AVReading

Recognizing Privilege Since I first read Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack back in grad school, I have been on a rather humbling journey-- one where I have started to notice little things about my life.  In fact, originally it was hard for me to process.  It’s like, in my first reading, I could only sip small amounts from the cup because I wasn’t quite ready to admit some things about my life that were rather uncomfortable.                     Let me back up and explain some things about McIntosh’s article.  In it, she outlines the idea of privilege and gives some examples of how it plays out in her life.  She is careful to talk about privilege in very personal terms, for fear of generalizing how others might know or experience the world.  She explains that privilege is a system of advantages bestowed upon a group b...

Talking about race for many members of the dominant culture is not easy.  Even for those who believe strongly in the principles of equity and justice, it can be difficult, uncomfortable and awkward.  In fact, for some of us, it’s a topic we just choose to avoid all together-- which is a type of privilege that not everyone is afforded.  As one of my friends stated last week, race is the single most important issue of our country: both its past and present.  And moving ahead as a community will mean that we get used to these uncomfortable and necessary conversations. With the beginning of each Culturally Proficient session we have had this year, leaders have posted the guidelines created by Glenn Singleton for having “courageous conversations.”  They typically include: Stay engaged, Speak your truth, Experience Discomfort, Expect a lack of closure, Listen to understand.   For this month’s newsletter, I’d like to more carefully exa...

The strength of lifelong teachers comes from their insatiable curiosity. They are perpetually dedicated to learning more, discovering more, questioning more.  They are intentional in the way they devote their resources to finding new and better ways to engage students and empower them to learn on their own.   In a similar fashion, we need to be intentional in our approach to cultural proficiency.  It isn’t something that happens in one or two, professional development sessions but a constant dedication to seeing and discovering the world around us, a conscious decision to prioritize equity, to better understand the inequities that exist, and to honor and acknowledge the humanity of all people.  For this month’s newsletter, I would like to offer some thoughts about how we can become more intentional with our choices, so that we can reduce some of our blind spots and foster a mindset that allows us to continue growing in our understanding. The...

Following the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia a few weeks ago, the hashtag Thisisnotus surfaced on Twitter.  The intention of the hashtag was to distance our culture from that of the white supremacists.  However, in doing so, the hashtag seemed to suggest that these events were an anomaly, that they are the exception to our culture, and that they do not represent our society today.   It didn’t take long for civil rights activists to point out that this notion is quite false.  In fact, this is us.  Our struggle with white supremacy is not new.  These organizations did not sprout overnight or spontaneously form over the summer.  What might be new is the awareness of the dominant culture.  The events of this summer have forced all of us-- even those who might have been unaware-- to come face-to-face with white supremacy throughout our country.  For some, it was a rude awakening. Part of the problem is many of us in...

This year, using Jeff Zwier’s Building Academic Language as a guide, we have examined ways that we can better help our students “talk” the language of school. As we bring this study to a close, I would like to highlight a few last academic language practices offered by Zwiers. First, it should be re-stated that building academic language requires constant attention. It means devoting time and thought to assist our students with not only the content of what we teach, but the language and grammar of school and the specific disciplines with which we work. Once that commitment is made, we have to work to find novel and varied ways to foster this language growth. Here are a few more practices that might be of use to you towards that end. Presentations and Evaluations: While some of us are using student presentations (group and individual), we might want to re-think how we use them, specifically with student audiences. For example, we typically put the emphasis on the product (the...

The relationship between reading and writing is complex. In fact, sometimes we write ourselves into comprehension. Or put another way, we write ourselves into understanding. A rather dramatic example of this is Supreme Court Justice Kennedy who originally voted on the side of Chief Rehnquist in the case of Planned Parenthood vs. Casey but sat down to write his position and came out on the other side of the decision, thus changing his vote. Writing plays a critical role in our processing of information. We make meaning as we take in information, process it, evaluate it, and ultimately communicate it. However, there isn’t really a universal style of writing. After all, the language and grammar of Fifty Shades of Gray is a little different from a textbook on human sexuality. The purposes of each are unique. Therefore, writing a log / journal for FACS should have a different tone and purpose than an analysis written for U.S. History or a lab report for earth science. Now here ...

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Reading Complex Texts Do you sometimes worry that your curriculum has been watered down to meet students where they are at? Do you worry that if and when these students make it to post secondary courses, they will be unprepared to meet the demands of school? This is perhaps my most regular and persistent concern in teaching. It feels like I am constantly tacking between assignments, tasks, and expectations that are too rigorous and those that are not rigorous enough, constantly searching for that sweet spot, that almost mythic and generally elusive Zone of Proximal Development where students get into that “productive struggle”. On occasion, I will steal some of the assignments my son-- Jacob-- has from college. I might post a writing prompt or an excerpt from one of his readings for my 9th graders to see. I show it to the students and ask them to reflect in writing for a little while. What do you think of that prompt / text? Would you be able to tackle it? What do y...

     As we move to more of a workshop model for our classes, we need to continue promoting classroom habits that enable students to become better at independent and small group tasks.  When it comes to small groups in particular, our goal is to both help them use their time wisely, to make meaning as a collective team, and to grow their language of school.  While students can develop and practice their academic language in writing and in full group activities, it is probably most meaningful to help them do so working in small groups.       It isn’t always easy for teachers to hand over responsibility to students for small group work.   And for good reason.  How many times do we designate learning or activities to small groups, and then realize that a number of the groups just don’t function well?  Either they are completely off task or one participant does all of the work.  Or worst of all, the...

In continuing our study of Jeff Zwiers Building Academic Language,  this month we will focus on how to create environments where students can develop their academic language through whole class discussions.     To start with, Zwiers points out how important it is to get students involved in classes.  And though this has been generally accepted by the community in theory, in practice this does not seem to be the case.  Zwiers offers research that found 85% of our class time today is devoted to lecture, recitation and seatwork.  Part of the problem stems from the very structure of our environments, where we try to “cover” content and material within a given timeline.  Class discussions take time, and they often aren’t easy to control so they might shoot off into unrelated tangents.  Teachers aren’t always comfortable with the uncertainty that comes with open ended classroom dialogue, preferring to ask quick, low-level qu...