Fostering a Love of Reading

This week’s article summary is Increasing Student Reading Time Improves Comprehension.

As most of us know, there is a strong correlation between the amount of time we read and our working vocabulary. 

This article shows how dramatically different a high school senior’s exposure to vocabulary can be when increasing reading time during her/his school years by as little as 15 minutes per day.

As elementary school teachers, we understand the importance and power of reading, yet this article was sobering to me in that most children in America today average a scant 15 minutes of reading per day (including reading they do at school).

As the article attests, this has long-term implications on breadth of vocabulary, reading comprehension ability, and one’s overall knowledge base—even in a high-tech world, a solid knowledge base is advantageous for subsequent learning.

While the article provides a lot of facts and statistics (for example, high school senior reading levels woefully prepare kids for the mammoth jump to college-level textbooks) an additional key to me is the importance of teachers fostering the joy of reading in children, young adults, and high schoolers.

Although I didn’t become an avid reader until college, I was fortunate in that my parents read to me when I was young, my two schools (one public and one private) gave me plenty of latitude in reading what I liked (sports books, magazines, mysteries), and I became a humanities teacher. 

I always felt as a middle school humanities teacher that perhaps my most important goal was to excite my students about reading. I had a younger colleague who team taught 8th grade English with me. He spent many class periods ignoring our planned curriculum, preferring to stand in front of our students and vividly recount the characters, plots, and themes of books he was reading for pure pleasure. At first, I was annoyed at him; he was taking so much time away from our real curriculum and many of the books he talked about had adult themes that clearly weren’t appropriate for 8th graders. 

Yet over time, I saw how engrossed and enamored our students were by him: not solely about the books but by his unbridled enthusiasm for reading. He was--as last week’s article summary discussed--a ‘truly charismatic adult’ and was a role model for our 8th graders about how exciting and rewarding pleasure reading could be. 

We ultimately managed to find the time to read and discuss our assigned books, yet our students much more enjoyed our open discussion time to share about the books they were now reading independently at home. Also, like last week’s article summary, our students were appropriately empowered in browsing in book stores and choosing their own books.

I’m sure those students—who are now in their 40s—can trace their love of reading to him and still remember him fondly!

Joe

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The majority of students spend fewer than 15 minutes per day reading, and increasing their daily reading time to 30 minutes can improve comprehension and boost student achievement, according to a new study.

The annual What Kids Are Reading report (abut 10 million kids and over 30,000 schools) examines students' overall reading, nonfiction reading and reading across the curriculum, and it analyses the data to identify reading habits that can support student achievement.

54% of students read for less than 15 minutes per day, and between kindergarten and grade 12 those students will be exposed to approximately 1.5 million words.

On the other end of the spectrum, 18% of students read for more than 30 minutes per day, and consequently are exposed to approximately 13.7 million words throughout their K–12 schooling.

That difference of more than 12 million words can affect student achievement. However, when students increase the number of minutes they read per day, their comprehension also improves.

While high-performing students read a lot, students who struggle initially but then begin to dedicate significant time to reading with high understanding can experience accelerated growth during the school year, and thus start to narrow achievement gaps.

The report also found that by the time students finish high school, they typically read books with at a middle school reading level, yet first year college textbooks have an average reading level well beyond a high school reading level, presenting a significant jump in difficulty when students move on to higher education.

The report recommends gently encouraging students to read at more difficult levels, while providing instructional supports to help them improve their reading comprehension at higher reading levels.

Other key findings from the report:

• Girls read an average of 3.7 million words between kindergarten and grade 12
• Boys read just over 3 million words  (23% less than girls)
• Nonfiction materials represent less than one third of kids' overall reading, despite recommendations that elementary and middle school students read about 50% nonfiction, increasing to 70% by the end of high school
• Only 19% of grade 12 students read books that surpass a grade 9 reading level.

Empowering Your Students to Be Resilient, Caring, and Compassionate

This week’s article summary is How to Develop Mindsets for Compassion and Caring in Students.

Developing resilience in students is a popular goal in many schools today, as more and more research illustrates that effort and emotional intelligence (EQ) are perhaps more important than IQ in subsequent success, achievement, and happiness. 

The article resonated with me because it connected resilience development in students (and the author also include care and compassion as vital habits and attitudes for kids) to the classroom climate qualities we as teachers create.

