Culturally Responsive Teaching: Celebrating Classroom Students As Content Creators: Diversity in Our Schools a Brooklyn Ethnography

Educator’s Voice NYSUT’s journal of best practices in education Volume XII, 2019 Included in this issue: Culturally Responsive Welcome from Jolene DiBrango

Being a Culturally Responsive Teacher in a Culturally Responsive Teaching: Celebrating Classroom Students as Content Creators: Diversity in Our Schools A Brooklyn Ethnography

Building Culturally Responsive Learning Communities through Political and Civic Engagement In this issue … This volume takes a close look at how culturally responsive teaching Closing the is defined while providing concrete instances of schoolwide and Opportunity Gap classroom-based initiatives. The programs described herein engage through a Culture of Care educators, school building leaders and members of the community “I don’t want to forget my language”: in cultivating a mindset for culturally responsive teaching, creating A case for culturally relevant an optimal learning environment and reshaping curricula to better heritage language literacy reflect the increasingly diverse populations of students being served. instruction in schools Consistent across them is the perspective that this seemingly daunting Cultural Awareness and task can be accomplished by capitalizing on the assets students bring Self-Awareness at to the table through their unique strengths, cultural backgrounds and Thurgood Marshal Academy experiences. Authors demonstrate how to infuse culturally responsive teaching through programs that involve students in civic engagement, Glossary cultural and self-awareness, inquiry-led learning, restorative practices Resources and multiliteracy. Throughout the issue, culturally responsive teaching is viewed as something foundational and integral to good teaching practice Call for Proposals for Next Issue for all students.

For additional information on this and other topics, please visit www.nysut.org

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Andrew Pallotta President Jolene T. DiBrango Executive Vice President Paul Pecorale Second Vice President J. Philippe Abraham Secretary-Treasurer Dear Colleagues,

By the year 2040, one in three students in the US will be an immigrant or will be the child of one. Our schools continue to grow in populations of students who bring cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity to our communities while current teaching practices continue to develop accordingly. Yet the practice of culturally responsive teaching is not something brand new nor is it just another add-on to the curriculum. Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is an approach that should be infused into everyday teaching. Simply said, CRT represents best practice for all students in our charge. What does this look like in practice? Culturally responsive teachers create an environment where students feel respected, understood, valued and included. Teachers view their students as assets and recognize that each one comes with unique characteristics, background experiences, talents and proclivities. A culturally responsive teacher understands how to acknowledge students’ backgrounds and incorporate them into the fabric of the classroom and school community. A culturally responsive teacher helps all students to build important connections beyond the school community, between themselves and others. Beginning with connections between teacher to student, and growing toward connections between self and community, and finally expanding to connections between self and the nation and globe; CRT helps to create engaged global citizens. A culturally responsive classroom is transformative. It encourages students to be active participants in the learning process and fosters critical and creative thinking by providing a supportive physical space where responsible risk taking is fostered, and it feels safe to question and to explore ideas together. A culturally responsive teacher works to create an accepting and inclusive community where students see themselves reflected in the daily activities and where multiple perspectives are listened to and validated. The practices described in this volume will demonstrate how you can enhance existing teaching practices or curricula. You may find ways to adapt some of these practices by taking a piece of one and making it your own. As a culturally responsive teacher, look into any professional learning opportunities in your district that could help bolster some of these practices in your classroom. Is your district curriculum flexible and nimble enough to allow culturally responsive practices to thrive? See how you can strengthen your culturally responsive teaching to continue making a difference in the lives of your students.

Sincerely,

Jolene DiBrango

New York State United Teachers Affiliated with AFT • NEA • AFL-CIO EDITORIAL BOARD

Jolene T. DiBrango Executive Vice President, NYSUT Daniel Kinley Director of Policy and Program Development, NYSUT Ellen Sullivan Research and Educational Services, NYSUT Bernice Rivera Educational Services, Education and Learning Trust, NYSUT Clarisse Butler Banks Lead Editor/Copy Desk Chief, Communications, NYSUT

Publication Coordinator Leah Lembo Research and Educational Services, NYSUT

The Editorial Board wishes to thank the following individuals for their contributions to the development of this volume: Maureen Caccavale, Cynthia DeMichele, Susan LaFond, Terry McSweeney and Carolyn Williams.

The materials contained in this publication are protected by copyright. Individuals may copy these materials for educational use only. No one may use these materials for any commercial purposes, including but not limited to distribution, modification, reproduction or sale for profit.

Representing more than 600,000 professionals in education, human services and health care

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New York State United Teachers Affiliated with AFT • NEA • AFL-CIO Educator’s Voice NYSUT’s journal of best practices in education Volume XII, 2019 Culturally Responsive Teaching: Celebrating Diversity in Our Schools

Table of Contents

The materials contained in this Being a Culturally Responsive Teacher in a Culturally Responsive Classroom...... 2 publication are protected by By Susan Lafond copyright. Individuals may copy Students as Content Creators: A Brooklyn Ethnography...... 12 these materials for educational purposes only. No one may use By David Mumper and Beth Clark-Gareca these materials for any Building Culturally Responsive Learning Communities commercial purposes, including through Political and Civic Engagement...... 22 but not limited to distribution, By Gladys Cruz, Theresa Longhi and Jose M. Melendez modification, reproduction or sale for profit. Closing the Opportunity Gap through a Culture of Care ...... 36 By Philip Weinman and Colleen Wygal Some of the photos in this journal, “I don’t want to forget my language”: A case for culturally relevant of NYSUT members heritage language literacy instruction in schools...... 48 and their students, By Emily Voegler and Erica Daniels were taken by the authors of the articles, and Cultural Awareness and Self-Awareness at Thurgood Marshal Academy...... 58 by NYSUT staff photographer By Dawn Brooks DeCosta, Ife Gaskin-Lenard, and Danica Goyens Ward El-Wise Noisette. Glossary...... 74 For additional information Resources...... 75 on this and other topics, please visit www.nysut.org Call for Proposals for Next Issue...... 77

In this volume of Educator’s Voice, authors may have referenced particular programs, ©2019 NYSUT curricula or websites in the discussion of their work. These references do not imply approval or endorsement by NYSUT of any particular product, service, or organization. Being a Culturally Responsive Teacher in a Culturally Responsive Classroom

SUMMARY while by 2050, it is projected that they Each year, school will make up 33 percent of the child Educators find themselves districts observe population. Of the 18.2 million Latinx working with students changing populations and a growing children, 95 percent are U.S.-born who are increasingly percentage of students from diverse citizens. Almost 14 percent of the New more racially, culturally, backgrounds. Our classrooms are economically and linguis- York State school-age population, age tically diverse. Culturally increasingly becoming more culturally, 5 and older, are identified as English responsive instruction is a economically and linguistically diverse. language learners or mulilingual learn- way to create an inclusive, The Census Bureau projects the United ers (Zong, Batalova & Burrows, 2017). student-centered States will become a more racially and environment that is For educators to meet the needs of their accessible and relevant to ethnically diverse nation in the coming increasingly diverse student popula- all students. Learn ways years, and that there will be a plurality tion, they must possess the mindset and to strengthen culturally of racial and ethnic groups. The “Two skills needed to foster a positive learn- responsive practices in or More Races” population is projected the classroom and take ing environment for all students, which advantage of the rich to be the fastest growing group by 2060 is critical to their academic success. assets a broadly diverse with its population expected to classroom of students triple in size. The Asian population provides. follows as the second fastest-growing group, accounting for 5.4 percent of the total population (Colby and Ortman, 2015). According to Population Reference Bureau, Latinx children account for 25 percent of U.S. children under 18,

Susan Lafond, a Nationally Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language (EAYA/ENL), has 20 years of combined experience teaching ESL and foreign language. As an assistant in educational services with NYSUT, she focuses on regulations and educational issues related to English learners (ELs) and ENL/Bilingual programs, as well as creating and organizing professional development across the state. She has served on AFT’s National English Language Learner Educator Cadre since 2004 and is a veteran AFT national trainer. Lafond is an expert practitioner and adviser to Colorín Colorado.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 2 Susan Lafond, NYSUT

Culturally responsive teaching recognizes, respects, and uses students’ identities and backgrounds as meaningful sources of information to build from when creating optimal learning environments (Nieto, 2000). In 2016, nearly 20 million children had at least one immigrant parent, and nearly nine in 10 (89 percent or 17.7 million) of these children were citizens. About 8 percent of children with an immigrant parent live in New York (Artiga and Damico, 2017). Culturally responsive instructional practices honor and support this diversity, connecting learning to students’ cultural backgrounds while building on prior experiences. Culturally responsive teachers differen- integrating an equity and inclusion tiate instruction by transforming the lens. As a result, the state’s federal learning environment into an inclusive Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and positive space where all students plan conveys the goal of working with see themselves and are empowered to districts to ensure cultural responsive- learn. As a result, educators build rela- ness. The department moved forward tionships, hold high expectations, pro- with its commitment by partnering vide rigorous instruction, and create an with The New York University inclusive, student-centered environ- Metropolitan Center for Research on ment that is accessible and relatable to Equity and the Transformation of all students. Schools on an initiative to develop a guidance document for culturally The New York State Education responsive-sustaining education. In Department contends that the desired May 2019, NYSED released the end results of promoting equitable Culturally Responsive-Sustaining opportunities that help all children Framework, Journey Forward, to help thrive can only be fully attained by education stakeholders in developing

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 3 Being a Culturally Responsive Teacher in a Culturally Responsive Classroom

Culturally and implementing policies that educate Geneva Gay stresses that culturally rel- responsive teachers all students effectively and equitably, as evant pedagogy is imperative because it well as providing appropriate supports uses, “the cultural knowledge, prior begin with an and services to promote positive stu- experiences, frames of reference, and open mind and dent outcomes. While the framework is performance styles of ethnically diverse not without flaws, it does remind edu- students to make learning more rele- a willingness to cators of the fact that our students vant to and effective for them. It teach- embrace different come to us with varied experiences, es to and through the strengths of these backgrounds and cultures. As a students. It is culturally validating and cultures in order resource, it offers suggestions directed affirming (Gay, 2010, p. 31). to create a to different stakeholder groups on According to Gay, culturally respon- ways to address students’ diverse sive teaching rests on six dimensions: meaningful learning needs, promote equitable opportuni- n Culturally responsive teachers are environment. ties in which they will thrive, and socially and academically empower each child to leverage his/her empowering by setting high uniqueness as an asset. expectations for students with a commitment to every student’s What is Culturally Responsive success; Teaching? n Culturally responsive teachers are The notion of culturally responsive multidimensional because they education is premised on the idea that engage cultural knowledge, culture is central to student learning. experiences, contributions, and Culturally relevant teaching is a term perspectives; created by Gloria Ladson-Billings in The Dreamkeepers (1994). According n Culturally responsive teachers to Ladson-Billings, culturally relevant validate every student’s culture, teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes bridging gaps between school and the importance of including students’ home through diversified cultural references as a vehicle in all instructional strategies and aspects of learning. She offers effective multicultural curricula; practices by educational practitioners n Culturally responsive teachers are (teachers and leaders) who applied cul- socially, emotionally, and politically tural responsiveness in their class- comprehensive as they seek to rooms. These practices, which were educate the whole child; exemplified by eight principles, lead to n Culturally responsive teachers are stronger connections between educa- transformative of schools and tors and students. societies by using students’ existing strengths to drive instruction, assessment, and curriculum design; Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 4 n Culturally responsive teachers are Principles of Culturally Responsive Education emancipatory and liberating from oppressive educational practices Communication of High Expectations entails holding high academic standards and expectations for all students and and ideologies as they lift “the veil believing in student capability while providing the encour- of presumed absolute authority agement they need to persevere. from conceptions of scholarly truth Active Teaching Methods includes designing instruction to typically taught in schools (Gay, promote student engagement and encouraging students to play 2010, p. 38).” an active role in their own learning.

Culturally responsive teachers begin Teacher as Facilitator means the teacher takes on the role of guide, mediator, instructor, and advocate in order to help with an open mind and a willingness to students effectively connect their culturally- and community- embrace different cultures in order to based knowledge to the learning experiences taking place in the create a meaningful learning environ- classroom. ment that incorporates students’ Inclusion of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students knowledge, experiences, and back- requires engaging in an ongoing dialogue with parents to learn grounds (Saifer et al., 2011). Within about the child as well as involving parents so they can be this environment students are likely to effective partners in the educational process. feel more motivated and engaged, see- Cultural Sensitivity is a core foundation with the teacher ing themselves reflected in the class- becoming familiar with all students’ cultures and translating this room. Everyone has a culture and knowledge into instructional practice to maximize their learning Saifer says that to create and maintain a opportunities. culturally responsive classroom, you Reshaping the Curriculum takes Cultural Sensitivity to the have to know each student well. next level by using a student-centered curriculum that is Schools should not focus solely on one integrated, interdisciplinary, and meaningful in that it includes issues and topics related to the students’ background and dominant culture, but instead should culture and as a result, challenges students to develop higher- mirror the culture and ethnicities of the order thinking skills. students they serve. Student-Controlled Classroom Discourse empowers students by offering them the opportunity to determine aspects of the Creating a Culturally Responsive lesson and gaining insight into the ways communication skills are Classroom developed in the home and community. For educators who wish to strengthen Small Group Instruction and Academically-Related Discourse culturally responsive practices by creat- is evidenced by a classroom structure of low-pressure, student- centered learning groups that provide students the opportunity ing a more inclusive and equitable class- to maximize participation and the development of academic room environment, the first step is to language. reflect on these overarching questions: — Source: Ladson-Billings, 1994 Do I understand the cultural differences of my students? Do I promote equitable opportunities in which all students will thrive? Does my classroom empower Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 5 Being a Culturally Responsive Teacher in a Culturally Responsive Classroom

Children by Parental Immigration Status, 2016 Based on the quantity and frequency of the actions you employ, you will see where your strengths are and can begin to identify areas you may wish to target. Keep in mind that cultural competence is always evolving and something you continue to learn as you have the opportunity to work with different students over your entire teaching career.

There are many techniques for incorporating culturally diverse contributions, experiences, and perspectives Source: Kaiser Family each child to capitalize on his/her into the classroom. What the models Foundation analysis of uniqueness and leverage differences as from different researchers have in com- March 2017 Current an asset? Population Survey, mon are the practices that have been Annual Social and shown to be effective with all students. Economic Supplement Continuing along that path, teachers can gauge where their classroom prac- Morrison, Robbins, and Rose (2008) tices fall on a cultural competence con- synthesized the research on culturally tinuum by doing a strengths-based responsive teaching and developed a assessment of how list of best practices that teachers can Culturally Responsive Checklist they build the class- use to support their students. room climate and Start by creating a cooperative class- n Create a learning environment that deliver an equitable, supports and engages diverse learners. room environment and nurturing stu- action-oriented dents’ social emotional learning while Understand, accept, and celebrate the learning experience n at the same time, conveying high cultural differences of all students. for the students in behavioral expectations for students front of them. n Teach students to value their differences that address biased or discriminatory and expand their appreciation of each behavior. Be willing to share power in other. As you contemplate the five areas in the the classroom and allow student voice n Take action to close the achievement gap to be part of the decision making. between students in your classroom. checklist (at left), take the time to Recognize that students’ lives go Design lessons to take into consideration n write down a beyond the four walls of the classroom students’ backgrounds, social experiences, by encouraging strong relationships prior knowledge, and learning styles. detailed list of the strategies you utilize between students’ family, the school, for each of them. and the greater community. Educators

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 6 need to invest in and take personal Building a Classroom Community responsibility for student success. Includes Engaging Parents There is so much more at stake here than we sometimes realize. Opportunities for Potential Benefits When it comes to instruction, meeting Two-way Home-School grade level standards is still critical, but Communication teachers should not hesitate to reshape Build a positive Establishing rapport with family members the prescribed curriculum to provide relationship with parents will help to strengthen your relationships for a balanced study of cultural contri- with scheduled calls, with caretakers and consequently with even before the school your students. Positive phone calls home butions and perspectives and engage- year begins. can be a great way to create a stronger ment in social justice work. Tap into sense of community in your classroom. student strengths as starting points and Conduct a survey or Online surveys are easy to set up and build on their funds of knowledge. needs assessment for can produce valuable data quickly and Doing this entails being familiar with parents on what they efficiently. By offering opportunities for one’s students and their backgrounds are looking for when it parents to participate in these surveys and encourages family participation. comes to their child’s when they visit the school building, it education. increases the chance that more parents To assist students with accessing a will take part. challenging curriculum, try modeling skills as a way to provide a concrete Set up parent-teacher- Meeting at the parents’ home or a place translator meetings at a of their choosing may help them to be example. By scaffolding content and convenient location, day comfortable, and as a result, ensure a language, teachers bridge any gaps and time for parents. more productive conversation. between what students know and are Establish monthly events These programs establish a welcoming able to do and what they are expected for parents to learn school community and convey a to know and be able to do. about navigating the positive message about the importance school system, parent of partnering to ensure students are Before you can create an equitable involvement, and ways supported in achieving educational goals. classroom climate, a necessary first step they can help their child is to take time to understand your own at home. cultural identity and cultural behavioral patterns along with the impact they have on your attitude and actions at lesson you can model to your students school. This is not easy as it entails is to be understanding, open, honest, being a reflective practitioner and rec- caring and forgiving to yourself and ognizing your own biases and inequita- others. ble action. Being sensitive to differences in others provides an Opportunities for two-way home- opportunity to step back before pass- school communication should be the ing judgment. The most important norm rather than the exception. While

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 7 Being a Culturally Responsive Teacher in a Culturally Responsive Classroom

