school setting (500 words). Analysis Though books are a visual medium, and appeal to the visual learner, the processing is in the cognitive domain. Thus, the effect of this activity is mostly in the thinking rather than the feeling areas of the person. While works of fiction such as The Joy Luck Club and Arranged Marriage may appeal to the emotions, the processing is still a cognitive function.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

68

Hema Ramanathan

Students at the first two stages of identity development may not let the activity affect them very much. The issues dealt with in the book may raise awareness in terms of what forces and factors influence the life of immigrants in the United States. Books of fiction are unlikely to offer solutions to problems that the readers see in their classrooms.

WATCHING A MOVIE ABOUT IMMIGRANTS Description • The movie must deal with issues of immigrants and immigration, preferably into the United States. • The movie could be a feature film or a documentary. • To ensure that the issues dealt with are current, the film should have been released within the last ten years. • The reviews of the movie must include the following sections: • A summary of the movie (300 words). • An analysis of at least three issues that are raised by the movie (300 words). • A reflection: For each of the issues, explain how you could deal with this in your classroom/school setting (500 words). Analysis This activity works on both the cognitive and affective domains. Watching a movie appeals directly through the visual to the affective domain. However, the analysis component of the activity is a function of the higher order thinking skills of Bloom’s taxonomy and discussing the issues portrayed in the movie involves the cognitive domain. The choice of the movie could dictate the stage at which it could work. Most feature films that deal with issues of immigration portray discrimination and should illuminate issues for students at all stages. However, unless the issues are dealt with sensitively, teacher education students who are at the first, second, or third stages may find their ideas affirmed rather than challenged. On the other hand, a sensitive movie like Babel could surface many issues about responsibility versus the rights of immigrants. It can also surface issues on how language inconsistencies between two parties can weight the balance of power. Foreign-language films or documentaries may need to be accessed for students to move into the state of autonomy, for few movies


10/27/10 11:07 AM


69

made in the United States portray other cultures or subcultures with authenticity. However, care should be taken in the movies that are recommended. For instance, while Slumdog Millionaire may be an authentic movie about a certain section of Indian society, teachers in the United States are hardly likely to meet or have to teach students belonging to that stratum, since they are unlikely to immigrate to the United States legally or illegally. Thus, recommending that movie would only serve to affirm negative stereotypes about Asian Indians that students may have and, worse, stereotypes that would not fit the immigrants or their children from the subcontinent. INTERVIEWING IMMIGRANT FAMILIES Description • The purpose of this activity is for you to appreciate the whole child, and to understand the background of the immigrant students you will be teaching and for whom you will advocate. • The interview is designed to further your investigation of schools in the United States and how particular sociocultural and political climates may influence schooling experiences. This could possibly contrast with beliefs and practices in the immigrant’s country of origin. • Procedure: • Identify an immigrant family that has been in the United States for less than five years. • The family must have at least one child who is in a K–12 school in the United States. • Interview the family in their setting, preferably at their home when all the members of the family are present. The interview must last between sixty and ninety minutes. Take notes during and immediately after the interview. It is not necessary to tape it in any way. • The write-up should be 1,500–2,500 words. • Briefly summarize the interview (500 words). • Critically analyze at least three issues as seen in the interviews (500– 1,000 words). • For each of the issues, explain how you could deal with this in your classroom/school setting (500–1,000 words). • Prompts: These prompts are only a starting point, not a complete list. You may ask any/some/all of these or add to them, depending on what you want to know. You will need to ask probing questions to get at some more subtle aspects.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

70

Hema Ramanathan

• Where is your family from, and how long have you been in the United States? • Before moving here, what were your perceptions of Americans? Now that you are here, have those perceptions changed? • What brought you to America? • Were there any driving factors to move to the United States other than education? • How hard was the process of moving to America? How long did it take? Was it worth it? How and why? • Did you have any preparation for the American language and culture before immigrating to the United States? • What has been the most difficult aspect of the American style of living to which you have to adapt? • What is the easiest aspect of the American style of living to which you have to adapt? • What aspect of life in the United States is similar to life in your country of origin? • What is the one thing you find most unusual/odd about the American people? • Have you found it difficult to keep your culture and values as an important aspect of your children’s upbringing as they adapt to the United States? • Has your child been able to relate/identify and become friends with children not of his/her ethnic background at school? • Do you feel like your child’s school provides adequate services to enable your child to learn in a school that speaks English instead of . . . ? • Does your school provide a language specialist for you or other immigrant students? If not, do you feel they need to invest in one? • How do academic expectations here compare to those from your country of origin? • Do you think your child is receiving a better education here than he or she would have in your country of origin? • Is school more or less expensive financially here compared to your country of origin? • Have you found any ways that your child is at a disadvantage as compared to other nonimmigrant children? • What learning activities (or strategies) do your children find most helpful, and does this in any way come from your cultural background? • Do you feel that your school is promoting multiculturalism/diversity? If so, how?


10/27/10 11:07 AM


71

• In what ways do you feel that the school could be better supporting your child as a minority student? If you feel your child is very well supported by the school, why? • Are there ways in which you feel that the policies/procedures of the school are contradicting an aspect of your culture/family values? • Have the parents/community of the school system treated you any differently because you are an immigrant? • Has the school/teacher made an effort to be in regular contact with you? Do they offer any kind of extra communication outlets for you because you are an immigrant? • And specifically for the student: 䊊 Do you feel accepted by other kids at your school? If not, is there anything your teachers could do that might help? 䊊 What do you miss the most? 䊊 What have you learned in school that was not directly taught from the teacher? 䊊 Do you feel like you are learning more or less than the other students in your new school? Analysis Most schools do not actively encourage, if not directly discourage, teachers from visiting the homes of the students. The teachers, who are mostly middle class and White, are unfamiliar with the lifestyles and values of immigrant families. Their only contact with them is probably when parents visit the school, and these are usually at the behest of the teachers who wish to communicate with the parents. At these times, parents are usually at a disadvantage, in unfamiliar territory, at a time and place not of their choice, and they often feel they have been called to account for their child’s misbehavior or lack of achievement. On the other hand, teachers are on their home ground and in a position of power, usually backed by an administrator. This task sets out to change all these conditions. Values and ideas of diversity are most affected by direct experience, which is the focus of the task. This direct interaction with people affords learning in both the cognitive and affective domains. A major learning that happens is living by another set of cultural rules. The culture of most teachers makes them hesitant to invite themselves to their interviewees’ homes. It feels too much like intrusion and it is perceived as impolite. Students at the first three stages especially are likely to bristle at the idea of having to break one of their rules of polite behavior. Realizing that most


10/27/10 11:07 AM

72

Hema Ramanathan

immigrants will be very willing to open their homes and share their stories is a revelation to a different set of values and how a community is formed and community members are treated. When they see how people from other cultures live, students at the contact stage understand that different lifestyles exist, that the role and responsibilities of a guest are perceived differently in various societies. The stories of hardship, survival, and sacrifice that immigrants have may make students at the disintegration stage concede that bias exists while those at the reintegration stage may identify factors and forces that act on immigrants, changing their mind about holding the “victim” responsible for the “crime” of being an immigrant. For those in the pseudoindependent and autonomy stages this is an excellent opportunity to expand their cognitive understandings. They could increase their contact with the target culture and build relationships with people from another community. They gain an “insider’s” view of immigrant life. They increase their knowledge of a particular culture and society and open venues to participating more fully in that community by being invited to community functions and celebrations and expanding their social circle of friends and acquaintances. MAPPING COMMUNITY RESOURCES Description • Make a list of the countries of origin of the ELLs in your school. • Identify the following in your area that represent these countries/groups: • Social organizations, for example, Latin American Association • Health centers, hospitals, sweat lodges, ethnic medicinal entities • Places of worship that are particular to the groups, for example, Hindu temples • Welcome centers for immigrants • Restaurants that serve ethnic foods • Grocery stores • Movie theaters that show foreign-language films • Sports clubs and sport arenas, for example, cricket teams • Bookstores that stock relevant foreign-language books • List the services that each offers, for example, language classes, translation services, legal help • For each country/group represented in your school, create a database, filling in the information as shown in table 5.1. Add rows as necessary. (There may be more than one restaurant you would recommend!)


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Bookstores

Sports clubs/arenas

Movie theaters

Grocery store

Restaurant

Welcome center

Place of worship

Health centers

Social organization

Table 5.1. Contact Person

Address

Phone

E-mail

Services Offered

74

Hema Ramanathan

Analysis This activity appeals mainly in the cognitive domain. This task raises awareness of the needs of a group to connect with its community and is more likely to contribute to the learning of students at the initial stages of cultural awareness. It will also raise questions about the differentiated needs of various groups. For instance, in an area that has many churches of various denominations but no temples or mosques, a Korean family that is Christian may find a religious home more easily than a Hindu or Muslim family. Thus, for the students in the contact and disintegration stages, the row Places of worship that is blank in the table for the Indian subgroup may highlight the religious isolation experienced by the latter.

LESSON/UNIT PLAN—LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES AND RATIONALES Description • Create a unit plan with at least five lesson plans of fifty minutes each. • You may use any format of plan. • The unit plan should contain: • Subject • Grade levels • Demographic details of students (gender, special education, proficiency level of your ELLs, etc.) • Goals • Methods and strategies, especially accommodations for special education students and ELLs • Unit assessment • Rationale and review • Each lesson plan will include: • General objectives • Language objectives • Standards • Teaching materials (technology, multimedia tools, resources, etc.) • Specific procedures (especially accommodations for special populations) • Assessment


10/27/10 11:07 AM


75

• A written report (700–900 words) that includes the following: 䊊 The skill(s) your lessons address 䊊 The strategies you employ 䊊 Description of how your lesson meets the standards and goals you have selected 䊊 A reflection on the success of the planning and implementation of the lesson Analysis For teachers, translating knowledge into the classroom, connecting theory and practice is the most important consideration of valuing what they have learned. Infusing knowledge of ELLs into their planning and implementation is a cognitive activity, which is at the pinnacle of their professional thinking. Having teachers write language objectives focuses them on the essential content that needs to be learned and the vocabulary that is needed to learn that content. Teacher education candidates who are at the contact stage and claim to be “color blind” may be unwilling to invest the energy into this activity. Those at the disintegration stage may move toward understanding that ELLs have issues with language that other proficient speakers of English may not have and those at the reintegration stage may acknowledge ELLs as students who need to be taught, not as students who are problems. ELLs will benefit most by students at the pseudoindependent and autonomous stages who will work on this in the cognitive domain. Such students may be encouraged to learn about the linguistic differences between the ELLs’ first language and English and use that knowledge to teach the content-specific language.

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES 1. Using the outline in table 5.2, support or defend a statement in the text that affected you. You may use your personal experiences or any research as support details. 2. Create a taxonomy of issues for English language learners. Use the organizer in table 5.3. 3. Complete the “How do I know about what I know protocol” in figure 5.1. Use the issues from the taxonomy to expand the protocol.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

76

Hema Ramanathan


Cultural Mediation and ELLs

Proposition:

I am a teacher/instructional leader of ELLs and I am aware of cultural issues through ...

Support:

1. Childhood


3. Community

4. Work Experiences


Table 5.3.

Letter

Issue: Pragmatic Systems

Issue: Family and Community

Issue: Instructional Choices

Issue: Media and Environment Perception

A B C D


10/27/10 11:07 AM


77

Figure 5.1.