Robert Brooks (some of you may be familiar with his book, Raising Resilient Children) feels an essential quality in any classroom is appropriate empowerment in students. His research shows that care, compassion, and resilience in students all begin with them believing and experiencing that they make and are making a difference in their lives, in their schools, and in their classrooms.

Brooks points out that often when we become frustrated with our students’ behavior, attitude, and/or academic performance, many of us opt for a more controlling classroom, which doesn’t foster student empowerment and rarely improves student performance.

Brooks talks about how seemingly small things—like a morning hello and smile—can have both short and long-term benefits on students.

Brooks knows how difficult teaching is, but his article is a reminder, especially as we begin the second half of the school year,  of how much impact we have and how much we matter and make a difference in the lives and future of our children.

Joe

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Early in his career Dr. Robert Brooks became the principal of a school in a locked-door unit at a psychiatric hospital for children who were severely disturbed and whose behavior showed their turmoil. Within the first few months, Brooks felt demoralized and dreaded work each day.

“I had a very negative mindset,” Brooks said. Brooks is now a psychologist at Harvard Medical School. He has spent his career researching how to help develop resilience in children and adults.

Brooks’ experiences gave him insight and empathy for how difficult teaching can be. When faced with so many challenging students, he felt like nothing he or his staff did would make a difference for how much kids learned or their behavior. 

“What I realized is when you feel you are losing control in a classroom, you become more controlling,” Brooks said. But as he and his staff tried to make their students do exactly as they said, they only behaved worse and learned less.

Brooks tries to remember how he felt in his lowest moments. But he has found that often discouraged educators respond to his message about helping students to develop mindsets for caring and compassion when they hear about the research.

The common denominator among kids who overcome great hardship to succeed is the presence of a “charismatic adult” in their lives, an adult from whom children gather strength. And most often that person is a teacher.

“Everything you do in the classroom can have a major impact on a child’s life, not only in the classroom but later, too,” Brooks said.

He stressed that teachers can have meaningful impact with even small gestures of kindness, dignity, and respect for students. Greeting students by name at the door and smiling are two easy things that students themselves identified as making a big difference in creating a welcoming environment. Spending a little time getting to know kids individually also goes a long way.

At the psychiatric hospital, Brooks began to notice some important practices that made the most difference for school climate, student motivation, and the staff’s ability to build relationships with students. 

“One key ingredient I found is that students will feel more motivated if they have some say over what happens in the classroom,” Brooks said.

Another major finding: “Kids will be more caring and compassionate and resilient in those environments where they feel they are making a difference,” Brooks said.

Sometimes teachers push back against this idea, wondering why students who haven’t finished their own work should be given jobs helping others. Brooks responds that every student should feel like he or she is contributing to the class, and when that type of environment is fostered, motivation flourishes. “Caring leads to resilience,” Brooks said.

Brooks also began to realize that part of the reason he had been so negative about his students was a tendency to focus on their deficits. He began to look for their strengths instead, what he calls “islands of competence.”

“If you just focus on what’s wrong with kids and you don’t spend as much time on what their strengths or beauty are, kids know that,” he said. It’s hard for a child to have a resilient mindset when he believes everyone thinks he’s bad.

Teachers often complain about a lack of student motivation, but Brooks cautions educators not to jump to conclusions about students. No student wants to fail; humans have a natural “drive for effectiveness,” and the unmotivated affect some students show may really be “avoidance motivation.”

“It’s not that they’re not motivated,” Brooks said, “they’re just not motivated to do what we would like them to do.” Instead, they put all their energy into avoiding work that might lead them to fail, or that they don’t find relevant to their lives. There are lots of reasons kids might be motivated to avoid, but calling them lazy or lacking in perseverance or grit is not likely to improve attitudes.

“Once you say a kid is unmotivated or doesn’t care, you’re already reflecting a mindset in which you’re blaming the child, whether you mean to or not,” Brooks said. It’s far more productive to ask questions about why a student might be avoiding work. Getting rid of the accusatory stance will actually free educators to think more creatively about how to help students find purpose, make them feel like they belong, and help them see their own strengths.