To maximize sending home newsletters, fliers, and n Explain how classroom activities the potential of other forms of messages about school that are employed will help stu- and classroom activities are still impor- dents acquire the skills and knowl- their students, tant, it doesn’t encourage a response or edge to allow them to reach those teachers should encourage involvement on the part of targets. The attainment of these parents or family members. goals and objectives is through become familiar carefully planned lessons and Accept that the concerns of a parent or activities. with students’ guardian may be different from the prior educational concerns that you have. If you are sen- n Be strategic in your feedback so backgrounds and sitive to the potential cultural differ- that students know what the crite- ences when you speak with family rion for success is in their class- be ready to develop members, you will find yourself asking room. Using timely and specific lessons that reflect questions that will help you determine formative feedback provides stu- what their goals for their child are dents with opportunities to revise who they are. before you attempt to impose your and improve their work. This in own beliefs. turn allows them to deepen their understanding and advance their Teachers need to hold high academic own learning. standards and expectations for all students while providing the encourage- Children whose language and culture ment needed to persevere. It is crucial correspond more closely to that of the to the success of your students that school may have an advantage in the you make it clear to them that all stu- learning process whereas children dents in your class CAN and WILL whose experiences are less familiar or succeed. recognized may become alienated and disengaged from the learning process. Teach students self-talk and goal- n Teachers can bridge this situation by setting. Model both of these for appreciating and valuing all students’ students with classroom goals. cultures. To maximize the potential of n Focus on fostering a ‘growth mind- their students, teachers should become set’ to help students reach their full familiar with students’ prior education- potential. This means having stu- al backgrounds and be ready to devel- dents understand the value of effort op lessons that reflect who they are. and persistence. A fixed mindset Build on your students’ life experienc- limits a child’s success, while a es and consistently bring them into the growth mindset instills the idea of classroom. possibility and improvement Start off the school year by providing through perseverance. frequent icebreakers so that you and Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 8 your students can learn about each other. Examples of Culturally Relevant Instruction Build in plenty of structured activities where students can interact in a produc- Translated into Classroom Activities tive way with each other so that they have Lesson Design Classroom Activities an opportunity to learn about each other’s cultures. As you teach content make it a Be deliberate about Keep your striving students in mind devising different ways for when designing lessons. You want to priority to provide information to the stu- students to be successful. ensure success and increase students’ dents on alternative viewpoints or beliefs self-esteem by setting realistic, yet of a topic. But be careful that you watch rigorous, goals for individual students for potential culture conflicts and be pre- and offer as much appropriate scaffolding as possible. For your pared to address or minimize them. To do ELLs, allow the use of the student’s that, you will need to be clear about first language to enhance learning. expectations for student behavior up front Varying teaching approaches will be so that the classroom culture you create more accommodating to students’ can guide student actions and positive diverse learning styles and language proficiencies. peer interactions in the classroom. Put the students at the Share responsibility of instruction While a teacher plays a critical role in creat- center of instruction so by having students lead discussion ing a nurturing classroom environment, it they are encouraged to groups or reteach concepts. Include direct their own learning cooperative learning structures along takes a village to develop a positive social and become self-confident, with individual and whole class work. climate at school and establish it as a safe self-directed and proactive. place where students and staff are treated with respect. The following are suggestions Provide students a voice This can be achieved by using rubrics to build culturally responsive schools. and an opportunity for and self-assessment and allowing decision-making in the students to participate in creating n Develop clear rules and consequences classroom. This allows them. Ask students to generate a list of for appropriate peer interaction. them to become more topics they wish to study or research independent in action and include their choices within units. n Show culturally diverse photos of role and thinking. models representative of students’ cultures. n Add school lunches that are representative n Begin a book club to read literature of the cultures of students in the district. about/from students’ cultures. n Revisit the school calendar to consider n Provide culturally relevant professional important holidays from all cultures rep- development for staff on an ongoing resented in district. basis on related topics of cultural proficiency, cultural differences, equity issues n Plan events for staff, families and com- and social justice. munity to learn about and honor other cultures. Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 9 Being a Culturally Responsive Teacher in a Culturally Responsive Classroom

Classroom As our diverse learners enter our class- References diversity is one rooms, they bring with them a broad Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2018). [New spectrum of experiences, skills, knowl- York State Data Profiles on Kids Well- Being, 2018]. 2018 KIDS COUNT Data of our nation’s edge and background. The role of the Book. Retrieved from https://www.aecf. greatest assets teacher is to create a welcoming class- org/resources/2018-kids-count-data- room environment where students feel book/#Education and as educators affirmed rather than marginalized and Artiga, S. & Damico, A. (2018). [Current comfortable to take responsible risks as Population Survey, Annual Social and we must do Economic Supplement March 2017.] they learn. The classroom curriculum Children by Parental Immigration Status. everything in our should be representative of a variety of Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/ perspectives, centering on the student disparities-policy/issue-brief/nearly- power to ensure 20-million-children-live-in-immigrant- identities and cultural pluralism families-that-could-be-affected-by-evolving- that every child despite new challenges for teachers to immigration-policies/ reaches his/her “reach and teach” young minds in this Colby, S.L., & Ortman, J.M. (2014). era of accountability. While culturally Projections of the size and composi- potential for tion of the U.S. population: 2014 to responsive teaching is not a brand new 2060. Current Population Reports, success. initiative and the principles are not far- P25-1143. Washington, DC: Census reaching from what skilled educators Bureau. Retrieved from https://www. census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/ are already doing, it will take a deliber- publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf ate intentionality on the part of teach- Conchas, G.Q., & Noguera, P.A. (2004). ers to eliminate bias and create a Understanding the exceptions: How caring, cooperative classroom environ- small schools support the achievement of ment with equitable opportunities on academically successful Black boys. In N. Way & J.Y. Chu (Eds.), Adolescent boys: the part of all students to learn, grow Exploring diverse cultures of boyhood (pp. and achieve. It is critical to remember 317-337). New York, NY: New York that classroom diversity is one of our University Press. nation’s greatest assets and as educa- Cummins, J. (2007). Pedagogies for the poor? Realigning reading instruction tors we must do everything in our for low-income students with scientifi- power to ensure that every child reach- cally based reading research. Educational es his/her potential for success. Researcher, 36(9), 564-572. https://doi. org/10.3102/0013189X07313156 Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 10 Krasnoff, B. (2016). Culturally responsive teach- Resources ing: A guide to evidence-based practices for teaching all students equitably. Education Suggested Books Northwest. Retrieved from: https://education- Davis, Bonnie M. (2012). How to teach students northwest.org/sites/default/files/resources/ who don’t look like you. (2nd Ed.). Thousand culturally-responsive-teaching.pdf Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Ladson-Billings, G. (1994) The dreamkeepers: Delpit, Lisa. (2006). Other people’s children: Successful teaching for African-American stu- Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York, dents. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. NY: New Press. Mather, M. (2016). Trends and Challenges Facing Hollie, Sharroky. (2015). Strategies for culturally America’s Latino Children. Retrieved from and linguistically responsive teaching and learn- https://www.prb.org/trends-and-challenges- ing. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education. facing-americas-latino-children/ Nieto, Sonia. (2013). Finding joy in teaching stu- Morrison, K.A., Robbins, H.H., Rose, D.G. dents of diverse backgrounds: Culturally respon- (2008). Operationalizing culturally rel- sive and socially just practices in U.S. classrooms. evant pedagogy: A synthesis of classroom- Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publishers. based research. Equity & Excellence in Education. 91(4), 433-452. https://doi. Resources to Download org/10.1080/10665680802400006 Culturally Responsive Teaching — A paper Nieto, S (2010). Language, culture, and teaching: from the Collaboration for Effective Educator, Critical perspectives (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Development, Accountability, and Reform Taylor & Francis. (CEEDAR) Center, published in July 2014, that features an innovation configuration matrix Saifer, S, Edwards, K., Ellis, D., Ko, L., & that can guide teacher preparation profession- Stuczynski, A. (2011). Culturally responsive als in the development of appropriate culturally standards-based teaching: Classroom to commu- responsive teaching content. nity and back (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Culturally Responsive Classroom Management — A brief developed in 2008 by the Skiba, R.J., Horner, R.H., Chung, C.G., Rausch, Strategies NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education M.K., May, S.L., & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is and Human Development. not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in Culturally Responsive Teaching — Guide school discipline. School Psychology Review, from Equity Assistance Center of Education 40(1), 85-107. Northwest offers evidence-based practices for teaching all students equitably. U.S. Census Bureau. (2019). [Graphic illustration Distribution of Race and Hispanic Origin Suggested Videos by Age Groups June 20, 2019]. A More Diverse Nation. Retrieved from https://www.census. Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy gov/library/visualizations/2019/comm/age- — Education experts Jackie Jordan Irvine, race-distribution.html Geneva Gay and Kris Gutierrez explain how to make culturally relevant pedagogy a reality Zong, J., Batalova, J., & Burrows, M. (2019) in your classroom in this video from Teaching Frequently requested statistics on immigrants Tolerance. and immigration in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/ Culturally Responsive Teaching — This video frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and- gauges the impact of culturally responsive immigration-united-states#Demographic teaching practices in a second grade classroom at a DC public charter school.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 11 Students as Content Creators: A Brooklyn Ethnography SUMMARY Eighteen students started my com- Kenny walked into bined English and ENL (English as a Join a class of high school my class at HS 79 New Language) class that day. Some students as they focus on on the first day of school, soon after were native speakers of English, while the school community celebrating his 18th birthday. Like too itself as the primary others, multilingual learners (MLLs). source of content many other African-American teens The students spoke nine different material. This article in New York City, he had already home languages. Nearly all had lived in features exemplars of dropped out of high school — twice. poverty, whether in Africa, the student-centered learning Transferring yet again, Kenny arrived and student-led Caribbean, South America, or East approaches to community on this cool September morning in a New York, Brooklyn. engagement, focusing on pressed shirt and tie, determined, it the strategies secondary appeared, to make a fresh start. The superdiversity (Vertovec, 2007) teachers can use to of this classroom was exciting and full establish their own Amal, already in her seat, watched of learning opportunities, but present- inquiry-led, culturally Kenny as he walked into the classroom. responsive classroom. ed a number of challenges: How do we She adjusted her hijab and returned to establish a community of learners out the “Do Now” assignment I had posted of this linguistically and culturally on the board: On an index card, write diverse group? What common materi- your name, age, where you are from, als and curriculum could possibly be something you enjoy learning about, relevant to all these students? What and your favorite thing about school. might a culturally relevant approach Later, I would learn that Amal, a refugee look like for students from so many from Yemen, had recently immigrated to diverse cultures? Brooklyn, was a newcomer to American schools, and enjoyed learning English.

David Mumper is a resource specialist at the Hudson Valley Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network (RBERN) and a doctoral student in urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is a former New York City public high school ELA and ENL teacher. Beth Clark-Gareca, Ph.D., is a member of United University Professions and an assistant professor and coordinator of the TESOL program at SUNY New Paltz. She enjoys working with pre-service and in-service teachers toward incorporating culturally sustaining pedagogies in K–12 contexts.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 12 David Mumper, Hudson Valley Regional Bilingual Education Students as Content Resource Network Beth Clark-Gareca, United University Professions/New Paltz Creators: A Brooklyn Ethnography

I had taught linguistically, culturally her name on it waiting on her desk. and academically diverse students at Inside was a letter; a “hook” in the HS 79 for five years, and this year, I form of an invitation. was determined to try an approach that turned the “problem” on its head. An Invitation Rather than starting the course with texts and materials designed to support Dear Amal, content and language acquisition, we My name is Gareth Benfield, and I am the Editor-in-Chief of the would begin by creating our own con- Encyclopedia Britain. I congratulate you on being selected to contribute to the Encyclopedia. You should be proud, as you have been chosen as tent while pursuing academic objec- one of a select few authors to contribute your work. This year our feature tives. This approach reflected my article is called “Ethnography of a Brooklyn Community.” I would like to affinity for culturally responsive teach- personally invite you to take the lead in creating an ethnography of the ing and problem-based learning (PBL), people in your school community. Of course, we expect, as with all our profiles, to have a healthy diversity of printed and multimedia content two frameworks that naturally support material. Please respond with a proposal and work plan by Wednesday, one another and reinforce student-cen- September 12, at 11:30 am. I will review your plan at that point, and tered learning. My hope was that by provide you with my feedback next week. positioning students as content cre- Sincerely, ators, experts and authors in a PBL Dr. Benfield framework, it would empower them to examine culture, identity and diversity not as barriers to individual and collab- Students read this initial letter — the orative learning, but as a rich and gen- first text they encountered in the class erative line of inquiry that was directly — in English, Spanish or French. connected to each of them and broader Some students were not literate in any academic questions. I began by sharing language so were paired with another the problem with students, in the form student in order to discuss the letter of a letter. together. A few students were excited right away, “This is going to be fun!” At the start of the second day of class, while others were confused, “I don’t each student found an envelope with get it. What are we doing?”

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Identifying Some started asking text-based ques- Problem-based learning is rooted, pri- tions, “What’s an ethnography?” By marily in the identification of a problem authentic local the end of class, students were working that needs to be solved, and the design problems which in small groups to determine exactly of a plan to address and potentially what the letter was asking, and how solve that problem. Stemming from the need to be solved they should respond. medical model of addressing “ill-struc- allows learning tured and messy problems”, this meth- to be maximally Problem-Based Learning Meets od encourages discussion of the Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy problem at hand by community members. Then, through careful, critical relevant to As illustrated by the first days of this analysis of the problem, possible solu- students. unit, the posing, framing, and analysis tions are offered, including the logical of authentic problems are hallmarks of follow-through of necessary steps problem-based learning. PBL has been toward a resolution (Larmer, conceptualized in myriad ways, but in Mergendoller, & Boss, 2015). this paper, we follow the work of Lambros (2004) and her application of For example: a student may be con- this model to classrooms. She asserts cerned about the amount of garbage that PBL is a “teaching method based that her school produces. In an effort on the principle of using problems as to reduce her school’s contribution to a the starting point for the acquisition of local landfill, she discovers that hun- new knowledge (p. 2).” Central to dreds of water bottles are drunk by PBL’s effectiveness is its emphasis on school sports teams each season, and real-world problems, which are easily lacking a recycling option, those plastic found in the students’ immediate reali- bottles are thrown directly into the gar- ties in school or in their communities. bage. Her solution, then, is to design a Identifying authentic, pressing, local recycling project within the school problems which sports department to collect those need to be water bottles, deliver them to the recy- solved allows cling center, and repurpose them for learning to be other use. In this scenario, problem- maximally rele- based learning (the school garbage vant to students, problem) actually leads to project- and impels them based learning (the recycling program). in concrete, connected ways to Both project-based and problem-based insert themselves learning are pedagogies that are inher- in their work. ently student centered and fundamentally compatible with other culturally

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 14 responsive practices. They center on conceptualized by Ladson-Billings real-world issues or topics that often (1995), culturally relevant teaching have relevance to students. It is possible (CRT) or pedagogy was described as a to craft a PBL environment by incorpo- way to help students “accept and affirm rating student interests, experience and their cultural identity while developing cultural backgrounds. PBL allows stu- critical perspectives that challenge ineq- dents to engage in learning with more uities that schools (and other institu- autonomy than traditional teaching does tions) perpetuate (p. 469).” The by building on individual needs, inter- concept of CRT has evolved over time ests and proclivities. In a project based into what Paris (2012) has termed, cul- environment the teacher typically does turally sustaining pedagogy, suggesting less talking and spends more time facili- a renewed purpose to “perpetuate and tating. As in other culturally responsive foster — to sustain — linguistic, literate, approaches, this requires a close knowl- and cultural pluralism as part of the edge of both the content being explored democratic project of schooling (p. as well as knowledge of students’ back- 93).” Using culturally sustaining peda- grounds, experiences, and strengths. gogy as a guide, the ethnography project at HS 79 afforded an academic The ethnography task presented here space where students’ identities were through a PBL lens encouraged stu- brought to light on the students’ own dents to leverage their personal experi- terms. The first task in this multidimen- ence and expertise while becoming sional project, however, was for stu- researchers and authors with a com- dents to decide how to answer the letter mon intellectual goal. For multilingual they received from Dr. Benfield. learners this was especially helpful as it enabled them to build academic lan- A Flurry of Solutions guage by connecting concepts and Ethnography is a research Students were given the vocabulary to their personal experienc- strategy that studies people, text (at right) as a es and identity. Students’ culture, in social groups and their handout: this case, became more than a pedagog- culture. Information for an ethnography can be collect- ical consideration, it emerged as an During the next class ses- ed through observations, inherently valuable and rich academic sion, we considered stu- interviews, questionnaires topic of which students already had dents’ questions, starting or participation in a group. prior knowledge. with “What is an ethnog- The word Ethnography raphy?” Using a simple The PBL ethnography lens has the comes from Greek: definition, students dis- ethnos = people, and added potential to create pathways cussed in small groups graphia = writing toward culturally sustaining pedagogy what our ethnography for multicultural students. Originally

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could look like. For students accustomed By the end of the period, students had to being told what to do, the open-ended a) decided to respond to the invitation nature of this process was difficult. with a letter describing their work plan, There were moments of uncertainty and and b) brainstormed many of the roles silence, and questions arose, “Can we and research methods that our ethnog- take pictures of the building? How are raphy would entail. This prepared us we supposed to find out about other for the following class, the usually kids in the school?” Instead of answering dreadful writing a business letter. Over questions directly, I suggested they refer the next few days, students drafted, back to the invitation letter and the eth- edited and published a letter. They also nography definition for guidance. As the defined and chose roles:data collector, teacher, I knew that students would statistician, interviewer, photographer, read, write and complete other discreet editor, and, an important last-minute assignments during the ethnography, but addition: web designer. This role, at this point, they were given the space to which I had not initially planned for, decide how to shape the work. was a result of Kenny’s crucial insight into the problem of creating an authentic and useful ethnography for our school, “Does anybody read ency- clopedias these days? Why don’t we make a website so we can share it with the school and use it for New Student Orientation?” No one could argue with this idea, so a few interested students selected web designer as one of their roles.

Successful PBL requires the teacher to stick to the learning plan while adapting to new and authentic solutions, such as Kenny’s website. It is important to recognize that Kenny’s contribution was a transformative improvement, and went a long way toward solving the actual problem of student orientation. In sub- sequent years, we dispensed with the encyclopedia role-play and simply framed the problem as an invitation

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 16 from the district to create a rich, multi- community to capture quantitative layered ethnography for the purpose of data about their classmates’ age, gen- orienting new students. der, ethnicity, language, post-secondary goals, mapping their communities Until then, I had never seen so many geographically, co-authoring and edit- at-risk and formerly disconnected ing ethnographic vignettes, and curat- teens individually and collectively ing and preparing these work products excited about writing a business letter, for publication on the website. Despite and the reason was obvious: they were the student-directed curriculum, some engaged in problem-solving on multi- of the required tasks were assessed tra- ple levels. In addition to the role-play- ditionally as would be expected in an ing aspect of the project (students as English class. Still, student input large- ethnographers for an invented ency- ly shaped the work at hand as they clopedia), our project also addressed identified ways to improve the project, an actual problem: how do we wel- for example, suggesting that videotap- come students to our school commu- ing take place, and that interview ques- nity? We needed a resource for new tions be revised. Early in the data students who enrolled throughout the gathering phase, Amal observed that year who, up until this point, had not we could not accurately describe the had the opportunity for a formal community without including the school orientation. Motivated to solve adults in the school, and so, in an the orientation problem (which some important decision that impacted our students had experienced firsthand), collective production of new knowl- students were beginning to develop an edge, we decided to include staff and identity characterized by agency and students in our ethnography. expertise in the creation of content. Ultimately, the students produced a Development of the Ethnography website in which their body of Unit research and individual stories were published and used as a resource for Over the next week during this start- incoming students. Since these stories of-year ELA/ENL unit, students were essential texts created by students worked together to engage in multiple, for other students, there were opportu- creative learning projects toward creat- nities for every student, regardless of ing a school website for new students. language proficiency, to have some- These projects included: designing thing to contribute. A core component questions for their peers, recording of our PBL design, co-constructed, and transcribing interviews in multiple peer-to-peer interviews allowed the languages, surveying the school

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 17 Students as Content Creators: A Brooklyn Ethnography

students to share their lived experi- and in the community, teaching and ences with current and prospective learning becomes dialogic — with students in very real ways. Some students and their curated artifacts excerpts of their stories are shared providing conversation pieces and here, and are indicative of how a PBL inspiration for reflection, much like framework the best museum installations. gives students (Emdin, 2016, p. 188).” a space in which to con- Teacher Implementation Guide sider their The ethnography unit illustrates one own realities, way that students can be content cre- problems, and ators in the classroom. In this case, vulnerabilities, while they were developing content, and share students also negotiated identity and them from a difference not merely to become position of compliant learners of other things, strength, advocacy, and agency. but in order to directly address their “When students are charged with marginalization and reposition them- preserving, capturing and then shar- selves as producers of knowledge. ing their experiences in the school When used at the start of the year (especially the freshman or first year in a new school), such a project has No Turning Back the potential to transform whether and how students engage with new “Back in Panama, every day I’d wake up content. and wash up and go downstairs where my grandfather waited for me with Teachers may be unsure as to how to two dollars for breakfast which was a inspire this kind of learning in their banana, a roll of bread, a slice of cheese classroom, particularly when its core and a pint of orange juice, which was my features suggest a departure from daily routine. Oh, how I loved those hot sunny days, but that all changed when I classic planning and lesson imple- was at the age of four, when my dad flew back to Panama from New mentation. The following section York to come and get me. At that moment I was hurting. I wanted to provides some general guidelines or be with my parents in New York, but I also wanted to stay with my steps that teachers can follow to enact grandmother. I had no choice though. I belonged by my parents’ side, besides all of this was done for me so that I could have a better future. PBL in diverse classrooms. Now, I’m on the plane, I can hear the pilot speaking, saying “Put on your seatbelts.” At that moment I knew there was no turning back.”