REFERENCES Cochran-Smith, M., & Zeichner, K. M. (2005). Studying teacher education: The report of the AERA panel on research and teacher education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Flannery, M. E. (2009). A New Look at America’s English Language Learners: A growing number of ELLs were born in the United States. Retrieved September 20, 2010, from: www.nea.org/home/29160.htm. Hollins, E., & Guzman, M. T. (2005). Research on preparing teachers for diverse populations. Retrieved from www.nea.org/home/ns/29160.htm. Téllez, K., & Waxman, H. C. (2006). Preparing quality educators for English language learners: Research, policies and practices. New York: Routledge.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Six

The State of School-Based Speech-Language Pathology in Teacher Education Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Karen Harris

While speech-language pathologists provide services to individuals in a variety of settings, this chapter will focus on school-based speech-language pathology and its role in teacher education. The roles and responsibilities of this profession have been expanded within the dialogue of teacher education, making it necessary to advance the conversation beyond teachers and teacher educators to include related services professionals, such as speech-language pathologists. Federal legislative mandates brought about by the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB; 2001) and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA; 2004), demanded increased accountability in U.S. schools. Along with these mandates, a heightened emphasis on evidence-based practice (EBP); the establishment of a prereferral prevention-intervention process identified as response to intervention (RtI); evolution of new roles and responsibilities related to school reform issues; and an increasingly diverse student population, which includes English language learners, justifies speech-language pathologists a place at the table of teaching and learning. They bring with them the dish of clinical practice. Although a specialized field, school-based speech-language pathology services fit under the special education umbrella. These professionals are faced with the challenge of identifying, assessing, diagnosing, and determining therapeutic intervention for an increasingly diverse student population. However, roles and responsibilities go beyond distinguishing between communication difference and communication disorder among the diverse clientele served. Further, these professionals bring critical expertise (a unique foundation in understanding the relationships among language, literacy, and learning, as 79


10/27/10 11:07 AM

80

Karen Harris

well as specialized training in making decisions for instruction and intervention that is data driven) to the table (Moore & Montgomery, 2008). Thus, collaboration and consultation with peers (general, special education, and ESOL educators) is essential.

CULTURAL MEDIATION AND SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY The role school-based speech-language pathologists (SLP) play in teacher education substantiates the requisite knowledge and skills these professionals must receive in their clinical education/preparation to serve all students appropriately. A natural part of being human, these professionals are not void of their own culture, beliefs, values, ideology, and racial identity. Furthermore, he or she brings these pieces of himself or herself to every assessment, therapeutic intervention, and decision-making conference. Similar to teachers, demographic statistics regarding the SLP workforce suggest a monocultural and monolingual representation. Specifically, the vast majority of speech-language pathologists are White, middle-class women who do not speak or understand a language other than English. While representing a culturally and linguistically diverse background does not automatically qualify one to be considered culturally competent, having a representative sample of the student population served is important for many reasons. The reasons include adequate availability of interpreters, translators, and cultural brokers to assist in avoiding the pitfalls of misdiagnosis (over- and underidentification), inappropriate referrals for special education services, and culturally inappropriate practices when the culturally and linguistically diverse student does qualify for services. While an undergraduate degree in speech-language pathology is available, the point of entry into the profession is at the graduate level. A master’s degree minimum is recognized by the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association and is required to obtain a license and/or certification to practice in the field. Thus, the focus of this chapter is on graduate-level preservice speech-language pathologists.

WHAT DOES CULTURAL MEDIATION IN SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY LOOK LIKE? Core requirements in the education of speech-language pathologists include but are not limited to knowledge and skills of the biological, physical, and


10/27/10 11:07 AM

State of School-Based Speech-Language Pathology in Teacher Education

81

social/behavioral sciences and knowledge of basic human communication and swallowing processes, including their biological, neurological, acoustic, psychological, developmental, and linguistic and cultural bases. There is a critical need for graduate students in speech-language pathology to demonstrate knowledge of concepts such as culture, assimilation and acculturation, second language acquisition, and cultural competence in order to provide appropriate services to children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. An important component of the graduate program in speech-language pathology is the preparation of these clinicians-in-training to work with a diverse caseload of students and their families. This is in addition to learning about the specialty areas (e.g., fluency/stuttering, voice, language disorders, articulation, phonology, and dysphagia/swallowing disorders) and evidencedbased clinical practice and treatment options. They must research and provide services that take into account any differences in values, belief systems, views of disability, and history of immigration, as well as varying levels of acculturation and assimilation their clients bring. They must balance this knowledge with the fact that within-group variations do exist, being careful not to stereotype. In addition to the assignments introduced in the previous chapter written by Dr. Ramanathan, I recommend six examples of coursework/assignments. Similar to those in chapter 5, these tasks have been placed in alignment with Helms’s stages of racial identity. See appendix B. 1. Culture and You Paper (Self-disclosure) Description: Following an introduction to culture by your instructor and participation in various cultural awareness in-class activities, you will write a three-page paper describing your ethnocultural heritage. You will identify and discuss the cultural forces that have been powerful in your life. The final product will be a written paper. The paper should discuss your cultural paradigm (worldview), and how it influences your expectations for culturally and linguistically diverse clients in your future practice. The logic and organization as well as quality of writing (grammar and spelling) will be evaluated. Analysis: All of us are shaped by the culture in which we were raised. Self-reflection is a critical component of multicultural education. Before you can understand anyone else’s culture, it is extremely helpful if you can articulate clearly your own culture. 2. Cultural Awareness Self-Assessment Assignment Description: Each student will complete a (pre- and post-) selfassessment pertaining to multicultural/culturally competent service


10/27/10 11:07 AM

82

Karen Harris

delivery. The final product is a three- to four-page written reflective paper, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font size with 1 inch borders. Analysis: The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about your own cultural competence and its impact on your practices as a speech-language pathologist. Culture is ingrained. Your beliefs and values accompany you to every assessment and treatment session. They inform your decision making. 3. Policies and Procedures Cultural Competence Checklist Description: Each student will complete a cultural competence checklist that is focused on the university’s speech-language pathology program, college of education, and university as a whole. You will need to research the policies and procedures via a synthesis of information (the graduate catalog, university websites, American Speech-LanguageHearing Association [ASHA] website, interviews with program professors and/or department chair, and observations). The final product is a four- to five-page written paper, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font size with 1 inch borders. Analysis: The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about cultural competence beyond an individual solely. Policies and practices shape the climate of an organization. 4. Case Studies Description: Students will complete two in-class case studies related to SLP services to multicultural/culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Each student will analyze, interpret, and give impressions based on information provided by the instructor during class time. Analysis: Case studies are often used as a tool to provide students with the opportunity to critically reflect and problem solve. Using a synthesis of information (course text and/or journal articles, class discussions, video clips, etc.), students analyze a case and provide solutions to real-life case examples. 5. Testing the Tests Description: Students will select currently recognized formal and informal test instruments in the area of speech-language pathology designed to assess performances in the following areas: (a) language comprehension, (b) language expression, (c) articulation/phonology, (d) fluency, (e) voice, (f) resonance, and (g) screening for neurological difficulty. Each formal test selected for the battery will be reviewed using respected standards for determining validity, reliability, appropriateness for client, and multicultural considerations. Students will use


10/27/10 11:07 AM


83

outside research-based resources, in addition to course texts, to support statements. Analysis: The purpose of this assignment is threefold: (1) to engage you in an in-depth analysis of standard formal assessments, (2) increase your knowledge of psychometric principles and the ability to determine a given test’s appropriateness for clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and (3) increase your knowledge of multicultural considerations. 6. Practicum and Internship Assignments Description: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) requires each student to graduate with four hundred clinical clock hours. A natural part of the graduate program is for these clinicians-intraining to provide services to clients on campus in a lab clinic and subsequently provide services at off-campus affiliate locations. Analysis: Students will gain cultural competence by participating in real-world experiences in the form of clinical practice and internships with clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. While the focus of the above assignments is on speech-language pathologistsin-training, these assignments can be easily adapted for use with other professionals. It is critical that everyone involved in the education of children and adolescents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds receive an invitation to the table of teaching and learning. This includes related services professionals, such as speech-language pathologists, who play a major role in the education of all students in the preK–12 setting. Preparing these professionals to work with a diverse group of students is as critical as preparing teachers. The overarching goal is the same: to increase proficiency skills in the area of cultural competence.

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES 1. Using the outline in table 6.1, support or defend a statement in the text that influenced you. You may use your personal experiences or any research as support details. 2. Create a taxonomy of issues for those who are learning to provide speech pathology services. Use the organizer in table 6.2. 3. Complete the “How do I know about what I know protocol” shown in figure 6.1. Use the issues from the taxonomy to expand the protocol.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


Speech-Language Services and Culture

Proposition:

I am a teacher/instructional leader of ELLs and I am aware of cultural issues through ...

Support:

1. Childhood


3. Community

4. Work Experiences


Table 6.2.

Letter

Issue: Language Systems

Issue: Family and Community

Issue: Instructional Choices

Issue: Media and Environment Perception

A B C D


10/27/10 11:07 AM


85

Figure 6.1.

REFERENCES Council for Exceptional Children. (2007). Understanding IDEA 2004: Frequently asked questions. CEC policy series. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children. Moore, B. J., & Montgomery, J. K. (2008). Making a difference for America’s children: Speech-language pathologists in public schools (2nd ed.). Greenville, SC: Thinking Publications. National Center on Educational Outcomes. (2006). NCLB and IDEA: What parents of students with disabilities need to know and do. National Center on Educational Outcomes in collaboration with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). Supported by the U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved April 24, 2009, from www.education.umn.edu/NCEO/OnlinePubs/Parents.pdf.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Seven

Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way Cultural Mediation, Social Justice, and Educational Leadership Noelle Witherspoon

“More than 90 percent of teachers in the United States are white, middle class females from rural or suburban backgrounds who have minimal knowledge of the children [or] about the contexts in which children live and the characteristics of children of different racial, economic, linguistic, and familial backgrounds” (Neuharth-Pritchett, Payne, & Reiff, 2004, p. 1). As the diversity of the nation’s schools increases, the need for teachers and educational leaders to employ culturally applicable processes has become paramount. In spite of this need, the demographics of the teaching force still does not reflect the demographics of schools (Neuharth-Pritchett et al., 2004) and the demographics of educational leaders share this same trend (Tillman, 2009). The educational leaders of schools (comprised primarily of those from teaching ranks) are faced with the important task of leading the teaching force in schools and share the same burden as their teachers to see and mediate the “contradictions and inequities that exist in the local community and the larger world” (Ladson-Billings, 1992, p. 382). Although this book is about the role of teachers in cultural mediation, important ideas surrounding educational leadership takes on particular importance due to the fact that educational administrators often lead or share leadership with the teaching force, provide a model for teachers with whom they work, and are comprised largely of the former teaching force that they lead. By examining some of the trends in educational leadership, one may gain greater insights into the role of cultural mediation and its processes and outcomes. Current researchers in educational leadership are realizing the conduit of education as a means for transforming society and promoting democratic principles, while still recognizing the marginalization of those who differ from the majority (Marshall & Oliva, 2009). Inequities surrounding culture, 87


10/27/10 11:07 AM

88

Noelle Witherspoon

race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and other differences still exist. In the United States, there are still inequities that exist in society that impact educators and the students and communities they serve. At all levels of education, gaps among achievement, graduation rates, and grades exist among students of color and their White and Asian counterparts (Orfield, Losen, Wald, & Swanson, 2004; Tyson, Darity, & Castellino, 2005). Poverty is at an all-time high and a sharp line exists between areas of the country and among races (Morris & Monroe, 2009; Rodriguez & Fabionar, 2009). Children and adults who are gay/lesbian, second-languaged, or with disabilities are frequently discriminated against and not served well through schooling (Apple, 2001; Koschoreck, 1999; Mitchell, 2006). This particular chapter draws from ongoing research with Black female principals that raises an important question surrounding cultural mediation: what is the intended purpose of cultural mediation and why is it important to educational leader? This chapter engages important emerging concepts in educational leadership by offering that the intended goal of cultural mediation is social justice. This chapter also discusses leadership socialization, preparation, and support in cultural and social justice–oriented practice. Insights from the research reveal how current leadership standards speak to the issue of culture through social justice, how the principles of cultural mediation manifest themselves in everyday practice for principals, the implications of leading for social justice, and the impact on teacher leaders and preservice and novice educational leaders.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The initial conversation with the editor of this book occurred during the research process while conducting research for this other study (Witherspoon, 2008). The initial qualitative narrative research was conceptualized to describe the themes and patterns in which religiospirituality influenced the leadership process for four Black female principals. Due to the parity of research concerning Black female principals, this study was aimed at contributing to bridging that literature gap by adding the voices of Black women leaders who live, work, and lead through religiospirituality. The study explored how these female leaders navigated the intersecting oppressions as they engaged in social justice activities in their schools, districts, and communities. While a discussion on cultural mediation was not the focus, individual and corporate conversations with these principals often included insight on issues of culture and social justice. Although each of the principals had her own


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Cultural Mediation, Social Justice, and Educational Leadership

89

personal narrative surrounding her socialization, preparation, and support in leadership experiences and her own contexts for each, this chapter only discusses the collective, shared encounters concerning their experiences. The principals often spoke of cultural sensitivity, relevance, and awareness in discussing their own practice. They also spoke of how to create and maintain schools that promoted these ideas to ultimately produce social justice in their schools. In addition to this, one aspect consistently stood out: how to create a continual dialogue with their teachers and other constituents in a way that advanced culture processes to support the diversity in their schools. These conversations formed an emergent data in the study and provided the impetus for current research with these principals regarding cultural mediation and social justice. Throughout these conversations, I began to see a clear articulation of the principles involved in cultural mediation and a clear link to social justice. An analysis of these transcribed formal and informal conversations and field notes offers insights into cultural mediation, social justice and socialization, and preparation and support in leadership development in these areas.