Brooks acknowledges that this is not easy work. Some students take a long time to warm up to adults, often pushing a potential ally away just when it seems like progress is being made. And it’s very difficult for teachers not to take behavior personally, to continue reaching out and finding student strengths. Brooks recommends a few activities to help teacher develop “stress hardiness” and ward against burnout.

Reflecting on why they became teachers in the first place can be an effective way to gain perspective. Try  to reflect on the qualities of your favorite teachers.  Would your own students describe you the same way? 

Resilience in teachers is just as important as it is in students. Teachers who are less stressed are able to see changes in the school as inevitable. They seek opportunities to learn from change, rather than seeing it only as a challenge. Resilient people also tend not to blame other people or themselves when things go wrong. Instead, they look for proactive ways to improve the situation.

“Resilient people basically look at what they have control over and they don’t waste time on what they don’t,” Brooks said. So, for example, a teacher has no control over how prepared students are when they enter her classroom, or what kind of experiences they’ve had at home. But she can control how she interacts with those students, so she focuses there.

“It’s not easy to change mindsets,” Brooks admits, but he’s optimistic about the power such a shift can have on school culture, and on educators’ ability to grow mindsets of caring and compassion in their students. “One of the most important things you can do is model compassion,” he said. “Do you model caring? Do you make every child feel they belong in the classroom?”

He laments what he views as a false dichotomy between social and emotional skills and academics in classrooms. He often hears from teachers that the strategies he advocates take time away from academics, but he firmly believes students won’t learn without attention to these issues. Increasingly, schools and districts are agreeing with him, putting more emphasis on non-academic skills for school and life success.

“You have to have a sense of meaning or purpose because if that’s not there we’re going to have kids who say that achievement and GPA is more important than compassion and caring,” Brooks said.

That may already be happening. One national survey of youth across the country found that they valued their own personal achievement above caring for others and they believed that their parents did, too. Brooks hopes that if every educator and parent focuses on helping students develop mindsets for caring, they can reverse that trend.

The Myth of Self Control

This week’s article summary is The Myth of Self Control.

In a couple of weeks, many of us will make resolutions for the New Year. Then by mid to late January, most of those resolutions will have been guiltily forgotten, neglected, and then hidden away only to be recycled at the start of 2018.

But, as the article attests, those of us who always seem to fall prey to temptation are not morally weak. 

Similarly those who resist temptation are not morally superior.

Emerging research reveals some interesting reasons why some of us can while others can’t seem to resist temptation—and these findings have implications for our classrooms.

I’m one of those who can resist temptation. 

As a kid, I could easily walk by my Christmas presents under the tree, overcoming the urge to pick up one and shake it to try to determine its contents. 

Unlike my sister, I could save up money from my allowance for a future bigger purchase. 

In college I never missed an 8:00 am classes; in fact, as unbelievable as this may seem, I never cut a single class in college.

If I had been a participant in the famous marshmallow experiment on resisting temptation, I would have avoided eating one then so I would be rewarded with more later.

But as the article points out, I shouldn’t feel so high and mighty and proud about my uncanny willpower.

First, those of us who have strong self control inherited it—willpower and self restraint are part of our genetic makeup.

Second, as self control is natural for some of us, we from a very young age begin to develop habits that make self control easier. For example, when I walked by my Christmas presents, I didn’t even look at them and thought about something other than Christmas and presents.

Third, again because self control is natural for some of us, we tend to enjoy doing things that require self control. I know exercising and watching what I eat are good for me, so I actually enjoy doing both. 

In education there has been a lot of conversation about fostering grit, executive function skills, and self regulation in students as these skills and habits are important components to future academic and life success--and even to overall happiness. 

And consequently, teachers have been formally teaching them to their students.

But current research is putting a crimp on whether our deliberate instruction about self control, self regulation, and persistence really works for those who by nature are not as programmed for willpower.

Instead, emerging research recommends (the article suggests ’temptation bundling’ as one option) we help provide scaffolding for those who just can’t help themselves and who give into temptation quickly and easily.

It’s why the anti-drug mantra from the 80s “just say no” was so ineffectual and simplistic—some of us by nature can say no, others need more than a banal saying.

This article made me rethink a lot of personal and professional beliefs I had about self control.

Joe

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As the Bible tells it, the first crime committed was a lapse of self-control. Eve was forbidden from tasting the fruit on the tree of knowledge. But the temptation was too much.