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 18 Selecting a problem change, and teachers need to take care Brainstorming authentic problems with not to replicate those experiences within unknown answers: The first step to PBL school environments as well. Teacher- is to identify a problem. These problems guided PBL disrupts familiar patterns of provide the most meaningful learning frustration that many youth confront, opportunities when they are student- and creates opportunities to effect a generated; a teacher can guide students desired result. through brainstorming exercises of problems that they notice, or contribu- Practicing facilitation tions that they can make to better their One of the challenges for teachers of communities. PBL is to facilitate classroom work rather than to explicitly lead prescribed les- Problem selection is key to PBL’s suc- sons. Stepping away from the front of cess in a number of ways. The central the classroom, and allowing students to problem must be both compelling to the interact with each other directly without students, and allow for maximal chances a teacher as intermediary can be new ter- toward positive learning outcomes. Part ritory for even an experienced teacher. of the teacher’s role is to guide students To practice, teachers should be con- toward a problem that they can success- scious of their critical, but secondary, fully solve; PBL can be very rewarding, role in guiding the project. Students need but also very disappointing if the solution proves to be unmanageable in terms of the scale or time that it requires. An One of my example of an unmanageable problem Favorite Places: might be dismantling an unpopular Chinese Bakery school uniform policy. If students decide that they want to take on this problem, the teacher may want to do some I have lived in Bay Parkway since coming behind-the-scenes work to determine if from China for six modifying the policy is at all possible. If months. They have my favorite shop under the Bay Parkway train the teacher finds that students will likely station, a little bakery where they just sell the breakfasts of Chinese not be able to effect any change in this snacks. Every day before I go to school, I will buy some dumplings and policy, the best course of action is to some spring rolls for breakfast. That is very authentic Chinese snacks, and very, very tasty. In the store are four shop assistants, and all are guide the students toward a different very nice people, because they accept food coupons, so every time I project where they can find more suc- go there, there are many people in the line. Sometimes I have to wait cessful outcomes. For many youth, bar- a long time (which is why sometimes I can’t get to school on time, riers encountered in their regular lives haha!). In summary, this is a very good place, and the bakery is my favorite shop. can naturally discourage feelings of empowerment and agency toward

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 19 Students as Content Creators: A Brooklyn Ethnography

to be unequivocally at the center of the Maintaining high standards inquiry. Teachers should monitor their Though PBL is a responsive, student- contributions, remove themselves from led curriculum, objectives can still be a central classroom role to the extent defined for each of the tasks that stu- possible, minimize teacher-led, whole dents are required to do. In the group lessons, and actively listen. Ethnography Unit example, students Asking lots of questions — and resisting needed to compose an appropriate busi- the urge to provide answers — should ness letter, develop correctly formulated characterize a teacher’s participation. interview questions, and write narrative The work of facilitating involves a lot of essays about themselves and their com- invisible and silent, yet supportive work munities. Some of these tasks were eval- to allow the students to make progress uated and rated on grade-appropriate throughout. rubrics. These measures helped to monitor students’ linguistic progress, and served to document that school-based Keeping Culture standards were maintained. To create a Relevant PBL unit, there is no need to sacrifice rigor or student-created content; with the right kind of planning, both can be As a young boy I was out of control. Being born successfully implemented. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and moving to Disseminating the results the South Bronx, I saw some things that I wouldn’t want my children to witness. For example, I’ve seen ridiculous shootouts, crazy fist fights/ Perhaps the most important part of brawls. I’ve also seen drug dealers making sales right in front of me while PBL is the sharing of the student work I was exiting corner stores with a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich in my products toward solving the problem at hand at the age of five. large. In this case, the students were Although there may be five different boroughs in New York City, it’s tasked with creating an ethnography of one thing that we all had in common, the way we spoke to each other themselves, and created a website (our slang). Certain words have different meanings by the way we used it in a sentence. “Mad” was one of the words. The way we use it, it which showcased their work and built means “a lot of, or over exaggeration. “We was mad tired after being on connections in their community. The the train for 2 hours.” We weren’t angry, we were just very tired. work the students completed was not Today, a nineteen-year-old young man, I can use both positive and negative merely classroom-bound, having little aspects of my environment such as the gang violence, the drug dealers and use or meaning beyond the classroom. the passing of my uncle to build character, which I have already begun. In fact, the work that the students creat- The mural (above) is in remembrance of Big Pun, located at 163rd and ed and completed was truly relevant Rogers. He was a Hip Hop legend in the Bronx, where music is a key part and authentic in the real world, and of our culture. served as a tool for community building within the classroom itself.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 20 Conclusion References Capitalizing on the diversity and Emdin, C. (2016). For white folks who teach in the hood ... and the rest of y’all strengths of traditionally marginalized too: Reality pedagogy and urban educa- youth can infuse discrete and isolated tion. Boston: Beacon Press. classroom tasks with new energy and Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory creativity. Ultimately, the products that of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), the students created here could have 465–491. been entirely teacher-directed, but the Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally learning that took place through nego- relevant pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the remix. tiation and critical problem-solving was Harvard Educational Review, 84, 74–84. likely much more valuable than the Lambros, L. (2004). Problem-based learn- concrete tasks alone. Through their ing in middle and high school classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. implementation, the core PBL tasks encouraged students to know each Larmer, J., Mergendoller, J., & Boss, S. (2015). Setting the standard for project other as work partners, and helped based learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. them to build community and class- Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its room culture at the start of a school implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 30 year. Newcomers to the school had an (6): 1024–1054. important, active role in this classroom from their first day of attendance and were incorporated into the community as respected members with experiences and assets. These assets were front and center as students created their own content, on their own levels, approaching the work as expert researchers and authors.

But this approach went beyond using students’ cultures as mere assets in the service of academic learning; the classroom centered culture and identity as fundamentally valid topics of study, to be valued and sustained throughout the continuum of living, learning and problem solving in and beyond the classroom.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 21 Building Culturally Responsive Learning Communities through Political and Civic Engagement

SUMMARY The Angelo Del Toro Puerto Rican/ Imagine 200 Latinx Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute is The Angelo Del Toro high school students just this — a program that prepares Puerto Rican/Hispanic taking on the roles of New York State Latinx students from across New York Youth Leadership Assembly members and debating live Institute (PR/HYLI) to become actors in the NYS Assembly, experience integrates bills in the Assembly Chamber. Also, for a day, where they debate and pass Latinx students into imagine those same students — many of live bills. The program incorporates a community of them English language learners — tak- culturally responsive pedagogies to learners by providing ing on the roles of governor, Assembly ensure that students’ linguistic and cul- culturally responsive learning experiences speaker, Senate majority leader, Senate tural identities are given their rightful that culminate in civic minority leader and Sergeant at Arms. attention during the training sessions. engagement. This Finally, envision members of the NYS To prepare for this Institute, more than integrative process affirms Assembly as guests to the one-day Mock 300 high school students from across students’ life experiences, linguistic diversity, and Assembly totally run by Latinx high the state participate in a minimum of 30 their cultures — who school students from schools across hours of training that includes: under- they are. New York State. standing how NYS government works, learning about how a bill becomes a law,

Gladys I. Cruz, Ph.D., is the district superintendent and CEO for Questar III BOCES. Along, with her leadership team, Cruz provides leadership to 23 local school districts and oversees the delivery of more than 275 programs and services across New York State. Her education experience ranges from K-12 schools to universities in New York State and Puerto Rico. Cruz holds a Ph.D. and a master’s in curriculum and instruction as well as a master’s degree in bilingual education. Theresa Longhi is a NYSUT member and an ESL/ENL teacher in her 20th year at Ichabod Crane Central School District in upstate New York. She holds a bachelor’s in psychology and master’s degrees in TESOL and literacy, all from the University at Albany. She has taught ENL K-12 but has a special fondness for working with 9-12th graders. Longhi places great emphasis on incorporating story into her classroom, where she establishes and maintains strong family/school connections and networks. José M. Meléndez, Ph.D. is a resource specialist for the Hudson Valley Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network. He offers schools and districts in the Hudson Valley region technical assistance, professional development and classroom support in the education of English language learners. His education career spans more than 25 years. He holds a master’s degree in reading and language/bilingual education from Boston University and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from SUNY Albany.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 22 Gladys I. Cruz, Questar III BOCES Theresa Longhi, Ichabod Crane Teachers Association José M. Meléndez, Hudson Valley Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network

doing research and debate of bills changes and evolves over time. More selected for the Institute, learning how importantly, it is the substance of indi- New York State to advocate for causes affecting the vidual and collective identity P-12 systems Latinx community, and delving into (Cummins & Taylor, 2011). specific bills that affect the Latinx continue to community. Here, we adopt the view of culture, become more particularly students’ and teachers’ cultures, as dynamically lived experience. linguistically and Concept of Culture At the same time, we acknowledge culturally diverse. There is widespread consensus that the both its visible and invisible dimen- culture of any social group consists of sions. This stance permits approaching This diversity visible and invisible traits. Artifacts, students from different cultures as mul- in P-12 systems behaviors, diet, and customs would be tifaceted individuals, who come into considered some of the visible dimen- our schools and classrooms with a rich requires a serious sions of a culture. In contrast, deeply and complex array of experiences. This consideration held values, beliefs, and attitudes helps us to affirm who they are and to of acculturation would be examples of its invisible facilitate a healthy integration to their domain (Hall, 1976). Hall likens cul- new culture as they develop their aca- processes and ture to an iceberg, with the invisible demic identities. aspects being akin to the submerged changes in portion of the iceberg. The strength of Culture Encounters and our teaching this image is that it brings attention to Acculturation approaches. the vast invisible elements of culture New York State P-12 systems continue and avoids reducing peoples’ heritages to become more linguistically and cul- to facts, faces and fiestas. turally diverse. This diversity in P-12 One possible limitation of the iceberg systems requires a serious consider- analogy is its depiction of culture as a ation of acculturation processes and static entity. Culture is not only the changes in our teaching approaches. particular way we act and create in spe- We take acculturation to be the chang- cific social contexts, but also how we es in personal and social identity that live and experience these activities happen when culturally diverse peo- (Williams, 1961). As such, culture is a ples and groups come in contact dynamically lived experience that (Berry, 1997). Individuals experience

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Stories, games two types of changes when exposed to schools and classrooms and their another culture: overt and deep (Berry, learning community dynamics. We and group work 1997). At the surface level, accultura- can facilitate students’ mutual engage- activities are tion may entail changes in behavior, ment in academic work, joint enter- excellent ways eating habits, clothing styles and new prise and access to a shared repertoire speech patterns, or even a new lan- of resources and practices (Douglas- to bridge the guage, among others. At a deeper Brown, 2014; Wenger, 1998). To do cultural divide level, there are transformations in the this in a way that helps diverse stu- sense of self-identity, accompanied by dents engage academically, we also between home a great deal of acculturative stress. affirm and validate who they are and and the classroom This tension can manifest itself in the enable them to invest their identities in form of strong emotional output, learning. In this way, our classrooms and school including anxiety and depression. can become mediating spaces for communities. diverse students’ integrative accultura- Berry identified four possible out- tion and their development of academ- comes to the identity formation pro- ic identities (Cummins & Taylor, cess of acculturation for newcomers 2011). and other minorities. (1) They can assimilate and abandon their native As we foster these academic communi- culture. (2) They can reject the new ties in our schools and classrooms, we culture, cling to their past and remain adopt a culturally relevant and respon- separated. (3) In extreme cases they sive pedagogy that is more than just reject both their heritage culture and tying lessons to facts, faces and fiestas. the new culture, remaining marginal- It is also important to take advantage of ized. For example, they can join a sub- how students learn at home and in cultural group (e.g. a gang). Or (4), their communities, that is, their cultur- they can integrate into the receiving al learning styles. These are the ways culture, while maintaining their heri- that families, including mothers, tage (integrative acculturation). fathers, grandparents and other community members, teach life skills and Acculturation and its possible out- foundational knowledge to children in comes take place on two levels: the different cultural groups (Hammond, societal and the academic (Douglas- 2014). Hammond has suggested that, Brown, 2014). We have little control in order to make curricula, lessons and of what happens in the larger social learning culturally responsive, it helps context (Berry, 1997; Douglas-Brown, to “storify,” “gamify,” and make learn- 2014). However, we have a great deal ing social. If we make space for these of control and influence over our learning modalities in our teaching and

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 24 curricula, we cast a wide cross-cultural The Angelo Del Phase I Training Modules net. This is due to the fact that these Toro Puerto Rican/ are common cultural patterns and tra- Hispanic Youth n Team-building ditions that cut across ethnic and social Leadership Institute Experience groups: African-American, Latinx, n Leadership Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian, The Institute experi- n PR/HYLI History Pacific Islanders, and many working- ence incorporates all of class communities, among others n Communication and Public Speaking the elements of cultural- (Hammond, 2014). These groups ly relevant and respon- n How a Bill Becomes Law engage in key tasks collectively (agri- sive pedagogy, culture, child rearing, and physical n Parliamentary Procedures especially the social labor). They learn socially, and there- action dimension. The n Analysis and Study of Bills fore stories, games and group work are goals of the Institute’s excellent ways to bridge the cultural n Culture program are to develop divide between home and the class- students’ leadership n Advocacy and Community Issues room and school communities. skills; promote their n Scholarship Essay Writing In addition to collaboration, games and civic engagement; gen- narrative, there is another important erate opportunities for n Debating – Party Affiliations students to interact with dimension that teachers may want to n Specialty Roles and Practice Sessions consider. It entails connecting class- positive adult role mod- room learning to issues and experiences els; create partnerships n Decorum for the Institute that are personally and collectively rele- and conversations vant to students, their communities and among educators, busi- society: the social action dimension. ness leaders, and stu- This dimension has been described in dents; and foster students’ the related literature as the highest level understanding of the NYS legislative of culturally relevant and inclusive ped- process. The program operates in agogy (Banks, 2003; Ladson-Billings, three distinct phases: 2014; Paris, 2012). In the following Phase I: Training in Regional section we present a detailed account of Delegations how the Angelo Del Toro Puerto Rican/Hispanic Youth Leadership Phase II: Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute (from here on referred to as the Institute in Albany Institute) actualizes the tenets of culturally responsive and relevant education Phase III: Hispanic Youth Leadership discussed so far. Institute Follow-Up.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 25 Building Culturally Responsive Learning Communities through Political and Civic Engagement

Each phase is aligned with the New social and political change and the role York State Social Studies Framework, of key Hispanic leaders in the advance- the Next Generation English Language ment of the Latino community. Arts Learning Standards, and is Regional Delegation Trainer/Leaders designed to prepare students to be col- review applications and select partici- lege and career ready. pants, based on the content and quality of students’ essay responses, letters of The Institute recruitment process is recommendation from mentors, educa- open to all interested Hispanic juniors tors, and counselors, and a high school and seniors from high schools across transcript. NYS. The regional application includes an essay on a topic of high Students’ applications are considered cultural relevance, which students can holistically to benefit students who are write in Spanish or English. Past essay highly motivated, produce application topics have included art as a tool for essays of high quality, or are highly recommended. This flexibility in the Figure 1 selection process is especially benefi- cial to English language learners. This Module 5 — How a Bill Becomes a Law is another way the Institute acknowledges and values students’ prior The module How a Bill Becomes a Law provides students an opportunity to understand the different responsibilities of Federal and State knowledge, experience, language and Government and how an idea becomes a bill and ultimately a law. learning.

Learning Vignette Phase I: Training in Regional Introduce students to the lawmaking process by asking students to think Delegations about things that bother them, things that they feel there should be a Phase I consists of a minimum of 30 law against. Give students time to think in silence (30 seconds or more hours of regional training delivered by time depending on your students) and ask that they raise their hands approximately 25 New York State cer- once they have an idea or thought for sharing. Using popcorn style brainstorming, solicit their thoughts, asking: Why is there a need for a law tified teachers across the state. on that? Do not offer judgement; just seek clarification. After everyone Training modules — available online at who is willing to share has done so, ask the group if anyone is aware that www.prhyli.org — offer educators many laws come to be because a person (just like them) felt like they do activities and resources to incorporate at the moment. This activity can be followed by deeper exploration of these topics into the trainings carried how a bill becomes a law. Ask students how an idea/thought can make it all the way to becoming a law. Pause for sharing. Distribute reading out statewide in preparation for the material on how a bill becomes a law and after students have enough Institute. Furthermore, the training time to read the material ask that they turn to a partner and share what modules present activities that offer they have learned. students culturally relevant experiences that can be incorporated into classroom practices.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 26 For example, instead of lecturing a sense of responsibility toward the students on how a bill becomes a Latino community and give voice to law, the manual offers suggested the voiceless as they participate in the activities to engage students in col- program. In some cases, students laborative teams that research, pre- report that their political ambitions are pare and present this topic to their further developed through their partici- peers (see Figures 1 and 2). pation in the program.