CULTURAL MEDIATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE What may be difficult about cultural mediation is defining it. Cultural mediation is often conflated with cultural relevance, cultural sensitivity, cultural awareness, cultural competence, cultural fluency, and/or multiculturalism and diversity. This can create in the mind of the individual or organization the notion that these ideas are synonymous or formulaic in approach. While all of these may encompass the comprehensive nature of cultural mediation, the process largely remains misunderstood and often misapplied. For the purpose of this book, cultural mediation has been defined “as a process for bringing about dialogue reconciliation between opposing views or audiences in a situated environment” (Goode, 2001, 2006). Figure 7.1 expresses Ursula Thomas’s use of cultural mediation as holistic in nature and comprising other cultural concepts in dealing with culture in schools. While there is much research surrounding cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, cultural competence, and cultural proficiency (Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell, 2003), there is little research concerning the idea of cultural mediation in American schooling. A simple search shows that cultural mediation has been largely situated in work with individuals in other countries, language learning and translation, or mere interpersonal relations (Gercek, 2008).


10/27/10 11:07 AM

90

Noelle Witherspoon

Figure 7.1.

What happens when one becomes proficient, aware, and competent? These terms imply that no further work need be done and belies a lack of ongoing transformation. Mediation requires all these things, yet still denotes continuing development and negotiation. Little research has addressed the purpose of cultural mediation. The definition used in this chapter gives little insight into the purpose of cultural mediation. I offer that the purpose of cultural mediation in schools is social justice. Culture has been described as “a group’s individual and collective ways of thinking, believing, and knowing, which includes their shared experiences, consciousness, skills, values, forms of expression, social institutions and behaviors” (Tillman, 2002, p. 4). In particular, for educational leadership, culture has been recognized as an important construct in teaching, leading, and learning (Tillman, 2009).


10/27/10 11:07 AM


91

In educational leadership, leadership standards of behavior and philosophy are often articulated through the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISSLC). This group represents leading constituents in licensing and preparation of school leaders. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) adopted the standards in accrediting school preparation programs in 2002 (Cambron-McCabe, 2009). These standards have articulated the preparation, evaluation of preservice, and school leaders since their inception. While the ISSLC standards serve as the leading medium of values for educational leadership, these standards make little mention of culture in spite of the fact that research has shown that culture plays an important role in teaching, leading, and learning. The ISSLC standards were revised in 2008. The original ISSLC standards included six standards with nineteen to thirty-nine knowledge, skills, and dispositions for each standard. The updated standards are now known as the Educational Leadership Policy Standards: ISSLC 2008. There are still six standards with three to nine functions for each standard. The ISSLC standards that mention culture are included here: An educational leader promotes the success of every student by: Advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth. (Standard 2) Understanding, responding to, and influencing the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context. (Standard 6)

Standard 2 specifically deals with school culture and the context of school as exhibited by the functions, which serve to further clarify expected behaviors and philosophies of school leaders. For the purposes of this chapter, this standard did not seem to be appropriate for examination because it was not as closely aligned with the operationalizing of culture or cultural mediation in the book. Furthermore, the functions appeared incomplete in alignment to the idea that the culture of individual groups are integral to the function or identity of school culture. Standard 6 shares a similar trait of incompleteness due to its mere mention of cultural contexts. Further examination of the functions of Standard 6 reveals little more than a general statement for leaders to act as advocates “for children, families, and caregivers” or involvement in making policy. Neither of these standards that mention culture do more than use the word or have an inclusive expression of culture. In the updated ISSLC standards, there is attention paid specifically to an idea that embodies what I believe is the intended motivation for cultural mediation: creating and maintaining socially just institutions and practices


10/27/10 11:07 AM

92

Noelle Witherspoon

of teaching, leading, and learning. While one could argue that the ISSLC standards are largely silent on issues of culture and cultural mediation, I offer that it is ISSLC Standard 5 that most fruitfully embodies the spirit of cultural mediation and its holistic, process-oriented nature that includes cultural awareness, cultural competence, and cultural sensitivity. Standard 5 and its stated functions are listed below: An educational leader promotes the success of every student by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner. 1. Ensure a system of accountability for every student’s academic and social success. 2. Model principles of self-awareness, reflective practice, transparency, and ethical behavior. 3. Safeguard the values of democracy, equity, and diversity. 4. Consider and evaluate the potential moral and legal consequences of decision-making. 5. Promote social justice and ensure that individual student needs inform all aspects of schooling.

When comparing this standard and its functions to the definitions and principals outlined in figure 7.1 for cultural mediation, one can see the parallels in developing teachers, leaders, and organizational processes that “promote and deliver social justice” (Grogan & Andrews, 2002, p. 250).

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP Social justice in schools continues to be a challenge to understand because there is no one particular meaning. Rizvi (1998) has written, Social justice is embedded within discourses that are historically constituted and that are sites of conflicting and divergent political endeavors. Thus, social justice does not refer to a single set of primary goods, conceivable across all moral and material domains. (p. 47)

Griffiths (1998) stated that social justice is achieved through the “right distribution of benefits” (p. 4). In the realm of educational leadership, social justice has been highly contested because of an incoherent body of research regarding it. “Theory building in social justice has been scant. . . . Without a common language, theory development is difficult at best and unlikely in the worst case” (Merchant & Shoho, 2006, p. 108).


10/27/10 11:07 AM


93

Before social justice can become coherent, all narratives and understandings concerning it have to be considered. Besides a wealth of information concerning the ways different cultures have experienced and worked toward social justice, these cultural understandings have not been widely considered in social justice in schools. Individuals must work toward a more full-bodied view and help enlarge the scope of social justice in schools. Social justice has been framed around several issues (e.g., race, diversity, marginalization, gender, spirituality), including those formidable “issues of age, ability, and sexual orientation” (Dantley & Tillman, 2006, p. 17). Social justice as it has been framed by educational leadership theorists is formed around working to correct social, political, economic, and educational inequities (Tillman, 2002). Romo and Roseman (2005) have said that social justice is an outcome and a process. Much like cultural mediation, there is no “ending” or “arrival at” social justice. These endings are fluid, take many forms, and are ongoing, organizationally embedded processes.

LEADERSHIP PREPARATION, SUPPORT, AND SOCIALIZATION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE Current national standards in educational leadership have been reformulated. The assumption is that these standards will better prepare preservice educational leaders and shape the leadership frameworks of novice principals toward social justice. In continuing to explore this new agenda, leaders in the field of educational leadership may start by examining key issues in leadership preparation, socialization, and development: management versus social justice, preparation, and support for social justice. Research has shown that novice and first-year principals establish school tone in the first two to three years of their administration (Smith & Piele, 1997). This tone includes vision, mission, school culture, procedures, goals, and plans (Deal & Peterson, 1999; Smith & Piele, 1997). However, principal training programs and support, including induction and professional development efforts, are often confined to technical and managerial aspects of schools (Curry, 2000). For the principals in the study, they indicated that they did not believe that their leadership preparation programs were largely comprised of “skills they needed to know” rather than a strong orientation toward cultural concerns and social justice. Even after obtaining an administrative position, as novice principals, their induction, professional development, and mentoring was often geared toward gaining greater efficiency in


10/27/10 11:07 AM

94

Noelle Witherspoon

management and control, honing of technical skills, and implementation and fidelity to policy. “Leadership is treated . . . as a set of generic competencies rather than holistically; the social and ethical . . . dimensions of leadership are leached out” (Blackmore, 1999, p. 5). These technical and managerial supports left little room for social justice concerns. Whether due to lack of social justice preparation or induction, these educational leaders stated that they could not “start their careers off right,” establish their own personal leadership style, or set the tone for a school culture of social justice. Too much “getting the job done” usurped “getting it done right” or in a manner that was socially just. Their experiences brought forth the question, could it be that a lack of room for social justice impairs the educational leader’s ability to establish a socially just tone in the school during the formative time and thus destabilizes social justice that emphasizes justice as a fabric of the school later? By not providing preparation, induction, or support in social justice, professors of educational leadership and district and state administrators have ensured the absence of social justice in schools that goes beyond the liberal notion of individual responsibility. All of the principals indicated that their preparation programs did not prepare them for social justice concerns (or lack of) in the schools they eventually led. They did indicate that they felt that some individual professors were socially just, but that the preparation programs were not necessarily built on preparing them for cultural issues or social justice. The principals discussed district leadership and state leadership as “barriers” to social justice by intense focus on issues of policy. Any induction activities, mentoring, or professional support was geared toward policy mandates, sharpening technical skills such as balancing budgets or creating schedules. By pursuing a managerial- and skills-based agenda in leadership preparation, induction, and support, it seemed that these educational leaders may not be able to pursue a socially just agenda and thus are unable to take the critical time of preservice and novice leadership to establish socially just organizational constructs in schools. This would seem to mirror McLaughlin and Tierney’s (1993) notion that schools often demand reproduction of the status quo rather than becoming organizations of critique, reflexivity, and social justice. Each of the principals in the study indicated that they initially entered the education field to transform society and make a difference. The principals in this study reflected on their desire that preparation programs and early leadership experiences offer them the freedom to “learn” the school, district, and community organization but also to establish her philosophy, leadership, vision, and agenda for the school that included a social justice frame.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


95

Without this freedom, these educational leaders indicated a disadvantage in promoting socially just policies, school practices, and frameworks that challenge the inequities experienced in schools on the basis of race, sexual orientation, disability, religion, gender, and class. In addition, each of these principals indicated a “grooming” for leadership within their various districts. Each one of them was socialized into a leadership position as teachers under the tutelage of another school or district administrator. However, it was interesting that their “groomers” were often not socially just leaders or lacked the freedom to be so in their schools. The principals indicated that the schools in which they taught were characterized by the same injustices they often witnessed in their own schools and others’. When directly asked whether they believed social justice was modeled for them, one participant replied, “I think I can speak for all of us when I say that maybe we learned what not to do or that we wanted to do what wasn’t like what we saw when we got our own schools.” After this statement, all the other participants nodded their heads in agreement. This formulated another question in my mind: how can school, district, and state education administrators develop their own socially just frameworks to model and socialize others toward this same leadership? When these individuals and organizations adopt these frameworks, they can provide leadership and autonomy to other preservice and novice educational leaders to pursue their own cultural and socially just agendas in schools.

