Title: Teaching black children
1- Teaching black children
- is a revolutionary act.
- James Baldwin
2Identifying and Enhancing School-Related Social
Support for African American Boys
- Jeffrey L. Lewis
- Addressing Disproportionality
- 2006 Summer Institute
- Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
- August, 2006
3- Part I
- Overview of Learning Through Teaching in an
After-School Laboratory - Childrens perceptions of teachers
- What children say and what we observed as good
teaching - Part II
- School related social support for African
American boys - Structure and content of their networks
- Loving Black children
4Learning Through Teaching in an After-School
Laboratory (L-TAPL)
- Pedagogical laboratories and professional
development sites for inexperienced teachers - Linked inexperienced teachers with effective
experienced teachers of poor urban children - Documented and examined the processes of learning
among children in the programs - Documented and analyzed the processes by which
inexperienced teachers learned to teach in these
laboratories
5Learning Through Teaching in an After-school
Laboratory (L-TAPL)
- Consequently, our work simultaneously addressed
- the preparation of teachers to work successfully
with African American students, - and the underachievement of African American
students.
6L-TAPL Teachers
- The model teachers at our sites were community
nominated and had demonstrated the ability to
effectively teach low-income urban children over
a long period of time.
7L-TAPL Student Participants
- There were 20 children at each site from grades
1-4 who attended the elementary schools in which
the programs were held. - They were recommended by their teachers for a
variety of reasons.
8L-TAPL Structure
- Two hours, 3 days a week, for 16-24 weeks
- Included language arts, math, and science.
- The lead teachers were wholly responsible for
curriculum content and teaching strategies
employed we only asked that they include basic
literacy and math skills.
9For more information on L-TAPL
- Foster, M., Lewis, J. L., Onafowora, L. (2005)
Grooming Great Urban Teachers. Educational
Leadership, 62(6), 28-32 - Foster, M, Lewis, J. L., Onafowora, L., Peele,
T. (2003). Anthropology, culture, and research
on teaching and learning Applying what we have
learned to improve teaching practice. Teachers
College Record, Vol. 5 (2), 261-277.
10- Lewis, J. L. Kim, E. (forthcoming). The Desire
to Learn African American Childrens Positive
Attitudes Toward Learning Within School Cultures
of Low Expectations. Teachers College Record.
11Childrens Perceptions of Teaching and Learning
- We were interested in two broad aspects of
students perspectives of their school
experience -
- Students perceptions of and beliefs about
schooling, including beliefs about good teaching.
- Students perceptions of their academic ability
and general sense of efficacy.
12Sample and Procedures
- 72 semi-structured face-to-face pre- and
post-test interviews with children in grades 1-4.
- Attitudes toward self, school, and Blacks
subscales - As well as open-ended questions about
characteristics of a good teacher and
characteristics of not a good teacher.
13School cultures of low expectations
- The kids, people adapt to their environment,
just like animals or anything else. If you treat
a person like a criminal, they will act like a
criminal. And a lot of kids here, theyve been
treated like criminals for so long. Nothing you
do, the punishment doesnt faze them. - (Transcript 1_Oak, p. 3)
14School Cultures of Low Expectations
- We argue that both schools in the study
represented school cultures of low expectations
in that adults tended to view children negatively
and in terms of deficits. These low expectations
were articulated through teacher attitudes and
associated pedagogical and disciplinary practices
that were
15- Historically constituted
- Broadly shared and treated as normative or
expected (belief system) - Reproduced through shared practices and social
interactions.
16School Cultures of Low Expectations
- It was our observation that the general school
climate and orientation toward students was
controlling. Children regularly received implicit
and explicit messages that little was expected of
them, and that they were incapable of sustained
autonomous, engaged, or productive behaviors.
17School Cultures of Low Expectations
- Shared low expectations by teachers of students
could be seen in at least two ways - Explicitly, through the widespread attempts by
teachers to control childrens behaviors with the
use of threats and other forms of coercion. - More insidiously, when teachers allowed mediocre
student work (or work beneath the childs
ability) to pass as exceptional.
18School Cultures of Low Expectations
- But Im realizing now that, you know, maybe its
not them. Maybe its me and some of the stuff Im
doing and put myself in their place. If I told
them everyday, Youre going to detention or
youre not going to go to recess, I would hate
the teacher. I really wouldnt do anything. - (Oakland Transcript 1_Oak, p. 3)
19Childrens Perceptions of Teaching and Learning
- How do you know a teacher is a good teacher?
- How do you know a teacher is not a good teacher?
20Expected Response Treatment
- Given the negative climate of the schools, and
the relatively young ages of the children, we
expected the respondents to identify a good
teacher as someone who treated them well, and an
undesirable teacher one who treated them poorly.