The activities align with the NYS Next When asked about their favorite part Generation English Language Arts of the sessions and how they were Standards emphasis on academic liter- going to use what they learned, stu- acy across the curriculum. They pro- dent responses underscored how the vide students opportunities to work program allowed them to build their individually, as pairs and collaborative- literate selves and acculturate into the ly, thus exposing them to different academic and civic realms. One learning modalities. The bills selected for the program address issues that Figure 2 impact the Latino community, making them relevant to this student popula- Module 7 — Analysis and Study of Bills tion. In the past, legislative bills and This module allows students to delve deeply into the chosen bills and advocacy issues have focused on bilin- understand the diverse views that surround each bill. This module also gual education, police brutality, immi- allows students to research a bill and consider its purpose, implications, grant rights, equal pay, college access consequences, accuracy, relevance, and fairness, thus developing their critical thinking skills. Students prepare to debate bills using claims that are for undocumented students, and home supported by evidence backed by research. language translation rights of parents, among many others. Learning Vignette Provide students with the text of selected bills, divide students in groups of In small collaborative groups students 5 or 6 students, and assign each group a bill. Please note that bills selected engage in research to identify evidence are meaningful to the Latino community given that they deal with issues to support their claims, for and against impacting the Latino community. For example, a bill that allows undocu- the bills, forcing them to examine mented students to receive state funding to support their college tuition. research that presents different per- Have students do a close reading of the bill text, research articles looking for arguments for and against the bill and evaluate each argument based spectives on the issues at hand which on the claims, reasoning, and evidence presented. Teams will research impact the Latino community. additional articles to clarify or corroborate conflicting information. Team Participants also engage extensively in members will investigate the issues in depth and prepare their arguments role play and debate in small and whole for debate. Students will then debate the bills roleplaying a mock assembly following parliamentary procedure. group formats, honing their dialogue and discussion skills. Students develop

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 27 Building Culturally Responsive Learning Communities through Political and Civic Engagement

student commented, “I want to do opportunity to submit their essays for This culturally everything I can to create a better future the annual scholarship contest. The relevant practice for minorities and the generations to scholarship is a strong motivation for facilitates students’ come.” Another said, “Coming into personal individual success and recog- this, I never questioned how laws or nition. At the same time, the essay pro- acculturative inte- bills were made or passed. Now that I vides a space for students’ voices and gration into the understand this, I will have more ideas identities. on ways I can improve my community.” academic life and Phase II: Hispanic Youth Leadership The training sessions also create a Institute in Albany American culture space for students’ home language. In any given year, up to 400 students while honoring Groups and individual students work across the state participate in the their heritage and on bills, advocacy and community regional Institute training Phase I. Due issues, projects and cultural produc- to space and budgetary constraints, the interests. tions in their preferred languages. The Institute grant provides for 200 stu- Institute provides bilingual versions of dents to be selected for the March the bills and analysis instruments, while weekend Institute in Albany each year. providing participants with the option The selection process developed with to write and respond in Spanish and delegation leaders/trainers is very English. Students can also present their rigorous. arguments during debate in the language of their choice. This culturally Saturday relevant practice facilitates students’ Saturday activities begin with a series of acculturative integration into the aca- opening remarks by keynote speakers. demic life and American culture while These speakers are selected for the honoring their heritage and interests. power of their life story to inspire students and the cultural and social rele- The Institute training module activities vance of their work, example and also acculturate participants to main- message. Keynote speakers have includ- stream academic demands. For exam- ed labor leader Dolores Huerta, singer ple, during the regional training phase, and activist Taína Asili, Rhodes participants engage in individual Scholar and author Wes Moore and research and study of bills at home. Marvel Comics writer Edgardo They also review their homework indi- Miranda Rodríguez, among others. vidually during training sessions prior The core of the day’s activities and to the group work on bills. In addition, workshops focuses on building a cohe- students work individually on an essay sive team – one Institute. Activities writing project focused on an annual throughout the day focus on a central Institute theme. Seniors have the theme each year. Themes have

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 28 included the role of the arts in advanc- After the workshops, students visit ing Latino aspirations, non-violent their respective legislators to discuss political leadership, and advocacy. issues that affect the Hispanic/Latinx Activities, team building sessions, cre- community in their schools, local com- ative and artistic hands-on projects and munities and across New York State. student-developed presentations also Additionally, they may discuss with reflect students’ cultural experiences legislators bills that were debated dur- and are based on issues relevant to ing the mock assembly or other legisla- them and the Latino/Hispanic tive initiatives. community. Phase III: Hispanic Youth Sunday Leadership Institute Follow-Up The main activity on Sunday is the Student delegates participate in a fol- mock Assembly session, held in the low up activity upon completion of the New York State Assembly chambers. Institute. Some delegations offer their This is the culmination of all the pre- region’s students a reunion/evaluation paratory work of Phase I. Debate session where they come together with activities in the mock assembly are also their parents and alumni to reflect on collaborative in nature, as students take the entire Institute experience and how on the role of Assembly members and it has impacted them. Local legislators their counsels. Debaters present argu- are also invited to the event. Many ments for and against each bill, local delegates continue to develop depending on the stance of the their leadership skills when they return Assembly member each represents. the following year as volunteers to Arguments during the debates are text- share their experience. Student mock assembly based and support the appropriate NYS learning standards. Sunday activities culminate with a student delegate recognition dinner. During this event, seniors who submit winning essays are awarded scholarships. All delegates have an opportunity to network, dine and socialize with public officials and business leaders in a formal setting.

Monday Students participate in workshops that address the theme of the Institute and or areas of interest to Latinx youth.

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Beyond The Institute: The Cruz, an Institute alumnus. During Classroom and Institute Institute PREP, students organize into Connection teams after school and research the There is a strong connection between bills, prepare their presentations and the Institute and the classroom. It pro- practice their debates. My role is to be motes integrative acculturation and def- a facilitator and a resource. Institute initely has an impact on school culture. PREP occurs at least once a week My students sometimes call me Ms. L, throughout Phase I trainings and or Maestra. These experiences exem- increases in frequency and duration as plify how classrooms and schools can the weekend Institute approaches. connect with the Institute to extend its work and prepare students for partici- Reading is a key foundation for ELLs pation in it. With an 11 year history of and Institute participants. Everyone is participation, I see that recruitment and expected to read at length across a retention are the strongest motivators wide range of texts. I use metacogni- for Central High School (CHS) Latinx tive strategies to ensure that students students. Middle school students know are monitoring their comprehension that the Institute is a critical part of and engagement with the text. Legacies, a student anthology their high school experience. The Students are graded on responses to published by Institute younger generation has watched their text, identification of unknown vocab- participants in collaboration ulary, self to text and self to world con- with the ELL community. siblings and cousins return from the Institute changed in ways they cannot nections, and summary and synthesis. quite name. The younger students My goal is to help students become know and understand that their time critical readers and thinkers of the will come to participate in this life- information placed before them. “The changing experience. When I ask my experience of navigating tough text on students what the Institute has given tough issues as a team builds commu- them, no one is quick to answer. There nity . . . ” it empowers and helps is always a long and very thoughtful inform their decisions. By the time pause. The words “connection,” the ELA Regents or the Institute bill “empowerment,” “hope” and analysis roll around, students know “strength” are often mentioned. they can navigate any text. No topic is closed to them.

Academics and the Institute at CHS Another way the Institute intersects Students at CHS established what they with CHS students’ development of call Institute PREP, after-school ses- literate and academic selves is through sions that Institute participants initiat- Legacies. This is a student anthology ed three years ago spearheaded by Ana that was begun in 2007 as a collaborative effort between the Illustration class Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 30 at the high school and the ELL commu- and social engagement, cannot be mini- nity. Through student narratives and mized. She returned to CHS after the illustrations, ELL students’ lives and Institute ready to make her mark and stories, including those of Institute par- use her voice. When given the opportu- ticipants, are depicted with sensitivity nity to march for immigrant rights, she and great care by their peers. Students joined a local march and came armed meet at least twice with their illustrator, with a poster that quoted her favorite mostly native speakers, to discuss their artist, Fridha Kahlo. “Pies, para que los vision for their story. To CHS illustra- quiero, si tengo alas para volar? (Feet, tors’ credit, they have responded with what need have I of you, if I have wings great empathy, compassion and profes- to fly?) When I pointed out that the sionalism. When students finish reading march was not school sponsored, and the book, we gather as a group and vote she was under no obligation to attend, on the cover. Once the books are print- Maria leveled her gaze at her teacher ed, there is a book-signing event to and said “I will be there Ms. L. I know which teachers, staff and parents are it’s not for school, but I NEED to be invited. The book is also available for there. Those who can do something, viewing during Senior Recognition must do something!” Before the Night. A powerful element of Legacies Institute, Maria was a shy and reserved is that authors take their books home student who would not have participat- and read them to their siblings and pared in a political march. She did not, in ents. This act affirms and validates fami- her words, see how “politics related to lies shared experiences and histories. me, or to my family.”

Of special note is the story by Maria The Institute and the Social Action Cruz, an Institute alumnus. The theme Dimension at CHS was “Ten years from now…” Maria wrote about the Institute and how she SALA Latina and the Alumni Panel are planned to give back. Her illustrator two further examples of the impact of conferenced with Maria and asked her the Institute in participants’ school life, about Institute. Maria explained what specifically in the domain of social the Institute was and what she had action and engagement. The Alumni gained from it. Her illustrator crafted a Panel occurs in November and is beautiful drawing with Maria standing attended by CHS alumni who return to on stage in front of a large audience talk with underclassmen about their with a colorful banner overhead that experience in college and beyond. With read: The Angelo Del Toro Puerto the exception of one participant, the last Rican/Hispanic Youth Leadership. three panels have been composed The impact that the Institute had on entirely of Institute alumni. Maria, especially as it relates to her civic Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 31 Building Culturally Responsive Learning Communities through Political and Civic Engagement

SALA Latina/International Student participants. This past July, two mem- Organization was founded by an bers of SALA, Julian Rivera and Elisa Institute alumnus and is the first Lopez (former Institute alumni) paint- Latinx/International club in CHS his- ed the flags of each international stu- tory. The club is open to all students dent, both past and present, on the at CHS who wish to learn more about ceiling tiles of their ENL classroom. and celebrate Latino and other world Elisa wanted a quote to sum up her cultures. When students return from feelings about her place at CHS. After the Institute the question often asked is searching for the perfect quote, I asked “What are we going to do to bring the her what she wanted to say, in her own Institute in house?” Four years ago, words. Elisa replied, “Everyone is wel- Julie had an immediate response. She come here regardless of skin color, began collecting signatures and craft- ethnicity, gender, nationality or reli- ing a mission statement. She coordi- gion. We are all the same. We are all nated speakers and recruited students family.” She painted a large globe of for monthly meetings. She met with the world on the central tile, then administration to introduce her idea wrote her quote on each side of the and rationale. She was tenacious, moti- globe. She surrounded the center tile vated and inspired. Her passion for with 18 hand-painted tiles from her culture and her desire to have a around the world. She then painted legacy that honored that culture was an additional 27 miniature flags on the contagious and inspiring. Over the last center tile, flanked by the name three years, SALA Latina/I.S.O. has SALA/I.S.O. instituted a scholarship for college- bound ELL’s. The application and Program Outcomes and criteria were crafted by former SALA Evaluation President and PR/HYLI alumnus Each year an outside independent Carmen Cruz. SALA has sponsored a evaluator assesses the Institute pro- Mariachi Night at the Community gram using both qualitative and quan- Theatre, held raffles for Hurricane and titative data from various sources to Earthquake Relief for Mexico and provide a comprehensive description Puerto Rico, traveled to New York of the implementation of the program, City, and distributed Valentine’s Day participant perceptions and program cards to every staff member and stu- outcomes. Among the data-gathering dent at Central High School (650 stu- tools used are student, trainer and dents and staff). SALA/I.S.O engages chaperone surveys, direct observation, in social service and engaged action. and interviews. All three phases of the Many of our prior and present mem- program are evaluated annually. bers are Institute alumni or

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 32 The outside independent evaluator ascertains whether the following are achieved: 1. Meeting the established participation target of 200 students. 2. Attendance and participation levels of students at local trainings. 3. The effectiveness of the three phases of the program. 4. The quality of the performance during the Mock Assembly, other Institute events and any work produced by students. “They learned that they have a voice and Cultural activity at 5. The participants’ perceptions that there are many opportunities for SUNY Albany. regarding the goals of the Angelo them to express such a voice. That Del Toro Institute program. even one person can produce change.” “The program provided students with Phase I: 2017 Evaluation Summary the skills and confidence to speak up During the 2017 year, more than 90 more for what they believe in and to percent of participating students indi- be proud of their heritage.” cated that they “learned a lot” about “They learned how to cooperate on a what makes a good leader during their grand scale, the basics of the legisla- delegation’s regional trainings. The vast tive process, and the importance of majority of students also felt they being an advocate for a particular learned a lot about how to develop an viewpoint.” argument for or against a bill, how a bill becomes a law, and the role of a New Students’ comments further illustrated York State assembly member. When their satisfaction with the regional students were asked to provide an over- trainings. In particular, students dis- all rating of their delegation’s regional cussed how much they enjoyed build- trainings on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 ing and debating arguments. Students (excellent), 94 percent of the students also enjoyed networking and meeting gave the trainings either a “4” or “5.” new people and learning about bills and the legislative process. Students Our trainers and chaperones reported reported that the regional trainings on student learning: helped them improve their public

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speaking skills, gave them more confi- communication skills, and provided dence to advocate for their beliefs, and them with connections that will help prepared them to participate in the them achieve their college and career mock assembly when they arrived in goals. For more details on program Albany. When asked how the trainings outcomes, visit www.prhyli.org. could be improved, several students suggested more team-building activi- Phase III: Evaluation Summary ties, more opportunities for student-to- Following each year’s Institute in student interaction, and more time Albany, delegations hold a variety of practicing for the mock assembly. Here post-Institute activities that can range are a few student quotes about their from a formal reunion where students experience with the program: share their reflections to developing “I will take what I learned to promote social media forums for students to stay activism within the Latino commu- connected. The delegation leaders also nity and raise awareness of ways to participate in a statewide debriefing ses- get involved in our local sion and are expected to continue to governments.” work to provide opportunities for stu- “I might change my career choice now dents to further develop leadership because I learned that my communi- potential. ty needs a voice and I wish to pro- Student reunion events are typically vide that.” held a month or two following the “I am going to advocate for the Institute event in Albany. All Institute voiceless.” student participants are invited to attend “This experience helped me find my and to celebrate their hard work and voice and gain confidence in what I accomplishments and to share their have to say.” experiences. Delegations also invite parents, school staff and chaperones. The events are led by the delegation leaders Phase II: Evaluation Summary and may include visits from local mem- During 2017, students and adults felt bers of the New York State Assembly. that the events of the weekend Institute were successful in meeting the short- The following reflection by a delegate term outcomes of the Institute. More summarizes Phase III: “The Institute is than 90 percent of students and adults an amazing program and something I agreed that the Institute helped stu- wouldn’t pass up if I had the opportuni- dents better understand the legislative ty to do it all over again. It immerses you process, helped them develop or in your culture and helps you advocate enhance their abilities, such as their for your rights.” Parents who attend

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 34 have also indicated how they have seen References their children change. At one event a par- Banks, A.J. (2001). Approaches to multicultural ent indicated that she never thought she curriculum reform. In A.J. Banks and C.A. McGee Banks (Eds.) Multicultural educa- would have conversations about politics tion: Issues and perspectives (pp. 233-258). with her teenage daughter. Danvers: John Wiley and Sons. Berry, J.W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation Conclusion and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46(1), 5-68. The above accounts about the Institute Cummins, J., Hu, S., Markus, P., & Montero, and its place in our school community M.K. (2015). Identity texts and academic illustrate how diverse students can inte- achievement: Connecting the dots in multilingual school contexts. TESOL Quarterly: A grate into their new culture through Journal for Teachers of English to Speakers of learning communities that mediate their Other Languages and of Standard English as growth as academic and literate selves a Second Dialect, 49(3), 555-581. and validate and affirm their heritage. Cummins, J., & Taylor, S.K. (2011). Second There is no better way to express the language writing practices, identity, and the academic achievement of children from integrative power of the Institute experi- marginalized social groups: A comprehensive ence. Students who have participated in view. Writing and Pedagogy, 3(2). 181-188. the Institute program stay connected — Douglas-Brown, H. (2014). Principles of lan- the students continue to be part of a net- guage learning and teaching: A course in 2nd language acquisition. White Plains: Pearson work long after the program ends. One Education, Inc. may say that long-term relationships and Hall, E.T. (1976). Beyond culture. New York: friendships often happen among students Anchor Books Doubleday. in high school, however, the transforma- Hammond, Z. (2014). Culturally responsive tive impact of this program goes beyond teaching and the brain. New York: Sage any general experience from high school. Publications. One will find many volunteers, teachers Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant and chaperones in the program each year pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84, 74–84. who are former Institute alumni. The Paris, D. (2012). Culturally sustaining pedago- students who go through this program gy: A needed change in stance, terminology, develop a long-term commitment to the and practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), Latinx community and stay connected 93-97. and involved with the program. PR/HYLI Training Manual (2017). Retrieved from http://prhyli.org/pdf/prhyli_ manual_2017.pdf. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Williams, R. (1961). The long revolution. London: Chatto and Windus.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 35 Closing the Opportunity Gap through a Culture of Care SUMMARY The walls which enclose high school In the fall of 2011, students are much different than any Through the two 19-year-olds other buildings in New York State. development of culturally were arrested for visiting their former They are not only made of bricks and responsive curricula, professional learning, and teacher on the first day of school. The concrete, but of traditional and well- aligned instruction, faculty students were moving out of the area established systems. In the fall of 2012, and administration at and felt obligated to thank their teacher Schenectady High School regulated Schenectady High School for her encouragement and guidance. students as many high schools do cur- are working together to cultivate a positive Tears and personal email addresses rently: students were given rules and in school climate and were exchanged before the morning turn were expected to adapt to those address systems inside the bell rang. Then, their former teacher rules or face harsh consequences. The classroom and the school sent them out of the nearest doors. system seems, at a glance, as concrete building that previously Minutes later, through her classroom as the walls in the two ISS (In School led to disproportionate educational outcomes for window, she witnessed her “babies” Suspension) rooms. These disciplin- students of color. get arrested for trespassing. The prin- ary structures placed on our students cipal chose to press these charges. were based upon top-down communi- This administrator is a black man. cation. Students were told what to do and if compliance did not occur,

Philip Weinman is a National Board Certified Teacher and currently serves as the engagement supervisor and night school principal at Schenectady High School. Weinman has led the building in developing respite programs and restorative practices that support students’ social emotional needs and help teachers to build positive relationships. He is a leading member of the district’s Trauma Sensitive Schools core team. Weinman has been nominated for the Schenectady district teacher of the year, the YMCA outstanding educator award, the 2019 Schenectady County Human Rights award and received his school district leadership certification at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Colleen Wygal, a member of the Schenectady Federation of Teachers, has taught English in the district since January 2002. Wygal played an integral role in developing student voice by creating a student-run club, Voices of Schenectady. She has been a support of student restorative programming and has taken the initiative to research and write curricula for high-interest courses such as Hip Hop as Literature and Slang to Profane. She has been selected as a teacher of influence by the Scholars of Recognition seven times. She is an International Baccalaureate Instructor of Literature as well as an instructor at CREATE Community Studios. Her vision is to encourage growth for students and staff within her school by bridging the gap between peers as well as adults through expressive creation.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 36 Philip Weinman, Schenectady City School District Colleen Wygal, Schenectady Federation of Teachers

students were removed from school. students of color Discipline Data An exclusion crisis drastically impacted from the academic our students of color at a suspension environment. Altercations rate of five to one. Many students of Martin Haberman September – May color were not being heard; conse- calls the practices of 400 quently, they were not being educated. standing lectures and rote memoriza- 350 These instances are not unique to tion the “pedagogy 300 Schenectady High School; the chronic of poverty” that set opportunity gap for students of color in students up for 250 schools across the United States has obtaining outdated 200 created an epidemic of dependent knowledge and learners who do not feel welcomed at skills (Haberman, 150 school. “Classroom studies document 1991). the fact that underserved English learn- 100 ers, poor students, and students of Our school, like 50 color routinely receive less instruction many throughout in higher order skills development than the United States, 0 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 other students (Allington & McGill- has had an exis- Franzen, 1989, p.529).” This type of tence of dispropor- Level 5 Behavior exclusion may be the first leg of the tionality across Altercations “school-to-prison pipeline” for many educational out- students of color. According to the comes. Students of Level 5 behaviors are the most extreme, often Southern Poverty Law Center, the color are excluded using force, causing harm or injury, involving violence, possession or use of a weapon, causing school-to-prison pipeline is a set of from the classroom substantial risk or a pattern of persistent Level seemingly disconnected school policies three times more 4 behavior. and teacher instructional decisions that often than their Source: Schenectady over time result in students of color not white counterparts, are six times more High School receiving adequate instruction, while likely to go to a Superintendent disproportionately removing our Hearing, and they are 20 percent more

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 37 Closing the Opportunity Gap through a Culture of Care

Demographics and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the With a population close to 10,000 students, the Schenectady City means by which men and women deal School District is one of the largest school districts in the Capital critically and creatively with reality Region of New York. and discover how to participate in the More than 70 percent of SCSD students are eligible for free or reduced transformation of the world (Freire, lunch and 84 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, 1970, p.58).” Paulo Freire spoke of making Schenectady ranked 13th in the nation for highest childhood these systems decades ago, but that poverty rates among cities over 65,000 in population. does not mean it is too late for our The Government Law Center reported that Schenectady County had school to implement his ideas. the highest rate of index crimes in New York State, 50 percent higher than the index crimes reported in New York City (Liebman, 2016).