 Humanity was just days old, but already we were succumbing to a vice.

The takeaway is clear: when temptation overcomes willpower, it’s a moral failing, worthy of punishment.

Well, was true at the beginning of time remains true today: Human beings are horrible at resisting temptation.

Yet, emerging research makes a strong case that we shouldn’t feel so bad when we fall for temptations.

Studies have found that trying to teach people to resist temptation either only has short-term gains or can be an outright failure.

If we could stop worshiping self-control, maybe we could start thinking about diluting the power of temptation — and helping people meet their goals in new ways with less effort.

Many of us assume that if we want to make big changes in our lives, we have to sweat for it.

But if, for example, the change is to eat fewer sweets, and then you find yourself in front of a pile of cookies, researchers say the pile of cookies has already won.

Our prototypical model of self-control is an angel on one side and the devil on the other, and they battle it out.

We tend to think of people with strong willpower as people who are able to fight this battle effectively, when actually the people who are really good at self-control never have these battles in the first place.

So who are these people who are rarely tested by temptations? And what can we learn from them? There are a few overlapping lessons from this new science:

People who are better at self-control actually enjoy the activities some of us resist— like eating healthy, studying, or exercising.

So engaging in these activities isn’t a chore for them. It’s fun.

If you run to get in shape, but find running to be a miserable activity, you’re probably not going to keep it up.

People who are good at self-control have learned better habits

Recent studies show that people who are good at self-control also tend to have good habits — like exercising regularly, eating healthy, sleeping well, and studying.

People who are good at self-control seem to structure their lives in a way to avoid having to make a self-control decision in the first place. And structuring your life is a skill. People who do the same activity — like running — at the same time each day have an easier time accomplishing their goals. Not because of their willpower, but because the routine makes it easier.

A trick to wake up more quickly in the morning is to set the alarm on the other side of the room. That’s not in-the-moment willpower at play. It’s planning.

This theory harks back to one of the classic studies on self-control: the “marshmallow test,” conducted in the 1960s and ’70s, where kids were told they could either eat one marshmallow sitting in front of them immediately or eat two later. The ability to resist was found to correlate with all sorts of positive life outcomes, like SAT scores and BMIs. But the kids who were best at the test weren’t necessarily intrinsically better at resisting temptation. They employed a critical strategy.

The crucial factor in delaying gratification is the ability to change your perception of the object or action you want to resist. Kids who avoided eating the first marshmallow would find ways not to look it or imagine it as something else.

Some people just experience fewer temptations

Our dispositions are determined in part by our genetics. People high in conscientiousness — a personality trait largely set by genetics — tend to be more vigilant students and tend to be healthier. When it comes to self-control, they won the genetic lottery.

There are many ways of achieving successful self-control, but we’ve really only been looking at one of them: effortful restraint.

One area being researched is “temptation bundling,” in which people make activities more enjoyable by adding a fun component to them—like watching a movie while running on a treadmill.

Researchers are looking beyond the “just say no” approach of the past to boost motivation with the help of smartphone apps and other technology.

This is not to say all effortful restraint is useless, but rather that it should be seen as a last-ditch effort to save ourselves from bad behavior.

Will Robots Replace All Jobs?

This week’s article summary is 3 Things People Can Do In The Classroom That Robots Can’t.

We are all familiar with this modern horror story: As expanding technology continues to replace jobs, many of us will find ourselves (and our children) with an outdated, antiquated set of workplace skills.

More than likely, however, a number of critical skills that involve empathy, nuance, and judgment (the article categorizes them as Giving a Hug, Solving a Mystery, and Telling a Story) will never be mastered by a computer.

Although Tony Wagner’s needed skills for the 21st Century (the 7 Cs) have become a cliché, the reality is that schools today are expected to do much more than, as the article states, provide students with “math and reading skills and some basic facts about the world.” Schools today are expected to be much more intentional in helping students develop social-emotional skills (especially intra and interpersonal), emotional intelligence (EQ), and executive functioning abilities.

Not surprisingly, the author recommends that the focus of schools should be a “breadth of skills” in order to give kids a range of experiences, attitudes, and habits that will equip them with options--and ideally access to all those soon-to-be-invented jobs that we know are coming. This doesn’t mean superficial coverage, but rather an array of deep experiences that extend well beyond some math, some reading, and some of facts.

