Giroux, Henry.(2001) Theory and Resistance in Education. Greenwood Publishing
Chapter 6: Literacy, Ideology, and the Politics of Schooling
In this chapter, Giroux talks about the perceptions and definitions of literacy. One definition fo literacy sees it as something that is functional or beneficial for economic mobility, and is divorced from context. New literacy continues with this idea of literacy being functional by adding media and tech literacy to its definition. Giroux wants to critique these definitions by including the study of literacy as a political structure where “ideologies are constituted and inscribed in the discourse and social practices of classroom life.” He looks at three ideologies and their influence on literacy: Instrumental, interactionist, and reproductive. Instrumental is the ideology that sees knowledge as the “celebration of fact”—objective accumulations of data, empiricism, formulaic, and value-free with little value placed on ethics or history. Interaction ideology sees learning as an “interaction between the person and his objective world.” If focuses on how meaning is constructed, is more psychological and focused on the person and is concerned about personal growth, happiness, etc. It contains two sub-groups: cognitive-developmental and romantic. Reproductive takes on the question of “how a social system reproduces itself” and looks at the social, economic, and political aspects of schooling and how schooling is largely seen as an “ideological state apparatus” that ensures the continued existence of the status quo. One aspect of this ideology is examining the “hidden curriculum” that is inherent in classroom practices and feed into existing social structures, as well as critically analyzing the interplay of power and control. Examining “power, culture, resistance, and social change” are important aspects of this ideology. Finally, he introduces the idea of critical literacy which can produce “oppositional forms of knowledge and practice” referencing the thinking and writing of Paulo Freire in his explanation when he explains that literacy “is a quality of human consciousness as well as the matery of certain skills” and that our role as educators is to enter into dialogue about the “concrete situations and lived experiences that inform their daily lives.” In other words, the purpose of literacy should be to teach skills, yes, but to put those skills to use in helping to make sense of and change the world.
This was a very dense chapter and I admit I struggled through a lot of it as I don’t have much background in literacy studies, but once I was able to make sense of it, the idea of critical literacy really resonated with me and re-enforced my approach to teaching writing. I’ve always seen writing as a tool of empowerment and I’m very passionate and excited about this part of my “mission” as an educator. It ties in well with another article that I read that I didn’t post here because it was more of a handbook on implementing critical research projects in schools, which I love and hope to introduce in my classroom.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Teacher Leadership Capacity-Building: Developing Democratically Accountable Leaders in Schools
Mullen, Carol A. and Jones, Rahim J. (2008) 'Teacher leadership capacity-building: developing democratically accountable leaders in schools', Teacher Development, 12:4, 329-340
This case study used qualitative data to explore practices of school leaders and the implications of their choices to social justice and teacher empowerment. This study assumes the goal is to create democratic schools were all teachers grow as leaders and where the school leaders facilitate opportunities for teacher leadership and establish a culture of trust, honesty and professionalism. The case study included three high performing elementary schools in Florida. This study also assumes a new understanding of school leadership as one where school leaders and teachers work together to shape policy, create curriculum, enhance instruction and improve education for all children. Researchers looked specifically at how school leaders intentionally build capacity in their schools, the processes and structures they use to facilitate leadership and the roles and selection they employ among the teaching staff. Their research shows the importance of teacher involvement with the decision making and policy making of the school. Emerging from the study of all three schools was a list of multiple avenues for teachers to become more involved in the leadership of the school and in creating a system of social justice.
What may be most helpful in this article for potential or current school leaders to consider are the multiple reflections and comments from teachers and school leaders about how a principal can encourage teacher leadership. There are examples of how school leaders can express the value of teacher appreciation, examples of how teachers can feel empowered and examples of how to develop professional learning communities. Ultimately, three findings in their conclusion can inform how successful a leader will be in developing a democratic community. These are: the style of the principal, school based leadership opportunities and professional learning communities. All of these elements are important to think about when leading a school.
This case study used qualitative data to explore practices of school leaders and the implications of their choices to social justice and teacher empowerment. This study assumes the goal is to create democratic schools were all teachers grow as leaders and where the school leaders facilitate opportunities for teacher leadership and establish a culture of trust, honesty and professionalism. The case study included three high performing elementary schools in Florida. This study also assumes a new understanding of school leadership as one where school leaders and teachers work together to shape policy, create curriculum, enhance instruction and improve education for all children. Researchers looked specifically at how school leaders intentionally build capacity in their schools, the processes and structures they use to facilitate leadership and the roles and selection they employ among the teaching staff. Their research shows the importance of teacher involvement with the decision making and policy making of the school. Emerging from the study of all three schools was a list of multiple avenues for teachers to become more involved in the leadership of the school and in creating a system of social justice.
What may be most helpful in this article for potential or current school leaders to consider are the multiple reflections and comments from teachers and school leaders about how a principal can encourage teacher leadership. There are examples of how school leaders can express the value of teacher appreciation, examples of how teachers can feel empowered and examples of how to develop professional learning communities. Ultimately, three findings in their conclusion can inform how successful a leader will be in developing a democratic community. These are: the style of the principal, school based leadership opportunities and professional learning communities. All of these elements are important to think about when leading a school.
- Exemplary principals go beyond involving teachers in decision-making processes; they co-create the conditions for a supportive environment that encourages teachers to examine their teaching and school practices, and experiment with ideas that result from reflective practice. (p. 330)
- The vision of a new profession of well-educated teachers prepared to provide leadership toward restructuring American schools manifests in such teacher leadership roles as curriculum developer, research coordinator, mentor, lead teacher, and school improvement team member... the most prevalent recommendation for improving America's schools was that teachers should take on more of the leadership of their schools.
- If schools are going to improve, principals must focus their efforts not only on student achievement, learning, and accountability, but also on facilitating the development of teachers as social justice workers committed to citizenship, ethics, and diversity.
- The teachers in this study have shared that they want to work with principals who are willing to listen, support their decision making within reason, and trust what they say and do. Teachers are willing to take on more leadership responsibilities where they respect and admire their principals and feel supported by them.
Creating Teachers' Perceptual, Behavioral, and Attitudinal Change Using Professional Development Workshops
Shriner, Michael, Schlee, Bethanne, Hamil, Melissa and Libler, Rebecca (2009) 'Creating teachers' perceptual, behavioral, and attitudinal change using professional development workshops', Teacher Development, 13: 2, 125- 134.
As providing high quality teacher professional development comes to the forefront of our current political state, many studies have focused on how the professional development that is being offered can impact systemic change and student achievement results. This study, however, was conducted to determine how the participants in four different professional development workshops change their knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and behaviors as a result of being involved. The four different options for professional development were: Technology for PE Teachers, 1000 Ways to Open Lockers/ Keys to Creative Problem Solving, Using Environmental Media to Stimulate Interest in Reading and Math Concepts. They were offered over the summer of 2007 for K-12 teachers who were given a stipend and able to select which workshops to attend. They used pretests and post-tests to gather data around how teachers expanded their knowledge and skills as a result of the professional development. Based on the results, researchers gleaned three dimensions to help plan professional development that will ultimately translate into increased effectiveness in the classrooms for the teachers in attendance. These dimensions are: a focus on academic content (subject matter and student learning goals); opportunities for hands-on experience and active learning; and information that fosters a sense of coherence (with school goals, individual goals, state mandates, etc.).
While I found some aspects of this research helpful, including the quotes below, for the most part, I did not learn new information about which types of professional development will most positively impact teachers' development. Since the researchers all used the workshop model and each workshop was on a different topic with different teachers involved, there was not much comparison. The teachers who attended reported satisfaction and the desire to change their practice as a result of the workshop. However, the teachers involved in the study, which was both optional and offered over the summer, were likely teachers who enjoy learning and enjoy implementing new strategies learned during professional development.