Student body

n 38 percent of SCSD students are Black or African American

n 19 percent Hispanic

n 17 percent Asian or native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

n 24 percent White

n 2 percent Multiracial Eighteen percent of student are identified as students with disabilities. In addition, a large percentage of students have experienced one or Circle UP! more adverse childhood experiences. The district is composed of 11 In 2019, the staff of Schenectady High elementary schools, three middle schools, one high school and an adult education center. School began working to internalize the mission that “Race, Economics, and Disability will no longer serve as predictors of student achievement.” likely to drop out. Over time, many Current and former students’ voices students of color are pushed out of are at the center of this work. The real- school. Overall students of color have ization has not occurred overnight, but had lower attendance, achievement rather taken years of work developing and graduation rates at Schenectady equitable educational systems that sup- High School. port student voice, accountability and “Education either functions as an teacher collaboration around culturally instrument which is used to facilitate responsive instruction. One process integration of the younger generation adopted by the high school is called into the logic of the present system Circle UP! This restorative practice

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 38 places all members of a community (classroom, club, group) in a circle. The “Circle Keeper” asks meaningful questions and then passes a talking piece around when someone wishes to speak. The talking piece provides a forum to truly hear one another as no one speaks until the talking piece is passed to them. It allows the members of the circle to sit with each question and answer (if they choose) from their heart.

To bridge the equity gap, circles are used to give all students an equal opportunity to participate and an opportunity to voice their opinions. This too, builds outcomes equivalent to nearly two years Circle UP! Day at Schenectady community as space is given to all to of growth (Smith, Frey, Pumpian, & High School share and students who have not previ- Fisher, 2017). Equitable schools are ously spoken find the courage to contrib- diverse ones, and they value their stu- ute in this environment. Tom Cavanagh dents’ differences and unique experiences supports these findings in his 2009 study with the world, so once a month students where he found that relationships were and staff get together to discuss topics that the primary reason students attended seem to really hit home, but may be taboo and strived to do well in school. in a traditional classroom setting. In the Cavanagh (2009) states last two years, there have been more than 550 circle discussions. When our staff “Where positive peer relationships were and students meet, it is now in the form of present, students felt safer to contribute, a circle, where the sense of community is take risks with their learning, and learn the strongest. Race, relationships, school from each other … group dynamics of the culture, sexual assault, self-care and music classroom make a difference to student are a few conversations that have emerged motivation and attitudes toward learning this year. (p. 62–85).” “School circles are organized, well-con- Many studies have clearly linked positive structed conversations that are used to student-teacher relationships to academic unite the school. Personally, I think that achievement. Hattie’s (2012) analysis of circles are healthy for our school. Circles the effect of positive student-teacher rela- often provide a safe haven for self-expres- tionships on learning revealed impressive sion and opinion. The circle brings me a

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Culturally new type of respect for Schenectady also works in conjunction with Teen- High and the beauty of our diversity. Tac D, a student advocacy group that responsive teaching Each circle brings new light to our com- has been established to disrupt dispro- is one of our most munity, making our school feel safer. portion outcomes for students of Our school circles allow us to have the color. The group has emerged as a powerful tools for difficult conversation and bring our leading voice for change in the school helping students voices to the forefront of change.” — community. This year Teen Tac-D Mya Gore, Schenectady High School has presented to the Schenectady City find their way out student School Board around the impact of of the gap. clubs and activities; facilitated three Circle UP! Days, collaborated with a The Formation of the Culturally neighboring suburban district, Responsive Committee Niskayuna High School, to break Some of Schenectady High School’s down misconceptions; hosted New teachers and staff are actively disrupt- York Times best-selling author Nic ing the status quo. This committee has Stone for more than 500 students and worked to reconnect dependent learn- presented their work at New York ers through authentic engagement, University. In conjunction with offering professional learning to all researchers at NYU the student group staff on the fundamentals ofactively has met with building and district fighting against systemic racism and stakeholders to put an end to the biases through weekly “Social exclusion crisis and improve the over- Teen TAC-D book study on Activism Fridays,” sharing important all culture of the school community. A Colony in a Nation definitions and articles. This group That change agent has been student voice organizing systems that support culturally responsive teaching.

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT), as defined by Zarretta Hammond, is one of our most powerful tools for helping students find their way out of the gap. A systematic approach to culturally responsive teaching is the educators’ ability to recognize students’ cultural displays of learning and meaning making and respond positively and constructively with teaching moves that use cultural knowledge as a scaffold to connect what the student

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 40 knows to new concepts and content in order to promote effective information processing. All the while, the educator “understands the importance of being in a relationship and having a social- emotional connection to the student in order to create a safe space for learning (Hammond, 2015, p.15).”

Our staff has had the opportunity to participate in more than 30 sessions throughout the past two years on CRT. These sessions not only allow our staff to learn about the research, but learn from our own staff to better put out a call for elective course pro- Student mural apply the work to our students. A cul- posals with student engagement as the of Malala at Schenectady turally responsive classroom does not focus. Many teachers took on this High School center knowledge around facts, rather opportunity resulting in the addition of the perception of information through eight new courses for the 2019–20 varying perspectives. This allows for school year, ranging from a history empathy and inclusion for all involved. class titled “Mass Media,” to “African So everyone got involved and looked at American Literature,” to “Voices of what the biggest perceived problem Schenectady,” a year-long course with was in the building: The hallways. a deliberate goal to create an authentic online cultural representation of the Rather than place all of the blame on eclectic perspectives and “voices” student empathy, the administration, within our school. A new social studies guidance department and teachers took course, “#activism,” will explore the an unbiased look at the number of stu- Black Lives Matter and Me Too move- dents in the hallway seemingly skip- ments and the intersections of modern ping class. They concluded that more activism and social media. than half of the students were not mali- ciously missing class, but were mostly In the sciences, courses will be using a truant from study hall. The other stu- “makerspace” lab, which has a 3-D dents missing class responded that printer and laser cutter. A new math they were disengaged for one reason or class, “Statistics in Sports,” will explore another. To address this issue for the how statistics and probabilities are used following year, educators did not work in sports analysis (Matson, 2019). from a place of tradition, but rather of innovation. In January of 2019, they The new courses reach across various Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 41 Closing the Opportunity Gap through a Culture of Care

Administration subject areas, serving as a connection and Science Study (TIMSS). The to innovative curriculum design and central feature of lesson study is the and teachers are rigorous coursework. When speaking observation and analysis of live class- using student with students about the new offerings, room lessons collaboratively planned voice to close the one replied “finally they listened to by a group of teachers. Chris us!” Administration and teachers are Ognibene, NBCT, History opportunity gap. using student voice to close the oppor- Department chair, helped organize By offering courses tunity gap. By offering courses that this year’s lesson studies. In reflection, connect to students’ intrinsic interest, Ognibene stated that “The group ‘les- that connect to students will experience a higher level son studies’ have allowed them to seek students’ intrinsic of connection to classes and the school opportunities to cultivate their learn- community. Students at Schenectady ing. The lesson studies are learning interest, students High school have also helped trans- and teaching cycles that allow teachers will experience form the work that teachers do togeth- to ask colleagues and administrators to er. Through lesson reflection and observe them and provide meaningful a higher level of feedback, teachers hear students’ opin- feedback around best instructional connection to ions in a non-judgmental way. practices. The collaborative planning Through circles and conferencing group lessons focus students on the classes and the groups we collaborate to solve class- skill of comparing, analyzing and eval- school community. room issues. uating sources. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources on the A change in teacher professional learn- topics and answer a set of questions ing communities (PLC) is already about reliability and sourcing. One occurring in the social studies depart- person teaches it, we all observe and ment. This year, the American then give feedback in our PLC. We try History professional learning commu- to improve the lesson using peer edit- nity, made up of seven teachers ing until every person has taught, and (including four NBCTs) has trans- been observed. We are literally in the formed the traditional work of plan- middle of it, we observed another class ning and grading to focus on culturally today, but it seems like a great process responsive lesson studies guided by of using the expertise of our peers to the National Boards five core proposi- improve instruction.” tions (see appendix). A lesson study is a well-established form of teacher col- The PLC is a pilot group that has laborative inquiry in Japan, which also been providing professional training gained popularity in the United States around the organizational structure of after publication of results from the the lesson studies and helping staff 1995 Third International Mathematics develop positive classroom

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 42 environments, social groupings and their vision for student success in best instructional practices so all stu- faculty meetings, impromptu con- The teachers dents have access to learning objec- versations in the hallways/offices involved tives. Through planning, observation, and in parent meetings discussing support each teacher and student reflection and challenges that students face. The adaptation, the PLC teachers have teachers involved support each other and have experienced increased engagement, other and have created a PLC envi- created a PLC participation and improvement in ronment that welcomes risk-taking classroom attendance. Most important- and embraces ‘failure as feedback.’ environment ly students feel valued, because multi- These teachers are role models for that welcomes ple teachers have collaborated to our faculty to emulate, and they are design lessons that are innovative and willing to take ownership of initia- risk-taking and dynamic to fit student’s instructional tives that they feel are important embraces ‘failure needs. and that will impact student success. as feedback.’ The results of these efforts are becom- These teachers ing evident as the PLC continues to — Chris Chank, NBCT, 12th grade implement their learning and make cohort principal are role models improvements based on our reflections for our faculty and data, where it is available. The Through all of the hardships overall outcomes have been impressive Schenectady High School students to emulate, considering the small scale of the work. and staff have faced, we are prevailing and they are as a building that is offering a beacon of “The National Board work being opportunity for student choice. The willing to take done this year in our school’s PLCs hope is that our schools’ diversity ownership of has already had a remarkable becomes our strength. Students at impact on our building’s culture. Schenectady High School have been initiatives that These groups of teachers have using their voice for years; now people they feel are begun the process of utilizing the are listening. Many of these students NBC body of knowledge in their will continue to return as visiting alum- important and own classrooms and, even more ni and some will as educators. The sys- that will impact importantly, have engaged in con- tem of concrete walls no longer appears versations with their colleagues as a barrier, but offers opportunity for student success. throughout the building. These expression and hope. conversations are elevating the dia- log that teachers have about their Changing organizational behaviors pedagogy and their impact on stu- requires an examination of existing dents. I have witnessed teachers behaviors as well as an incremental involved in their PLCs asserting approach to addressing difficult

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 43 Closing the Opportunity Gap through a Culture of Care

The core principles of collaboration with all stakeholders being at the table is an integral part of improving student outcomes. Asking who should be at the table to solve problems is an important first step. If an administrator of color felt the system required him to have students of color arrested, it is the mis- conception of the system, not the individual. Members of our staff are all at different points in their careers, and creating a safe space for conversation was a key component to addressing difficult questions around race. Many times, who is at the table is actually Schenectady County Human Rights barriers that stand in the way of the more important than the developed 2018 Award Winners intended outcome. At Schenectady solution. Understanding that all people High School we first developed a theo- have had different experiences and ry of action by implementing a cultural- views on the world is an important ly responsive model in our schools. We foundation to set. Schenectady High believe that if we create culturally School is on a new trajectory, but work responsive schools where relationships based on empathy is never finished. are key, we have solid rigorous routines for students, we are explicitly teaching social and emotional competencies, and are responding to individual student needs, we will help students to feel safer, more connected to staff and school, and able to succeed academically. A key component in this work is addressing the issue of race. As a building we are all in different ideological places when it pertains to the conversation of race, so we circled up and talked about it.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 44 References Allington, R., & McGill-Franzen, A. (1989). School response to reading failure: Instruction for chapter 1 and special education students in grades two, four and eight. The Elementary School Journal, 89, (5) 529-542. https://doi. org/10.1086/461590. Cavanagh, T. (2009). Creating a new discourse of peace in schools. Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, 18, (1),62–85. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Penguin Books. Haberman, M. (1991). The pedagogy of poverty versus good teaching, Phi Delta Kappan. 73(4) 290-294. Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching & the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. New York: Routedge. Liebman, B. (2016). New York State: Where the crimes are. Retrieved from https:// governmentreform.wordpress.com/ 2016/06/10/new-york-state-where-thecrimes- are/#ftn8. Matson, Z. (April 22, 2019). Student interests influence new series of electives at Schenectady High retrieved from https:// dailygazette.com/article/2019/04/22/ student-interests-influence-new-series-of- electives-at-schenectady-high. Smith, D., Frey, N., Pumpian, I., & Fisher, D. (2017). Building equity: Policies and practices to empower all learners. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 45 Closing the Opportunity Gap through a Culture of Care

Appendix

FIVE CORE PROPOSITIONS of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards seeks to identify and recognize teachers who effectively enhance student learning and demonstrate the high level of knowledge, skills, abilities and commitments reflected in the following five core propositions.

1. Teachers are committed to students and their learning. Accomplished teachers are dedicated to making knowledge accessible to all students. They act on the belief that all students can learn. They treat students equitably, recognizing the individual differences that distinguish one student from another and taking account of these differences in their practice. They adjust their practice based on observation and knowledge of their students’ interests, abilities, skills, knowledge, family circumstances and peer relationships Accomplished teachers understand how students develop and learn. They incorporate the prevailing theories of cognition and intelligence in their practice. They are aware of the influence of context and culture on behavior. They develop students’ cognitive capacity and their respect for learning. Equally important, they foster students’ self-esteem, motivation, character, civic responsibility and their respect for individual, cultural, religious and racial differences.

2. Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students. Accomplished teachers have a rich understanding of the subject(s) they teach and appreciate how knowledge in their subject is created, organized, linked to other disciplines and applied to real-world settings. While faithfully representing the collective wisdom of our culture and upholding the value of disciplinary knowledge, they also develop the critical and analytical capacities of their students. Accomplished teachers command specialized knowledge of how to convey and reveal subject matter to students. They are aware of the preconceptions and background knowledge that students typically bring to each subject and of strategies and instructional materials that can be of assistance. They understand where difficulties are likely to arise and modify their practice accordingly. Their instructional repertoire allows them to create multiple paths to the subjects they teach, and they are adept at teaching students how to pose and solve their own problems.

3. Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning. Accomplished teachers create, enrich, maintain and alter instructional settings to capture and sustain the interest of their students and to make the most effective use of time. They also are adept at engaging students and adults to assist their teaching and at enlisting their colleagues’ knowledge and expertise to complement their own. Accomplished teachers command a range of generic instructional techniques, know when each is appropriate and can implement them as needed. They are as aware of ineffectual or damaging practice as they are devoted to elegant practice. They know how to engage groups of students to ensure a disciplined learning environment, and how to organize instruction to allow the schools’ goals for students to be met. They are adept at setting norms for social interaction among students and between students and teachers. They understand how to motivate students to learn and how to maintain their interest even in the face of

Retrieved from: https://www.nbpts.org/standards-five-core-propositions/

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 46 Appendix (continued)

temporary failure. Accomplished teachers can assess the progress of individual students as well as that of the class as a whole. They employ multiple methods for measuring student growth and understanding and can clearly explain student performance to parents.

4. Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience. Accomplished teachers are models of educated persons, exemplifying the virtues they seek to inspire in students — curiosity, tolerance, honesty, fairness, respect for diversity and appreciation of cultural differences — and the capacities that are prerequisites for intellectual growth: the ability to reason and take multiple perspectives to be creative and take risks, and to adopt an experi- mental and problem-solving orientation. Accomplished teachers draw on their knowledge of human development, subject matter and instruction, and their understanding of their students to make principled judgments about sound practice. Their decisions are not only grounded in the literature, but also in their experience. They engage in lifelong learning which they seek to encourage in their students. Striving to strengthen their teaching, accomplished teachers critically examine their practice, seek to expand their repertoire, deepen their knowledge, sharpen their judgment and adapt their teaching tone findings, ideas and theories.

5. Teachers are members of learning communities. Accomplished teachers contribute to the effectiveness of the school by working collaboratively with other professionals on instructional policy, curriculum development and staff development. They can evaluate school progress and the allocation of school resources in light of their understanding of state and local educational objectives. They are knowledgeable about specialized school and community resources that can be engaged for their students’ benefit, and are skilled at employing such resources as needed. Accomplished teachers find ways to work collaboratively and creatively with parents, engaging them productively in the work of the school.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 47 “I don’t want to forget my language”: A case for culturally relevant heritage language literacy instruction in schools

SUMMARY English. This program aims to be cul- Culturally responsive turally responsive through opportuni- The Syracuse City School teaching is a core tenet ties to use and develop linguistic skills District’s Steps to the of the Syracuse City School District in the students’ heritage languages with- Seal program encourages Strategic Plan (2017), which states, students to view their in an academic setting. heritage language as an “Culturally responsive education academic resource and acknowledges, responds to, and cele- Steps to the Seal is a districtwide heri- assists them in developing brates culture, and provides equitable tage language literacy initiative available literacy skills to prepare access to education for all students.” for students in grades 1–12 in some of them to attain the our district’s high incidence, or request- Seal of Biliteracy. The The English as a New Language (ENL) program increases family ed, languages. Within the Syracuse City engagement by inviting Department’s Steps to the Seal program School District, these languages families to participate, takes a community-based approach to include: Karen, Somali, Arabic, Spanish seeking their input, and culturally responsive teaching to and Nepali. The languages taught in emphasizing the role improve classroom practice, learn from of family, language, and this program reflect the student popula- culture in education. community members, and encourage tion of the district, the vocalized interest students to advocate for the use of their of the community, and the availability of language in the classroom. Through heritage language teachers in those lan- this program, we recognize that our guages. During each session of this pro- multilingual learners have a wide body gram students work with heritage of linguistic and cultural knowledge language teachers and ENL teachers on beyond what they demonstrate in multi-genre projects in their heritage

Emily Voegler is an ENL teacher at Corcoran High School in the Syracuse City School District. She has previously taught ENL in South Korea and Turkey. As a doctoral student at the University at Buffalo, her research interests include heritage language and biliteracy development in English-only programs, and bilingual/plurilingual educational practices. Erica Daniels is a member of the Syracuse Teachers Association and an ENL instructional coach with the Syracuse City School District. Her interest in bilingual education and heritage language stems from her work in dual language schools. Daniels is currently working on acquiring her Certificate of Advanced Studies in educational leadership at Syracuse University.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 48 Emily Voegler, Syracuse Teachers Association Erica Daniels, Syracuse Teachers Association

language to build connections between student population. In 2008, their linguistic practices at home and the MLL student population their linguistic practices at school, pre- comprised approximately 8 paring them to attain the Seal of percent of the total student Biliteracy. population. As of the 2018– 19 school year, the current “Tigrinya, that’s actually who MLL student population has Rationale I am and where I am from. grown more than 100 percent The rationale for school-based pro- Tigrinya is in me.” and is now 18 percent of the grams that develop and integrate stu- — Senait, SCSD high school total district population. The dents’ heritage languages is centered in student Syracuse City School District a pedagogical perspective focused on serves students who speak 84 curricula that is culturally responsive different languages. to the student population. According to the National Center of Education With the growing linguistic diversity Statistics (2018), English language among our student population comes learners (ELLs), made up 8 percent of the opportunity to design culturally all public school students in New York and linguistically responsive programs State, and the percentage of ELLs in that build the academic literacy of our public schools nationwide has students in their heritage languages. increased from 8.1 percent to 9.5 per- This rationale for the development of cent since 2000. New York State also programs and instructional practices uses the terms multilingual learners that build on students’ full linguistic (MLLs) or emergent bilinguals (EBs) repertoire is further strengthened by for this population of students as these the research-based benefits of bilitera- terms more accurately represent their cy and multiliteracy. wide-ranging linguistic capabilities. For this article, we will be using the Research term multilingual learners because our students consistently use, and are While Steps to the Seal as a program is developing, two or more languages. still in its infancy, the benefits of biliteracy are well documented. Steps to Echoing the national data, the MLL the Seal is centered on the principles student population continues to grow of sociocultural theory of learning and significantly within the district’s total dynamic bilingualism. Vygotsky

