3 Critical Cultural Issues of Reaching Students:
I stared at my boss with blank eyes as she repeated her question. “How culturally aware are you?” Back then, I was still a principal, and the question had come up in a conversation about hiring, supporting and retaining high quality teachers. I blinked, wondering how this could even be a question. I clearly was a minority, I had lived in another country, my first language is not English, I had experienced racism in the U.S. Wasn’t I the poster child of cultural awareness? “You have a school with 99% minorities; do you want to be successful?” In the moment, I found myself beginning to get defensive; had I not SEEN my students, who they were, what they brought to the table? Thinking back on that experience, I now realize just how culturally out of tune I was. I was so focused on what I was doing and my own cultural experience, that I didn’t think of why that question might even be important for me to explore – this issue of how cultural differences (regardless of which cultures are represented) can impact people’s experiences in and around education. How every individual that is part of a school community has an attitude and a manner of behaving that is, in part, shaped by our culturally context and cultural identity. And yes, this includes me. In recent years, I have begun to explore more in depth what cultural awareness means and how I can be more culturally aware in order to better understand my students and teachers with whom I work. After all, if I can’t understand the people I serve, how can I possibly reach them? In exploring this topic, I’ve come to the following conclusion: while culture is quite complex, there are three critical things, particularly for immigrant teens, that we must learn quickly and begin to address if we want to make a difference in a student’s life: We must learn about their culture. What do you know about the cultural richness and assets of the students in your class beyond stereotypes? What do students value? How do students define their culture? What is important to them and what is their educational experience? Students who are used to having an adult-driven, seated in rows educational experience might have a hard time adjusting to a collaborative project that involves students debating each others point of views because it goes against a cultural norm that has long been established. We learn how to involve their parents and community allies What expectations do parents have of teachers and schools? Are teachers and schools on the same page around the role of parents in the education of their child? Are there additional resource in the community that your families trust? We must learn and appreciate how culture impacts learning What prior knowledge do students have? What are priorities for your students and how will that impact learning and the way students resolve conflicts in the classroom? How will your students learn best? By answering these questions, you can begin to learn more about the students that you serve as well. In the end, every person brings a set of experiences that serves as a lense through which we see the world. This is not a bad thing, but one that makes it more critical that we as teachers make our first job that of being lifelong learners. That is the true key to success.
What is the Impact You Want to Have?
In the wake of the Florida events that have shaken our nation, I have spent a great deal of time reflecting. Reflecting on my life, the work I do with schools, and the legacy that I will one day leave behind. This reflection has reminded me that educational reform is not just about helping schools move the data, but about creating environments that are inclusive, thoughtful, resilient, and full of overall decent human beings that contribute to this world as compensation for their existence in it. Yet these traits don’t just develop on their own. While potentially wonderful, it is a rare occasion for educators to arrive on the first day of school to find these qualities fully developed in everyone. No, it is much more likely that these characteristics have to be explicitly taught, fostered, nurtured, and developed when it matters the most. So how do we create these fully inclusive environments where all children and adults are able to thrive and perform as their best selves? There’s no set formula, but one key component is to build trusting relationships. Enabling strong relationships built on trust is not only critical for strong academic achievement, but a vital step in fostering the people we should all aspire to be. So what is trust? Trust is belief. It is the belief that you are here for me and I am here for you – that we have each other’s back. It is is knowing that when a person says they are going to do something, they do it. It is knowledge that one is safe to say what they believe and know that it will not be “held against” them. It is the certainty that the only failure is the unwillingness to try something, and the belief that “learning mistakes” are opportunities to continue on a path of lifelong learning rather than to ridicule. These days, this sort of trust in each other’s humanity and emotional safety is like a unicorn – almost mythical. Why is building trusting and emotionally safe environments for every student and adult so difficult in schools? Well, it’s difficult to say – backgrounds, experiences, cultural differences, language barriers, emotional baggage, prior skills, and emotional intelligence are just a few reasons that might contribute. But it also comes, in part, from this issue of expectations. Do we all have the same expectations, are our expectations of each other understood, and are our expectations driven by assumptions and judgements about the individuals around us. When we go to a school where we are not safe to challenge judgements, assumptions, and expectations with each other, it is easy for a particular comment about a homework assignment made by a teacher to lead to big problems. So how can we build the trust needed to create an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive? See