Payton Teachers Endeavor to Create Equitable Classes (Continued from P

aw rint JANUARY 2019 Volume 18, Issue 3 ‘Year of Payton teachers endeavor Woman’ in politics to create equitable classes BY AHANA GUPTA Staff Writer ‘We need to meet students where they are’ The 2018 midterm elections led to the most women ever be- BY WILL FOSTER ing elected to political office at Editor the national level. A number of Payton teachers ing towards the same outcomes. Not very long ago, women have led a push this school year And maybe Person B … is doing were considered unfit for poli- to achieve greater equity in their A-okay and doesn’t need that ex- tics. As Olivia Gotsch ‘19 said, students’ learning experiences. tra support.” Last year, O’Malley “The standards for women in “There are a lot of things that can and other Payton administrators politics, at least in the public stand as obstacles to what a child attended a National Equity Project eye, are so much more stringent can really, truly achieve,” said Ali- conference. than they are for men. Women cia González, a French teacher and Aside from the PPLC, 18 Pay- can’t present themselves as the World Language Department ton teachers are members of the overly feminine, or they’ll be Chair at Payton. The goal she and National SEED Project (the ac- criticized as overly emotional her fellow educators are pursuing ronym stands for “Seeking Edu- and therefore unfit for office, but is, if not to eliminate those ob- cational Equity and Diversity”). on the flip side, there’s a lot of stacles, at least to minimize their French teacher Abby Imrem, who policing of women for not being effect. is also on the PPLC, leads the feminine enough.” “Education is the pathway to Payton cohort. “It’s basically a America is now realizing freedom,” said Leslie Russell, who way for us [teachers] to connect equal gender representation in teaches English and co-chairs Pay- with each other around different politics is a necessary forward ton’s Professional Personnel Lead- pieces of our own identities as Photo by Will Foster step. Social Studies teacher Mr. ership Committee (PPLC), which well as our students’ identities, Teachers plan a professional development session on equity. Menacho said, “It’s about time plans lessons for teachers’ sched- and to exchange stories and listen for female faces to be seen in uled professional development to each other,” Imrem said. “The in which more of an emphasis is perform when compared to their politics.” sessions. “School should not be a idea is that then we can serve our placed on flexible, individual- white peers. Students with dis- In 2018, women were in- place that replicates the inequities students, and do our jobs, even ized learning of topics as opposed abilities also perform at a lower volved not only as candidates that are so common in the rest of better.” Imrem attended a week- to rigid, standardized curricula. achievement level.” but also as voters; more wom- society.” long SEED training conference in While the full transition to CBL “I mean, I think life is inequi- en were registered to vote and The PPLC -- whose other co- Boston last summer with about 80 will likely take several years, it table,” González said. “But in a women voted in higher numbers chair is English teacher Michelle fellow educators from around the eventually has the potential to school like this, where you are tak- than men. Mowery, the Paw Print’s faculty country. transform education at Payton. ing kids from such diverse back- Previously, the highest num- adviser -- has made educational Even before this school year, Already this school year, AP U.S. grounds, I think it’s exacerbated. ber of elected women was 54 in equity its focus this school year. Payton had already taken signifi- Government classes (taught by Everyone comes in with different 1992. Not only was the sheer At 3:45 p.m. on a recent Monday cant strides toward an equitable Devine and Wiggins) have added strengths and weaknesses, but we number of 117 elected officials afternoon, the committee met in educational philosophy. For ex- an “outcomes-based” grading sys- treat everybody the same because a new record, but many wom- Russell’s classroom to continue ample, the school implemented a tem in which students can retake intelligence-wise, everyone’s the en were the first of an identity planning an upcoming presenta- “mood meter” so students could tests several times to achieve mas- same.” group to be elected. tion to their colleagues, entitled record their feelings on a spectrum tery. (The Math Department has Kinia Kinsey ‘19, a Payton Here are some of the firsts: “The Sociopolitical Context and posted on the board -- emblematic long maintained a similar policy senior who co-leads the school’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Systems