Important Quotes
As providing high quality teacher professional development comes to the forefront of our current political state, many studies have focused on how the professional development that is being offered can impact systemic change and student achievement results. This study, however, was conducted to determine how the participants in four different professional development workshops change their knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and behaviors as a result of being involved. The four different options for professional development were: Technology for PE Teachers, 1000 Ways to Open Lockers/ Keys to Creative Problem Solving, Using Environmental Media to Stimulate Interest in Reading and Math Concepts. They were offered over the summer of 2007 for K-12 teachers who were given a stipend and able to select which workshops to attend. They used pretests and post-tests to gather data around how teachers expanded their knowledge and skills as a result of the professional development. Based on the results, researchers gleaned three dimensions to help plan professional development that will ultimately translate into increased effectiveness in the classrooms for the teachers in attendance. These dimensions are: a focus on academic content (subject matter and student learning goals); opportunities for hands-on experience and active learning; and information that fosters a sense of coherence (with school goals, individual goals, state mandates, etc.).
While I found some aspects of this research helpful, including the quotes below, for the most part, I did not learn new information about which types of professional development will most positively impact teachers' development. Since the researchers all used the workshop model and each workshop was on a different topic with different teachers involved, there was not much comparison. The teachers who attended reported satisfaction and the desire to change their practice as a result of the workshop. However, the teachers involved in the study, which was both optional and offered over the summer, were likely teachers who enjoy learning and enjoy implementing new strategies learned during professional development.
Important Quotes
- Workshops were especially designed to have three key elements including 'clearly stated goals communicated to the participants,' 'a leader or facilitator guiding the participants' learning,' and 'group structure that necessitated a collegial learning environment'. In particular these workshops were designed 'to be offered for shorter periods of time and address more discrete learning goals, such as learning to use a particular set of lessons or try a new assessment strategy'.
- Not only did the participants of this study believe they had learned concrete information and skills, they also believed they were capable of translating these newly acquired skills into actual classroom application.
Choice without Equity: Charter School Segregation (Executive Summary)
Frankenberg, E., Siegel-Hawley, G., Wang, J. (2010). Choice without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards. Los Angeles, CA: The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA; www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu.
During a time when there is great financial incentive and national political pressure to expand charter schools, these schools continue to be some of the worst perpetrators of school segregation by race and class. The authors present data from 40 states, the District of Columbia and many large urban areas with considerable percentages of charter schools demonstrating that charter schools are clearly more segregated than traditional pubic schools.
The authors identify four major themes that emerge from the study:
First, charter schools, though increasing in number, make up a small fraction of schools nation-wide. Only 2.5% of students attend charter schools and, although there is great federal pressure to raise this number, there is not compelling evidence that charter schools in general offer better educational options.
Second, charter schools are more segregated than traditional schools. Charter schools often locate in urban areas with high concentrations of black and other minority students, making charter schools highly segregated schools for black children in particular. Over 70 percent of black students that attend charter schools attend schools with 90-100 percent minority students. 43 percent of these students attended schools with 99 percent minority students. In total, black students comprise approximately 30 percent of all charter students. This means black students who attend charter schools will most likely attend intensely segregated schools. This trend is true, to a lesser extent, for all minority charter school students, who are more likely to attend a segregated charter school than a traditional public school.
Third, depending on the region of the country being studied, charter school trends vary widely. Different proportions of students of different races attend charter schools, sometimes trending against the wider demographics of the region, depending on the region of the country being studied. This is true for white, black and Latino students.
Fourth, there is alarmingly little data offered by some schools, cities and states, making charter school assessment on many of these issues somewhat difficult. Many charter schools (one in four) do not report data on low-income students and many also do not report data on English Language Learners. More data must be available to ensure that charter schools are serving all students equitably.
The federal government should take immediate steps to promote charter school integration by updating civil rights regulations as they apply to charter schools. There also needs to be assurances, based on regulation, that data can be collected around race, class and language ability of charter school students. Data on socioeconomic status should be included in the charter school evaluative process.
Important Quotes:
“Decades of social science studies find important benefits associated with attending diverse schools, and, conversely, related educational harms in schools where poor and minority students are concentrated.”
“Ironically, charter schools held an early promise of becoming more integrated than regular public schools because they were not constrained by racially isolating school district boundary lines. This report shows instead that charter schools make up a separate, segregated sector of our already deeply stratified public school system.”
Housing Policy is School Policy
Schwarz, Heather. Housing Policy is School Policy: Economically Integrative Housing Promotes Economic Success in Montgomery County, Maryland. The Century Foundation, 2010.
Schwarz’s paper looks at the longitudinal effects of socioeconomic integration of elementary schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. Montgomery County is one of the top twenty richest counties in the nation, located just outside of Washington D.C. Less than five percent of County residents are poor and less than a third of students qualify for free or reduced (lower than the national average of nearly 43 percent). However, a majority of students are members of minority groups. Montgomery County has done much to attempt to integrate schools across racial and economic lines and is highly successful as measured by County graduation rates, graduating nine out of every ten students. The County operates “by far the largest inclusionary housing program” in the nation. This program requires developers to reserve a particular percentage of housing units for low-income families. Although similar programs have been developed in other states, the inclusionary housing program in Montgomery County offers a third of its units for purchase by the public housing authority. These units are provided as federally subsidized public housing units to families falling below the poverty line. Families are randomly assigned to public housing units, which strengthens the study, as these families are not able to self-select into neighborhoods with strong public school options.
Specifically, Schwartz looks at 850 students over a period of seven years, all of whom live in public housing. She finds that students who attended schools with very low poverty (schools with 0-20 percent free or reduced price lunch) performed significantly better than students who attended schools with high levels of poverty.
Studies, which began in earnest after the 1976 Supreme Court ruling in Hills vs. Gatutreaux, (resulting in the movement of some families in public housing in Chicago to new, low-poverty neighborhoods) demonstrate that children make substantial academic gains, but only after a period of up to seven years. In Montgomery County, Schwartz also found that academic gains for low-income students who moved to low-poverty neighborhoods did not increase immediately, but did so over time.
As with racial integration (which closely mirrors economic integration), Schwarz admits that it is possible that children from backgrounds of poverty that are integrated into low-poverty settings could experience isolation and the hardening of stereotypes that lead to a decrease in academic performance. Because there has been so little substantive housing integration in other parts of the country, this is a topic that has been subject to very little academic research. In Montgomery County, however, Schwarz was clearly able to show that children benefited from such changes and there was a clear correlation that as poverty levels within in a school rose, academic gains for students decreased.
Important Quotations:
“The most common hypotheses about the positive impacts that low-poverty neighborhoods have on children include decreasing stress levels through less expo- sure to crime, gang activity, housing mobility, unemployment, weakened family structure, and through better access to services and resources such as libraries and health clinics; increasing academic expectations and performance through increased access to positive role models and high-performing peers, skilled employment opportunities close to home for their parents, quality day care and out-of-school resources, and prevailing norms of attending and staying in school; and promoting the adoption of pro-social attitudes and behaviors, with less exposure to peers and adults engaged in violent behavior, drug use, or other antisocial activities.”
“Put another way, changing the poverty level among the student body could affect school practice through five primary mechanisms: teacher quality, since teachers are sensitive to the student composition of the school and are more likely to transfer or exit when placed in poor schools; school environment, because high-poverty schools experience greater churn in staffing and students as well as higher levels of confrontation; increased parent involvement, where middle-class parents tend to establish a norm of parental oversight by customizing their children’s school experiences; teacher-student interactions, since teachers calibrate their pedagogical practice to the perceived levels of student skills and preparedness; and peer interactions, since peers form the reference group against which children compare themselves, and by which they model behavior and norms.”
A Systematic Review of School-Based Interventions to Prevent Bullying
Vreeman, R.C. Carroll, A.E. (2007). A Systematic Review of School-Based Interventions to Prevent Bullying, 161(1),78-88.