everyone as human beings first Take time to evaluate your own judgements (“this is good…”, “this is bad…”), where they come from, and remember that when someone doesn’t believe the same thing as you, it does not make it wrong Take time to make sure that everyone’s expectations are understood – students’, staffs’, and parents’ Teach everyone active listening skills (students, teachers, paraprofessionals, etc.) Use discussion protocols to resolve conflict when it inevitably arises Reserve regular time for reflection – for yourself, teachers, and students Get feedback and a variety of perspectives on how trust is earned, fostered, and measured in your school In the end, building the trust needed for great learning to take place is going to require that we all become a little vulnerable to others and get more in tuned with ourselves. It is going to require that we accept each other, with all of our differences, as fellow human beings. And It is also going to take some time. We are so wired to set goals, monitor progress towards them, implement district initiatives, etc. that it will take some time for schools to learn two things: a) that implementing initiatives and meeting goals is so much more effective when you have a relationship built on trust with the person with whom your are planning, and b) that the journey to the goal is the goal. Even though this work is demanding and sometimes wearisome, it does pay off. Some of the benefits of intentionally addressing the climate through trust are: Decrease stress levels Creates a support system within the school environment Fosters a sense of comradery Develops a community where each person is a member Fulfills the need to be heard as a person Creates a share ownership to ongoing growth and learning Increased confidence and ability to contribute Increased student achievement
New Provisions in ESSA Cause Schools to Ask: How do We Improve Teaching?
The Every Student Succeeds Act has everyone wondering what it is going to take to meet the new responsibilities written into the legislation when it comes to struggling schools and entities that serve English Language Learners. While states now have greater autonomy and ownership over the goals they set for students, it is with the explicit understanding that with this responsibility comes accountability to show results. In the end, there are a number of changes that stand out of from No Child Left Behind (NCLB). However, one of the most interesting is the focus on professional development and efforts to retain high quality teachers in districts – particularly those teachers who serve the most needy and at-risk student populations. In Title III (the part of the act that discusses supports and expectations for the academic achievement of English Language Learners), Section 3102 it states that, “the purpose of this part (is) … to help ensure that English learners, including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency and develop high levels of academic achievement in English … (by) improving teaching skills in meeting the diverse needs of English learners, including how to implement effective programs and curricula on teaching English learners.” So in the midst of budget cuts, increased teacher responsibility, greater class sizes, and other challenging conditions, how can your school improve teachers’ skill set to serve diverse students and the implementation of effective programs designed to meet their needs? Plan like a teacher. But not just any time. Effective professional development begins with intense planning that includes the same components as those used by effective teachers: Clear objectives, the essential learnings that must result, clear assessment of its effectiveness, and delivery (or instructional) strategies for engaging each learner in the deep thinking required for lasting change.Schools will need to leverage their very precious time in new and innovative ways. This means that some information that previously dominated professional development may now need to be communicated via email or a brief staff meeting. People who work in schools, know the number of initiatives, critical deadlines, district updates, etc. that arise during the course of the year. However, if we are really going to “improve the teaching skills” of teachers who serve the most challenging populations, it is going to take time, at the very least. Think long term. Remember that the objectives do not need to be achieved today. School reform does not take place over night as it involves people’s beliefs and long-standing habits that have served them well. Each person in the school system plays a role in the success of every student. In order to meet their needs as a learner (to be challenged enough to want to engage, but not so hard that they give up), a plan must be devised. As part of planning to improve teaching, schools must evaluate what they are doing well and what critical steps will move them to the next level. By staggering these steps towards greatness, schools can ensure stakeholders that are willing to stick with the challenges that emerge along the way. Consider the number of initiatives. At any given time, schools are offered a wide variety of partnerships, initiatives, and other programs that are designed to help students succeed. The greatest challenge then, is that not every partnership supports the particular goal of all schools. And because schools move at lightning speed, when a partnership is brought in that does not support the goals of the school, it only works to distract from what is important. Consider staggering the number of partnerships, initiatives, and other programs to coincide with the measurable goals that you have for your learners. Not only that, but be sure that that the initiatives being implemented by schools are housed and monitored in one location. This way, the work load, manageability, and coherence of programming can be seen at a glance. Approaching it in this way, will also give schools a chance to see the sheer number of initiatives that teachers are trying to