Of all the jobs that may be replaced by a computer, I am very confident that the teaching of elementary school students will never make that list as we all on a daily basis give hugs, solve mysteries, and tell stories!

Joe

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How should schools best prepare kids to live and work in the second half of the 21st century?

In previous eras, the job of school was simple: Teach them math and reading skills and have them learn some basic facts about the world.

Today the challenge is a lot different. 

Most people all over the world, even in the poorest countries, have much easier access to a calculator, a dictionary, and great swaths of knowledge in their pockets.

And technology isn't just expanding access to knowledge. It's also redefining opportunity. To put it bluntly, more and more people — in all kinds of jobs from truck driver to travel agent to lawyer — are in danger of being replaced by software on the job.

A 2013 study from Oxford University famously estimated that 47% of all jobs are in danger of automation. And earlier this year, the World Economic Forum said 5 million jobs might be gone in just the next four years.

These changes create a huge challenge for schools and teachers. But there are also some intriguing indicators of the way forward.

There are at least three big skill sets that human intelligence copes well with. Skills that technology — like artificial intelligence — is currently struggling with and may always struggle with.

I've started referring to them in this way: Giving a hug, Solving a mystery, Telling a story.

Giving a hug: By that I mean empathy, collaboration, communication and leadership skills.

Solving a mystery: A computer program can investigate any question. But you need a person to actually generate a question. Curiosity is the starting point for innovation—sometimes called "problem finding."

Telling a story: Finding what's relevant in a sea of data. Applying values, ethics or morals to a situation. And the creative application of aesthetic principles.

Jobs that require routine interactions — processing a mortgage application, say — are being automated. 

Jobs that require non-routine interpersonal and analytical interactions — producing a personalized financial plan for a client, say — are on the rise.

The focus of school, therefore, should be on a "breadth of skills." Academics are necessary, but not sufficient. The list includes such things as teamwork, critical thinking, communication, persistence and creativity.

Kids need to be adaptable, work with others, and have a thirst for learning if they're going to be lifelong learners. Adaptability is required to keep up with the increasing pace of change. Ease in working with others is important in a world that's increasingly interconnected, and where diverse skill sets are required for all sorts of tasks, from launching a business to cleaning up a river.

And lifelong learning is necessary to thrive in a new economy with demands that change all the time

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Happy Thanksgiving!

This week’s article summary is Why Forcing Kids to Do Things 'Sooner and Faster' Doesn't Get Them Further in School.

As an elementary school educators, we typically ask our students at Thanksgiving what they are thankful for.

It may seem cliché but we adults should also reflect about what we’re grateful for. 

Over the Thanksgiving Break I always try to find some quiet, private time to think about not only what I’m personally thankful for but also what I’m professionally thankful for.

As I read the article below about a ‘no excuses school’ where learning is intense, pressure packed, devoid of fun, and filled with strict rules and extrinsic incentives, I was exceedingly grateful for Trinity’s child-focused pedagogy and program.

During my career, I have been very fortunate to teach in some great schools—in New York, Oklahoma, Indiana, and now in Georgia. 

All of them shared in varying degrees the following:

Learning was fun and meaningful for the kids (of any age) who were engaged in and excited about learning and school.

Kids had ample opportunities and latitude to find their passion and cultivate their talents—be it in academics, sports, visual or performing arts, etc.

Student success was not narrowly confined to standardized test scores.

Open inquiry and independent--even divergent--thought were encouraged and much learning and growth came from discussion, dialogue, and reflection.

Whether as a teacher, administrator, or head of school, I was trusted and empowered to do the right thing and when I erred, my mistakes were opportunities to learn and grow, not reasons for punitive consequences.

There was deep camaraderie among colleagues—we sincerely enjoyed working and being together.

While there were always a couple of difficult parents, the vast majority were very supportive. 

There were high expectations and a commitment to continual learning for everyone yet the overall school atmosphere was somehow relaxed and informal and eternally optimistic.

If you’re like me, there are times in any school year when you get  frustrated with the tensions and demands inherent in education. For example, what many parents think is best for kids (like more homework) and what research and teachers know is best for kids (like more time to play and to be a kid).