Summary
This article begins to explore and review solutions and programs based on the need to reduce bullying
in primary and secondary schools. The study was created to conduct a systematic review of rigorously evaluated school-based interventions to decrease bullying. The authors outline and define the study in which they looked at 2090 article citations and reviewed relative articles from the citations. The authors evaluated 56 articles and found 26 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The interventions had to meet a series of criteria to be consider part of the study. Studies chosen examined a school-based intervention to prevent or reduce bullying. Articles were immediately excluded if they obviously did not include an intervention or did not occur at a school. Data such as academic achievement, perception of school safety, self-esteem, or knowledge about or attitudes toward bullying was also collected throughout the study. The authors gathered articles from databases such as MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Educational Resources Information Center, Cochrane Collaboration, the Physical Education Index, and Sociology: A SAGE Full-Text Collection. They searched for articles using a broad keyword search of the words Bullying and Bully. The articles were grouped into different types of studies or interventions so they could be compared equally in their effectiveness. The types of interventions could be categorized as curriculum (10 studies), multidisciplinary or "whole-school" interventions (10 studies), social skills groups (4 studies), mentoring (1 study), and social worker support (1 study). The stated results of each intervention type concluded that only 4 of the 10 curriculum studies showed decreased bullying. 10 studies evaluating the "whole-school" approach, revealed that 7 of them decreased bullying. Three of the "social skills" training studies showed no clear bullying reduction. The "mentoring" study found decreased bullying for mentored children. The study of "increased school social workers" found decreased bullying, truancy, theft, and drug use. The article concludes that any school based interventions directly reduce bullying however, they discovered better results from interventions that crossed multiple disciplines. Direct curricular changes do not often affect bullying behaviors. Other outcomes indirectly related to bullying are not consistently improved by the interventions that were considered as part of the study.
Evaluate
This article was well written, clear and concise. The information is presented in a well thought out format that allows the reader to easily follow. I was hoping to get more out of this article. It clearly points out a focuses on anti-bullying studies that have been tried in different school settings. It analyzed each study that had to meet a list of requirements in order to be chosen. I would have like to heard more about the details of each study. Although the content is a bit thin, the studies that are included are excellent resources for strategies to deal with bullying. A wide variety of studies and interventions are included. As a result this article could be very useful for teachers, principals and administrators to reference in looking for information on different anti-bullying strategies and bullying prevention.
Quotes/Citations
"Ten studies evaluated the implementation of new curriculum. The curriculum interventions included videotapes, lectures, and written curriculum, and varied in intensity from a single videotape followed by classroom discussion to 15 weeks of classroom modules. The details of the study designs, participants, intervention type, and important outcomes of the curriculum interventions are all described in table 1. The studies all used a pretest, posttest, control group design; 6 of the 10 studies randomized the assignment of the groups.
"Ten studies evaluated interventions using a multidisciplinary whole-school approach that included some combination of schoolwide rules and sanctions, teacher training, classroomcurriculum, conflict resolution training, and individual counseling. The whole-school studies involved more subjectsthan the curriculum interventions, with up to 42 schools in a single study. Only 2 of the studies evaluated interventions among secondary school students, and the rest looked at primary schools. In contrast to the curriculum studies, only 2 of the whole-school studies incorporated randomization in their study design. Two of the studies used a quasi-experimental design with time-lagged age cohorts."
"Four studies looked at targeted interventions involving social and behavioral skills groups for children involved in bullying. Two of these interventions specifically targeted children with high levels of aggression, while the other 2 targeted children who were themselves victims. Of the 4 studies, 3 focused on older students, in sixth through eighth grades, while the fourth looked at third-grade students. The most positive outcomes occurred for the youngest students. DeRosier tested the efficacy of social skills group training for third-grade students with peer relationship difficulties in 11 public primary schools in North Carolina. The intervention resulted in decreased aggression on peer reports, decreased bullying on self-reports, and fewer antisocial affiliations on self-reports for the previously aggressive children. This was the only social skills training intervention that showed clear reductions in bullying from the intervention."
" A single study, done by Bagley and Pritchard, examined the effects of an increase in the number of school social workers focused on problem behaviors, including bullying. Compared with matched control schools, they found a significant decrease in self-reported bullying within the primary school, but worsening bullying in the secondary school. For self-reports of theft, truancy, fighting, and drug use, the primary and secondary intervention schools had significant improvements. A study by King investigated the effects of a mentoring program for "at-risk" children. The mentored students were significantly less likely than their nonmentored age-matched peers to report bullying, physically fighting, and feeling depressed in the past 30 days."
"The curriculum interventions were generally designed to promote an antibullying attitude within the classroom and to help children develop prosocial conflict resolution skills. Most of these interventions drew on the social cognitive principles of behavioral change, with focus on changing students' attitudes, altering group norms, and increasing self-efficacy"
"Despite the evidence pointing toward the value of whole-school approaches, significant barriers may still limit their effectiveness. The implementation of the intervention can vary significantly, and this clearly alters the results. The original antibullying whole-school approach studied in Bergen by Olweus and the evaluation of the same program in Rogaland by Roland produced the most strikingly disparate results. The contrast may have been the result of decreased school staff participation at the Rogaland schools."
Comments: As a teacher that is helping to create an Anti-Bullying campaign with our school. This article was extremely beneficial to help find strategies that have worked and failed. The next step is to share this article with other teachers and administrators, find strategies that we believe will fit our needs well and work with each other to design a program specifically for our unique student population.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Radical equations Robert Moses
Moses Robert, (2007) Radical Equations.
Chapter 1, Algebra and Civil Rights.
This article is written by a peace activist who makes the argument that the most urgent social issue affecting the poor and people of color today is economic access. This access to economics is largely based on math and science literacy.
The author’s project titled the “Algebra Project” is designed to equal the playing field for those previously denied access.
The author brings the analogy of slave labor with the invention of the cotton gin. He argues that at the birth of the cotton gin black labor became unneeded for the harvest of cotton. Similarly, the factories that were economic powerhouses for this country are now being shipped overseas due to cheaper labor and cost of materials. As the need for cotton pickers had diminished, and the need for assembly line workers diminished, the need for “knowledge workers” grew.
The article brings out a few good points such that “sixty percent of new jobs will require skills possessed by only 22 percent of the young people entering the job market now.” The author states that “the most important factor affecting the long term production of scientists is the tragic inadequacy of our primary and secondary science and mathematics education.“
One alarming statistic of the article “A young man born this year has a one in twenty chance of living some part of his life in jail…unless he is Black, then the chance jumps to one in four.”
The article talked very little about the mathematics needed to take us into the next few decades. It offers no suggestions as to how math should be taught or how it is going to be necessary for students to learn. I do believe that mathematics is the great equalizer, but this article left me with the feeling that math is just a tool needed to do exciting things later on. I feel that this is part of the problem as to why students are failing to understand math in the first place. Math can be taught in a way that is exciting, interesting, and have lasting impacts. This article is great if you have young activists in the classroom who want to be motivated, but leaves me with a feeling of wanting more.
Chapter 1, Algebra and Civil Rights.
This article is written by a peace activist who makes the argument that the most urgent social issue affecting the poor and people of color today is economic access. This access to economics is largely based on math and science literacy.
The author’s project titled the “Algebra Project” is designed to equal the playing field for those previously denied access.
The author brings the analogy of slave labor with the invention of the cotton gin. He argues that at the birth of the cotton gin black labor became unneeded for the harvest of cotton. Similarly, the factories that were economic powerhouses for this country are now being shipped overseas due to cheaper labor and cost of materials. As the need for cotton pickers had diminished, and the need for assembly line workers diminished, the need for “knowledge workers” grew.
The article brings out a few good points such that “sixty percent of new jobs will require skills possessed by only 22 percent of the young people entering the job market now.” The author states that “the most important factor affecting the long term production of scientists is the tragic inadequacy of our primary and secondary science and mathematics education.“
One alarming statistic of the article “A young man born this year has a one in twenty chance of living some part of his life in jail…unless he is Black, then the chance jumps to one in four.”
The article talked very little about the mathematics needed to take us into the next few decades. It offers no suggestions as to how math should be taught or how it is going to be necessary for students to learn. I do believe that mathematics is the great equalizer, but this article left me with the feeling that math is just a tool needed to do exciting things later on. I feel that this is part of the problem as to why students are failing to understand math in the first place. Math can be taught in a way that is exciting, interesting, and have lasting impacts. This article is great if you have young activists in the classroom who want to be motivated, but leaves me with a feeling of wanting more.