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 49 A case for culturally relevant heritage language literacy instruction in schools

Rather than (1986) posits that language is a cultural MLLs. Rather than focusing on tool that mediates the development of English as a body of knowledge for focusing on higher cognitive processes in learners. students to acquire, we are conceptual- English as a body Language is the instrument through izing our students’ full linguistic reper- of knowledge which learners transfer communicative toires as tools for them to mediate and cognitive skills from the interper- learning and co-construct ways of for students to sonal, or external, to intrapersonal, or knowing within the context of their acquire, we are internal (Vygotsky, 1987). Building on community and classroom. Vygotsky’s ideas, Park (2005) states conceptualizing that the process of meaning making In a multilingual classroom you might our students’ with others by using language allows hear or see students speaking, reading, for the development of a student’s abil- writing, or listening in a mix of differ- full linguistic ity to use language effectively on their ent languages to participate in learning repertoires as own. This focus on social construction activities. The act of translanguaging, of meaning, interaction-based develop- and using the heritage languages of tools for them to ment, and the central role of language students, as a pedagogical resource mediate learning in development influenced the design depends on students first feeling com- of a project-based curriculum for this fortable using their heritage languages and co-construct program that would require collabora- in the classroom. It also requires that ways of knowing tion between students, teachers, par- the students and teachers see their full ents, and community members. linguistic repertoire as an educational within the context asset. This is an important component of their community The Steps to the Seal program has also of the ENL department’s Steps to the been influenced by theories of dynam- Seal program because we aim to have and classroom. ic bilingualism, one which posits students use, and advocate for the use speakers have a linguistic repertoire of, their heritage languages within their that holds all of their linguistic skills classroom communities. across languages (García, 2009). The linguistic practices of individuals, or Research demonstrates that biliteracy students, develop as they react to their produces cognitive and social benefits. social context, and understand lan- Bilingual children can benefit from language practices as social practices rath- guage transfer, or the transfer of litera- er than a discrete body of knowledge cy skills between languages (Geva & separate from its social context Siegel, 2000; Oller & Eilers, 2002). A (Pennycook, 2010). Just as linguistic meta-analysis by Rolstad, Mahoney, & practices are tools for creating meaning Glass (2005) found that students in in social contexts, they are also tools to bilingual education programs had construct meaning and ways of know- higher achievement levels on standard- ing in classroom contexts for our ized tests than students in English-only

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 50 programs. These studies show that by starting to forget my language. I investing in heritage language classes, don’t want to forget my language. Investing we are developing cognitive skills that Now I feel like I’m totally lost.” in heritage will benefit students throughout their — Kaw Lah Hay, education. language SCSD high school student classes, we are There are also cultural benefits to bilit- Kaw Lah Hay tells the story of count- eracy in academic settings, which can developing less linguistically diverse children who also refer to the accessibility of written have lost their heritage language in the cognitive language and the practical literacy abil- process of becoming assimilated into ities that populations have in different skills that will the English-only environments of settings (García, Bartlett, & Kleifgen, school and society. Her sentiments benefit students 2006). This conception of biliteracy inspired the goals of the district’s Steps also engages with the values each liter- throughout their to the Seal program. The first goal of ary practice has based on the social this project is to assist students in education. position and power of that language. developing literacy skills in their heri- This is relevant because the integration tage language to prepare them to attain of heritage languages in English-only the Seal of Biliteracy upon graduation. schools is a social justice issue as well The second goal of this project is to as an academic issue. encourage students to view their heri- Social and cultural settings contribute tage language as a resource with an to the development of linguistic reper- important role in their school and toires based on social and cultural community and to encourage them to opportunities to engage with different develop it in and out of school. Finally, linguistic systems (García, et al., this project seeks to increase family 2006). Therefore, by engaging stu- engagement in schools by encouraging dents in heritage language literacy them to view themselves as stakehold- classes, we both increase their ability ers in the education process. to engage in literacy in diverse environments, and increase their exposure to Meeting the community their language and culture in an aca- where they are demic setting. The setting of Syracuse City School District’s Step to the Seal program is “We don’t use Karen in school. I critical to its success. The North Side want to so I can read I guess, Learning Center is a community-based because right now I’m starting to organization located in a multicultural forget how to read. I used to know neighborhood where many of how to read and write in Karen, Syracuse’s culturally and linguistically but since I just learn English I’m

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 51 A case for culturally relevant heritage language literacy instruction in schools

to the Nepali community. The learning environment at the Bhutanese Community Center played a significant role in the number of participants and the development of the Nepali language.

The Step to the Seal program has served more than 200 multilingual learners ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. Student participants are members of the district and come from multiple buildings within the district. Students represent a diverse assortment of linguistic capabilities, Nationality workers share their diverse families reside. It has deep ties ranging from entering level ENL stu- community’s history with Karen to the community, which makes it a students, integrating stories into dents to students who have strong lit- the classroom curriculum and welcoming environment for our stu- eracy skills in multiple languages. environment. dents and families to learn together. The District’s ENL Department and The North Side Learning Center Practice: Program, Methods, Approach share the vision of developing positive cross-cultural attitudes to promote Participants in the Steps to the Seal bilingualism, which makes it an ideal program engage in weekly heritage location for the program. language classes. The project runs two, 12-week sessions after school at The program’s setting has also been the North Side Learning Center. Each flexible and responsive to the needs of language classroom includes a heri- the community. When one of the tage language instructor, an ENL Bhutanese parents suggested that teacher, and a district nationality hosting the Nepali class in a more cen- worker. Heritage language instructors tral community location would foster in this project are hired through a more participation, we promptly relo- partnership between the Syracuse cated the classes to the Bhutanese City School District and the Community Center. The Bhutanese Northside Learning Center. They Community Center is located within a represent and teach in the following business owned by one of the families languages: Nepali, Burmese, Karen, that participated in the project. This Somali, Swahili, Tigrinya, and Arabic. location was familiar and comfortable Weekly classes include opportunities

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 52 multilingual multimedia memoir book that includes writing, photographs, images, diagrams, and illustrations.

The second semester of the program engages high school students in heritage language classes with the focus on developing a multi-genre project, a component required to obtain the New York State Seal of Biliteracy. Project instruc- Karen student memoir book tors support students as they select, for cooperative learning, vocabulary research, and explore a topic in the target building, family engagement and expo- language. Students select four genres sure to heritage language through from a list of project choices (two from authentic text. All instructional staff take listening and speaking and two from part in an orientation to align everyone to reading and writing) that will guide them the goals of the project and are provided through the development of the project. weekly collaborative planning time. Examples of genre choices include but Project coordinators offer the instruc- are not limited to: a PowerPoint presen- tional staff a curricular outline with week- tation, an interview, a commercial, an ly objectives, a pacing guide, and online article, memoir, or informational suggested activities. flier. Participants communicate their ideas and impressions about their chosen The first session of Steps to the Seal topic by means of a student presentation. Student engaged elementary and middle school achievement students in the development of a person- Each semester concludes with a commu- celebration al memoir in their heritage language. nity celebration. Student partic- Personal memoirs include compelling ipants are awarded certificates stories surrounding compelling themes: of completion to acknowledge family, language, culture, immigration their dedication to biliteracy. journey, life in Syracuse, and hopes for Books are displayed in the the future. The classroom environment respective language classrooms is enriched with heritage language and students provide brief pre- anchor charts, and vocabulary cards for sentations of their work. A mul- students to reference. Participants are ticultural potluck dinner is provided digital cameras to capture served to the community as an images related to the themes and include additional way to celebrate the them in their personal memoirs. Each value of diversity. student exits the program with their own

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Instruction that “They learn about their back- Culturally Relevant Education builds on students’ ground in refugee camp and what and Collaboration with the is situation in US. Even though Community full linguistic they’re from the refugee camp in Instruction that builds on students’ full repertoire, and Thailand they don’t know what linguistic repertoire, and engages their the situation is there. It’s important heritage language(s) is a fundamental engages their heritage for students to know to remember component of culturally relevant edu- language(s) is a the past, don’t forget your culture cation for multilingual learners. and don’t forget the past. Now we Language is a critical aspect of stu- fundamental tell them study hard, focus their dents’ identities, their home lives, and component of dream because now they have worldviews. By bridging students’ good opportunities and they can English identity that they typically use culturally relevant help other people.” at school, and their heritage education for multi- — Koko Lwin, SCSD Nationality language(s) identity, educators can lingual learners. Worker engage the whole child, and access their funds of knowledge. Nepalese language class with families While this program strives to be culturally relevant through heritage language usage and development, it also aims for a culturally relevant curriculum and cultural relevance through community input. Through the creation of a memoir project, heritage language teachers were encouraged to use teaching strategies that were familiar and relevant to their communities. All cultures do not approach literacy instruction in the same way, and it would be counter to the mission of the program to impose English literacy strategies on our heritage language classes. Some teachers chose to implement a mix of strategies they were familiar with from their home countries and strategies that the children were familiar with in their U.S. schools.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 54 In addition to a culturally relevant program more culturally and linguisti- curriculum, the program has collabo- cally relevant for the students and rated with community members to their families. Together with the heri- determine the languages that should tage language and ENL teachers, they be represented based on community have worked to invite families to share interest and teacher availability. In the their immigration stories with our first two cycles of the program, the classes. They have stressed the impor- North Side Learning Center support- tance of sharing their community’s ed the program by recruiting teachers history with the children who are too and seeking community input. The young to remember why they came to North Side Learning Center and the Syracuse, and have integrated these district ENL Department worked stories into the classroom curriculum together to recruit students, and and environment. Beyond this, the determine the best time for classes to nationality workers have helped to take place. make the heritage language classrooms comfortable environments for During this process, a high school our diverse learners, and have built student reached out to her ENL connections between the eductors, teacher to ask why her language, families, and students that are mean- Tigrinya (a Semitic language spoken ingful and significant for the sustain- by the people of Eritrea), was not ability of the program. being represented. The teacher asked her if she knew of anyone who could Based on these experiences from the teach the class. The student immedi- piloting of this program in the sum- ately recommended her brother, a mer of 2018 and the 2018–19 school high school senior to lead the class. year, it is clear that collaboration with

Together they reached out to their the community is a critical point for Nepali community and recruited students the cultural relevance of this program student book and parents to participate in Tigrinya and its instruction and the classes. sustainability of programs like this. In the case of Another example of the central role of expansion to additional community members in the continu- community-based organi- ing development of the district’s Steps zations, schools, or loca- to the Seal program is demonstrated tions, it is clear that the by the district’s nationality workers program would need to be who have consistently shared their flexible and responsive to expertise and connections to their lin- the voices and consider- guistic communities to make the ations of the community.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 55 A case for culturally relevant heritage language literacy instruction in schools

If students, families, Data Collection based on age level, and will directly reference what role they believe heri- and educators see To observe or measure whether we are meeting the goals of this program, we tage languages play in schools and heritage languages will take a mixed methods approach. communities.

as resources for Goal 1: To measure our first goal, we Goal 3: To observe family engage- the classroom, will compare the number of Seal of ment, we have informally noted family attendance in classes, feedback on cur- they can become Biliteracy recipients from future years to previous years, and include compar- riculum, and contributions to program advocates for the isons of students who participated in development. We have noticed that families are more involved at the ele- maintenance of our the project and those who did not. This will determine if students are mentary and middle school levels. In rich linguistic and using the Steps to the Seal program as the future, we will implement parent sign in sheets, and translated surveys at cultural diversity. a resource to obtain this distinction. We need to take a longitudinal the end of each program cycle to better approach because many of the stu- understand which elements of the dents in our high school’s program are project increased family participation. in 10th and 11th grade, and over half Goal 4: A final data collection method are enrolled in the elementary 12-week that provides deeper insight into the program. To better understand wheth- perception of the teachers and stu- er we are increasing heritage language dents has been informal interviews. literacy in the short term, we will We have used these interviews to bet- implement a pretest/posttest for stu- ter understand how students feel about dents using prompts and rubrics using their heritage language, and what developed by our heritage language their language use in schools currently teachers. looks like. We have also acquired data Goal 2: The second goal is to increase on the motivations of teachers, student perception that their heritage Nationality Workers, and students for language is an important academic participating in the program. The resource, and to understand the out- responses we have received have been comes related to this goal we need invaluable resources as the ENL direct feedback from the students. To department’s Steps to the Seal pro- address this, we would like to adminis- gram is modified for the future. ter student surveys before and after they participate to better understand how they view their heritage language. Student surveys will be differentiated

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 56 Discussion References During the first year of the program, we have de los Rios, C., & Seltzer, K. (2017). Translanguaging, coloniality, and English class- focused on: encouraging students and teach- rooms: An exploration of two bicoastal urban ers to view heritage languages as a resource classrooms. Research in the Teaching of English, in the classroom and community, increasing 52 (1). awareness of the Seal of Biliteracy, benefits García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: Global perspectives. Malden, MA: of biliteracy, and the opportunities for biliter- Blackwell. ate students among schools, families, and García, O., Bartlett, L., & Kleifgen, J.A. (2006). community members, and developing stu- From biliteracy to pluriliteracies. In P. Auer dents’ literacy skills in heritage languages. and L.P. Wei (Eds.), Handbook of applied lin- With these goals in mind, we have worked guistics on multilingual communication Vol. 5: Multilingualism (pp. 207-228). Berlin: Mouton/ with families, community members, stu- de Gruyter. dents, and teachers to collaborate toward Geva, E., & Siegel, L. (2000). Orthographic and culturally relevant instruction. cognitive factors in the concurrent development of basic reading skills in two languages. Reading While this program is implemented and Writing, 12. through the work of heritage language Oller, D.K., & Eilers, R.E. (Eds.). (2002). teachers, nationality workers, and ENL Language and literacy in bilingual children. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. teachers, its implications reach across con- Park, E. S. (2005). A case study of young Korean tent areas in schools. In the district, all children’s English learning experiences in teachers who interact with MLLs are teach- the United States: a sociocultural perspec- ers of MLLs regardless of content area, and tive. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg. all teachers can integrate students’ heritage languages into the classroom. When there Pennycook, A. (2010). Language as a local practice. London: Routledge. is increased awareness about the benefits of Syracuse City School District (2017). Strategic biliteracy and multiliteracy for the individu- plan: Building our future. Retrieved from http:// al and community, and increased aware- www.syracusecityschools.com/districtpage. ness of the benefits of heritage language cfm?pageid=10710. integration in the classroom, there will be Valdés, G. (2001). Heritage language students: more opportunities for our students to use Profiles and possibilities. In Peyton, J.K. and McGinnis, S. (Eds.), Heritage languages in their heritage language in academic settings. America: Preserving a national resource, (pp. We hope that this program builds a con- 37–77). Washington, DC.: Center for Applied nection in students’ minds between their Linguistics. heritage language and their school commu- Vygotsky, L.S. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. nity. If students, families, and educators see heritage languages as resources for the Vygotsky, L.S. (1987). The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky: Problems of general psychology. classroom, they can become advocates for (Rieber, R., & Carton, A., Eds.). New York: the maintenance of our rich linguistic and Plenum Press. cultural diversity.

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SUMMARY The school’s mission also includes an Thurgood Marshall emphasis on small class size, the arts, In collaboration with Academy Lower School, social justice, emotional intelligence and valuable partners and the under the leadership of founding building an increased self-concept. full school community, Principal Sean L. Davenport, opened in Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School is 2005 through a unique collaboration Reverend Calvin O. Butts III, Pastor of finding success centering between Abyssinian Development Abyssinian Baptist Church and social emotional learning Corporation, New Visions for Public President of SUNY College at Old and emotional intel- Schools and the NYC Department of Westbury, is the visionary for the ligence building practices Education with a mission toward cultur- school. In 1989, he created Abyssinian in a culturally responsive approach. By incorpo- al awareness, culturally responsive Development Corporation (ADC), a rating mindfulness and teaching and learning. As a school com- non-profit community and economic self-awareness practices munity, TMALS or PS 318 has worked development corporation with a mission while celebrating the feverishly to shield their children and to rebuild and serve the Harlem com- identities and cultures of the school community, families from system-wide priorities that munity through real estate development, the school has been able have ignored them, and instead have education, civic engagement and social to build trust, safety and chosen to devote their time to preparing services (“Abyssinian Development a positive self-concept in their students for the excellence they Corporation — Our History,” n.d.). students. already see in them. The ADC mission was to rebuild Harlem, “brick by brick and block by

Dawn Brooks DeCosta, EdM, is principal of Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School in Harlem. She has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work, including teacher of the year, the Heroes of Education award and an Outstanding Educator award. She is a member of the Council for School Administrators, and a proud mother and grandmother.

Danica Goyens-Ward had taught at the elementary level for the past 14 years. She currently teaches fourth-grade students at Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School and serves as a peer collaborative teacher, data coach and inquiry team member. A devoted basketball and softball mom who loves running and yoga practice, Goyens-Ward is a member of the United Federation of Teachers.

Ife Gaskin-Lenard, MSW, EdM, serves as a strategic coach, professor and educational consultant. Gaskin-Lenard started her career as a school-linked social worker before teaching biology and physics. Her service-leadership has created schools and programs that build relationships in a different, more humane way. Gaskin-Lenard is an associate professor at City College and a member of the Professional Staff Congress.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 58 Dawn Brooks DeCosta, Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School Danica Goyens Ward, United Federation of Teachers Ife Gaskin-Lenard, Professional Staff Congress

block”. As part of ADC’s educational Americans in segregated TMALS Mission Statement mission, Butts envisioned an educa- communities (Collins & tional corridor of learning. ADC was Williams, 1999). The The mission of Thurgood Marshall running several head start programs at ghettoization of Harlem Academy Lower School is grounded the time, and had opened Thurgood persists as segregation in the belief that all children can Marshall Academy high school and persists, and “black iso- learn and have the fundamental right to reach their fullest, individual middle school. lation deepened,” dur- potential. As a reflection of the ing the 1970’s when the African proverb, ‘It takes a village PS 318 was created to fill a gap in the ghetto “gave birth to a to raise a child’, our school values educational corridor so families who permanent underclass, parent partnerships and collaborative wished, could have their children begin (Massey & Denton, efforts with various community- in Head Start and continue all the way based organizations, businesses and 1998, p. 61).” In rela- other institutions within and outside through school with the same philoso- tion to poverty in com- the Harlem community. phy of learning. Harlem, the home of munities and education, — Founding staff the school, was one of the settling plac- Ladson Billings & Tate es for African Americans migrating (1995) note that, from the South during the Jim Crow Era and the Great Migration, and it While some might argue that emerged into a vibrant community, poor children, regardless of race, rich in culture and history. However, do worse in school, and that the as a community, Harlem has remained high proportion of African historically underserved. Even with the American poor contributes to their “progress,” that has come with gentrifi- dismal school performance, we cation, pockets of Harlem experience argue that the cause of their poverty neighborhood violence, a persistent in conjunction with the condition lack of resources and inadequate access of their schools and schooling is to health care, which can all contribute institutional and structural racism to the mortality rate of African (p. 55).