manage, which should give them a sense of the number of initiatives they will be able to do well. Focus on students. Do not implement without measuring. How are students responding to new initiatives? Are the programs being implemented positively impacting student achievement? What about for subgroups? Student success should be the number 1 deciding factor in terms of the implementation, retention, and cessation of programs and initiatives. Because without measuring the impact for children, we will never truly be able to target and reproduce success for our students. Drastically increase implementation support. Consider how you fulfill these needs in your adult learners. Do teachers and other personnel who work with students have a model of what effective implementation looks like? Do they have the ability to observe someone else? Do they have the opportunity to be guided by an expert teacher when they are stuck in implementation? Is there someone checking in or conferring with them around they implementation goals? And what is the accountability for their implementation of the professional development that takes place whole group? Finally, and most importantly, is to increase the amount of support during the implementation phase of any program and initiative. During implementation, teachers are dealing with uncertainty, feelings of doubt, lack of expertise, and few references for what success might look like. It is during the implementation phase that most initiatives actually fail. Not because they are bad initiatives, or because they don’t potentially meet the needs of the student population, but because teachers lose the support when they need it the most. Think about effective literacy instruction. You have a model (an opportunity to see it in action with an explanation of what was seen and time to process that experience), shared practice, possibly partnered practice, guided practice, independent practice, conferring, accountable talk, etc. All these things serve to support students during the implementation of a new strategy. More and more, we are seeing that professional development fails to produce
New PD Offerings for 2016/2017
What Every School Must Know About Transitioning to ESSA:
Every school is ramping up to prepare for the quickly approaching start date of the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This act, which replaces NCLB, is set to go into effect on August of 2016. So what should every educator know? One critical thing for educators to know is that, while there is greater flexibility for schools in several areas, schools must still show their accountability system. ESSA creates accountability through annual measurable objectives, or AMO’s. AMO’s are meant to define district’s new AYP. Now, schools that were previously defined as in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring, won’t have the results of that status removed. These schools will still have to prove that the same or similarly designed interventions are in place in order to improve the achievement levels of the students that the school serves. However, one new addition is that schools no longer have to offer school choice, SES or parent notice. Of course, there are a great deal of other implications that come with the shift out of NCLS and into ESSA. But the question of accountability is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Next week, we’ll look at how assessments are viewed. Will there be more testing?
Teacher Appreciation
How Is Everyone a Language Teacher?
Over recent years, it seems that the challenges students face when having academic conversations have only gotten larger. Students struggle to have meaningful conversations, they struggle to stay on topic, they struggle to find the words to help them speak knowledgeably and precisely about the topic being discussed. While these challenges exist for a number of reasons, the reality is that these are challenges that impact us all. Whether we are teachers of Reading, Math, Science, junior high, high school, or the elementary level, we all rely on language as the vehicle for learning and measuring the impact of our teaching. And in the world of education, oral language is king. We talk, explain, lecture, discuss, read out loud, and listen each and every day. Oral language is part of the fabric of teaching. Yet, do we actually know what oral language actually is? Well, oral language is generally made up of the following five elements: academic vocabulary – understanding the meaning of words (T1 – T 3) morphological skills – understanding the impact of word parts on word meanings (including prefixes and suffixes) syntax – understanding the rules of word order and grammar phonological skills – understanding the range of sounds pragmatics – understanding the social rules and nuances of conversation and communication Instruction that works to develop students’ oral language has to begin with the recognition that students can not be sheltered and kept from critical questions with no easy answers. Rather, as teachers we have a great opportunity to layer in oral language in order for our students to access this rigorous content. While we will talk more about the strategies that increase oral language development, the following are just a few ways that you can begin to do this: Make time for focused and critical discussions, Promote meaningful and deep conversations by providing language frames to guide the communication, Explicitly teach students the rules of how to have conversations prior to using structures like turn and talk, Provide opportunities for students to engage with rich and complex texts, Advance students’ academic vocabularies by selecting fewer words to master more deeply with a focus on application in all areas of their language use, Allow time for reading aloud to students in order to provide access to more challenging texts thy may not able to access on their own Use content area texts to teach critical grammatical structures that Allow time for students to talk through their understanding before putting anything to paper.