There are many hard days and downtimes in schools: issues with kids, with parents, with colleagues--even with copier machines.

Yet after a really bad day, once I calm down at home (maybe the aid of a three-mile run, a glass of wine, or both), I always come back to how lucky I was (and am) to have been invited to be a part of this extraordinary community and a school that possesses all of the qualities above. 

I feel so fortunate I found a career that has been so fulfilling for me and so many schools that embodied my educational philosophy!

I hope all of you have a wonderful, fun-filled holiday break and that if you reflect about what you’re thankful for, Trinity makes your list.

Joe

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The very youngest children at the no-excuses charter school at which I taught all start their nine-hour school day in the same way: by reciting the school ‘creed.’

“I am a … scholar!” the children all chant in unison. One child lets out a giggle. He is immediately sent to the Silent Area.

I notice that one of my second-grade students is wearing one neon green sock, in stark defiance of the dress code. I am contractually obligated to order him to take it off or to send him to the dean. I smile and look away.

I turn my attention to the table of kindergartners next to me. They’re my favorite to watch, these tiny children who haven’t yet learned to be predictable.

Most mouth the words obediently: “Today is a step on my path toward success!” On cue, their little fists shoot into the air. But I am giggling. The kindergartner next to me didn’t say “path to success.” He said “path to recess.”

This school is obsessed with success. Its students chant about it daily; its walls are plastered with banner-sized recipes in bold fonts and bright colors. And its proponents claim that, because it has the highest test scores in the state, it has achieved it.

These test scores don’t tell the whole story, of course, but they are also not meaningless. The school’s youngest students— children of color from predominantly low-income families— can do a lot. These 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds who start each day by pumping their fists into the air while chanting about success are articulate in person and on the page; they are perspicacious readers and creative, rational mathematicians. The nine hours a day they spend in classrooms enable them to attain academic milestones earlier than their peers in more traditional school environments, where children spend six-hour school days engaged in less intense direct instruction and more play-based exploration.

If the early attainment of academic skills—coupled with constant, explicit messaging about the necessity of pursuing long-term goals—were a primary determinant of long-term success, it stands to reason that the young children at this “no-excuses” school would continue, unobstructed and ahead of the curve, on their “path to success.” But they don’t.

Once children at this school reach adolescence, many struggle. Their high school entrance exam percentiles are far lower than those of their state standardized tests, and they are not admitted in large numbers to the most selective high schools. At the high schools they do attend, they struggle: in their first semester, 81% of last year’s ninth graders earned below a 3.0 grade point average. These students— who have spent their entire educational careers, from kindergarten onward striving toward big long-term goals like “excellence” and “success” — aren’t graduating from college in large numbers. They aren’t excelling, and the extent to which they are even succeeding is debatable.

So why is this? Why do some children who learn to read earlier than their peers do so poorly in ways that matter later on? Why do children for whom every aspect of their education, from kindergarten onward, is tailored toward graduating from college often struggle to graduate from college?

Reflecting on my experiences teaching both at this school and at more traditional public schools, I find myself wondering if the methodology that enables young children to achieve so much so early actually hinders their long-term prospects. What if the struggles of graduates of “no excuses” schools reveal deficits that are not academic, but rather socio-emotional? What would happen if, instead of spending nine hours a day engaged in academic tasks determined by a teacher, children were to spend a large portion of their day developing “soft skills” that would enable them to overcome the hurdles they will encounter when they’re older? What if, like their suburban counterparts, they spent large portions of their day in rigorous, developmentally appropriate activities: learning to make friends, make art, and make believe, exploring and creating their interests and their identities?

That is, what if a necessary component of improving the long-term prospects of small children from disadvantaged backgrounds is not accelerating through childhood, but purposefully lingering in it?

To some, this approach might seem counter-intuitive: the earlier you board the train, say, the further you’ll go, and sooner.  This type of “sooner, faster, further” thinking goes astray when applied to education, however, because child development is both non-linear and marked by largely immutable landmarks. 

Pushing children to attain academic skills they will attain regardless— while depriving them of other, more developmentally appropriate activities that would enable them to succeed independently when they are older— is short-sighted at best.