Racism and the Achievement Gap
Chris Webber:
Weissglass, J. (2001, January). Racism and the achievement gap. Education Week, 20(43), 49-72.
I chose to write on this article because I had heard that Mr. Weissglass had spoken very well at the UN conference against racism which was held in South Africa earlier in the decade. Weissglass begins by stating how disappointing it is that the world’s richest country has failed so miserably in reducing the achievement gap between white students and students of color. Weissglass contends that since schools are the “primary formal societal institutions that young people encounter” schools are very responsible to ensure that all racism is countered. If schools fail to do so the deepseated racism that is present in American society will simply be perpetuated.
Although Weissglass seems to disagree with standardized tests because they tend to favor Caucasian children, he did offer some interesting ideas on the tests themselves. Weissglass mentions that although eugenic ideas and organizations tended to disappear after Nazism ended with the defeat of Germany in WWII…“the ideas persist, often in subtler and more sophisticated forms, and affect our society and our schools”.
The article explains that Caucasian teachers who have been able to close the achievement gap in their classrooms have themselves overcome the effects that racism and the stereotyping of others had on them. Well intended teachers, hard work and an excellent curriculum will not according to Weissglass close the achievement gap as effectively as communities where “it is safe enough for the invisible to be made visible, where whites can listen to people of color talk about how they and their ancestors have experienced racism, and where people of color can listen to whites talk about how they saw racial prejudice in operation and how it affected them”. The article suggests that as teachers we should set up “healing communities” where people can talk about their experiences with racism. It also says that teachers who are uncomfortable with this should consider how fruitless reform has been so far and that they should “risk new approaches” in dealing with the achievement gap.
This article is very relevant to my practice as a teacher as I always saw the issue of narrowing the achievement gap as something that had to be sorted out with either the government or school district in which I teach. This article made me think about what I can do as a teacher to help rectify the problem.
Weissglass, J. (2001, January). Racism and the achievement gap. Education Week, 20(43), 49-72.
I chose to write on this article because I had heard that Mr. Weissglass had spoken very well at the UN conference against racism which was held in South Africa earlier in the decade. Weissglass begins by stating how disappointing it is that the world’s richest country has failed so miserably in reducing the achievement gap between white students and students of color. Weissglass contends that since schools are the “primary formal societal institutions that young people encounter” schools are very responsible to ensure that all racism is countered. If schools fail to do so the deepseated racism that is present in American society will simply be perpetuated.
Although Weissglass seems to disagree with standardized tests because they tend to favor Caucasian children, he did offer some interesting ideas on the tests themselves. Weissglass mentions that although eugenic ideas and organizations tended to disappear after Nazism ended with the defeat of Germany in WWII…“the ideas persist, often in subtler and more sophisticated forms, and affect our society and our schools”.
The article explains that Caucasian teachers who have been able to close the achievement gap in their classrooms have themselves overcome the effects that racism and the stereotyping of others had on them. Well intended teachers, hard work and an excellent curriculum will not according to Weissglass close the achievement gap as effectively as communities where “it is safe enough for the invisible to be made visible, where whites can listen to people of color talk about how they and their ancestors have experienced racism, and where people of color can listen to whites talk about how they saw racial prejudice in operation and how it affected them”. The article suggests that as teachers we should set up “healing communities” where people can talk about their experiences with racism. It also says that teachers who are uncomfortable with this should consider how fruitless reform has been so far and that they should “risk new approaches” in dealing with the achievement gap.
This article is very relevant to my practice as a teacher as I always saw the issue of narrowing the achievement gap as something that had to be sorted out with either the government or school district in which I teach. This article made me think about what I can do as a teacher to help rectify the problem.
Cultural Diversity, Motivation, and Differentiation
Ginsberg, M. (2005). Cultural Diversity, Motivation, and Differentiation. Theory Into Practice, 44(3), 218-225.
Summary:
The article begins by exploring certain definitions of motivation in the context of educational research. Ginsberg chooses to describe motivation through measures of interest, effort, perserverance, and completion (219). She refers to her own work in calling for a comprehensive understanding of motivation that is culturally responsive and therefore more intrinsically motivating to all students. Ginsberg goes on to address some of the challenges inherent in creating this kind of curriculum for all students, in that an individual student’s response to a learning environment is a complex web involving the ethnic/cultural background, language, values, perceptions, and ethnic/racial history. She asserts that even incorporating student voice in classroom structures is problematic, since some students might view these activities as too personal or inappropriate (220).
Ginsberg then reviews extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation and makes a point about how students who do not respond to extrinsic motivational factors (grades, prizes, college) are often described as lacking ambition or self-direction. She connects this with the idea of learned helplessness and states that for many students, rewards and sanctions are not compelling methods for increasing motivation. She reminds educators that relying on threats and bribes for control, while talking about a lifelong approach to learning, is a contradictory approach. Ginsberg, quoting two other researches, then claims that “what is culturally and emotionally significant to a person evokes intrinsic motivation.” This claim is not substantiated.
Ginsberg then goes on to state that most lesson plans do not adequately address “ethnic and cultural diversity.” (221) She asserts that since there are no systematic approaches to a culturally responsive and motivating curriculum, the efforts of individual teachers are limited and essentially a matter of guesswork.
Ginsberg then goes on to present her motivational framework, which has four conditions: “establishing inclusion, developing a positive attitude, enhancing meaning, and engendering competence.” She provides further descriptors of these conditions and a helpful graphic. Ginsberg reframes the conditions as essential questions.
She then presents an example of the motivational framework in action in an individual teacher’s classroom. Ginsberg asserts that since “the response a student has to a learning activity may not coincide with that of the teacher,” practitioners need to combine data with student voice, in the form of interviews and home visits with a small cohort of four students. She claims that this will help teachers “know students, families, and communities well.” Finally, she lays out two case examples of teachers who have used these practices. No information on the efficacy of these practices is presented.
Discussion of Quality/Relevance:
Ginsberg makes some intriguing points. She suggests that activities in which educators intend to increase student voice may actually make some students uncomfortable, because of their different cultural backgrounds. This is a point I wouldn’t have considered, and it is one worth exploring in more detail.
She also makes a short but interesting claim that students who don’t respond to the extrinsically-motivating efforts of their teachers (rewards, sanctions, etc) are often viewed as lacking motivation, when in fact they haven’t been offered the right kind of classroom structures that support genuine motivation. This is a point worth noting.
Other than that, this article has some troublesome qualities. Ginsberg states, at the outset, that it will discuss “motivation as it relates to student learning within culturally diverse classrooms” (218) and states on the first page that “awareness of and respect for cultural diversity influences motivation.” (218). While these are intriguing ideas, Ginsberg does not fully explore and explain the connections between cultural diversity and motivation. Instead, she relies on somewhat thinly supported quotations from other researchers about the connections between the response students have to learning and their cultural backgrounds. Again, the idea of this connection is interesting, and perhaps it’s obvious, but the lack of explanation and support is disappointing.
The crux of this piece is Ginsberg’s assertion (again, quoting others rather than explaining herself) that “what is culturally and emotionally significant to a person evokes intrinsic motivation (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995),” (221) since the entire focus of this piece is about connecting cultural relevance with intrinsic motivation. That she doesn’t substantiate that claim and the ones she makes beforehand made it hard for me to take the piece seriously. To be fair, this is a short piece and obviously there is much more research that went into the piece, but taken on its own, the thinness of the quotations/explanation is a real stumbling block. While I can understand the basic idea that students who can’t relate to the tasks at hand won’t be intrinsically motivated, but I’m not sure fixing that problem requires a four-step framework. Developing lessons that students can relate to seems like a fundamental quality of good teaching. This does not seem like a revolutionary idea.
Finally, Ginsberg’s presentation of the research in a practical context is not entirely helpful. It’s not validated by a larger study; she presents two schools where her framework for motivation has been applied on small scales. Granted, it is hard to get research into actual classrooms. But I’m not exactly sure what the takeaways are supposed to be from the case examples she presents.