WHERE DO WE GO? Leadership theory in some ways acknowledges the dilemma of this chapter and identifies a major problem for preservice and novice administrators. Daresh (2001) writes that educational leaders must come to terms with “their . . . values and priorities as they engage in the activities required” of educational leaders (p. 95). Daresh promotes that educational leaders should possess educational platforms and processes that represent core nonnegotiable aspects of the leader’s work life. He suggests that once personal and collective platforms are articulated, these platforms will define the bottom line of leaders. However, educational leaders must have “safe” spaces to learn about and develop educational platforms free from typical constructs and boundaries of the schools in which they serve. Any platform developed without this safe space runs a risk of merely being an institutionalized platform and one that continues to ignore true leadership preparation, induction, and development. Social justice preparation and


10/27/10 11:07 AM

96

Noelle Witherspoon

support are critical in the process of establishing socially just organizational values and priorities, not just on paper, but in deep inner workings of schools. The bureaucratic nature of schooling makes this difficult for educational leaders. Principal preparation and support programs often represent a chasm between what society says it wants from leaders and what leadership behaviors schools allow to be nurtured, fostered, emerged, and created. In spite of this chasm, there have been significant efforts toward making social justice a critical part of leadership preparation and support. Pounder and colleagues (2002) posed an important question that has shaped thinking about educational leadership, culture, diversity, and social justice: “What do school and district leaders need to know and be able to do to promote social justice in their schools and . . . how can leadership preparation programs develop leaders to champion and support social justice?” (p. 272). While there has been some debate from scholars on activities, many researchers in this area agree that there should be a commitment to understanding and creating new knowledges about diversity, inclusive practice in schools, and a fostering of social relations across cultures (Riehl, 2000; Henze et al., 2002; Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell, 2003; Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 2007). Although leaders must possess a broad knowledge base and professional and technical skills, they must also possess an understanding of societies’ “rich historical and cultural tapestry . . . a backdrop against which to make informed personal, professional, and organizational judgments” (Guthrie & Schuermann, 2009, p. 401). Some leading universities have begun to take up the cause of leadership development for social justice in schools. Model programs created by the University of Texas at San Antonio, University of Texas at Austin, and Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have a stated and committed focus for promoting social justice. “Preparation programs reach the individuals aspiring to administrative positions, not the vast numbers of administrators in practice” (CambronMcCabe, 2009, p. 44). The cause for educational leadership cannot be just for preparation of teacher leaders and future leaders, but for those who are currently in administrative positions. Individuals who are already in educational leadership positions require induction and development toward culturally productive practices and social justice. Tackling these issues only in preparation programs tends to imply that once preservice administrators are trained, issues surrounding culture and social justice have been adequately addressed. However, “social justice challenges


10/27/10 11:07 AM


97

must be addressed systemically, not with quick fixes” (Marshall & Parker, 2009, p. 220). Leaders should be guided in creating and reflecting on their practice while they are engaged in it, not only before (Creasap, Peters, & Uline, 2005). Leadership itself is a process and takes place over time. In recent years, leadership preparation programs have been subject to much criticism (Levine, 2005). Preparation programs have been labeled as insufficient to meet the current needs of society. While many leadership preparation programs may have their problems, an equally distressing issue is the lack of clearly articulated ways to develop leaders and provide ongoing training once they are on the job. Leadership development must take place past the preparation program and to placement, particularly in novice years (Milstein, Bobroff, & Restine, 1991). While educational leadership is enjoying a period of much-needed focus on preparation, the field may be suffering from an overemphasis in preparation and overlooking innovative professional development. Leadership socialization is often based on socializing one into technical skills for a professional position (Crow & Grogan, 2004). Socialization deals with the preparation of leaders but also the support and development of them as well. However, little is known about how leaders are socialized toward cultural mediation or social justice. “An increased understanding of organizational socialization can lead to successful transitions to leadership and improved outcomes . . . for those interested in improving leadership in schools” (Hart, 1995, p. 106). Understanding the ways in which leaders are practically and philosophically “groomed” for leadership and administration is important to leading for social justice. Hart indicates that formal, carefully planned socialization experiences can set the stage for the complexities involving leadership. During the socialization period, leaders can be groomed for the goals and expectations of increasingly diverse society. This has particular importance for processes of culture, social justice, and how leaders are developed and supported towards these efforts. Understanding personal and professional socialization such as family or professional mentoring (Browne-Ferrigno, 2003) becomes important to placement in the principalship, but also induction, support, and development.

IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION None of the processes mentioned above occur in a vacuum or without culturally mediating practices that move the process and outcome of social justice forward. The revised ISSLC Standard 5 and its functions include the


10/27/10 11:07 AM

98

Noelle Witherspoon

language necessary to promote social justice, which I argue is the purpose of mediation. Even so, “state licensure standards, leadership preparation programs and professional development programs must move beyond generally advocating for social justice and speak directly to what is needed for school administrators to become social justice leaders” (Cambron-McCabe, 2009, p. 41). Even further, state licensure standards, leadership preparation programs, and support should articulate more clearly the role that culture plays in these processes. They must also adopt clear organizational practices and interpersonal relations of mediating culture in ways that promote the process and product of social justice. “Educational administration as a field can no longer ignore the material, social, and cultural conditions under which students learn, teachers teach, and leaders lead” (Blackmore, 2006, p. 197). It must become the reason for and the purpose behind our cultural and social justice practices. REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES 1. What does cultural mediation mean to you? Complete your own visual of the four-pronged conceptualization of cultural mediation. Why did you visualize it this way? 2. Create a list of organizational processes not mentioned in the chapter that are necessary for cultural mediation. 3. Do you agree that the purpose of cultural mediation is social justice? Why or why not? Write a one- to two-page argument for or against this statement. 4. What do you think are the differences and similarities between teaching and leadership? Create a Venn diagram similar to the one in figure 7.2 outlining your view.

Figure 7.2.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


99

Figure 7.3.

5. In your own words, define social justice and write the definition on a note card. Swap note cards with a partner. Discuss similarities and differences in your points of view. 6. The chapter indicates that social justice can be difficult to define and is often viewed in abstract rather than in practice. Using your note cards, create a class chart similar to the one in figure 7.3 on social justice in theory and social justice in practice.

REFERENCES Adams, M., Bell, L. A., & Griffin, P. (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. Apple, M. (2001). Educating the “right” way: Markets, standards, God, and inequality. New York: Routledge Farmer. Blackmore, J. (1999). Troubling women: Feminism, leadership, and educational change. Buckingham: Open University Press. ———. (2006). Social justice and the study and practice of leadership in education: A feminist history. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 38(2), 185–200. Browne-Ferrigno, T. (2003). Becoming a principal: Role conception, initial socialization, role-identity, transformation, purposeful engagement. Educational Administration Quarterly, 39(4), 468–503. Cambron-McCabe, N. (2009). Preparation and development of school leaders: Implications for social justice policies. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (2nd ed., 35–54). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Creasap, S., Peters, A., & Uline, C. (2005). The effects of guided reflection on educational leadership practice: Mentoring and portfolio writing as a means to transformative learning for early career principals. The Journal of School Leadership, 15(4), 352–86.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

100

Noelle Witherspoon

Crow, G., & Grogan, M. (2004). The development of leadership thought and practice in the United States. In F. English (Ed.), The handbook of educational leadership (362–78). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Curry, B. K. (2000). Women in power: Pathways to leadership in education. New York: Teachers College Press. Dantley, M. E., & Tillman, L. C. (2006). Social justice and moral transformative leadership. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice (16–30). New York: Pearson. Daresh, J. C. (2001). Beginning the principalship: A practical guide for new leaders (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Deal, T. E., & Peterson, K. D. (1999). Shaping school culture: The heart of leadership. The Jossey-Bass education series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Gercek, S. E. (2008). Cultural mediator or scrupulous translator? Revisiting role, context and culture in consecutive conference interpreting. In Pieter Boulogne (Ed.), Translation and its others. Selected papers of the CETRA Research Seminar in Translation Studies 2007. Goode, T. (2001, revised 2006). Key definitions. Washington, DC: National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development. Griffiths, M. (1998). Educational research for social justice: Getting off the fence. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press. Grogan, M., & Andrews, R. (2002). Defining preparation and professional development of the future. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(2), 233–56. Guthrie, J. W., & Schuermann, P. J. (2009). Successful school leadership: Planning, politics, performance and power. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Hart, A. W. (1995). Women ascending to leadership. In D. M. Dunlap & P. A. Schmuck (Eds.), Women leading in education (105–24). Albany: State University of New York Press. Henze, R., Katz, A., Norte, E., Sather, S. E., & Walker, E. (2002). Leading for diversity: How school leaders promote interethnic relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Urban Principal Program, available at education.iupui.edu/soe/programs/graduate/urbanprincprog/ index.aspx. Koschoreck, J. W. (1999). Resistance and complicity, personal sacrifice, and image management: A life narrative exploration of gender and sexuality. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 15(2), 41–56. Ladson-Billings, G. (1992). Liberatory consequences of literacy: A case for culturally relevant instruction for African American students. Journal of Negro Education, 61(3), 378–91. Levine, A. (2005). Educating school leaders. Washington, DC: Education Schools Project. Lindsey, R. B., Robins, K. N., & Terrell, R. D. (2003). Cultural proficiency: A manual for school leaders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


101

Marshall, C., & Oliva, M. (2009). Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Marshall, C., & Parker, L. (2009). Learning from leaders’ social justice dilemmas. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (2nd ed., 219–41). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. McLaughlin, D., & Tierney, W. G. (1993). Naming silenced lives: Personal narratives and the process of change. New York: Routledge. Merchant, B. M., & Shoho, A. R. (2006). Bridge people: Civic and educational leaders for social justice. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (85–108). New York: Pearson. Milstein, M. M., Bobroff, B. M., & Restine, N. L. (1991). Internship programs in educational administration: A guide to preparing educational leaders. New York: Teachers College Press. Mitchell, D. (2006). Alternating between visible and invisible identities. Equity & Excellence, 39(2), 137–45. Morris, J. E., & Monroe, C. R. (2009). Why study the U.S. south? The nexus of race and place in investigating Black student achievement. Educational Researcher, 38(1), 21–36. Neuharth-Pritchett, S., Payne, B. D., & Reiff, J. C. (2004). Perspectives on elementary education: A casebook for critically analyzing issues of diversity. Boston, MA: Pearson. Orfield, G., Losen, D., Wald, J., & Swanson, G. (2004). Losing our future: How minority youth are being left behind by the graduation rate crisis. American Educational Research Journal, 40(2), 353–93. Pounder, D., Reitzug, U., & Young, M. D. (2002). Preparing school leaders for school improvement, social justice and community. In Joseph Murphy (Ed.), The educational leadership challenge: Redefining leadership for the 21st century (261–88). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Riehl, C. (2000). The principal’s role in creating inclusive school or diverse students: A review of normative, empirical, and critical literature on the practice of educational administration. Review of Educational Research, 70(1), 55–81. Rizvi, F. (1998). Some thoughts on contemporary theories of social justice. In B. Atwel, S. Kemmis, & P. Weeks (Eds.), Partnerships for social justice in education (47–56). New York: Routledge. Rodriguez, G. M., & Fabionar, J. O. (2009). The impact of poverty on students and schools: Exploring the social justice leadership implications. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (2nd ed., 55–73). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Romo, J., & Roseman, M. (2005). Educational warriors for social justice. In L. W. Hughes (Ed.), Current issues in school leadership (37–57). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Smith, S., & Piele, P. (1997). School leadership: Handbook for excellence. University of Oregon: Clearinghouse on Educational Management.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

102

Noelle Witherspoon

Tillman, L. C. (2002). Culturally sensitive research approaches: An African American perspective. Educational Researcher, 31(9), 3–12. ———. (2009). The SAGE handbook of African American Education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Tyson, K., Darity, W., Jr., & Castellino, D. (2005). It’s not a Black thing: Understanding the burden of acting White and other dilemmas of high achievement. American Sociological Review, 70(4), 582–605. University of North Carolina School of Education (UNCSOE). Mission Statement, available at soe.unc.edu/about/areas/el/mission.php. University of Texas at San Antonio, available at elps.utsa.edu/Programs/documents/ DoctoralInformationFall2008_000.pdf; elps.utsa.edu/Message.htm. University of Texas Principalship Program, available at www.edb.utexas.edu/education/ departments/edadmin/programs/pslep/areas/principalship/about/introduction/. Witherspoon, N. (2008). Ordinary theologies: Spiritual narratives of female principals. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Eight

Are We There Yet? Culture, Communication, and Relationship: Making It to the Village Ursula Thomas

Sight, sound, and song for this journey were reflected in the previous chapters. This chapter will help us with texture and feeling. That is a great part of the journey as well. As you know, on a journey you need to pack a bag. The bag ensures that you are at least somewhat prepared for the events that take place on the journey toward the village.