21Findings
- Although treatment was a salient theme, children
provided responses that reflected a cluster of
concerns, including teaching ability and teacher
character. - Through our content analysis we identified four
response categories
22Findings
- Treatment
- Teacher competency (ability/willingness to teach)
- Treatment and competency
- Teacher character
23Treatment
- Treatment was defined as responses that reflected
teachers attitudes, behaviors, and actions
toward children that we deemed as generally
unrelated to learning. Sample responses included - Makes you stand in the corner when somebody else
did wrong. - We get to do good stuff and dont have to sit on
bench. - They do special things for us and have parties.
- They yell at you.
24Teacher Competency
- Teaching competency was defined as any response
related to the learning process. These included
teaching ability, willingness to teach, and
helping children. Sample responses included - Helps with math, reading, spelling and tests
- They dont take time to explain
- Dont teach and just gives answers
- They teach you what they learned by not yelling
and teaching us math - By not helping with our work that we dont
understand
25Treatment and Competency
- Teaching and treatment were responses that
combined treatment and teaching ability codes.
Sample responses included - When they yell a lot and dont teach right.
- Gives a lot of parties. Help you with your class
work. - Yell doesnt give us work doesnt let us play
paper airplanes. - When she doesnt know something, she looks it up
and learn more herself.
26Teacher character or disposition
- Teacher character or disposition were those
responses with which coders were able to answer
the question What kind of person is the
teacher? Sample responses included - They are mean, unhelpful.
- When they make mistakes, blame student, say
different things at conferences (integrity
trustworthy). - She doesnt care about nobody.
- Listens to both stories and not just one side
(fairness).
27Summary and Conclusions
- Urban children in first to fourth grade have
complex ideas about teachers and teaching. - They are not only concerned with how they are
treated by teachers, they are also concerned
about their teachers ability to teach. - The children in this study are also concerned
about the character of their teachers--they
expressed a desire for teachers who are caring,
trustworthy, fair, and helpful.
28Conclusions
- Even in school environments in which little is
expected of them, African American children
possess a desire to learn as indicated by how
they describe good and not good teaching. - They also desire learning environments that are
nurturing (fair and friendly) and teachers that
tap into their desire to learn (helpful).
29Characteristics of successful urban classrooms
- What characteristics of the classrooms in our
study appear to promote positive social and
academic identities?
30- Teacher-student interactions help create positive
social and academic identities (extending
Wortham, 2004) - The constructive use of the public nature of
teacher-student interactions
31solidarity
- Cultivating a sense of we-ness or solidarity
in community (Ladson-Billings, 1995 Widegren,
1997 Rivers Scanzoni, 1997) - Differences in social and academic abilities were
not marked by how teachers interacted with
students. - Democratization of opportunity (formal and
informal) and participation (Ladson-Billings,
1995) - The classroom as an artifact of the students
lives. (Eisenberg, 2003 Ladson-Billings, 1995).
32integrity
- Teaching with integrity and classrooms of
integrity. - But by identity and integrity I do not mean only
our noble features, or the good deeds we do, or
the brave faces we wear to conceal our
confusions, and complexities. Identity and
integrity have as much to do with our shadows and
limits, our wounds and fears, as with our
strengths and potentials (Parker Parker, The
Courage to Teach).
33School Related Social Support for African
American Boys
34Expected School-Related Network
- Based on our interviews and observations of
children in our previous study of exemplary
teachers, and our interviews of school staff in
the current study, we expected African American
boys who come from low-income environments and
low performing schools to have relatively limited
school-related social networks, largely made up
of a parent or guardian and 1-2 other adults
(from home and/or school).
35Interview Questions
- When you have a problem with homework, who at
home helps you? - When you have an unhappy day at school, who do
you like to talk to about it? - If you were to receive an award at school, who
would you want to tell about it? - If you were in trouble at school and someone had
to come to the school to discuss the problem and
support you, who would you want to come?
36Findings Social Support
- Contrary to our expectations, the boys possessed
school-related support that was somewhat more
complex than we anticipated, and that was not
necessarily limited to their immediate family. - There was evidence that support could involve
multiple households. - School staff were at times important to this
support, as were non-custodial males in extended
or social families.
37categories of responses
- household adults
- adults from childs social family (related and
unrelated) - school staff
- siblings/cousins
- schoolmates
38Support Map-Child 4
39Support Map-Child 2
40Support Map-Child 1
41Support Map-Child 3
42FindingsHomework
43FindingsUnhappy Day
44FindingsAward
45FindingsTrouble
46Classrooms of integrity loving Black children
- AA boy, Y, is having a difficult day and is sent
out of the room by T (though he is allowed decide
when he is ready to return to the classroom).
When he returns, the teacher publicly apologizes
to Y for sending him out of the class when he was
acting obnoxious such that they could not work.
She apologizes because she realizes that what he
needed from her was to know that she loved him.
47- The day will come when after harnessing the
ether, the winds, the tides, and gravitation, we
shall harness for God the energies of love. And
on that day for the second time in the history of
the world, man will have discovered fire. - Teilhard de Chardin, The Evolution of Chastity
- Loving black children
- is a revolutionary act.
48- Teachers of young children