Reflection on Relevance to My Practice:
I SO wanted this article to work for me. After reading the abstract, I was excited, since it combines another research interest of mine (motivation/flow) and the work we are doing around equity/diversity. I knew the two topics were intimately connected before I began this particular round of research, and I expected that this article would provide food for thought and potentially introduce some new ideas for research.
Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out that way. This piece seems thinly sourced, and the crux of the piece doesn’t come across as entirely solid. I found the fundamental assertions to be not especially interesting, and since the work isn’t supported by substantive research, it’s hard to take it seriously.
If I were to take anything away from this, it would be that I’ve learned that my action research needs to be deeply connected to authentic problems and issues, be thoroughly supported by existing research, and be as thoroughly tested and research as possible. It also makes me clear that I should focus on the crux of my conclusions and make sure it is substantial, thoughtful, and truly authentic.
Quotations:
“This article discusses motivation as it relates to student learning within culturally diverse classrooms.” (218)
“This article proposes that awareness of and respect for cultural diversity influences motivation...Across cultural groups, all students are motivated, even when they are not motivated to learn what a teacher has to offer. Determination to find ways to encourage motivation is fundamental to equity in teaching and learning, and is a core virtue of educators who successfully differentiate instruction.” (218)
“To a large extent, the response that a person has to a learning activity reflects his or her ethnic or cultural background (Kitayama & Markus, 1994). In fact, social scientists today regard the cognitive processes as inherently cultural (Rogoff & Chavajay, 1995). For all people, language, ethnic and racial history, experience with political and economic oppression, sense of opportunity, values, and perceptions converge in the response to teaching and learning.” (220)
“Nonetheless, teachers inevitably face the reality that the very notion of student voice may vary across cultural groups...An ongoing challenge for educators is to respect diverse values and orientations while working with students to create learning experiences in which all students can comfortably engage.” (220)
“When students do not respond to these incentives or sanctions, a sociopathological view of underachievement tends to prevail, that is, the notion that something is wrong with the student. Students are likely to be described as lacking ambition, initiative, or self-direction.” (220)
“Speaking the language of life-long and substantive learning, but relying on an extrinsic approach to teaching and learning, are contradicting purposes.” (220)
“What is culturally and emotionally significant to a person evokes intrinsic motivation (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995).” (221)
“But to a large extent, the response that a person has to a learning activity reflects his or her cultural background, talents that have been nurtured, peer group relations, and so forth; the response a student has to a learning activity may not coincide with that of the teacher.” (223)
“In fact, due to motivation’s emotional base and natural instability, it is judicious to painstakingly plan the milieu and learning activities to enhance student motivation. For projects, self-directed learning, and situational learning, as in the case of problem posing, teachers may not be so bound to a formal plan.” (224)
“The learning environment provides a meaningful context for addressing and redressing the ways bias occurs. The task of understanding, talking about, and working against racism and its consequences may seem formidable.” (224)
Summary:
The article begins by exploring certain definitions of motivation in the context of educational research. Ginsberg chooses to describe motivation through measures of interest, effort, perserverance, and completion (219). She refers to her own work in calling for a comprehensive understanding of motivation that is culturally responsive and therefore more intrinsically motivating to all students. Ginsberg goes on to address some of the challenges inherent in creating this kind of curriculum for all students, in that an individual student’s response to a learning environment is a complex web involving the ethnic/cultural background, language, values, perceptions, and ethnic/racial history. She asserts that even incorporating student voice in classroom structures is problematic, since some students might view these activities as too personal or inappropriate (220).
Ginsberg then reviews extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation and makes a point about how students who do not respond to extrinsic motivational factors (grades, prizes, college) are often described as lacking ambition or self-direction. She connects this with the idea of learned helplessness and states that for many students, rewards and sanctions are not compelling methods for increasing motivation. She reminds educators that relying on threats and bribes for control, while talking about a lifelong approach to learning, is a contradictory approach. Ginsberg, quoting two other researches, then claims that “what is culturally and emotionally significant to a person evokes intrinsic motivation.” This claim is not substantiated.
Ginsberg then goes on to state that most lesson plans do not adequately address “ethnic and cultural diversity.” (221) She asserts that since there are no systematic approaches to a culturally responsive and motivating curriculum, the efforts of individual teachers are limited and essentially a matter of guesswork.
Ginsberg then goes on to present her motivational framework, which has four conditions: “establishing inclusion, developing a positive attitude, enhancing meaning, and engendering competence.” She provides further descriptors of these conditions and a helpful graphic. Ginsberg reframes the conditions as essential questions.
She then presents an example of the motivational framework in action in an individual teacher’s classroom. Ginsberg asserts that since “the response a student has to a learning activity may not coincide with that of the teacher,” practitioners need to combine data with student voice, in the form of interviews and home visits with a small cohort of four students. She claims that this will help teachers “know students, families, and communities well.” Finally, she lays out two case examples of teachers who have used these practices. No information on the efficacy of these practices is presented.
Discussion of Quality/Relevance:
Ginsberg makes some intriguing points. She suggests that activities in which educators intend to increase student voice may actually make some students uncomfortable, because of their different cultural backgrounds. This is a point I wouldn’t have considered, and it is one worth exploring in more detail.
She also makes a short but interesting claim that students who don’t respond to the extrinsically-motivating efforts of their teachers (rewards, sanctions, etc) are often viewed as lacking motivation, when in fact they haven’t been offered the right kind of classroom structures that support genuine motivation. This is a point worth noting.
Other than that, this article has some troublesome qualities. Ginsberg states, at the outset, that it will discuss “motivation as it relates to student learning within culturally diverse classrooms” (218) and states on the first page that “awareness of and respect for cultural diversity influences motivation.” (218). While these are intriguing ideas, Ginsberg does not fully explore and explain the connections between cultural diversity and motivation. Instead, she relies on somewhat thinly supported quotations from other researchers about the connections between the response students have to learning and their cultural backgrounds. Again, the idea of this connection is interesting, and perhaps it’s obvious, but the lack of explanation and support is disappointing.
The crux of this piece is Ginsberg’s assertion (again, quoting others rather than explaining herself) that “what is culturally and emotionally significant to a person evokes intrinsic motivation (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995),” (221) since the entire focus of this piece is about connecting cultural relevance with intrinsic motivation. That she doesn’t substantiate that claim and the ones she makes beforehand made it hard for me to take the piece seriously. To be fair, this is a short piece and obviously there is much more research that went into the piece, but taken on its own, the thinness of the quotations/explanation is a real stumbling block. While I can understand the basic idea that students who can’t relate to the tasks at hand won’t be intrinsically motivated, but I’m not sure fixing that problem requires a four-step framework. Developing lessons that students can relate to seems like a fundamental quality of good teaching. This does not seem like a revolutionary idea.
Finally, Ginsberg’s presentation of the research in a practical context is not entirely helpful. It’s not validated by a larger study; she presents two schools where her framework for motivation has been applied on small scales. Granted, it is hard to get research into actual classrooms. But I’m not exactly sure what the takeaways are supposed to be from the case examples she presents.
Reflection on Relevance to My Practice:
I SO wanted this article to work for me. After reading the abstract, I was excited, since it combines another research interest of mine (motivation/flow) and the work we are doing around equity/diversity. I knew the two topics were intimately connected before I began this particular round of research, and I expected that this article would provide food for thought and potentially introduce some new ideas for research.
Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out that way. This piece seems thinly sourced, and the crux of the piece doesn’t come across as entirely solid. I found the fundamental assertions to be not especially interesting, and since the work isn’t supported by substantive research, it’s hard to take it seriously.
If I were to take anything away from this, it would be that I’ve learned that my action research needs to be deeply connected to authentic problems and issues, be thoroughly supported by existing research, and be as thoroughly tested and research as possible. It also makes me clear that I should focus on the crux of my conclusions and make sure it is substantial, thoughtful, and truly authentic.