RESEARCH AND THE BAG Let us examine the contents of what is in or what should be in the bag. Teachers, or those who aspire to be educators, prepare to be culturally fluent in order to empower learners to be culturally competent. Research informs us that culture greatly influences and impacts learning. Research also tells us that culturally mismatched or inappropriate instructional choices can and do compromise learning for many learners of color (Signorini, Wiesemes, & Murphy, 2009; Deakins, 2009). Researchers Haberman and Post (1998) list the knowledge bases they believe teachers need for effective teaching in classrooms with culturally and linguistically diverse learners: • Self-knowledge—a thorough understanding of one’s own cultural roots and group affiliations. • Self-acceptance—a high level of self-esteem derived from knowing one’s roots. • Relationship skills—the ability to work with diverse children and adults who are different from oneself in ways that these others perceive as respectful and caring. 103


10/27/10 11:07 AM

104

Ursula Thomas

• Community knowledge—a knowledge of the cultural heritages of the children and their families. • Empathy—a deep and abiding sensitivity to and appreciation of the ways in which children and their families perceive, understand, and explain their world. • Cultural human development—an understanding of how the local community influences development. • Cultural conflicts—an understanding of the discrepancies between the values of the local community groups and the traditional American values espoused in schools. • Relevant curriculum—a knowledge of connections that can be made between general societal values and those of the culture groups in the community, and the skills needed to implement this knowledge. • Generating sustained effort—a knowledge and set of implementation skills that will engage youngsters from this community to persist with schoolwork. • Coping with violence—skills for preventing and de-escalating violence and the potential for violence. • Self-analysis—a capacity for reflection and change. • Functioning in chaos—an ability to understand and the skills to cope with a disorganized environment. (pp. 98–99) Haberman and Post also inform us that empathy is critical in developing cultural fluency and competence in those who are involved in the learning experiences of students. SCENARIO I interviewed teachers from a suburban school that has students of color bused in from a metropolitan city nearby. Here is a transcript from the meeting. We were discussing a student in the class who has just transferred. When I asked the teacher what he thought, he stated, “[He could] handle honors based on whether or not he can stay in his seat. He thinks he is in Drumline, thinks he is a rapper, wants to be the center of attention. I think it would be an interesting experiment to see him in honors courses.”

Value-added statements litter the air. These “norms” directly affect the instructional opportunities afforded to this urban, male student of color. In looking at this conversation, where is this teacher in his journey?


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Culture, Communication, and Relationship

105

Now let me ask, where will this student’s journey end if the teacher above is framing his journey? Reflect back on what we have learned from research about learning and culture. However, this is not the end of the journey, nor its analysis. The map was inaccurate and topographical at best, but the journey continues. The song, “Brown Girl in the Ring,” reminds us of the power of a studentcentered curriculum. The concept of the student-centered curriculum is often applied to K–12 classrooms but lost on teacher education students. Why? Teacher educators must model the concept of relevance and meaningfulness that they want preservice teachers to replicate. Teacher educators and teacher leaders must understand that as leaders on this journey they represent knowledge in action.

KNOWLEDGE IN ACTION In representing knowledge in action, “One important thread running through this dynamic involves the role power and its ability to shape our representations of the world along the lines of particular patterns” (Kincheloe, 1997). In this context, the role of power is embodied in the teacher educator. Along what patterns are learners’ experiences being shaped or, in the case of marginalized students, virtually ignored? Banks suggests the following strategies: • Using collaborative group learning (which fosters the communicative ethic of many marginalized cultures, especially African American and Latino groups, hence a “village collective”). • Equalizing the learning environment, challenging existing ideas, negotiating more ideas, all while exhibiting an ethic of caring within the learning community. (Banks, 1994, p. 23) Sheared (1999) suggests self-expression and, most importantly, connecting with the instructor. This brings us full circle, back to the importance of the teacher educator/leader. The role of meaning-making is critical. The village need not be a mirage. In the past, progressive education has been viewed as a mirage. John Dewey (1934) states, “When artistic objects are separated from both conditions of origin and operation in experience, a wall is built around them that renders almost opaque their general significance with which esthetic theory deals.” In other words, “education” is often removed from its conditions of origin (in this context it is culture and language) and operation in experience (community of home culture). It is in our teacher education programs that a wall is


10/27/10 11:07 AM

106

Ursula Thomas

built around it. In education we mistakenly assume that we teach in a vacuum and knowledge or theory presented in that assumption is value free. ROADBLOCKS The more that we compact and quantify programs, the more “standards” we set forth, the more we remove the object of education from its conditions and operation. We must increase the validity of the journey toward the village by examining the path; in this case it is the theoretical and practical knowledge imparted to preservice teachers. The “standards in a vacuum” waylay the journey. The “standards in a vacuum” prevent us from a true attempt at deconstructing the roadblocks. Let us examine the roadblocks for this journey. The roadblocks or detours consist of standards, and representation for lack thereof. The experience of the journey to cultural fluency and awareness takes place first in the belief system. This is housed in the mind. “The miracle of mind is that something similar takes place in experience without physical transport and assembling” (Dewey, 1936). The physical manifestation of the journey of deconstructing biases reveals its true level of engagement through standards and instructional choices made, based on the perceptions about the learner. The rational planning of disseminating “teacher knowledge” and “theoretical perspectives” is deeply rooted in a heritage of early modernist or structuralist anthropologists and researchers, who, many times, totally immersed themselves in a research site or situation, then proceeded with the process of disconnecting and disengaging from it, in a jerky fashion. They then summarize and reflect on their discoveries often by categorizing the subjects, in this case, the learner (Lyman & Vidich, 1988). The second roadblock or detour on this journey is the idea of representation. Let us refer back to chapter 2 and “the brown girl in the ring.” Her situated knowledge refers back to her culture and community. How does that connect or clash with “school culture”? When we allow the “brown girl” (the learner) to represent herself and her story as part of instruction, we offer ourselves the opportunity or invitation to speak to different audiences normally shut out of the discourse. A discourse of authority and modernism still lurks in so many teacher education classrooms today. It disguises itself as a professor of knowledge. How is the learner to engage in this discourse, which gives access on an exclusionary basis? The answer is choice. The notion of choice reflected in the journey manifests itself in choosing a path. The path chosen determines the tempo. So in reflecting on the journey, what is your pace? What is your tempo? Proposition: “At its core,


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Culture, Communication, and Relationship

107

multi-cultural teaching is an ethical, even political, enterprise. It recognized our responsibility to fellow human beings and to the earth. It has heart and soul” (Bigelow, 1998).

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES 1. These knowledge bases provide texture to the experience or the journey toward cultural fluency. We must also refer back to our cultural fluency survey. We create the “feelings,” physical and affective, when it comes to our development or the “journey” to the village in this one way. Haberman and Post’s research includes a prompt to examine one’s own cultural roots. Use the pedigree chart in appendix C to create a graphic illustration of your roots. 2. To the best of your ability, write a narrative of one of the ancestors on your pedigree chart. 3. Follow-up questions for the pedigree chart: • This activity was (difficult or fairly simple) because . . . • The biggest challenge for me was . . . • I was proud of _______ (ancestor) on this chart because . . . • I was surprised to find out that . . . • I struggle with _____ (ancestor) on my chart because . . . Case Scenario The accreditation data report was due in two days. Dr. Jay and I worked tirelessly to complete the statistical outcome and narrative data for the university’s accreditation submission. “Pam, can I talk to you?” “Sure.” “Well, I am looking at the data we have submitted and after disaggregating it, I see some areas of concern. I know I am new here, but it is interesting. I found that even after juggling the numbers, they meet our data requirements but essentially it says that a third of our diverse student teacher candidates in the exit survey give us very low scores in preparing them for diverse populations and communicating with parents of those students.” After a curt “that’s interesting” from Pam, I heard no more of a follow-up or an interest in that component of the data. After two years, she never said another word about it. Case Questions 1. How do you think the students that voiced those concerns would react to Chairperson Pam’s disinterest?


10/27/10 11:07 AM

108

Ursula Thomas

2. What is the position of the professor who cited and voiced the concerns of the students reflected in the data? 3. What should she do to get the voices of the students heard and their needs met?

REFERENCES Banks, J. A. (1994). Multiethnic education: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Bigelow, B., & Peterson, B. (Ed.). (1998). Rethinking Columbus: The next 500 years. Rethinking Schools Publications. Deakins, E. (2009). Helping students value cultural diversity through research-based teaching. Higher Education Research & Development, 28(2), 209–26. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ———. (2005). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. New York: Minton, Balch & Company. ———. (1936). The school and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Haberman, M., & Post, L. (1998). Teachers for multicultural schools: The power of selection. Theory Into Practice, 37(2), 96–104. Kincheloe, J. (1997). Qualitative research in education: A guide to study design and proposal preparation. Critical Education Practice series. New York: Garland Publishing Incorporated. Lyman, S. M., & Vidich, A. J. (1988). Social order and the public philosophy: An analysis and interpretation of the work of Herbert Blumer. Studies in American Sociology, vol. 1. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press. Sheared, V. (1999). Giving voice: Inclusion of African American students’ polyrhythmic realities in adult basic education. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 82, 33–48. Signorini, P., Wiesemes, R., & Murphy, R. (2009). Developing alternative frameworks for exploring intercultural learning: A critique of Hofstede’s cultural difference model. Teaching in Higher Education, 14(3), 253–64.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Nine

The Family Reunion Community and the Journey Ursula Thomas

We have chosen this particular path for our journey to the village not because it is efficient, comfortable, or quick, but because it is necessary. Why is this so? Present-day education is reflected in this quote: “Standardization and centralization of curriculum testing is an effort to put an end to a cacophony of voices on what constitutes truth knowledge and learning and what the young should be taught. It insists upon one set of answers” (Bigelow, 1999). The journey moves toward a village that is actually a conceptual framework from which our new belief systems and teacher knowledge draw upon. This quote reflects future education’s conceptual picture, which displays and verbalizes “histories and experiences of people who have been left out of the curriculum” (Lee, 1995, p. 9). The verbalization of deconstruction of a monolithic melancholy hum manifests itself into a vibrant medley of communication. It sometimes blends into a harmonic agreement and sometimes diverges into a canon or round of voices that clash of dissonance yet the message is clear: “hear the voices of the village”! Communication is what makes the journey viable and painfully possible. Let us look at the forms of communication central to the journey and its destination. This vignette will help shed a little light. I completed my presentation to the entire White faculty. As I prepared to visit some of the classrooms, a veteran teacher walked up to me and said, “I need to talk to you about the Black girls in my class.” “Well, Ruthellen, what is it?” “Well, it’s about their talking.” “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Is it disruptive?” She replied, “Actually no. It is just when they talk, they all talk at once, like over each other. They are now trying to include me in on the conversation but I don’t know how,” she said. I kindly explained to Ruthellen that this form of group talk 109


10/27/10 11:07 AM

110

Ursula Thomas

or conversation type is a cultural style of communication as described by Carol Lee, James Gee, and Jabari Mahiri. I told her that I used this style of conversation as well in my community and home. I also told her it was a privilege to be included in their conversations. Ruthellen shared that she felt like it was.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION This vignette sheds light on three kinds of communication that goes on as the journey proceeds to the village: complexities of teacher communication, community standards of communication, and student communication in school culture. Students communicate in many different codes: standard, nonstandard, urban, suburban, slang, dialect, or silence. Jabari Mahiri (2004) states that “multiculturalism is people being able to inhabit many cultural personas, and educators need to facilitate communication in a variety of genres.” He talked about using journalism in a variety of disciplines as a way to engage students using their own cultural perspectives and communication. James Paul Gee (2003) offers in his text What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy that those digital tools afford students the ability to communicate in multiple registers and codes. When students are able to do this appropriately within the context of school, communication tools once viewed as taboo can be used to enhance “voice” in community. Students also communicate through multiple literacies. This includes printed text, electronic text, illustrative text, and musical text. Kellner (1998) makes the argument, “In addition to the critical media literacy, print literacy, computer literacy, and multimedia literacy, multiple literacies involve cultural literacy, social literacy, and ecoliteracy. Since a multicultural society is the context of education in the contemporary moment, new forms of social interaction and cultural awareness are needed that appreciate differences, multiplicity, and diversity. Therefore, expanded social and cultural literacy is needed that appreciates the cultural heritage, histories, and contributions of a diversity of groups” (Kellner, 1998).