Implementing a more developmentally appropriate curriculum for young children might result in lower test scores in the short term, but I suspect that its long-term effects— both in terms of test scores and more relevant measures of success— would compensate. (This solution, however, is admittedly incomplete; I suspect that in order to set children living in poverty on a true “path to success,” communities require resources and support that no school on its own is capable of providing.)

Maybe, though, letting small children linger in childhood would endow them with more of the real skills necessary to STAY FOCUSED ON ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE. Maybe, in the long run, it would better enable them to MAKE SMART CHOICES. 

Cultural Competence

This week’s article summary is  How Schools Can Improve Their Students' Cultural Competence. 

The article resonated for me because it focused on the interrelation of the two most critical aspects of our personality--our sense of self (agency) and our sense of others (communion)—in becoming culturally competence.

Cultural competence is the ability to embrace, understand, and work productively with those who are different from you. 

Cultural competence begins with understanding who we are and then reflecting on how our identity “creates a lens through which we view the world.”

Understanding what shapes us and what we believe and value can help us become better listeners, less judgmental of others, and more open to the pluralism of our country and the world at large.

As we all know, today’s world is much different compared to 10, 20, or 50 years ago, and students today are growing up in a much more multicultural, heterogeneous world, much different from the homogeneity of my childhood in the 1960s. 

This may seem unbelievable in 2016, but I vividly recall as a fifth grader being amazed when a new boy in my class told me he was Jewish and his parents were divorced. This was my first experience with a household that didn’t have a mom and dad and someone who wasn’t at least nominally Christian. That night I’m sure my parents wondered what had gotten into me when I asked them to explain both Judaism and divorce.

My insular, sheltered life was the norm back then as many of us grew up in a neighborhood and attended a school where everyone looked and acted alike. Opportunities to learn about differences, let alone multiculturalism, were quite limited.

Although there is still much neighborhood and school insularity and homogeneity in America (cue to Tuesday’s election), the modern workplace has become much more diverse and multicultural—hence, the importance of becoming culturally competent. (Yes, for many it’s the moral thing to do, but for everyone it’s a essential need for professional success.)

Becoming culturally competent is in some ways very simple yet in others quite daunting. 

It’s more about embracing an inquisitive and non-judgmental mindset than having to follow a set of instructions. 

Yet even with an open attitude, most of us still fret about offending others when exploring difference, are loath to face and work through our explicit and implicit biases, and by nature and habit are more comfortable with and favorable toward those who think, act, and even look like us (cue again to Tuesday’s election results).

Our job as teachers is to help our students not only develop a solid sense of self and others but to embrace and thrive in and to contribute positively to an ever more interconnected, pluralistic, and multicultural world (cue a final time to Tuesday’s election).

Joe

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We live in an increasingly pluralistic society where people run up against the thoughts and beliefs of others more and more frequently.

Helping children learn to navigate the space between what they believe and what others believe is perhaps one of the best ways we can overcome the hate we see in so many facets of our society today.

Cultural competence isn’t tolerance. It’s not that easy. Cultural competence is not simply ensuring that your school has a rich and varied Black History Month or letting students start a Gay-Straight Alliance -- although those can be powerfully important pieces of a culturally competent school.

Cultural competence means first understanding that we all come to school with our sense of who we are, and that unless we are reflective about our own identity and how it creates a lens through which we view the world, we will not be able to honor the identities of others.

But that is only the beginning of cultural competence. As we go through the process of understanding who we are, we also have to listen deeply to those around us to understand who they are and what their experiences are, so that we can relate to them fully as people, without preconceived notions of what it means to have an identity that is different -- or even the same -- as ours.

And it means subjecting the processes of our schools to what we learn when we listen, always working to ensure that our schools are accessible to all, equitable for all.

There’s no shortcut or checklist to building cultural competence, and it isn’t something you ever really get good at -- you just strive to get better at it. Being aware and responsive and listening in ways that ensure all members of the community feel that who they are -- all facets of their identities -- are welcome and safe is something that requires constant work. But there are questions you can ask yourself that can serve to move you toward a more aware, more just school community.

• Do I seek out and listen to a diverse group of voices when making decisions?
• Do I allow myself to be vulnerable in our school community? Do others feel safe letting me know when I make a mistake -- especially when that mistake comes from a lack of cultural competence?
• Do I work to ensure that there is not one standard of excellence, but rather multiple pathways for students to have academic and social success?
• Do I intentionally use anti-racist, anti-heteronormative, and explicitly accepting language?