Quotations:
“This article discusses motivation as it relates to student learning within culturally diverse classrooms.” (218)
“This article proposes that awareness of and respect for cultural diversity influences motivation...Across cultural groups, all students are motivated, even when they are not motivated to learn what a teacher has to offer. Determination to find ways to encourage motivation is fundamental to equity in teaching and learning, and is a core virtue of educators who successfully differentiate instruction.” (218)
“To a large extent, the response that a person has to a learning activity reflects his or her ethnic or cultural background (Kitayama & Markus, 1994). In fact, social scientists today regard the cognitive processes as inherently cultural (Rogoff & Chavajay, 1995). For all people, language, ethnic and racial history, experience with political and economic oppression, sense of opportunity, values, and perceptions converge in the response to teaching and learning.” (220)
“Nonetheless, teachers inevitably face the reality that the very notion of student voice may vary across cultural groups...An ongoing challenge for educators is to respect diverse values and orientations while working with students to create learning experiences in which all students can comfortably engage.” (220)
“When students do not respond to these incentives or sanctions, a sociopathological view of underachievement tends to prevail, that is, the notion that something is wrong with the student. Students are likely to be described as lacking ambition, initiative, or self-direction.” (220)
“Speaking the language of life-long and substantive learning, but relying on an extrinsic approach to teaching and learning, are contradicting purposes.” (220)
“What is culturally and emotionally significant to a person evokes intrinsic motivation (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995).” (221)
“But to a large extent, the response that a person has to a learning activity reflects his or her cultural background, talents that have been nurtured, peer group relations, and so forth; the response a student has to a learning activity may not coincide with that of the teacher.” (223)
“In fact, due to motivation’s emotional base and natural instability, it is judicious to painstakingly plan the milieu and learning activities to enhance student motivation. For projects, self-directed learning, and situational learning, as in the case of problem posing, teachers may not be so bound to a formal plan.” (224)
“The learning environment provides a meaningful context for addressing and redressing the ways bias occurs. The task of understanding, talking about, and working against racism and its consequences may seem formidable.” (224)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Helping Teachers Teach Well: Transforming Professional Development
Corcoran, T. B. U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research. (1995). Helping teachers teach well: transforming professional development Washington, DC: The Consortium for Policy Research in Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/CPRE/t61/index.html
As the idea of professional development changes for public schools in this country, the government and educators must think about what professional development means, what is currently happening in most schools and where policymakers need to take action to help it move forward. This issue from the Consortium for Policy Research in Education Policy Briefs shows how professional development can be organized, what the costs can be, how to ensure its effectiveness, and how to assess whether or not the programs are working. It is designed to support state policymakers in making decisions about how to spend public professional development money for the millions of teachers in the over 85,000 public schools in our country.
While some of the lessons in the 15 year-old brief appear outdated, many hold true. Some of the lessons that ring true and school leaders can learn from as they prepare professional development in their own schools are listed here: States (and schools) need to continue to allocate money for teachers to grow, to reflect on and to improve on their own practices. The professional development (PD) will be more successful if it is linked closely to the school site initiatives and if the expertise of the teachers on the ground are taken into account. The PD should provide opportunity for the teachers to grapple with, explore and debate issues in a constructivist manner. At school sites, PD needs to be accessible and available to everyone with sufficient time allocated for follow-up and support. Perhaps the most compelling lesson from this brief is that there is no magic solution for professional development. Educators need to be involved in the process of developing effective PD for their school sites and schools should experiment with offering different types of PD. Finally, the article provides examples of schools that are trying different types of collaboration, research and professional development that can serve as good models for policy makers and school leaders.
Essential quotes from the brief that may help school leaders in developing their own professional development are listed below:
As the idea of professional development changes for public schools in this country, the government and educators must think about what professional development means, what is currently happening in most schools and where policymakers need to take action to help it move forward. This issue from the Consortium for Policy Research in Education Policy Briefs shows how professional development can be organized, what the costs can be, how to ensure its effectiveness, and how to assess whether or not the programs are working. It is designed to support state policymakers in making decisions about how to spend public professional development money for the millions of teachers in the over 85,000 public schools in our country.
While some of the lessons in the 15 year-old brief appear outdated, many hold true. Some of the lessons that ring true and school leaders can learn from as they prepare professional development in their own schools are listed here: States (and schools) need to continue to allocate money for teachers to grow, to reflect on and to improve on their own practices. The professional development (PD) will be more successful if it is linked closely to the school site initiatives and if the expertise of the teachers on the ground are taken into account. The PD should provide opportunity for the teachers to grapple with, explore and debate issues in a constructivist manner. At school sites, PD needs to be accessible and available to everyone with sufficient time allocated for follow-up and support. Perhaps the most compelling lesson from this brief is that there is no magic solution for professional development. Educators need to be involved in the process of developing effective PD for their school sites and schools should experiment with offering different types of PD. Finally, the article provides examples of schools that are trying different types of collaboration, research and professional development that can serve as good models for policy makers and school leaders.
Essential quotes from the brief that may help school leaders in developing their own professional development are listed below:
- "There is a growing body of opinion among "experts" that the conventional forms of professional development are virtually a waste of time. In this view, lectures, workshops and other conventional forms of information delivery and training are too top-down and too isolated from classroom realities to have an impact on teachers' practice."
- "A number of organizations have proposed setting standards for teachers' professional development... Standards might help improve the quality and efficiency of professional development. However, while these proposals are useful for discussion, it is important that state and local policymakers engage teachers in the process of setting standards for states or districts. Teachers have a great deal of insight into what has made professional development effective or ineffective in the past, and will be more likely to support changes to the current system if they have been a significant part of the improvement process."
- "Given the sparse evidence about what works, it makes sense to avoid heavy investments in any single approach to professional development. All professional development strategies should be treated as hypotheses to be tested, and encouraging multiple strategies would be more prudent than mandating a single approach."
Rewriting "Goldilocks" in the urban, multicultural elementary school
Work Cited:
Lotherington, H., & Chow, S. (2006). Rewritng "Goldilocks" in the urban, multicultural elementary school. The Reading Teacher, 60 (3), 242-252.
Summary/Analysis:
This article details the research on rewriting “Goldilocks” in an urban and multicultural elementary school in Canada while using various forms of technology. Two authors write the article, each explaining their own firsthand account in the research process. The article begins with a brief description as to why the authors decided to embark in updating traditional children’s stories using digital media to reflect children’s current environments. They explain the history of traditional fairytales and how they reflect the cultures of Western Europeans more so than today’s urban, multicultural children. To follow, author Heather Lotherington explains how she stumbled upon the school of study, Joyce Public School (JPS), part of the Toronto District School Board, and how she was introduced to co-author Sandra Chow, a then kindergarten teacher at JPS. The article follows with an educational context of the school and surrounding area demographics. Lotherington details how she was drawn to JPS, its constituents, and its philosophy of incorporating technology into all parts of the instructional day.
Lotherington then describes her process of researching the history of the “Goldilocks” tale, which was more so prompted by the beliefs of one teacher at JPS. Most teachers were in agreement to rewrite Goldilocks with their students, aside from one teacher who was “resistant to the idea of character revision”. She felt that, “the story had stood the test of time and didn’t need to be altered just because society had changed.” She also felt that “Goldilocks was a piece of Canadian socialization that shouldn’t be tampered with.” (244) In her history research, Lotherington discovered that Goldilocks had actually begun in Scotland as a “she-fox” that was ultimately eaten at the end of the story. She then morphed into a “vindictive old woman” in England and didn’t become the common blond little girl we are familiar with until the early 20th century.