How Modeling Translates to Outcomes for Struggling Students & ELLs:
Modeling is one research-based strategy that allows students to hear a teacher’s thought process. By making their thinking or process visible and clear, teachers are able to help students to mirror or parallel that thinking process or level of performance. This is nothing new and it is mostly human nature. When we want to learn something new, most of us go online and look for a youtube video or an example of it on some website, like pinterest that will give a clear visual. When I wanted to learn how to braid my daughter’s hair, I went online and watched a 5 minute video. It showed me the process and talked me through each step as it was going on, which helped to guide me when I was ready to start braiding her hair. For struggling students and English language learners, the theory is no different. Rather, this is an essential strategy that must be used if ELLs and struggling students are to be successful. A well-planned and clear model can be used any time of the year to show students a way of thinking about something or a way to do something. With strong models, students get a clear visual of what is expected of them and what success looks like. When modeling a new task (as in during math problems, science experiments, etc.), students get the opportunity to feel more confident as they begin a new task since they know what the steps and process that is expected of them. Additionally, think alouds help students to understand how to interpret, analyze, and make inferences about content that has just been learned. When thinking aloud, it is important for students to understand the thought process or the “why” as the teacher is working through the problem. It is also important to consider what language to use in order to make the teaching as clear and explicit as possible for the range of learning needs represented in your class. So how can you begin modeling effectively in your own classroom? Try following this quick process. Teacher explains what the skill or strategy is and why there is a need for the skill that is about to be presented. Teachers shows how to do the new skill (routines or procedures can be taught in this manner as well), walking through each step explicitly. Teacher explains “out loud” why they are including each step in the process as they get to it. Students have the opportunity to share what they notice about the modeled skill or strategy. Students practice the new skill or strategy right away while it is fresh in their minds allowing them to forge the new learning and make the connections stronger. Teacher observes students as they practice and they receive immediate and targeted feedback while practicing the new skill or strategy in order to avoid misconceptions becoming part of the newly acquired skill or strategy.
What Makes a Text Complex?
So the easy answer is short sentences and easy vocabulary makes sentences and texts easier to understand. Right? Well, not exactly. Some leveled texts that English language learners and struggling readers get, end up having really choppy sentences that communicate nowhere near the quality or quantity of material than their high achieving and mono-lingual peers receive. In some cases, the depth of content learning these students receive is comparable to the instruction and exposure received by students’ 3-4 grades below their own. So are simplified texts a problem for comprehension and content mastery, in general? Not necessarily. It goes back to how text complexity and readability is calculated by most publishing companies. When the majority of companies simplify a text, they do so by limiting the number of words and controlling the difficulty of vocabulary. However, by trying to adhere to these constraints, many of these texts end up becoming more difficult to comprehend. This is because the consistency in voice, relationship between sentences, exposure to the grammatical structures of the discipline, relevance, and usefulness of the information are compromised to meet requirements. English language learners and struggling readers are ultimately left to infer or guess much of the background information, causal relationships, and relevance of the information presented, because none of that information is provided. Additionally, students with language limitations make these inferences with texts that might not be as engaging as those of their monolingual and avid reading peers. This leaves our students at a greater disadvantage to have the ability or motivation to engage in such guess work. So if these books cannot serve as the model of academic language, what can, and how should this resource be used? The answer is not necessarily changing one resource for another. Rather, it is understanding that there is more to text complexity for struggling readers and English language learners than the number of words in a sentence and how hard the vocabulary is. Some of the other ways that texts are complex is the syntax, context, grammatical structures used, verb tense, use of pronouns, and semantics. Together these components work together to help students create or struggle with meaning. Students actually need an opportunity to engage, at times, with grade level texts that contain all of these complex language structures. This interaction with grade level texts is a powerful opportunity to