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Teachers are Guiding Principles of Culturally curriculum outlined by the founding Responsive Teaching at Thurgood principal and staff focuses around cul- using the culture Marshall Academy turally relevant topics and units. The of the students When describing urban school envi- goal of situating students’ cultures at as “a vehicle for ronments, Khalifa, Gooden & Davis the center would enhance their learn- (2011) note that “developing effective ing and ultimate success in school. learning”. leaders, becomes a vital part of the Geneva Gay (2000) notes that, “the process of recruiting and retaining the academic achievement of ethnically best teachers for children who have diverse students will improve when been marginalized (p. 1,273).” The they are taught through their own cul- need for culturally responsive educa- tural and experiential filters (p.106).” tion was central to Butts’ vision for the Thurgood Marshall Academy schools Our culturally relevant approach fol- as an educational vehicle to combat lows a framework designed by surrounding ills. Gloria Ladson-Billings who coined the term “culturally relevant pedagogy.” With its population of mostly Black The three major areas of her frame- and Brown students, and based on the work include a focus on “Academic original vision for the school, the Success, Cultural Competence and Critical Consciousness (Ladson- Demographics Billings, 1995, p. 160-162).” As this framework is a central focus at PS 318, Community School Geographical District 5, Central Harlem striving toward academic success is a n 33 public schools, including PS 318 non-negotiable. We use the following n 11,966 K–12 students. three tenets as our approach to cultur- n 89.4 % of students are Black and Latino ally relevant and responsive learning: n 80.6% poverty rate High Expectations for Academic Success, Culturally Relevant Texts n 21.4% are identified as students with disabilities and Units of Study and Social Emotional Learning for All Members Thurgood Marshall Acadeny (PS 318) of the School Community. Aligned n 221 students with the Ladson-Billings’ study, our n 78% Black and 16 % Latino teachers “demand, reinforce and pro- n 17% Students with Disabilities duce academic excellence in their stu- n 77% poverty rate dents (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 160)” n 91% attendance rate through a framework of non-negotiable best practices where all students are Source: New York State Education Department 2017 pushed to own the learning and strive for excellence.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 60 Teachers hold students to a high expectation, providing rigorous learning tasks in various subject areas where students are pushed to collaborate, discuss, provide feedback to one another and make their thinking visible therefore helping them to facilitate their own learning. The perspective of dedicated, invested teachers who believe and know that, “all students can and must succeed,” is essential to this approach (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. 163). Through the use of culturally relevant texts and culturally competent lesson planning approaches, teachers they engaged community members, Third grade students are using the culture of the students as who were beautiful reflections of them- participte in an art les- “a vehicle for learning” where parents selves and their family members. The son with The Studio and family members are also engaged Museum in Harlem in young learners studied artist Romare their “Find Art Here” to participate and share their “cultural Bearden who also reflected Harlem program. Artist Jordan knowledge (Ladson-Billings, 1995, p. and Black life in his works in more of a Casteel discusses the artwork with students. 161).” historic sense. On the community walk students were also able to see the areas Culturally Responsive Classroom where he created his works. Through Lessons Bring Ideas to Life this experience, our inquisitive second To illuminate through example, col- graders were able to engage in a physi- laboration with the Studio Museum in cal experience learning about the con- Harlem gave second graders the tributions of Black leaders and artists opportunity to take part in a six-week during the Harlem Renaissance. They unit of study on community and to were comfortable visiting The Studio delve into the works of community-art- Museum of Harlem to view original ist Jordan Casteel who spectacularly works of art as well as to be invited depicts the strength and beauty of into grand discussions around artists’ African American males of the com- pieces. To culminate the unit, the sec- munity. Students were able to meet ond grade families participated in a with Casteel to ask questions about her family art project facilitated by The work, create their own works of art, Studio Museum and The Museum of and engage in a community tour visit- Modern Art (MOMA), both of whom ing many of the places where she have had strong and longstanding paints her subjects. Along the walk partnerships with PS 318. Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 61 Cultural Awareness and Self-Awareness at Thurgood Marshall Academy

protest. Students researched both sides of the argument to gain a variety of perspectives, while learning about the formalities of protagonist and antagonist before practicing debate strategies. Students were able to express their personal concerns in a safe context. The teacher, Anthony Hovanec explained to students, “The better that you understand both sides of the argument the better you will be able to debate.” Having students write Above: Parent Cultural Ambassadors at the an opinion piece is primarily routine, Charles White exhibit at however, using a topic relevant to their the MoMA. social and historic content lifted the At right: A first grader re-enacts the Charles level of critical consciousness in the White painting of Harry lesson. After watching several clips and Belafonte at the TMALS reports on the protest, one young Family Art Night at the MoMA. African American male student in the class shared, “He should kneel because this is a protest. The President said, ‘The police need to be more vicious with these hoodlums.’ He took The focus on critical consciousness, a stand, he could vote and he can take defined by Paolo Freire (2009) as a a knee and make it easier.” The teach- tool used to immerse learners in their er asked, “What do you mean by easi- social and historical contexts is also er?” The student responded, “Make it actively reflected in our school’s daily easier to protest. It’s easier than being practices. Ladson-Billings notes that, stopped by the police.” This student “students must develop a broader had already, at age 10, gained a famil- socio-political consciousness which iarity with police brutality and racism allows them to critique the cultural as personally connected experiences. norms, values, mores and institutions Another student with another perspec- that produce and maintain social ineq- tive said, “You can lose your job like uities” and “engage the world and oth- Colin Kaepernick … you are focusing ers critically (1995, p. 162).” As such, on one thing when there are more fifth-grade students participated in an problems for Black people than the in-class debate around the controversy national anthem.” of the NFL national anthem

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 62 Through experiences in the lesson, the and African American adolescent litera- teacher created a space where students cy. In collaboration with Scholastic, Having students were able to share their opinions, she worked to prepare administrators write an opinion ground them in facts and at the same and staff to lead culturally responsive time, listen to and reflect on perspec- pedagogy in their schools. piece is primarily tives that were contrary to their own. Muhammad’s research around the lit- routine, however, Through a rich discussion, facilitated eracy practices of Black people in the using a topic by the teacher, the students were able early 19th century led her to intensive to connect to the Black Lives Matter research on the ways in which schools relevant to Movement through a literacy lesson today can employ the same expectation their social and a series of skill-building exercises. for excellence that was evident in Black communities long ago. and historic While engaging in a topic that was real world connected and relevant to the Through a district grant, Muhammad content lifted the students, the teacher taught the skill of provided professional development for level of critical analysis and debate while preparing our staff centered on her construct for consciousness in students for a written opinion piece. culturally responsive pedagogy. PS Engaging students in the experiential 318 staff were trained to utilize the lesson. piece of the project made the learning Muhammad’s “Four Layered Equity that much richer. The teacher shared Model” for culturally responsive les- the WHY with students saying, “In son planning and lesson delivery. Each order to become successful opinion goal is intended to help advance stu- writers and debaters, it is essential to dents in four areas: understand both sides of the argument 1) Skills and proficiencies; and to honor facts more than our emotional preference or attachments.” 2) Intellectual development; Students will have gained a skill they will use throughout their educational 3) Identity development; and careers and life beyond. 4) Criticality (reading and writing to understand truth and power) Developing Culturally Relevant (Price-Dennis, Muhammad, Teaching Practices Womack, McArthur, & Haddix, Our teachers and administrators also 2017, p. 8). worked on honing innovation and competencies within literacy for two Danica Goyens-Ward, a founding years with Gholdy Muhammad, who teacher at our school, participated in specializes in social and historical this collaborative initiative with African American literacy development Muhammad in 2016–18.

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For our students, Goyens-Ward serves as the Cultural History Month when many students Relevance Lead for the school. She learn about leaders and artists who daily exposure was a key player, as colleague and lead, look like them. For our students, daily to models of to model and support her fellow teach- exposure to models of excellence of ers on how to merge daily pedagogy those who look like them is integral to excellence of and cultural relevance while infusing the development of positive self-con- those who look newly acquired concepts learned from cept. Teachers are able to teach the like them is Muhammad. concepts and skills of reading, writing, mathematics, science, art and social integral to the PS 318 has three model teachers in studies while using text, resources and culturally relevant and responsive development role models that depict images which practices through the Department of allow students to identify with people of positive Education’s Learning Partners who resemble their parents, grandpar- self-concept. Program. The lead team of model ents, neighbors and relatives in their teachers along with the principal and learning. This connection with multi- assistant principal are currently work- ple references deepens learning and ing on defining with research-based real-world connections. The work of evidence, what PS 318 finds most dedicated PS 318 teachers, leaders, important in what we are now referring families, and students alike sustains an to as not just culturally relevant but awareness of heritage; they are cul- also culturally responsive practices. tured and talented. With that, their school community offers multiple At PS 318, the culturally responsive opportunities to add value to their cul- mission extends far beyond Black ture and talents and display their multiple intelligences and cultured talents. Voices

“Now, I know more about other cultures and more about my own culture. It makes me feel good.” Immersing Students in Culture — Fourth-grade student As early as Kindergarten, children “You get to understand people better when you learn about recite and interpret the poetry of their culture.” Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and — Grandparents Club member Paul Laurence Dunbar. Classrooms “Cultural relevancy has impacted my classroom because it are named after Harlem landmarks allows students to learn about other cultures and respect such as: National Black Theatre, and appreciate others’ differences. It also allows me to know and Mount Morris Park, Abyssinian, learn about my students as individuals.” Mother Zion, Rucker Park, Apollo — Alicia Linder, TMALS third-grade teacher Theater, Harlem Armory, Schomburg Center, Liberty Hall, Hotel Theresa

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 64 and Harlem Grown. Each morning in the poems, the feelings and emotions a schoolwide community circle, stu- expressed in the characters, how they The ties between dents begin their day with a town hall connect to those characters and their emotional family meeting where they recite the feelings and how this is still relevant school creed written by founding today. intelligence and teachers: student behavior, Emotional Intelligence and I am proud to be me, I can learn, Mindfulness decreased read and I can do anything. Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer bullying, increased I have talents that can shape and (1990) coined the term Emotional self-concept change the world. Intelligence describing it as “a form of and enhanced I have no true limits as long as I social intelligence that involves the believe in myself. ability to monitor one’s own and oth- social skills have ers’ feelings and emotions, to discrimi- I will grow and strive at Thurgood nate among them, and to use this repeatedly been Marshall Academy Lower School. information to guide one’s thinking proven. and action (p. 5).” According to After the creed, the students learn and Goleman (2006), “. . . people who are recite memorized poems. Then, time emotionally adept — who know and is given to analyze one of the poems manage their feelings well, and who for meaning, intent and impact. Poems read and deal effectively with other are specifically chosen to represent the people’s feelings — are at an advantage historic and current experience of in any domain of life… (p. 36).” Black people in America — in beauty, strength, hope, contribution and resil- The current need for emotional intelli- ience. Some of the Langston Hughes gence in schools is clear as noted in poems recited are Dreams, The Negro research across the field of education Speaks of Rivers, and I Dream a and psychology. Students excel when World. Other recited poems are Alone social emotional learning is central. and Caged Bird by Maya Angelou as The ties between emotional intelli- well as We Wear the Mask by Paul gence and student behavior, decreased Laurence Dunbar. bullying, increased self-concept and enhanced social skills have repeatedly The learning and analysis of poems been proven. Students with increased continues in classroom ELA lessons. emotional intelligence relate more effec- Each class has a poem of the month tively with peers and teachers, and may they are learning and analyzing. be able to communicate with more ease Students have community and class during a conflict. There is a strong discussions around the meanings of

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There is a strong connection between a child’s develop- leadership and staff made a purposeful ment of emotional intelligence and decision to incorporate self-awareness, connection friendship management and relation- emotional intelligence and mindful between a child’s ships with teachers. Children with low practices and further seek ways to development emotional intelligence exhibit increased seamlessly combine them with our cul- frustration, aggression, bullying behav- turally relevant approach. of emotional iors and lack communication and intelligence friendship building skills. Students In practice this is what it looks like: with lower emotional intelligence do During the morning community and friendship not always share emotions effectively. town hall meetings, after the poetry They may bottle up emotions leading management and activity and the reading of the to anxiety, frustration and anger which school creed, student self-awareness relationships with may negatively impact their learning leaders guide the full student body (Goleman, 2001). Increased bullying in teachers. in a schoolwide compassion medita- schools, adolescent suicide, mass tion. Later in classrooms, student school violence, overt interpersonal self-awareness leaders and teachers racism, and decreased academic per- also lead the students in yoga brain formance can all take a toll on emotion- breaks. The brain breaks are done al intelligence. This builds a case for all throughout the day as breathing schools to employ structures for emo- and movement focusing techniques tionally intelligent teaching and learn- to re-center students allowing for ing practices to enhance school culture quick refocusing breaks. and remedy many of the ills that plague students. A culturally responsive approach should have at its core ways in which But there are additional burdens to to address the whole child. The resil- children in predominantly African iency of African American children American urban school communities who experience poverty, single parent often plagued by the societal ills of rac- homes, foster care, neighborhoods ism and poverty. The school’s with increased crime and violence and institutional as well as actualized rac- Voices ism is apparent (Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994). Their apparent silent “When students see their culture, as well as the culture of others resiliency does not suggest, however, in daily lessons, projects, and discussions, they become more that there is no impact on their learn- engaged and accountable for their learning.” — Debra Turner, TMALS teacher ing, ability to focus and their emotional well-being (Connell et al., 1994). Along with children being

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 66 negatively impacted by anxiety, low (Rivers, Brackett, Reyes, Elbertson, & self-esteem and inability to communi- Salovey, 2012). RULER is an emo- cate, they are further compounded tional intelligence-building program with racial trauma and PTSD (post- that has been woven organically into traumatic stress disorder) which are the very fabric of the school’s lan- being associated with those who are guage, routines and classroom culture directly and indirectly impacted by after its introduction five years ago. racial discrimination and violence, specifically African American children The program uses imagery in these (Turner & Richardson, 2016). four anchors to provide visuals in the classroom and school environment. Throughout all classrooms and in hall- Teaching Self-Regulation ways you will see a four-color quad- Self-regulation, in terms of emotional rant mood meter that students use to intelligence, is a strategy that is used to plot themselves on their levels of pleas- enable us to become self-aware, recog- antness and energy. Students check in nize our emotions, our triggers, our on the mood meter in the mornings at reactions, and learn to control them, so breakfast and throughout the day in we can work toward a positive out- classrooms. In all classrooms we have come in a stressful situation. When we class charters, written and signed by are not self-regulating, we can experience higher levels of stress, poor deci- Self-Regulation Tools sions, increased conflict, self-harming and reactions to triggers that lead to negative outcomes, further exacerbat- The Mood Meter How are you feeling? ing the stress of the situation. To help students develop these skills, we use +5 the Yale Center for Emotional +4

Intelligence’s RULER approach: +3

Recognizing, Understanding, +2

Labeling, Expressing and Regulating +1

Emotions. Students with higher emo- -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 Energy tional intelligence show enhanced pos- -1 -2 itive relationships with peers, -3 decreased aggressive behavior and -4 poor decision making, decreased disci- -5 plinary action needed and fewer sus- Pleasantness pensions in comparison to their peers

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Valuing families teacher and students detailing how to strengthen students’ resiliency and they want to feel in the classroom, self-worth; especially for those most as partners in what they will do to feel that way and vulnerable. It was imperative to first education rather how they will handle conflict. Peer incrementally scaffold information than visitors to mediators, administrators and the about the benefits of infusing emotion- guidance counselor use a “Blueprint” al intelligence in the earliest grades. the school honors to help students map out a current or The nurturing relationships with those them as change past conflict that they need to talk in the Grandparents Club was instru- through. The Blueprint serves as a mental, and maintaining rapport by catalysts. plan for how the students will interact keeping parents in the loop during moving forward past the conflict. monthly meetings told us that these extensive informal networks were also This approach is also used for staff vital. Valuing families as partners in and for families so there is a common education rather than visitors to the language and practice for the full school honors them as change cata- school community. This approach has lysts. Together they would wield the allowed for calmer classrooms, safer trust required, within the larger school spaces for students and more focused community, as to why and how a cul- instructional time. Families living in turally responsive approach and social poverty experience higher levels of emotional learning would be effective stress. The cognitive abilities of chil- and how it would co-exist. Adults and dren are affected by stress levels and students alike were establishing a trust- the effect can span a lifetime (Dreier et ing environment where we could share al., 2004). Infusing SEL into the our emotions and feelings. school’s culture is an effort to interrupt and disrupt the damage of stress on Vanessa Siddle Walker, Ed.D., has the lives of children and families. explored segregation and the school- Incorporated mindful practices ing of African American children and focused around compassion help stu- how Black schools in the past dents send positive thoughts to those employed culturally relevant practic- they love, those they argue with, as es. She has also completed extensive well as to themselves. research on the Brown v. Board of Education case. Walker emphatically Combining Cultural describes how the wholesome care and Responsiveness and Social advocacy reflected the culturally rele- Emotional Learning vant ways during that era. This aligns It was vital to combine cultural respon- closely with a culturally relevant siveness with social-emotional learning approach that echoes the underlying premise of social-emotional learning.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 68 We can learn from this era by identify- For PS 318 the intentionality behind its ing ways in which modern predomi- culturally relevant curricula was thriving Striving and nant schools of color may work to especially throughout the components achieving to reclaim the wholesome care and advo- of its English language arts and social cacy that Black educators across studies, but if it were to assert itself as an go beyond the schoolhouses and urban schools exemplar more had to be done. Thus, standard texts imparted before desegrega- Ife Gaskin-Lenard, educational consul- has afforded the tion. Tapping into this wholesome tant and professor of education and care requires an intricate mixture of racial identity development, worked students at PS positivity, high expectations, account- with the school to expand cultural rele- 318 scholastic ability, affirmations, inspirational lead- vance across all content areas. As a for- ership and influence in order to mer principal, Gaskin-Lenard aligned diversity that enhance institutionalized school cul- seamlessly with the school’s intent to allows for a richer ture, student behavior, relationships, respect the inherent dignity and unwav- teacher team collaboration and more. ering accountability to its mission and interdisciplinary goal for a curricula as rich and worthy perspective. The leader is central to driving the as Harlem. With that, persons chosen school community to recapture these throughout each content area were also ways of being for our schools. highlighted for their self-sacrifice and a According to Cooper (2009), willingness to take great risks for the “Principals have not adequately collective good, or for their unusual will addressed the cultural tensions and and determination in the face of great separatist politics that marginalize eth- danger and against the most stubborn nic and linguistic minority students odds. Striving and achieving to go and their families (p. 695).” Cooper beyond the standard texts has afforded also notes that “. . . transformative the students at PS 318 scholastic diver- leadership constitutes a form of libera- sity that allows for a richer interdisci- tory political praxis, whereby leaders plinary perspective. It also shows the use their positional power to promote larger school community how diversity democracy, redress inequities, and plays a critical role in shaping the tapes- empower various stakeholders, includ- try of elementary education. ing marginalized students and families. Through collaborative methods, lead- Professional Learning ers then develop inclusive governing structures and communities (2009, p. With a commitment to intentional 696).” Through a more culturally spaces and practices, it was important aware approach, urban leaders can for Gaskin-Lenard to utilize the staff’s meet the holistic and fundamental charter of the RULER approach to needs of students of color. ensure a diverse method in teacher