TEACHER COMMUNICATION This brings us to the complexities of teacher communication. Two types of communication levels appear in its phenomena: the communication of White privilege and the danger of the monolithic tongue. White privilege for the purposes of this text is operationally defined as a set of rewards and/or excep-


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Community and the Journey

111

tions that White people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. White privilege can exist without White people’s deliberate knowledge of its existence and it helps to sustain the racial pecking order in this nation. Due to marginalization in school culture, teachers who understand their power as change agents for social equity are forced to choose sides. In talking to minority female administrators, there are a number of issues they face. VOICES AND PERCEPTION Here are a few excerpts from interviews with administrators from two urban school districts and one rural school district. The names have been changed for the purposes of anonymity. Dr. Ramira Peterson reports, “Often, I represent the establishment when I work with parents of diverse backgrounds. They do not see a Latina who mirrors the frustrations they feel with our school district. When I point out things the school district is doing to work with the families of the students, they often lash out at me. When these same families meet with my assistant administrator, who is Caucasian, they tend to be much more polite. I sometimes wonder how much my skin tone belies my efforts to help my children.” Dr. Dolores Mitchell shares that class is an issue with her students and the community. “When advocating for the needs of my school which serves African American and Latino children, I often feel like the redheaded stepchild at district principal meetings. I get comments like, you are always begging for your school when there are discretionary funds, don’t you have a PTA or PTSO?” Mrs. Nora James is a principal at a school that had a predominantly Caucasian demographic, but is quickly shifting to a more diverse Latino population due to changes in the neighborhood. Nora is Caucasian and states that she has to do “damage control with the existing White parents with children still at the school.” Nora says, “I hear comments like, this is why we did not make AYP [adequate yearly progress],” referring to the Latino influx of students. “Those parents make those comments, but what they don’t realize is academically we met AYP. It is in the attendance category that we failed to make AYP. Once we disaggregated the data, our leadership team realized that it was our middle-class White kids that were absent and tardy the most.” Many times these principals feel isolated from the dominant discourse (which is usually expected) but also feel isolated from the families and children they serve, by class.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

112

Ursula Thomas

BUILDING COMMUNITY How can this be overcome? Through building community. This takes place when teacher communication includes a number of behaviors explicitly displayed by the teacher, the person who sets the tone for communication in the community. Recognizing variables within groups adds a critical register to the cadre of teacher communication. Those variables include values and behavioral styles, languages and dialects, nonverbal communications, cultural cognitiveness, perspectives, worldviews and frames of reference, and identification, according to Banks (1999). Teachers must hone these skills and practice them. This starts with selfreflection. In the classroom, whether K–12 or higher education, this reflection can surface in the curriculum and study of others to learn more about ourselves. Norton (2009) offers a method for this. She proposes learning about cultures and ethnic groups based on the following phases. This is a sample based on the study of Chinese people: • Studying the traditional literature in Phases I & II emphasizes the importance of the oral tradition in transmitting the beliefs and values of the Chinese people. • Studying the autobiographies, biographies, and historical nonfiction in Phase III helps in identifying historical happenings that influenced the culture. • Studying the historical fiction in Phase IV introduces types of conflict that were encountered by members of the culture. • Studying the contemporary literature in Phase V unveils the close relationships between the traditional folklore and contemporary stories. At the conclusion of this phase, threads that emerged across the genres can be traced and summarized. Studying multicultural literature is an excellent way to foster acceptance and appreciation for cultural differences. The importance of building community is critical on the journey to cultural fluency and cultural awareness. In talking about building community, it is important that we define what it is. In this context, community is defined as members of a group that share a common vision, goals and objectives, and ethos. Building community requires that on our journey, we do a few simple yet difficult things, like dig deeper, find a purpose, create goals, and learn the tenets of teamwork. This is not to negate any individual proclivities, but to incorporate the individual proclivities to further the common vision; in this case, that would be cultural fluency. Cultural fluency, as a result of community building, fa-


10/27/10 11:07 AM


113

cilitates a promised existence of social equity. The word fluency itself denotes continuity and flow. Fluency and its relationship to social equity run parallel. They coexist, and I propose, have a symbiotic relationship.

COMMUNITY AND RISK We approach the relationship between community and risk twofold: necessity and difficulty. In realizing necessity and risk, we understand better how to balance the two in relation to producing community. Let us look at risk and community from two perspectives. Risk, in order to develop community, must be taken to achieve the ultimate goal of the experience of the journey. When we look at mapping our own consciousness about the education process and environment, or any topographical map as such, we are often made aware of the pitfalls of the region. The pitfalls of a geographical or topographical map could be fault lines, volcanoes, white rapids, dangerous waterfalls, and such. Metaphorically speaking, the pitfalls in creating community include outing yourself. The “outing yourself” experience consists of acknowledging White privilege or class status and how it is enacted in your daily existence. This outing process is critical in taking ownership of what you enact, enable, and disable in your environment; in this context, that is the classroom—preschool to university, student and teacher. Let us face it, for many preservice and inservice teachers, as well as instructional leaders, that is scary business. Now let us move to the other side of the community and risk relationship: safety. No, you heard me correctly, safety! We are knowledge seekers, learners on this journey. In learning, there is a risk of being wrong and being right. The process of learning is what is most important. However, the process is worth the risk. The learner can only fully engage in the process if he or she is comfortable with the community environment. Learning is safe when you are comfortable that you will be expected to succeed. Learning is safe when you understand, unflinchingly, that your community will edify, not judge. This is the safety of risk within true community.

THE THRUST OF RELATIONSHIP Within the macrocosm of community is the microcosm of relationship. Relationship for the purposes of this journey is defined as a symbiotic connection between two entities. In the context of the journey we take to increase


10/27/10 11:07 AM

114

Ursula Thomas

cultural awareness, we labor. This work is not easy and involves emotional and cognitive overhaul. It is at this time that teachers rely on a power move, a resurgence of energy to press on toward a place of equity. A thrust is needed. This is when relationship enters into view. The power of relationship is dynamic. In working with high school teachers with an “equity agenda” ahead of them, I listen to their bold and raw conversations. They plead for some sort of continuity in their difficult work of networking school culture, student culture, community, and equity. They state, “I have watched initiatives come and go. This pendulum swinging must stop.” Nevertheless, along the journey, we must address one permeating, mitigating factor: policy.

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES 1. Using Peggy MacIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” analyze your own experiences inside and outside of the classroom using figure 9.1.

Figure 9.1.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


2.

3.

4. 5.

115

• Make a kindergarten version of this list. • Make a middle grades version of this list. • Make a version of this list with you being an Asian lesbian entering college as a freshman at a predominantly White institution. Evaluate a community-building mode entitled “Tribes” at www.tribes .com/, using the program evaluation form at www.wmich.edu/evalctr/ checklists/evaluation-values-and-criteria/ and choose the General Values and Criteria Checklists created by Daniel Stufflebeam. Evaluate Dr. Elliot Aronson’s approach to community building at www .jigsaw.org/ using the checklist at www.wmich.edu/evalctr/checklists. Use the Qualitative Evaluation Checklist created by Michael Quinn Patton. Using the outline in table 9.1, support or defend the statement. You may use your personal experiences or any research as support details. What suggestions do you have for Ramira, Dolores, and Nora when advocating for students and their families? How can they protect themselves as they advocate for their learners?


Awareness

Proposition:

Teachers are aware of themselves as political beings

Support:

1. Childhood


3. Community

4. Work Experiences



10/27/10 11:07 AM

116

Ursula Thomas

REFERENCES Banks, J. A. (1999). An introduction to multicultural education (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Bigelow, B. (1999). Why standardized tests threaten multiculturalism. Educational Leadership, 56(7), 37–40. Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Kellner, D. (1998). Multiple literacies and critical pedagogy in a multicultural society. Educational Theory, 48(1), 103–122. Lee, E. (1995). “Taking multicultural, anti-racist education seriously.” In Rethinking Schools: An agenda for change. New York: New Press. Mahiri, J. (2004). What they don’t learn in school: Literacy in the lives of urban youth. New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies, vol. 2. New York: P. Lang. McIntosh, P. (1989). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. S.l: s.n. Norton, D. E. (2009). Multicultural children’s literature: Through the eyes of many children. Boston: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Chapter Ten

Pardon the Policy Unpacking the Standards Ursula Thomas

Have you ever used an Internet map search and during the execution of the driving directions, you realized a street was renamed or no longer exists? Better yet, you are a little turned around so you stopped to ask a local gas station clerk how to get to the next major street or highway and she gives you some erroneous information. You assume that the “locals” are going to know the information you seek. You assume that the Internet map protocols are correct and the databases have been updated. That should be simple, right? In classrooms, kindergarten to college, educators make noble attempts to unpack standards. For governing education bodies and professional organizations, the standards are a large part of the curriculum map. It is important that we review these powerful standards as a part of our journey. They are viewed as major landforms or landmarks. The standards are also a “quality control” measure. Standards, as far as education reform conversations go, are viewed as a double-edged sword. Too many researchers of social phenomena of “standards” can send a shiver up our spines. The first question that pops into the mind of many of my colleagues is, “who is creating and defining the standards?” The second question is, “for what purposes are these standards being developed?” Though this debate will continue for many years to come, we must acknowledge that standards are here to stay. They serve a purpose for accountability and control measures. Forty-nine states and three territories have signed on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative agreeing to common English-language arts and mathematics standards (CCSSO, 2009).

117


10/27/10 11:07 AM

118

Ursula Thomas

UNPACKING THE STANDARDS Let us examine how teaching and learning standards are unpacked. Oh, I think for clarity’s sake we should define what consists of unpacking a standard. Unpacking a standard is dissecting it to see what tasks the learner must perform in order to meet the requirements of what the standard asks. To make this “unpacking” a little simpler, I provide a litmus test when working with teachers, preservice and inservice. First, take the standard in its statement form and read it back as a question. Second, determine what questions are asked of the learner, what processes are required. Third, correlate learning activities, vocabulary mastery, and curricular materials to investigate the processes and products (learning outcomes) that answer the question proposed by the standard (see figure 10.1). Let us look at three sets of standards: teacher preparation, K–12, and professional development, using the questions from the standards critique checklist (see table 10.1).