gain access to rich, vivid accounts of the content they are expected to learn. Grade level texts also give learners a chance to learn grade appropriate academic vocabulary, grammatical structures, phraseology, and linguistic devices that are a natural part of the discipline in that grade. However, English language learners and struggling readers cannot simply be handed a grade level text to see how they do. It must come with teacher support. Teachers can and must take the opportunity to show students how language is used and ways they can incorporate those structures into their own language use in order to support students’ language development. More importantly than using grade level texts, however, is to know that there is no one text that is going to serve the full range of needs that your ELLs and struggling readers have. The key is to balance. There are times that a modified text might be the perfect resource to frontload some key ideas for a small group of students before the entire group begins a unit of learning. There are other times that you want to do a close reading of a Social Studies textbook in order to provide students with the opportunity to analyze a powerful section of the text that is critical for the unit of study. Other times, it might be something different such as: Independent reading Content reading Buddy reading Interactive read aloud Shared reading Readers theater in-class assignments homework All of these structures for reading with students allow for varying level of readability and language complexity. As part of the planning process, teachers can think about what is appropriate for their students based on the learning outcome for the lesson and language proficiency levels in order to help them make wise decisions about the texts they chose at any given time. Just remember to use more than sentence and word length as the determining factor for choosing the text. Other considerations can be the following: syntax, context, grammatical structures used, verb tense, use of pronouns, semantics
VOCABULARY JOURNAL: Building Academic Vocabulary with SPEED™
It’s finally available!!!! The student journals for academic vocabulary called, VOCABULARY JOURNAL: Building Academic Vocabulary with SPEED™ is now available on Amazon! So why did we create this resource? Well, we know that challenges with vocabulary strongly influence the readability of a text (Chall & Dale, 1995). Not only that, but lacking vocabulary is known to be a critical factor in overall school failure or success in disadvantaged students (Biemiller, 1999). Yes, it is a disheartening fact that ELs and struggling students have notably lower vocabularies than their counterparts ((Oller & Eilers, 2002), because these vocabularies are such strong predictors of overall achievement. One reason for this is that their native English learnering peers acquire an estimated 3,000 new words each year in school (Nagy & Anderson, 1984). This vast number of words helps native English students achieve growth in reading comprehension and their ability to communicate mastery across content areas. The self-fulfilling prophecy is that this reading growth and content mastery creates the path for native speakers and students to, in turn, learn more words which will fuel even further growth down the line. But for EL’s and struggling students, the challenge with vocabulary is greater than just acquiring the same 3,000 new words each year. These students come with such a range of size in their vocabulary (Snow & Kim, 2007), that it is almost impossible to calculate what it would take for these students to reach the same vocabularies, and by extension the same opportunity for school success, as their native classmates. It is because of this that it becomes almost impossible to have a singular approach to helping them catch up to their peers. So what is the solution? Well, the solution needed to be one that blossomed from the uniqueness of each learner’s situations and the reality of the schools in which they learn. The solution to this challenge came organically, from studying tons of research, watching great teachers, and analyzing the impact of different approaches on student learning and engagement. I call it SPEED™. SPEED™ is a comprehensive vocabulary acquisition process that allows for the introduction, building background knowledge, explicit teaching, meaningful and varied practice, and metacognitive dialogue that allows EL’s and struggling students to acquire vocabulary words quickly and profoundly. Since many studies suggest that the amount of instructional time devoted to building vocabulary is simply not enough, part of the SPEED™ approach includes teachers’ willingness to commit to increase the amount of consideration given to vocabulary instruction. Again, the commitment is to consider vocabulary needs when planning, not to necessarily increase the amount of time. In parts 1 and 2 of this book, we will share simple and time-efficient ways of doing this. An additional piece that makes SPEED™ effective is that students are asked to develop goals around their word usage outside of vocabulary “time”. This goal setting, helps students transfer the knowledge of the vocabulary gained during safe practice into other situations and times when the term would be appropriate. So, are you ready to help your students acquire academic vocabulary with SPEED?