Author Chow follows with describing how she implemented the research into her own classroom (now 2nd grade). She began the process with teaching her students the narrative writing structure and read several different versions of the Goldilocks story. She explained that although the character and setting may vary from version to version, the underlying tale is the same. She taught her students how to rewrite their own version of Goldilocks using various forms of technology. She breaks down what technological resources she used and for which part of the writing process they were used for. After reading through final products, both Lotherington and Chow were surprised by their findings. They expected that students would create characters similar to their own cultural backgrounds, meaning that their physical features would more resemble their own. However, they had not taken into account the huge role television has on today’s children. Children were writing stories that included more pop-cultural references than physical traits of their own cultures. “Children’s revisions of Goldilocks were far more complex than anything I had imagined, evoking intertextual references to digital and pop culture, and taking Goldilocks into outer space…Goldilocks took on a number of diverse identities in the children’s rewritten tales: mermaid, vampire, dog, bird, shark, and space explorer.” (248) Both authors felt that although their project findings were not what they expected them to be, they felt that the project was indeed successful because students successfully connected to literature using technology, ultimately making it a more memorable learning experience.
Evaluate:
I felt that this article was well written and thoroughly detailed. The authors included substantial educational context to allow the reader to understand how the research project had emerged. The reader is able to understand the connection between the research and the observed population in the study. The authors also provide background history on relevant concepts as well as define important terms within the study. Both authors provide their firsthand account by writing in the first person. This creates a more personal bond with the descriptions and project findings. Although the authors demonstrate a personal connection with the study, the article is free of bias. Opposing views and resistant thoughts are both taken into account and researched. At the end, the article simply presents findings and thoughts on findings, but does not make any dramatic claims or allude to startling implications. The article serves more as an anecdotal account of a journey through a research project.
This article also includes clarifying charts and diagrams as well as student work examples. The writing is free of overused academic jargon and the research process is explicitly explained with the help of correlating visuals. The selected student work examples represent various student thought processes and are not one-sided. Some of the student work examples demonstrate the outcome anticipated by the authors. Other student work examples help explain how the authors encountered unexpected project findings; that students were more in tune with pop culture then their own physical traits.
Reflect:
I enjoyed reading this article and found it to be incredibly interesting. I was able to make a personal connection with the article because the student population at JPS mirrors the population within my own school. I was also excited to find a research project that included elementary students, especially second grade. I too feel that many of the stories children read do not represent the diverse backgrounds they are coming from. I had never considered the possibility of rewriting famous fairytales to reflect the current environment of students in multicultural communities, but am now intrigued to incorporate the project idea with my own class. I am especially drawn to the focus on utilizing various technological resources to amplify student learning. Since my students are living in a modern technological society where laptops, smart phones, and reality television are prominent, it only makes sense to use these forms of media to promote learning that is relevant to my students’ lives.
I found it refreshing to see a research article that wasn’t so focused on the implications of a research project, but rather on providing an account of the research process. I enjoyed reading how the project findings were not at all close to what the authors had expected. It reassures the reader that not all research projects are taken on as a way to prove something but instead to learn from. I would like to take the reflective learning approach to my own action research project. In the beginning of the program, I felt that I was supposed to prove something and endure this laborious and tedious research process. After reading this article, am I able to better understand that research wears many hats.
Relevant Quotes/Citations:
-“We wanted the children to learn what a story is and to retell a traditional story from their perspectives grounded in contemporary reality, so that the story would become more inclusive of their worlds.” (242)
-“My volunteer reading was in response to the principal’s casual observation that many incoming schoolchildren lacked the exposure to stories that was expected from preschool socialization in Canada.” (242)
-“There were no blond children in the class—indeed there were very few in the whole school. The story would make little sense to urban children who probably have never encountered bears, a cottage in the woods, or, indeed, porridge.” (243)
-“Canada is an officially multicultural country, but the benefits of multiculturalism and multilingualism are not considered in the provincial school system where high-stakes mandatory testing equates literacy with knowledge of the English language.” (243)
-“I have found that using technology in the classroom enhances learning, improves efficiency and flexibility, and increases student motivation.” (246)
-“Listening to a teacher remark on the courage of a young child to color the face outlined on his screen brown—something she would never have had the bravado to try when she was in school as a minority student…From grade 1 come a lovely depiction of Bradylocks, a little dark-skinned girl with large black braids.” (248)
-“These children envision their cultural worlds as plugged into pop culture; their ideas about culture more heavily influenced by television than by the physical world around them.” (251)
Lotherington, H., & Chow, S. (2006). Rewritng "Goldilocks" in the urban, multicultural elementary school. The Reading Teacher, 60 (3), 242-252.
Summary/Analysis:
This article details the research on rewriting “Goldilocks” in an urban and multicultural elementary school in Canada while using various forms of technology. Two authors write the article, each explaining their own firsthand account in the research process. The article begins with a brief description as to why the authors decided to embark in updating traditional children’s stories using digital media to reflect children’s current environments. They explain the history of traditional fairytales and how they reflect the cultures of Western Europeans more so than today’s urban, multicultural children. To follow, author Heather Lotherington explains how she stumbled upon the school of study, Joyce Public School (JPS), part of the Toronto District School Board, and how she was introduced to co-author Sandra Chow, a then kindergarten teacher at JPS. The article follows with an educational context of the school and surrounding area demographics. Lotherington details how she was drawn to JPS, its constituents, and its philosophy of incorporating technology into all parts of the instructional day.
Lotherington then describes her process of researching the history of the “Goldilocks” tale, which was more so prompted by the beliefs of one teacher at JPS. Most teachers were in agreement to rewrite Goldilocks with their students, aside from one teacher who was “resistant to the idea of character revision”. She felt that, “the story had stood the test of time and didn’t need to be altered just because society had changed.” She also felt that “Goldilocks was a piece of Canadian socialization that shouldn’t be tampered with.” (244) In her history research, Lotherington discovered that Goldilocks had actually begun in Scotland as a “she-fox” that was ultimately eaten at the end of the story. She then morphed into a “vindictive old woman” in England and didn’t become the common blond little girl we are familiar with until the early 20th century.
Author Chow follows with describing how she implemented the research into her own classroom (now 2nd grade). She began the process with teaching her students the narrative writing structure and read several different versions of the Goldilocks story. She explained that although the character and setting may vary from version to version, the underlying tale is the same. She taught her students how to rewrite their own version of Goldilocks using various forms of technology. She breaks down what technological resources she used and for which part of the writing process they were used for. After reading through final products, both Lotherington and Chow were surprised by their findings. They expected that students would create characters similar to their own cultural backgrounds, meaning that their physical features would more resemble their own. However, they had not taken into account the huge role television has on today’s children. Children were writing stories that included more pop-cultural references than physical traits of their own cultures. “Children’s revisions of Goldilocks were far more complex than anything I had imagined, evoking intertextual references to digital and pop culture, and taking Goldilocks into outer space…Goldilocks took on a number of diverse identities in the children’s rewritten tales: mermaid, vampire, dog, bird, shark, and space explorer.” (248) Both authors felt that although their project findings were not what they expected them to be, they felt that the project was indeed successful because students successfully connected to literature using technology, ultimately making it a more memorable learning experience.
Evaluate:
I felt that this article was well written and thoroughly detailed. The authors included substantial educational context to allow the reader to understand how the research project had emerged. The reader is able to understand the connection between the research and the observed population in the study. The authors also provide background history on relevant concepts as well as define important terms within the study. Both authors provide their firsthand account by writing in the first person. This creates a more personal bond with the descriptions and project findings. Although the authors demonstrate a personal connection with the study, the article is free of bias. Opposing views and resistant thoughts are both taken into account and researched. At the end, the article simply presents findings and thoughts on findings, but does not make any dramatic claims or allude to startling implications. The article serves more as an anecdotal account of a journey through a research project.
This article also includes clarifying charts and diagrams as well as student work examples. The writing is free of overused academic jargon and the research process is explicitly explained with the help of correlating visuals. The selected student work examples represent various student thought processes and are not one-sided. Some of the student work examples demonstrate the outcome anticipated by the authors. Other student work examples help explain how the authors encountered unexpected project findings; that students were more in tune with pop culture then their own physical traits.