of Oppression.” of Payton’s attempt to create an for its intro-level classes.) Black Student Union, also feels (NY): Youngest person elected “What we need to try to compel environment of “social-emotional “It creates a learning environ- more work is needed. “I don’t to Congress is a shift in mindset,” Russell, who learning” in addition to purely aca- ment where students are not being think that Payton’s classrooms are Ayanna Pressley (MA) and is also the faculty sponsor of Pay- demic learning. forced along in a curriculum,” said equitable,” Kinsey said, “because Jahana Hayes (CT): First black ton’s Black Student Union, told the Social Studies teacher Joshua Wiggins. “You’re ensuring that of the large population of students women from their respective handful of teachers sitting around Wiggins, a fellow in the National students have mastered the skills of color not excelling in math and states elected to Congress the circle. “We need to ask differ- Equity Project’s Leading for Eq- that will be required later on for science in comparison to their Marsha Blackburn (TN), ent questions, and be aware of and uity Institute, said he makes note more difficult tasks.” white classmates.” Kristi Noem (SD), Kim Reyn- check our own biases. Chiefly, I of where students are pinning When asked whether a lack of Kinsey feels she is sometimes olds (IA), and Janet Mills (ME): think we need to interrogate the themselves on the mood meter. equity is currently a significant singled out by teachers due to First female governors of their things that we’re afraid of.” “If a student stayed up super late problem at Payton, the teachers her identity. “On more occasions states “The idea of equity … is en- studying for another class then I’m interviewed for this story did not than one, I’ve been the only black Ilhan Omar (MN) and Rashi- suring that every child, every not likely to cold call that student hesitate in saying it is. “Payton is woman in my class and teachers da Tlaib (MI): First Muslim student, receives what he or she for an answer, [particularly be- a microcosm of education in this have … touched my hair or asked women elected to Congress needs to develop his or her own cause] they might not have done country at large,” Wiggins said. Sharice Davids (KS) and social and academic potential,” the reading for homework,” Wig- “So students of color, specifically Continued on p. 2 Deb Haaland (NM): First Na- said Assistant Principal Lauren gins said. “That’s not letting them black and brown students, under- tive American women elected O’Malley, who also teaches an AP off the hook; we’re going to have to Congress; Davids was also Research class. “In that respect,” a conversation about how we can the first openly gay person from she noted, echoing the thoughts manage work better … But in that See Inside ... Kansas elected to Congress. of other teachers, “equity is dif- moment, it’s avoiding putting the Veronica Escobar (TX) and ferent from equality. At the very student on the spot for not having Teacher music tastes p. 4 Sylvia Garcia (TX): First Latina least, everybody should be getting done the work. You’re responding women elected to Congress this, right?” She sketched out a to what they need.” A Day in the Life: Mr. Chau p.6 Abby Finkenauer (IA) and diagram on a piece of paper. “So Beginning last year, Principal Cindy Axne (IA): First women this is equality, but I think the eq- Timothy Devine and his fellow Queen beekeepers p. 7 from Iowa elected to Congress uity piece comes in when maybe Payton administrators began plan- Kyrsten Sinema (AZ): First this person, Person A, needs a little ning the implementation of com- What not to buy p. 8 Continued on p. 2 bit more help, if we’re all work- petency-based learning (CBL), 2 FEATURES PAW PRINT JANUARY 2019 Payton teachers endeavor to create equitable classes (continued from p. 1) BY WILL FOSTER Editor if everything is okay at home be- making the earning of that grade reward, work, reward: You do the gest,” she said, “and then I look at cause I missed a homework as- equitable,” said González. work, you get 10 points. And even my early assessments for students, signment,” she said. “It made me “We need to meet students if you bombed the test, you still and who really struggles the most, feel like a spectacle of some sort, where they are -- we use that ter- have those 10 points.” and I cater my instruction to the WALTER PAYTON making me want to go as unno- minology a lot, but it really makes Indeed, González said, home- kids who do the least well early COLLEGE PREP ticed as possible, which was prob- a lot of sense -- in order for them work often does not fairly assess on.” HIGH SCHOOL lematic because this is my educa- to have an equitable chance at student learning.

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