Figure 10.1.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Additional Comments:

The standard as written does not capture the aims of global education and inclusive education

The standard speaks to multiple interpretations

This a student-centered standard

This a teacher-dominant standard

The standard speaks to multiple or alternative assessments

Political issues attached to the standard

Specific issues based on location (urban, rural, or regional)

Issues arise for various cultural groups

Potential issues for English language learners

Issues of gender bias

For what audience is this standard intended:

Standard

Standards Critique Checklist

Table 10.1.

Strongly Agree Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

120

Ursula Thomas

STANDARDS ANALYSIS Standards for Reading Professionals—Revised 2003 [Standards 2003] offers criteria for developing and evaluating preparation programs for reading professionals. These standards answer the question, what should new reading professionals know and be able to do? The focus is on candidate performance and emphasizes the knowledge and skills of candidates as they complete their preparation programs. (International Reading Association, 2004)

See textbox 10.1 for the reading professionals standards. For what audience are these standards intended? These standards are intended for newly certified teachers. No issues of gender bias arise on the surface of the standards. Are there any potential issues for English language learners and children of diverse backgrounds? Based on the teachers’ reading philosophy, there are potential issues with these standards. The definition of the terms assessment, environment, approaches, and the appropriateness of the teachers’ child development knowledge can affect instructional choices. The positionality of the teacher can also affect instructional choices in the classroom.

Textbox 10.1. Standard for Reading Professionals As newly graduated reading professionals enter the field, they must demonstrate the performances essential for meeting the reading instructional needs of all students. In essence, they must give evidence of meeting the standards presented in this document. The five standards are: Candidates have knowledge of the foundations of reading and writing processes and instruction. Candidates use a wide range of instructional practices, approaches, methods, and curriculum materials to support reading and writing instruction. Candidates use a variety of assessment tools and practices to plan and evaluate effective reading instruction. Candidates create a literate environment that fosters reading and writing by integrating foundational knowledge, use of instructional practices, approaches and methods, curriculum materials, and the appropriate use of assessments. Candidates view professional development as a career-long effort and responsibility.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Unpacking the Standards

121

What, if any, issues arise for various cultural groups? The standards do not address the variations in major cultural groups. In these standards, the learner is not described or addressed directly at all. Are there any specific issues based on location (urban, rural, or regional)? No, not on the surface of these standards. Are there any political issues attached to the standards? Indirectly, yes, depending on the location of the school, its adequate yearly progress (AYP), whether or not it is a data-driven school under a reform plan, and so on and so on. Do the standards speak to multiple interpretations? There is some flexibility to do that but the standards are very generic and do not account for the belief system of the teacher about literacy. These standards also do not address the notions of multiple literacies. Do the standards speak to multiple or alternative assessments? Yes, they do, but in a generic manner. They could be nondescript by design as to include all learners and possible options for assessments. Are these teacher-dominant standards, or student-centered standards? In this case, they are designed for the teacher’s knowledge, skills, and dispositions. State standards direct educators in their teaching and function to outline the essential skills and concepts that students should be exposed to and master in every grade level. As students transition from one grade to the next, there is a prospect that they have been exposed to and/or mastered, specific academic skills and ideas that are meant to provide groundwork for the learning standards of their next grade level. A sample of a Georgia State standard for third graders is listed in textbox 10.2. Textbox 10.2. Standard for Reading Professionals Georgia Performance Standard

Third grade students will explore the origins of American democracy as well as the lives of important Americans. In addition, third graders will continue to acquire basic economic concepts. By the end of third grade, students will be able to: Explain the political roots of American democracy. Discuss the lives of selected Americans who expanded people’s rights and freedoms in a democracy. Locate and describe the major topographical features of America. Describe the cultural and geographic systems associated with historical figures in American democracy and explain how these Americans display positive character traits.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

122

Ursula Thomas

For what audience is this standard intended? It is intended for third grade students. Do any issues of gender bias arise? Not necessarily; if the standard raises any issues of gender bias the teachers’ knowledge base of social science and choice of curricular materials can surface that. Are there any potential issues for English language learners? Yes, the political structure of an ELL’s home country could very well differ and this makes for complexity. What, if any, issues arise for various cultural groups? A number of issues arise. First, this standard, unpacked, does not address how the “selected Americans” were actually chosen. Second, how the standard, and its objectives, are addressed does sanitize biographical and historical accounts for curricular materials. The standard does not address perception either. Are there any specific issues based on location (urban, rural, or regional)? This is a state standard, so this is not a major issue thus far. Are there any political issues attached to the standard? Clearly, the major purpose of this standard is to address some political issues. Does the standard speak to multiple interpretations? This standard is structured to speak to multiple perspectives. Does the standard speak to multiple or alternative assessments? The standard does not speak to multiple assessments. Is this a teacher-dominant standard or a student-centered standard? This standard is teacher-dominant. The choices of perception are dominated by the text and the teacher. The National Board states its rationale in this statement: The fundamental requirements for proficient teaching are relatively clear: a broad grounding in the liberal arts and sciences; knowledge of the subjects to be taught, of the skills to be developed, and of the curricular arrangements and materials that organize and embody that content; knowledge of general and subject-specific methods for teaching and for evaluating student learning; knowledge of students and human development; skills in effectively teaching students from racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds; and the skills, capacities and dispositions to employ such knowledge wisely in the interest of students. (American Federation of Teachers, 2009)

For what audience is the standard highlighted in table 10.2 intended? This standard was intended as a national professional development standard. It is intended for practicing teachers in the K–12 classroom. Do any issues of gender bias arise? Issues of gender within this generic standard can be addressed with deliberate guidance. Are there any potential issues for English language learners? Issues for English language learners are generically addressed. What, if any, issues arise for various cultural groups? The standard generically opens the floodgates for


10/27/10 11:07 AM


123

Table 10.2. National Board Certified Teachers Proposition

Subcategories

Proposition 1: Teachers are Committed to Students and Their Learning

NBCTs are dedicated to making knowledge accessible to all students. They believe all students can learn. They treat students equitably. They recognize the individual differences that distinguish their students from one another and they take account for these differences in their practice. NBCTs understand how students develop and learn. They respect the cultural and family differences students bring to their classroom. They are concerned with their students’ selfconcept, their motivation, and the effects of learning on peer relationships. NBCTs are also concerned with the development of character and civic responsibility.

various cultural groups. This standard is written so that issues within cultural groups like child development, language acquisition, parenting practices, learning environments, and views of childhood are greatly considered. Are there any specific issues based on location (urban, rural, or regional)? There are no specific issues based on location. It is general enough that the facilitator of the standard can inject features of the particular location of its members. Are there any political issues attached to the standard? On the surface, there seems to be no political issues. Does the standard speak to multiple interpretations? The standard, in a broad stroke manner, speaks to multiple interpretations. Does the standard speak to multiple or alternative assessments? It speaks to assessment indirectly, through approach to the learner. Is this a teacherdominant standard or a student-centered standard? This standard is complex and beguiling because, initially, it is written for the teacher, but the outcomes for the teacher’s action directly affect student performance. It also affects the families’ perception of how education is manifested in individual homes and communities. Clearly, this standard warrants unpacking not because it is not written well, but because of the numerous outcomes, hence, ripple effects.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

124

Ursula Thomas

These questions serve to identify entry points for cultural mediation within the standards. The expectation is that the entities, which create the standards, have these questions in mind, but this is a dangerous assumption. Mediation in the classroom takes place through the careful and diligent work of students and teachers. Cultural mediation is a bottom-up model, grassroots in nature. Mandates and standards are only as good as the careful consideration when teaching them to monocultural and multicultural audiences (Thomas-Fair, 2008). As all states in the United States have moved to standards-based curriculum, we as conscious educators ponder. There is now a push to move toward a common set of national standards. How do we institute critique as a common practice in reference to national standards? What are the problems with accepting national standards without at least a cursory set of procedures by which to analyze them?

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITIES 1. Visit the sites below and examine how states use standards to examine school performance. www.schoolsmovingup.net/cs/az/print/htdocs/az/home.htm www.dpi.state.wi.us/sig/sitemap.html www.alleducationschools.com/faqs/statedepartment.php 2. In reviewing your state standards, consider the recommendations for educators in the article “Examining National Standards” by Melanie Rhoads, Ron Sieber, and Susan Slayton. Discuss how these considerations are feasible or infeasible in your state as well as how they correlate with teacher advocacy and professional education organization policies. The article can be accessed at horizon.unc.edu/projects/issues/ papers/National_Standards.asp. 3. Read “Examining State Intervention Capacity: How Can the State Better Support Low Performing Schools and Districts” produced by the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy. Discuss the mitigating factors that standards pose when educators/school leaders face state intervention within their school districts. How do the factors adversely affect ELLs and other marginalized populations in your state or region? The article can be accessed at www.renniecenter.org/research_docs/0411_StateIntervention .pdf.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


125

REFERENCES American Federation of Teachers, & National Education Association of the United States. (2009). A candidate’s guide to National Board certification: A joint project of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers. Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). (2009). Forty-nine states and territories join Common Core State Standards Initiative. Retrieved July 31, 2009, from www.ccsso.org/whats_new/press_releases/13359.cfm. International Reading Association (2004). Standards for reading professionals—revised 2003. A reference for the preparation of educators in the United States. Developed by the Professional Standards and Ethics Committee of the International Reading Association. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (U.S.). (2002). What teachers should know and be able to do: Five core propositions. Arlington, VA: NBPTS .www.nbpts.org/about/coreprops.cfm. Stufflebeam, D. L. (2001). The metaevaluation imperative. American Journal of Evaluation, 22(2), 183–209. Thomas-Fair, U. (2008). Perceptions of curriculum and inservice teachers: An action research project. Wisdom of Practice: An Online Journal of Action Research. Retrieved from www.vancouver.wsu.edu/staff/ludwig/ActionResearch/ThomasFair/ Thomas-Fair.htm.


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Appendix A Cultural Mediation and Leadership Questionnaire

Listening . . . requires not only open eyes and ears, but open hearts and minds. We do not really see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs. . . . It is not easy, but it is the only way to learn what it might feel like to be someone else and the only way to start the dialogue. —Lisa Delpit

For the purpose of this book, cultural mediation has been defined “as a process for bringing about dialogue reconciliation between opposing views or audiences in a situated environment.” However, cultural mediation has been described as holistic in nature and comprising other cultural concepts in mediating culture in schools. The following statements cross a spectrum of cultural concepts to determine your cultural mediation capacity as a school leader. Complete the following statements by answering true (T) or false (F). 1. I have a clear understanding of what diversity means in my organization. 2. Issues concerning diversity and difference are clearly stated in my school’s mission statement. 3. Clear plans and goals regarding diversity are articulated in my school’s action plans. 4. When a “problem of difference” occurs in my school, I have clear and written procedures to handle these issues. 5. Issues of culture and race are discussed openly in my school. 6. I am aware of and understand the different ethnicities and cultures of individuals in my school. 7. I collaborate with others in identifying their cultural needs and emotions. 8. I believe all people are really the same. 127


10/27/10 11:07 AM

128

Appendix A

9. I engage in self-reflection regarding my personal beliefs, biases, and prejudices and how they affect my leadership practice in school. 10. I consider cultural differences when making decisions in my school. 11. My personal culture impacts how I make decisions in my school. 12. I feel uncomfortable with constituents who are different from me. 13. My school has special days to honor the culture of others. 14. Cultural difference is included in the curriculum. 15. Different teaching methods are utilized for different cultures in my school. 16. Some cultures have been better prepared for learning than others. 17. We discuss prejudice and ways to eradicate it with faculty and students in my school. 18. Individuals new to our school receive training in diversity, school culture, and the cultures of individuals in our school. 19. All individuals in my school have attended some diversity or cultural awareness training. 20. Some cultures have more privileges than others.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Appendix B Assignments / Tools to Surface Culture

129


10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Identify dominant cultures and values and beliefs; raise awareness; personal contact Identify own culture