Reflect:
I enjoyed reading this article and found it to be incredibly interesting. I was able to make a personal connection with the article because the student population at JPS mirrors the population within my own school. I was also excited to find a research project that included elementary students, especially second grade. I too feel that many of the stories children read do not represent the diverse backgrounds they are coming from. I had never considered the possibility of rewriting famous fairytales to reflect the current environment of students in multicultural communities, but am now intrigued to incorporate the project idea with my own class. I am especially drawn to the focus on utilizing various technological resources to amplify student learning. Since my students are living in a modern technological society where laptops, smart phones, and reality television are prominent, it only makes sense to use these forms of media to promote learning that is relevant to my students’ lives.
I found it refreshing to see a research article that wasn’t so focused on the implications of a research project, but rather on providing an account of the research process. I enjoyed reading how the project findings were not at all close to what the authors had expected. It reassures the reader that not all research projects are taken on as a way to prove something but instead to learn from. I would like to take the reflective learning approach to my own action research project. In the beginning of the program, I felt that I was supposed to prove something and endure this laborious and tedious research process. After reading this article, am I able to better understand that research wears many hats.
Relevant Quotes/Citations:
-“We wanted the children to learn what a story is and to retell a traditional story from their perspectives grounded in contemporary reality, so that the story would become more inclusive of their worlds.” (242)
-“My volunteer reading was in response to the principal’s casual observation that many incoming schoolchildren lacked the exposure to stories that was expected from preschool socialization in Canada.” (242)
-“There were no blond children in the class—indeed there were very few in the whole school. The story would make little sense to urban children who probably have never encountered bears, a cottage in the woods, or, indeed, porridge.” (243)
-“Canada is an officially multicultural country, but the benefits of multiculturalism and multilingualism are not considered in the provincial school system where high-stakes mandatory testing equates literacy with knowledge of the English language.” (243)
-“I have found that using technology in the classroom enhances learning, improves efficiency and flexibility, and increases student motivation.” (246)
-“Listening to a teacher remark on the courage of a young child to color the face outlined on his screen brown—something she would never have had the bravado to try when she was in school as a minority student…From grade 1 come a lovely depiction of Bradylocks, a little dark-skinned girl with large black braids.” (248)
-“These children envision their cultural worlds as plugged into pop culture; their ideas about culture more heavily influenced by television than by the physical world around them.” (251)
Changing the Tire on A Moving Bus: Barriers to the Development of Professional Learning Community in a New Teacher-Led School
Lonnquist, M. P., & King, J. A. (1993). Changing the tire on a moving bus: barriers to the development of professional community in a new teacher-led school. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, Atlanta, GA.
The researchers gathered qualitative data for four years from a relatively new public magnet school in order to provide a model for educators hoping to develop a teacher-led school. The hope was to engage all teachers in the decision-making and problem-solving of the school and to create an empowered professional adult community. Over the four years of the study, the researchers collected and synthesized accounts from all of the stakeholders in the school and determined that while this particular school failed to develop such a community, the idea should not be abandoned. Instead, educators can learn from their mistakes and proceed thoughtfully in terms of the contextual, structural and leadership decisions.
The school itself that provided the case study, Whitehead Magnet School, was already considered innovative by the standards of 1993: student centered curriculum, project based learning, and extensive use of technology. The school serviced 230 students in grades four through eight and believed strongly in the importance of student and parent voice as well as the need to professionalize the role of teachers. To this end, the designers planned for a hierarchy of lead teachers, founding members of the staff who would comprise the "leadership team" alongside a majority of general teachers. This structural choice along with issues of mistrust, a lack of openness to improve, and a general feeling of inefficiency, especially among newer teachers, all contributed to the failed professional learning community at Whitehead. While some teachers were open to improvement and to utilizing one another's expertise, it was not felt among the whole staff and when brought up, there were feelings of defensiveness, especially from the founding teachers. While the teachers were generally proud of the work being done with their project-based and personalized curriculum, they were not proud of their adult community. The article provides a rich analysis of why the development of this particular professional community failed and provides practical elements to think through before designing a school in this way. The research is useful for leaders of new schools or for leaders who are hoping to re-charge and change the professional adult culture within an existing school.
Below are some quotes from the article for people interested in evaluating or designing the leadership structure at a new or existing school.
The researchers gathered qualitative data for four years from a relatively new public magnet school in order to provide a model for educators hoping to develop a teacher-led school. The hope was to engage all teachers in the decision-making and problem-solving of the school and to create an empowered professional adult community. Over the four years of the study, the researchers collected and synthesized accounts from all of the stakeholders in the school and determined that while this particular school failed to develop such a community, the idea should not be abandoned. Instead, educators can learn from their mistakes and proceed thoughtfully in terms of the contextual, structural and leadership decisions.
The school itself that provided the case study, Whitehead Magnet School, was already considered innovative by the standards of 1993: student centered curriculum, project based learning, and extensive use of technology. The school serviced 230 students in grades four through eight and believed strongly in the importance of student and parent voice as well as the need to professionalize the role of teachers. To this end, the designers planned for a hierarchy of lead teachers, founding members of the staff who would comprise the "leadership team" alongside a majority of general teachers. This structural choice along with issues of mistrust, a lack of openness to improve, and a general feeling of inefficiency, especially among newer teachers, all contributed to the failed professional learning community at Whitehead. While some teachers were open to improvement and to utilizing one another's expertise, it was not felt among the whole staff and when brought up, there were feelings of defensiveness, especially from the founding teachers. While the teachers were generally proud of the work being done with their project-based and personalized curriculum, they were not proud of their adult community. The article provides a rich analysis of why the development of this particular professional community failed and provides practical elements to think through before designing a school in this way. The research is useful for leaders of new schools or for leaders who are hoping to re-charge and change the professional adult culture within an existing school.
Below are some quotes from the article for people interested in evaluating or designing the leadership structure at a new or existing school.
- Though the spirit of the plan was to empower teachers, the structure gave just four teachers decision-making power, year-round contracts, and substantially higher pay. The designers had unwittingly created for Whitehead a hierarchy with more tiers than in most traditional schools... In retrospect, it appears that little thought was given to how the teacher leaders' layer of the hierarchy would affect power dynamics among teachers and what might facilitate effective working relationships. (p. 15)
- In their division of responsibilities, some important tasks were overlooked, role boundaries were not well-defined, and there was no system of checks and balances. As a result, teacher leaders would decide they had the power to veto one idea and yet let similar issues fall through the cracks. Needless to say, the school culture that emerged under these conditions was not a model of professional community. (p. 18)
- The new teachers felt the leadership team was entrenched in their positions, responded as if threatened when offered suggestions, and closed ranks against them. The teacher leaders, on the other hand, perceived that their endless efforts to create a school from scratch were not being appreciated. (p. 19)
- Covert and overt tensions and conflicts among the leadership team, as well as between the leadership team and the general teachers, eliminated the sense of trust and camaraderie that is critical to the development of community. (p. 20)
- Although the new head teacher began building some sense of community, she had acclimated to the school culture that avoided conflict and was not ready, nor given support, to bring the problems out in the open... the tension continued to fester under the surface. (p. 21)
- Deal (1992, p.1) tells us that in times of uncertainty, when no one is sure about what the right job really is, people turn to leaders for direction, confidence, spirit, hope and cohesion. The leadership team in this school could not meet those needs. They were faced with a challenge that would have been formidable even to an astute, proven leader, were not experienced enough, and, it appears, did not have the right personal characteristics for this job. The leadership team attempted to manage using a "symbolic" orientation, that is, seeing themselves as prophets and articulating a "shared, almost spiritual quest" (Deal, 1992, p. 4). (p. 25)
- In a school like Whitehead, on-going "human relations" development (communication skills, conflict resolution techniques, etc.) is as important for teachers' success as in-service workshops on new curriculum, pedagogy, and technology. (p. 28)
- Deal, Terrence. (1992). Leadership in a world of change. In Scott D. Thompson (Ed.), School Leadership: A Blueprint for change (pp. 1-7). Newbury Park, CA: Crowin Press.
- Kouzes, James M & Posner, Barry Z. (1990). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.
- Kruse, Sharon D. & Louis, Karen Seashore. (1993, April). An emerging framework for analyzing school-based professional community. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, Atlanta, GA.