A Walk in Their Kicks On-Line Institute, Seminar One Supporting - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A Walk in Their Kicks

On-Line Institute, Seminar One Supporting Literacy for Black Students May 5, 2020

Aaron Johnson, Jamie Almanzán, and Graig Meyer

theequitycollabortive.com

Here’s what we’re going for TODAY…

Session Outcomes

• Engage in equity conversations that feel productive in order to gain a new level
• f discourse about issues of oppression and privilege
• Share our personal and professional WHY for working in education and

towards equity

• Establish literacy as a social act (Bandura, 2001; Johnson, 2018; Kucer, 2009;

Vygotsky, 1978)

• Begin an analysis of the intersection of race, class, sociopolitical thought,

theory, and literacy

Cell #

248-918-8912

Twitter

@i2_sing_america

I’m Aaron!

Text questions or comments during the session!

Text questions or comments during the session!

I’m Jamie!

Cell #

510 - 967 - 4705

Twitter

@jalmanzan @equitycollab

Cell #

919-824-4180

Twitter

@equitycollab

I’m Graig!

Text questions or comments during the session!

Working towards equity means…

Eliminating the predictability of success and failure that currently correlates with any social or cultural factor Interrupting inequitable practices, challenging biases, and creating inclusive school environments for all

Coaching and Facilitation Learning Theory and Culturally Responsive Teaching Equity and Oppression

Equity Collaborative Transformation Frame

Literacy As a Social Construct — A Theoretical Base

• The following theories support viewing literacy through the

sociocultural paradigm

• Gestalt Theory - Kurt Koffka (1922/1935)
• Reflex Theory - Ivan Pavlov (1941)
• Social Learning Theory/Social Cognitive Theory - Albert Bandura

(1960/1986)

• Social Development Theory/Zone of Proximal Development - Lev

Vygotsky (1978)

Literacy as a Social Act

• Literacy is a civil right
• Perceptions of students have an impact on how we help them develop literacy
• Learning, thus literacy, is a social act
• School structures, content, and curriculum support the dominant power and

• Students need to form a connection between their identities and texts
• There is a disconnect between home literacy and school literacy

Literacy as a Social Act

• Literacy is a civil right
• Perceptions of students have an impact on how we help them develop literacy
• Learning, thus literacy, is a social act
• School structures, content, and curriculum support the dominant power and

• Students need to form a connection between their identities and texts
• There is a disconnect between home literacy and school literacy

Driving Question

What do you know about the history

• f African-American education, and

how does it impact your support for African-American students?

Breakout Room Conversation ONE

Driving Question

A Walk in Their Kicks

• A Walk in Their Kicks: Literacy, Identity, and

• “Scholastic Liberation: Scholastic Liberation:

Why don’t teachers find out what we like and then teach us that?

“

“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”

Breakout Room Conversation TWO —

What resonates with you from Blake and Aaron’s story?

Driving Question

What do you love about reading? "I like just being able to enjoy a book” If you could change anything about schools’ reading instruction practices, what would you change? “I would change all of the annotating, and writing, and comprehending about what we read.”

Inquiry Into Teaching Practices

Emerging Themes

• Teachers’ Expansion of Their Definitions of Literacy
• The Necessity of Teacher Use of Evidence-Based Instructional

Strategies

• Teachers’ Recognition of the Importance of and Relationship to:
• Student Connections to the Teacher
• Student Connections to the Text
• Student Connections to the School
• Teachers’ Improved Understandings of Students’ Literacy Practices

School Expected Literacy African American Male Literacy Development

The Black Male Literacy Paradigm

Breakout Room Conversation Three — Describe one area of the paradigm that you already know about and another that you would like to know more about.

The Black Male Literacy Paradigm

These schools to be under a visitor who is annually to choose the boy of best genius in the school, of those whose parents are too poor to give them further education, and to send him forward to one of the grammar schools, of which twenty are proposed to be erected in different parts of the country, for teaching Greek, Latin, Geography, and the higher branches of numerical arithmetic. Of the boys thus sent in one year, trial is to be made at the grammar schools one or two years, and the best genius of the whole selected and continued six years, and the residue

• dismissed. By this means twenty of the best geniuses will be raked from

the rubbish annually, and be instructed, at the public expense, so far as the grammar schools go.

Notes on the State of Virginia

Write a response to the statement by Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia.

• Who is the residue?
• Who is the rubbish?
• Who was school for?
• Name ONE action that you have

taken THIS YEAR as an educator that goes against the answers to those three questions

Notes on the State of Virginia

Achievement Gap vs. Education Debt

Our focus on the achievement gap is akin to a focus on the budget deficit, but what is actually happening to African American and Latina/o students is really more like the national

• debt. We do not have an achievement gap; we have an

education debt” (Ladson-Billings, 2006, p. 5)

“

Teachers’ Expansion of Their Definitions of Literacy “Um, I don't know that my definition has changed, but it's certainly

• expanded. And I-I talked about this at our last session as well. I think,

you know, going into it I had this conception of literacy as we read, and we write, and we understand those things that we read and we write. And I think that that has expanded to include the- the listening, the speaking, the you know, kind of world literacy of understanding social cues, and the kind of code switching that our students do every day. All

• f that is included in literacy. So it's all that decoding that they have to

do on a daily basis. So I definitely think it's- my definition has expanded since- since we started the class.”

Inquiry Into Teaching Practices

The Necessity of Teacher Use of Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies “Over the course of 30 years of teaching I've logged a lot of hours

• f staff development. I typically attend these things with an
• pen mind. If I can gain a couple of things to experiment with, its

a win. I’m still pulling on some things that I learned in college. I'm forever putting a different spin on things or combining ideas to try to fit the unique needs of various students in my class.”

Inquiry Into Teaching Practices

Teachers’ Recognition of the Importance of and Relationship to: Student Connections to the Teacher, Student Connections to the Text, Student Connections to the School “And there've been a variety of reasons, some of which have actually been experiences with their teachers. Which surprised

• me. And then they say that they don't feel empowered. That's

what it comes down to. So they've kind of felt victimized, in some cases, with experiences that they've had with their

• teachers. I mean, there's a wide variety of reasons. But that one

kind of struck me the most, I think.”

Inquiry Into Teaching Practices

Teachers’ Recognition of the Importance of and Relationship to: Student Connections to the Teacher, Student Connections to the Text, Student Connections to the School “It is extremely important for students to see themselves represented in the texts in which they read. The text allows students to feel validated, drawing a link between school and

• life. The text should also include African Americans who have

‘made it’ despite the odds to help encourage the students that read the text.”

Inquiry Into Teaching Practices

VS

The Hate U Give — Book Club

• Students across a High School were

• 60+ students participated
• Students were given the opportunity
• n two occasions to participate in

• Students were taken to the movie to be

Chat Box Conversation — What are some of the ways that you have engaged your African American students in school-based literacy?

Literacy Practices

“And I think just asking them- like, I think that makes those connections which seems to be- my takeaway so far from this whole course, is that like, the strategy we need is to connect with our chil- like, our students. So just make those connections. Like, that's the whole like, 'give a damn' strategy. That's the damn strategy. Like, find out what they

• need. Like, come to where they are.”

Michael 7th grade teacher

• Visit the resources page on our

website

• theequitycollaborative.com/resources/

presentation-resources/

• Join us for four more sessions this

week:

• Wednesday: Racial Identity Development
• Thursday: Critical Race Theory
• Friday: Equity Movie Discussion

Learn More with the Equity Collaborative

In the Chat Box…

• What was helpful from today’s

session?

• What would you change to

improve this session?

• How are you feeling at the end of
• ur time together?

Final Reflections