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Practices that development. Comprehensive and Ambitious teachers moved toward an scaffolded thorough a two-year com- inquiry-based approach to support support a sense mitment, the objectives were: their learning. Teachers interested and of well-being 1. to encourage personal reflection actively engaged in a discovery process and emotional and to challenge assumptions used their natural curiosity to further through the examination of histori- explore, discover and learn a range of intelligence can cal issues, cultural forces, and teaching methods to hold the profes- only help a child emerging diversity issues within sional learning environment as sacred. education; Hence, teacher morale and a feeling thrive in the 2. to examine the causes and complex that they are valued members of the academic world. dynamics of cultural, racial and school community was upheld as a social inequities and how they critical part of the professional devel- impact learning and instruction in opment program. This was a direct American schools; and to identify reflection of how they instruct stu- ethical professionalism, moral dis- dents, hold higher expectations and cipline, teaching methods, and push students to analyze, synthesize, emotional competencies; evaluate, and apply higher-ordered 3. to examine how cultural forces and thinking tasks toward their own profi- social structures can override and ciency and mastery. During this pro- foster acceptance of diversity, cess of enhancing the school’s imagination, mindfulness practices instructional program, school leaders, and habits of the mind; and teachers and staff developers alike 4. to enrich self-and-social awareness served as an intellectual resource and through: social science research, teammate of our professional learning literature circles, study, thought- community. provoking exercises, analysis and One educator shared that, “It centers collegial dialogue. on history and culture, and simultane- Each meaningful entry into this teacher ously offers all of us a liberating wor- development phase, the teachers were thiness as a school community and in invited to take intellectual risks. It this learning experience — a sense that offered vast opportunity to build core we all matter.” She added, “… prac- knowledge, provide practice to solving tices that support a sense of well-being problems creatively, think critically, and emotional intelligence can only work cooperatively in teams, use tech- help a child thrive in the academic nology effectively, and develop posi- world.” In working with staff, she tive attitudes around SEL as another recalled a courageous critical conversa- layer of culturally relevant teaching and tion about underlining impact and learning. subtleties of the racism of low

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 70 expectations for children of color. phenomenal things done on a regular This conversation led to inspiring and basis. It is a school environment where guiding higher expectations through people can count on people within the culturally relevant teaching their school building to serve as approach of supportive tone and thought-partners. Adults and children directness. Additionally, the extension can always serve as an intellectual discussions identified how every resource to meet needs and add value approach is not applicable for every to one another’s lives. It is a school culture of students. rooted in hosting monthly events and often has a buzz in its hallways about The sustained focus on supporting an upcoming event whether the topic education through a cultural awareness is academic, cultural, or social-emo- and self-awareness lens is paying aca- tional. Whether discussing social and demic and social dividends. There has emotional competencies at the been a decrease in incidences of disci- Grandparents Club Community Hour, pline referrals and suspensions, and an PS 318 Family explaining the school-to-prison pipe- Art Night at impact on student learning and positive line and how punitive discipline in MOMA experiences in school. We see high lev- schools disproportionately targets els of student engagement and collabo- African American students pushing ration across classrooms and grade them out of school at much higher spans, a prevalent trend in student rates than their white peers for the leadership and voice, and finally, a same behaviors, holding a ‘Day with steady increase of academic achieve- Dads’ session, or sharing meditation ment on standardized tests. The school and mindfulness during a stress-free saw a 6 percent schoolwide increase in spa night for parents, PS 318 ventures its math state assessment data com- to change the status quo, models the pared to the year prior. The school’s way, enables all to do great work and third and fourth graders outperformed inspires the heart. their peers in New York City on state math exams; fourth graders also out- The academic needs of students can performed their peers on ELA exams. only be met in an environment that supports who they are as emotional The most profound difference in the and social people; they are also are cul- teaching and learning experiences at tural beings. At Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshal is the investment we make conscious decisions to ensure of time and consistency. It has a genu- that our practices do not further mar- ine school culture of nurture that ginalize students. In contrast, we bring strives to build and sustain human them to the center. The transformation relationships to enable all to get we see daily in the school community

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 71 Cultural Awareness and Self-Awareness at Thurgood Marshall Academy

is evidence enough for us to want to continue to Khalifa, M.A., Gooden, M.A., & Davis, J.E. (2011). explore this work of the advancement of Black chil- Culturally responsive school leadership: A synthesis of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 1272- dren as a whole and to support those who nurture 1311. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.3102/0034654316630383. and educate them. We continue to be energized by Ladson-Billings, G. (1995, Summer). But that’s just good the possibilities and the accomplishments of our teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy. Theory children, staff and families. Into Practice, 34(3), 159-165. Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W.F. (1995, Fall 1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Board, 97(1), 47-58. References Massey, D., & Denton, N. (1998). American apartheid: Abyssinian Development Corporation-Our History. (n.d.). Segregation and making of the underclass. Cambridge, Retrieved from http://www.adcorp.org/our-history. MA: Harvard University Press. Brackett, M.A., Reyes, M.R., Rivers, S.E., Elbertson, N.A., Muhammad, G.E. (2018). A plea for identity and criticality: & Salovey, P. (2012). Assessing teachers’ beliefs about Reframing literacy learning standards through a four lay- social and emotional learning. Journal of ered equity model. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Psychoeducational Assessment, 30(3), 219-236. 62(2), 137-142. Collins, C.A., & Williams, D.R. (1999). Segregation and Price-Dennis, D., Muhammad, G.E., Womack, E., mortality: The deadly effects of racism?Sociological McArthur, S.A., & Haddix, M. (2017). The multiple Forum, 14(3), 495-523. identities and literacies of black girlhood: A conversation Connell, J.P., Spencer, M.B., & Aber, J.L. (1994). about creating spaces for black girl voices. Journal of Educational risk and resilience in African-American youth: Language and Literacy Education, 13(2), 1-18. Context, self, action, and outcomes in school. Child Rivers, S.E., Brackett, M.A., Reyes, M.R., Elbertson, N. A., Development, 65(2), 493-506. & Salovey, P. (2012). Improving the social and emotional Data NYSED. (2017). Retrieved from https://data.nysed. climate of classrooms: A clustered randomized controlled gov/profile.php?instid=800000047161 trial testing the RULER approach. Society of Prevention Research, 14(), 77-87. Dreier, P., Mollenkopf, J.H., & Swanstrom, T. (2004). Place matters: Metropolitics for the twenty-first century. Salovey, P., & Mayer, J.D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. Imagination, cognition and personality, 9(3), 185-211. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/DUGG-P24E-52WK-6CDG. Freire, P., & Bergman-Ramos, M. (2009). Pedagogy of the oppressed. In Powell, J.A. , & Stewart, M.A. (Eds.), Turner, E. A., & Richardson, J. (2016). Racial Trauma is Race/ethnicity: Multidisciplinary global contexts, 2(2), real: The impact of racial trauma on African Americans. (163-174). Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Retrieved from https://psychologybenefits. Press. org/2016/07/14/racial-trauma-police-shootings-on- african-americans/. Gay, G., & Howard, T.C. (2000). Multicultural teacher education for the 21st century. Teacher Educator, 36(1), 1-16. Wilson Cooper, C. (2009). Performing cultural work in demographically changing schools: Implications for Goleman, D. (2007). Social intelligence. New York, NY: expanding transformative leadership frameworks. Random House Publishing Group. Educational Administration Quarterly, 45(5), 694–724. Horsford, S.D., Grosland, T., & Gunn, K.M. (2011, July). http://dx.doi.org/DOI: 10.1177/0013161X09341639. Pedagogy of the personal and professional: Toward a framework for culturally relevant leadership. Journal of School Leadership, 21(4), 582+.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 72 Educator’s Voice is dedicated to showcasing best practices by our members across the state.

Visit nysut.org/edvoice to download an entire volume or a PDF of your favorite article; start a conversation and leave a comment for the author; or watch our featured author videos to learn more about their projects.

Find all of our past editions online: nysut.org/edvoice

Volume I Early Literacy: The Foundation of All Learning

Volume II Literacy in the Middle Grades: Building on the Foundation

Volume III Expanding Literacy for Adolescents: All Content Areas, Grades 7–12

Volume IV Education in the 21st Century: Technology Integration

Volume V Assessment: Using Formative Assessment Data to Improve Instruction

Volume VI Common Core Learning Standards: Instructional Shifts in English Language Arts and Literacy

Volume VII Promoting Social-Emotional Development and Physical Well-Being

Volume VIII Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving for the 21st Century Learner

Volume IX English Language Learners: A Mosaic of Languages and Cultures

Volume X Engaging All Learners through Content Area Instruction

Volume XI Family Engagement and Community Partnerships

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 73 Glossary Definitions

Cultural learning style How individuals learn at home and in their communities.

Ethnography A research strategy that studies people, social groups and their culture. Information can be collected through observations, interviews, questionnaires or participation in a group.

Heritage language Any language, other than English, that is connected to the speaker’s cultural or ethnic background.

High-incidence language Languages, other than English, that are most commonly spoken by students.

Latinx Latinx is a gender-neutral term that is used as an alternative to Latino/a. It refers to people whose origin or ancestry is in Latin America and excludes Spain. Geographic location is what separates this term from Hispanic or Spanish. Additionally, the usage of the “x” instead of the “o” or the “an” at the end of the word “Latinx” is important as it’s inclusive of those in the Latin community who are gender non-conforming, gender queer, gender fluid, etc.

Metacognitive strategies Methods used to help students understand the way they learn; in other words, it means processes designed for students to ‘think’ about their ‘thinking.’

Translanguaging When speakers maximize their communicative functionality by choosing different linguistic features to share their meaning.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 74 Resources

ePals At the easy-to-navigate ePals site, teachers and students can collaborate with other teachers and students from over two hundred countries in authentic learning projects. You can join other classrooms in projects that are already in progress or you can design your own project and ask other classrooms to join in. cricketmedia.com/company/

Global School Net This site offers information for teachers about various global projects and how to find the ones that would be a good match for their classes. globalschoolnet.org/

GLOBE The Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program involving over 25,000 schools worldwide. globe.gov/en/about/overview

Inclusive Schools Network The Inclusive Schools Network offers resources on culturally responsive teaching including an annotated children’s book list and links to other organizations. Their website also includes an FAQ about culturally responsive teaching. inclusiveschools.org/category/resources/culturally-responsive-instruction/

International Education and Resource Network This extensive site offers opportunities for global collaborative projects through its network of 30,000 schools located in more than 130 countries. It offers numerous project opportunities that cover a wide range of subjects for K-12 students. us.iearn.org/

NEA NEA offers an online guide for culturally responsive teaching. It includes methods of teaching, resources in print and online activities. Another feature called “Ask the Experts” is an online Q&A discussion forum where teachers may submit questions. nea.org/archive/16723.htm

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 75 Additional Resources

NYSED Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education NYSED has created resources for educators and families on culturally responsive teaching. The CR-S framework helps educators create student-centered learning environments that: affirm racial, linguistic and cultural identities; prepare students for rigor and independent learning, develop students’ abilities to connect across lines of difference; elevate historically marginalized voices; and empower students as agents of social change. The website is expanding. Additional resources for school districts and administrators are currently being developed. nysed.gov/crs

Teaching Tolerance A well-known source for educators to find “thought-provoking news, conversation and support for those who care about diversity, equal opportunity and respect for differences in schools.” tolerance.org/

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 76 Call for Article Proposals for Educator’s Voice, Vol. XIII Students with Disabilities: Access and Equity in the School Community

Under federal and state law and regulation, students with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. However, the provision of special education programs and services is more than a basic educational entitlement. Students with disabilities are to be afforded the same educational access and equity in the school community as their peers without disabilities. Due to the range of school settings across New York State (e.g., preschool, elementary, middle, secondary; urban, rural, suburban; high-needs schools, low-need schools; public, private, Special Act, state-supported; etc.), providing meaningful access and equity while meeting the individual needs for this population can present unique challenges to educators. While thoughtful planning, professional learning, investment of resources, and the benefit of “lessons learned” are necessary considerations for educators, there is no single path that ensures success. In this volume we will present a range of practices designed to best meet the needs of students with disabilities. We call for articles from educators across disciplines and grade levels that document successful practices in serving P–12 students with disabilities in their school community, and/or in partnership with institutions of higher education.

Examples of submission areas include (but are not limited to): n Access to the general education curriculum n Positive behavioral supports n Skill development for greater independence n Innovative programs and services n Family and community engagement n P–20 Partnerships n Higher Education Research and Practice n Participation in extra-curricular and non-academic activities n Transition planning and support to post-school activities n Practices that support a positive school climate of integration and community

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 77 Call for Article Proposals for Educator’s Voice, Vol. XIII Students with Disabilities: Access and Equity in the School Community Proposal Guidelines

Please tell us about your proposal by referencing each of the following nine elements (approximately 2–5 pages) and submit to NYSUT by Oct. 1, 2019. Please include the element titles. Be sure to complete the author submission sheet and send it in with your proposal.

1) Title: What is the working title for your article?

2) Topic: What do you plan to write about? What practice or program will your article focus on? (Please provide specifics about school(s), grade levels, etc.)

3) Relevance: Why is this practice relevant to the theme of this year’s volume on Culturally Responsive Teaching? Why is this topic important to you?

4) Setting: Describe your setting and the student population(s) involved in the practice or programs.

5) Practice: Describe the practice or program and your method or approach.

6) Outcomes: What are the intended outcomes or indicators of success and how do you plan to measure or observe them?

7) Research Base: Describe the academic research base that supports your practice. (Please provide specific examples/citations.)

8) Diversity: How does your practice address the needs of diverse populations? Deadlines for Volume XIII: Nov. 1, 2019 Proposal submission 9) Collaboration: Explain how your practice involves collaboration deadline with parents or other members of the school community. Nov. 29, 2019 NYSUT responds to proposal Jan. 5, 2020 Completed article submission Fall, 2020 Publication

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 78 Call for Article Proposals for Educator’s Voice, Vol. XIII You can download this document from our website: Students with Disabilities: Access http://www.nysut.org/ resources/special- resources-sites/ and Equity in the School Community educators-voice Author Submission Form

Name of Author(s) (If multiple authors, select one author as the primary contact person). At least one author must be a NYSUT (or affiliate) member. Please spell out all information, do not use acronyms. All fields are required. Primary author’s name:______Union affiliation:______Name of school: ______School/district location: ______Current position (title and grade level/s): ______Next author’s name:______Current position (title and grade level/s): ______Union affiliation:______

Next author’s name: ______Current position (title and grade level/s): ______Union affiliation:______

Do all of the authors work in the same building? If not, tell us where they work: ______

Primary Author CONTACT INFO (all fields are required) Email address: ______Alternate email address: ______Telephone number: ______Alternate telephone number (required): ______Home address: ______

Information can Or by mail to: be submitted NYSUT Research & Educational Services electronically to: Attn: Educator’s Voice 800 Troy-Schenectady Road [email protected] Latham, NY 12110

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 79 Call for Article Proposals for Educator’s Voice, Vol. XIII Students with Disabilities: Access and Equity in the School Community Editorial Guidelines Grade and Author(s) can describe practices or programs in any grades (P-20) on the topic of Audience: access and equity in the school community for students with disabilities. This is a practitioner journal. Our readers include teachers, school-related professionals, pupil personnel services providers, union leaders, parents, administrators, higher education faculty, researchers, legislators, and policymakers. For examples, please browse previous volumes of Educator’s Voice. Please write your article to the practitioner. Authors are encouraged to write in a direct style designed to be helpful to both practitioners and to others committed to strengthening education. All education terms (i.e., jargon, all acronyms) should be defined for a broad audience. For articles with multiple authors, use one voice consistently. Please limit the use of writing in the first person.

Article Length: The required article length is flexible. Please submit approximately 2,000 – 3,000 words (or 7–9 double-spaced pages plus references). This is just a range as every article is unique.

Rights: Acceptance of a proposal is not a guarantee of publication. Publication decisions are made by the Editorial Board. NYSUT retains the right to edit articles. The author will have the right to review changes and if not acceptable to both parties, the article will not be included in Educator’s Voice. NYSUT may also retain the article for use on the NYSUT website (www.nysut.org) or for future publication in NYSUT United.

Manuscript Basics: n Use American Psychological Association n Submit your manuscript as a Word (APA) 6th edition style for in-text citations document. and references. n We cannot accept Google documents. n Do not use footnotes or MLA publishing n Do not submit copyrighted material unless guidelines. you have permission from the publisher. n Double-space your manuscript.

Graphics Guidelines: n Although your images may be embedded in n Add a parenthetical place marker to your the manuscript for review, please submit all manuscript for images that will be included graphics as separate files, too. in the appendix or elsewhere (for example, “see image 3 on p. 16”). n Save all images in high-resolution (300 dpi). Anything downloaded from a website will be n Image file names should correspond to low-resolution (72 dpi) and will not be image place markers in the manuscript (for acceptable. If using a cellphone, choose high example, “image 3 student work sample”). quality settings. n We need permission to reprint artwork; you n Any graphics (photographs, charts, tables, or need release forms to use images that include samples of student work) must be submitted people. Photos should illustrate the context, in separate attached PDF, TIFF, or JPEG rather than the subject(s) looking posed. files. Do not embed images into an email.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 80 NYSUT Education & Learning Trust The Education & Learning Trust is NYSUT’s primary way of delivering professional development to its members. ELT offers courses for undergraduate, graduate and in-service credit, partnership programs that lead to master’s degrees and teaching certificates, and seminars as well as professional development programs for teachers and school-related professionals. n Courses (45 hours): Building Positive Connections with Diverse Families and Communities (CURI 6505) Culturally Responsive Teaching with Diverse Learners (CURI 6514, UNY 831) Cultural Proficiency (UNY 811) Multicultural Children’s Literature (UNY 820) n VESi (computer-based training in an online download): Teaching Diversity: Influences & Issues in the Classroom (EDV 518) - 2 graduate credits Teaching Diversity: Influences & Issues in the Classroom (EDV 418) - 2 undergraduate credits n FOR TEACHERS Online Seminars (5 hours): Culturally Responsive Classrooms

Site-based Seminars (3 hours): Creating a Culturally Responsive Classroom Creating Safer Spaces for LGBTQ Students The Impact of Culture on Student Achievement Inclusive Curriculum: Incorporating LGBTQ Topics into the Classroom Working with Economically Disadvantaged Students Understanding English Language Learners n New Member Seminars (2 hours): Educators Valuing Diversity Understanding English Language Learners n FOR SRPs Online Seminars (3 hours): Creating a Welcoming School Environment for English Language Learners Our World, Our Students

Site-based Seminars (3 hours): Engaging All Students: Focus on Poverty Increasing Comprehension of ELLs for SRPs Our World, Our Students n New Member Seminars (2 hours): Understanding Diversity: How Our Schools Are Changing Dignity Act: Training in Harassment, Bullying, Cyberbullying and Discrimination in Schools: Prevention and Intervention (6 hours) Sticks and Stones: Understanding Implicit Bias, Micro aggressions and Stereotypes

Visit our site at www.nysut.org/elt to learn about what else we can offer.

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 81 Notes:

Educator’s Voice n Volume XII n Page 86

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