It has become a cliché to cite Martin Luther King’s famous quote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” But that quote is at the heart of cultural competence. It is not enough to be tolerant of the diversity of our school communities. It is not enough to be accepting of the wide range of human experience in our schools. We must embrace it. We must truly love all who inhabit our schools, and we can only do that when we seek to understand every individual and the identities we all bring to school every day.

When we do that -- when we aspire to that ideal and model that aspiration to all in our schools, we can teach students to be as loving and as aware as they can be. And if we do that, maybe we can teach our children that the hatred that would cause someone to use an ethnic slur in our hallways or to reject a student’s right to go to the bathroom of their gender identification is the same hatred behind the slaughter of 50 people at a gay dance club in Orlando.

And maybe we can teach our children that they should never choose hate, only love.

Three Cheers for Elementary School!

This week’s article summary is Our Obsession with Hierarchy Means Primary Schools Often Struggle to Be Heard.

Although the article is specific to Great Britain’s hierarchical top down educational system, the message applies to us "across the pond."

The author lauds primary (elementary) schools for having the “purest form” of education:

• Focusing on the whole child, not just on subjects and their content
• Extending the natural imagination and curiosity of children
• Making learning meaningful and relevant to children (the topic of last week’s article summary on sex education in middle and high schools)

As we know, elementary years are crucial in that they develop foundational habits, attitudes, and skills needed for subsequent success and happiness, but the author points out that systemic educational decisions too often are geared towards the needs and wants of high schools and student preparation for college entrance exams. Elementary schools are rarely asked to comment on or to shape educational policy in terms of program and pedagogy.

The author places some of the blame on us. He feels elementary schools devote too much time thinking (and explaining) how they prepare their students for the next level. While to him “all education is preparatory”, other divisions (middle, upper, college, graduate school) are never abashed to advocate the importance of their years not just as preparatory but for the moment.

The author's call to action for elementary schools is to be more vocal on the national stage about how children learn best, to fight to define educational success beyond national exam results, to advocate for more open inquiry and self-discovery/exploration in classrooms, and to make others see these crucial learning years as important as any other division.

And as the author and we elementary educators know, we have a lot to offer about what optimizes student learning and development!

Joe

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When we consider our nation’s peculiar obsession with hierarchy, and the social stratification of society, it is not surprising that the same malaise of looking at everything from top down affects education as well. 

One consequence of seeing the world this way is that junior schools are often seen as being in thrall of their senior colleagues, relying on them to take the lead in national debates and to make decisions on education matters on behalf of us all.

With their smaller constituencies and profile, it is inevitable that junior schools in both sectors struggle to be heard with anything like the same volume, even though they are the homeland for much of the acquisition of knowledge and skills, attitudes, and values that determine a child’s success in later years. 

These are the years where education resides in its purest form, where foundations are put down, and focus is on the all-round development of the child.

Apart from the fact that it is in the junior years that children learn most of what they know and where children spend the majority of their school years, this is the time when teachers can focus on children and their development, free from national exams that strangle so much initiative and creativity.

This is when children can learn independence, the purpose of education - which is to embed the habit of life-long learning -  how to study and how to acquire proper work habits and attitudes; a time to ask questions, however tangential, before that time when they are told, hush, it’s not on the exam syllabus so it doesn’t matter.

Information, knowledge, advice should go both ways, but primarily from the bottom up. I was never more aware of this than when I moved from teaching in a junior to a senior school. I saw the focus shift from the student to the subject with little inquiry - or interest - in what went before or in the psychology of how children learn.

Junior schools need to be more active in sharing ideas and take a lead in where education is heading.  They need to be proactive, not reactive; leaders rather than followers; innovators, contributing to change, rather than locked in the present.

They need to celebrate their own strengths and the importance of their role, not as ‘preparatory’ to another stage of education - for all education is preparatory - but as the most influential, most important and most dynamic time in a child’s life.

This is the challenge for all junior schools: to project their voice on the issues that affect our children’s future, drawing on their considerable and diverse experience.

The other challenge, more difficult in our hierarchical world, and not so easily solved, is then getting someone to listen.