A

C

C

A

Case Studies

Cultural Awareness SelfAssessment

Culture Box

Identify own cultural identity

Identify own culture

Identify other cultures’ similarities and differences

Acknowledge that racism and prejudice exist

Locus of control for decisions are externally located

Build more knowledge about various racial and ethnic identities

Spark an interest in other cultures

Forces and factors that influence personal decisions and practices that affect minority groups

Spark an interest in other cultures Move student to social justice and action

Knowledgeable about racial and cultural similarities

Become interested in understanding racial and cultural differences

Hold responsible the victim

Concede that prejudice and discrimination exist

Do not view themselves as racial beings; racial and cultural differences are trivial

Culture and You Paper (Selfdisclosure)

Autonomy

Pseudoindependence

Reintegration

Disintegration

Contact

Affective/ Cognitive

Assignments / Tools


10/27/10 11:07 AM

May not want to do this; too much work; not much depth

C

C

Lesson / Unit Plan—Language objectives and rationales

Literature / Books

Raise awareness

Understand that different lifestyles exist

A, C

Interview

Questioning and instituting school-based curricular practices that are culturally appropriate; make the school environment Able to compare and contrast cultural practices without being judgmental May not offer solutions to issues faced by CLD students raised in literature

(continued)

Learn differences between special needs and language developmental needs; able to distinguish between best practices and best practices for language learners Will be willing to make accommodations; able to analyze curriculum for the influence of language and culture

Will work out of the deficit model; have low expectations, and CLD students to learn content regardless of language difference

May be willing to consider that the “other” may have issues different from mainstream, but may not be willing to make accommodations

Raise issues; focus on factors and forces

Gain “Insider’s” view of the “other”

Increase contact and build relationships

Change mind about holding victim responsible; identify factors and forces that act on immigrants

Real-life incidents; concede that bias exists


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Affective/ Cognitive

C

A, C

A, C

C

Assignments/ Tools

Mapping Community Resources

MC Notebook

Movies

Newspapers of Country of Origin

Raise awareness

Do not expect to see any examples; expect to have difficulty finding artifacts

Info / raise awareness of issues

Contact

Will watch documentaries about other cultures Has a global understanding of international relations

Become interested in understanding racial and cultural differences Understand the local forces that are influential

Reify immigrant responsibility for self Reify victim responsibility; see their own country’s social, political, and economic policies as superior

Analyze teaching materials for stereotypes and racism; include multicultural material

Ask questions about how these artifacts may appear in media; begin to use critical lens while viewing various TV shows; become more conscious of lyrics of songs they listen to

Find justification for stereotypes apparent

Acknowledge that stereotypes and racism exist

Concede that prejudice and discrimination exist

Identify areas of social justice

Evaluate contribution of immigrants to society

welcoming to all stakeholders Question need for support systems

Autonomy

Raise issues; focus on support systems

Pseudoindependence

Reintegration

Disintegration


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Understand different culture implications of test items

Use multiple authentic test practices Determine how to phrase test items and accept multiple perspectives in responses Acknowledge that minority groups have different knowledge bases about cultural practices and experiences

Acknowledge that dominant cultural values and beliefs influence test items

C

Testing the Tests

Advocate for culturally appropriate practice with colleagues

Identify forces and factors that influence institutional policies that are reflected in one’s personal decisions that affect minority groups

Acknowledge intersection between culture, knowledge base, and institutional practices, but do not see a need to change existing practices

May affirm negative stereotypes

A, C

Practicum and Internship Assignments

Willing to challenge policies and procedures that are monolithic and monocultural

Identify institutional racism; recognize forces and factors that influence institutional policies that affect minority groups

Affirmation that policies and procedures should be universal

Aware that individuals respond differently to rules and regulations

C

Policies and Procedures Cultural Competence Checklist


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Appendix C Charting Family Relationships

Figure C.1.

135


10/27/10 11:07 AM

136

Appendix C

Figure C.2.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Appendix D Multimedia Resources Database

Category

Description (per the author/ host organization)

Title and Address CultureGrams Online Database www.culturegrams.com/products/ onlineedition.htm

The best bet for schools and libraries with multiple users and Internet access! The CultureGrams Online Database combines affordability, unlimited printing rights, and anytime access to all World, Kids, and States Editions, Photo Gallery, Recipe Collection, Famous People, and Graphs and Tables. An engaging, colorful interface makes it fun and easy to read topics, explore maps and flags, and use the convenient search feature. ©

Intercultural Press www.interculturalpress.com/store/pc/ home.asp

The premiere publisher and distributor of books, videos, simulations, and other materials on diversity and cross-cultural understanding. Intercultural Press offers an extensive selection of training materials, culture specific publications, and more. © (continued )

137


10/27/10 11:07 AM

138 Category


Appendix D Title and Address

Description (per the author/ host organization)

Studio Antillanía www.studioantillania.com/

Studio Antillanía is a gallery and organization of artists and educators that promotes creative expression as a path to greater understanding of Spanish Caribbean culture. The webpage is rich in resources and essays from multiple cultures. ©

Keystone Area Education www.aea1.k12.ia.us/equity/ mcgfmediares.html

Keystone Area Education Agency is dedicated to providing the children of Northeast Iowa with the best possible educational opportunities. ©

The National Archives www.archives.gov/

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation’s record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%–3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever. Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching an historical topic that interests you. ©

Discovery Education school.discoveryeducation.com/

PowerMediaPlus.com blends rich multimedia content with state-of-the-art curriculum integration tools to create a powerful and affordable media-on-demand

10/27/10 11:07 AM

Multimedia Resources Database

139

system designed for today’s classroom. © Everything ESL everythingesl.net/lessons/

Forty content-based ESL lesson plans for beginning through intermediate students.©

Multicultural Kids, Incorporated www.multiculturalkids.com/home.php

Multicultural resources for kids.©

Native Child www.nativechild.com/resources/

Native Child has gathered helpful information to give you the tools for evaluating books, curriculum material and videos that are currently published and offered covering the topic.©

National Geographic www.nationalgeographic.com/ education/

This site includes videos, new features, classroom resources, and educator opportunities with a monthly newsletter for educators. ©

The Literacy Web www.literacy.uconn.edu/multilit.htm

The Literacy Web is designed to promote the use of the Internet as a tool to assist classroom teachers in their search for best practices in literacy instruction, including the new literacies of Internet technologies.©

Multicultural Education www.emtech.net/multicultural_ education.html

Resources for multicultural education.©

Interracial Books for Children www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/ lit_resources/diversity/multiracial/ multi_race_picbooks.html

This site is facilitated by Cynthia Leitich Smith, a best-selling author, writing teacher, and speaker. She writes fiction for kids and young adults—long and short, heartfelt and humorous, realistic and spooky fantastical! The site also offers one of the most popular writer blogs in the field of children’s/young (continued )


10/27/10 11:07 AM

140 Category

Appendix D Title and Address

Description (per the author/ host organization) adult literature. You will find information about the author and her books. You will also discover the Web’s biggest bounty of youth literature resources for multicultural books. ©


Anti-Defamation League www.adl.org/issue_education/Hate_ and_violence.asp

This site provides strategies for Discussing Hate and Violence with your Children and adolescents.©

Southern Poverty Law Center: Teaching Tolerance www.splcenter.org/center/tt/teach.jsp

This organization publishes a magazine and anti-bias teaching materials, which are free to teachers and schools.©

American Iranian Friendship Council www.aifcpdx.com/educators-page/ arts-culture/film-media

These films are not rated, but the first three are appropriate for High School only. The films are available on video and DVD from many mainstream rental stores but also can be purchased at feasible prices at http.www.iranianmovies .com. All are in Farsi with English subtitles.©

Harambee Centre www.harambeecentre.org/

The Harambee Centre connects the people of the Pacific Northwest with the people and cultures of Africa. “Harambee” means, “let’s pull together” in Kiswahili.©

Facing History and Ourselves www.facinghistory.org/

Facing History, informed by leading thinkers from the fields of philosophy, religion, and education, is a leader in educating for tolerance and understanding. Facing History highlights education, often overlooked,

10/27/10 11:07 AM

Multimedia Resources Database

141

as a crucial tool for strengthening civil societies. This is a collection of all of our online video clips, with the most recent clips appearing first.© EdChange www.edchange.org/index.html


EdChange is a team of passionate, experienced, established, educators dedicated to equity, diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice. With this shared vision, we have joined to collaborate in order to develop resources, workshops, and projects that contribute to progressive change in our schools, our society, and ourselves.©

10/27/10 11:07 AM


10/27/10 11:07 AM


EDITOR Ursula Thomas, Ed.D., is an assistant professor of early childhood education and birth through age five program coordinator at the University of West Georgia. Her research agenda includes issues of cultural mediation and its effects on instructional choices, the power of teacher educator research on diversity in the classroom, views of social justice in the early childhood classroom, and preservice teachers’ disposition on professionalism and diversity in teacher preparation programs.

CONTRIBUTORS Karen P. Harris, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an assistant professor and program director of speech-language pathology programs at the University of West Georgia. She has eighteen years of experience as a licensed speech-language pathologist and holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. With degrees in speech-language pathology and special education, as well as an ESOL endorsement, Dr. Harris has managed to merge three fields together. Hema Ramanathan, Ph.D., is an associate professor in curriculum and instruction/school improvement at the University of West Georgia. Her current research interests are teacher education, comparative education with a particular focus on India, teaching linguistic minorities, and issues of diversity and multicultural education. 143


10/27/10 11:07 AM

144


Janet Strickland, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of social studies education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of West Georgia. Her professional interests include the benefits of Listserv discussion groups to improve staff development and preservice instruction, the use of WebQuests to develop skills of inquiry in elementary social studies students, and preservice action research. Noelle Witherspoon, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice at Louisiana State University. Her research agenda includes analyses of life and professional histories of principals. Other aspects of her research agenda explore faith-based organizations and schools, how various belief systems emerge and impact the (re)interpretation of policy and practice in schools, education for social justice and advocacy, ethics of education, and gender and race in education.


10/27/10 11:07 AM

Culture or Chaos in the Village: The Journey to Cultural Fluency

Science of Chaos or Chaos in Science?

Storm in the Village

Storm in the Village

The Village

Berber Culture On The World Stage: From Village To Video

Journey to the Pearl

Journey to the Center

Journey to the Well

Journey to the Unknown

The transition to chaos

The Journey to the East

The Journey to the East

Hybridity, Or The Cultural Logic Of Globalization

Chaos in the Ashes

Chaos in the Ashes

Chaos & Cyber Culture

Work Culture Transformation: Straw To Gold - The Modern Hero's Journey

Journey To The Underground World

Journey to the Emerald City

The Journey to Welbourne Manor

The Run To Chaos Keep

The Run to Chaos Keep

An Ambiguous Journey to the City: The Village and Other Odd Ruins of the Self in the Indian Imagination

The Romans: From Village to Empire

The Vile Village

The Village Vet

The Vile Village

The Vile Village

The Village Rector

Culture or Chaos in the Village: The Journey to Cultural Fluency

Science of Chaos or Chaos in Science?

Storm in the Village

Storm in the Village

The Village

Berber Culture On The World Stage: From Village To Video

Journey to the Pearl

Journey to the Center

Journey to the Well

Journey to the Unknown

The transition to chaos

The Journey to the East

The Journey to the East

Hybridity, Or The Cultural Logic Of Globalization

Chaos in the Ashes

Chaos in the Ashes

Chaos & Cyber Culture

Work Culture Transformation: Straw To Gold - The Modern Hero's Journey

Journey To The Underground World

Journey to the Emerald City

The Journey to Welbourne Manor

The Run To Chaos Keep

The Run to Chaos Keep

An Ambiguous Journey to the City: The Village and Other Odd Ruins of the Self in the Indian Imagination

The Romans: From Village to Empire

The Vile Village

The Village Vet

The Vile Village

The Vile Village

The Village Rector

Recommend Documents