Archive for September, 2008
The Cross-Cultural Classroom: Recommended Reading
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
The Cross-Cultural Classroom, is an interesting and thought provoking article by Christina Shunnarah in the New York Times, Lesson Plans section.
The author writes that, “it is important for me as an educator to have a cultural awareness of the students’ lives and backgrounds. Without this awareness, my sensitivity and compassion for each child would not be able to develop. My studies in anthropology have helped me view life through a cultural lens.” She offers many interesting insights, as well as a good story in this piece, subtitled, Learning to Teach in a Complicated World. One of the most interesting aspects of the piece is her description of the Iceberg Concept of Culture, the idea that like an iceberg, the majority of culture is below the surface, making it a real challenge for educators to create a classroom or community that is truly culturally accepting.
Read too, some of the comments from others that follow the main article. I am sure that they will open the door to further thought and discussion.
Post your comments and responses to this article here – to share your thoughts.
Topics: Culturally Competent, Recommended reading | 1 Comment »
Resources address the Dropout Rate
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
As new students begin the course this month, their first task is to consider the question: Who Drops Out and Why? These are some additional resources, ideas and information that will add value to the first lessons.
The rising dropout rate around the country is getting more attention – now considered, at least by the FOX News Channel, one of “the challenges facing the country in the 21st century.”
This article, Educators Alarmed by High Dropout Rates Among Teens is one of a series FOX news is airing on issues facing
One-Third of a Nation: Rising Dropout Rates and Declining Opportunities is an in depth report by the Policy Information Center, Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., “about high—and rising—high school dropout rates, some ways schools are trying to retain students, the limited—and diminishing—supported opportunities for dropouts to regain a footing in education and training, and the increasingly dire prospects for dropouts in today’s economy.”
Topics: Drop Out Rate, In The News, RESOURCES | 1 Comment »
My 6th First Day of School: A Story
By ramillerb | Saturday, September 27th, 2008
I know most schools have already started, but I wanted to share a “back to school” experience I had as a new student. Even though I was a veteran mover (we moved 7 times before I was 16), each new school was a gauntlet all its own…. I can remember elbows, and bulging Esprit bags checking my face, my hips, and most of all, I remember a bouffant blond, her breath laced with spearmint gum. I was going the wrong way down a one-way hallway in my new school. It was 8thgrade, it was humid out, (which meant icicles were forming on air conditioned desks inside) and I was in an anonymous suburb of Houston, TX. The teacher who lived beneath the blond hair scolded me with a raspy voice as she yanked me out of the stream of traffic and over to a side hall. I tried to explain to her that I was new and I didn’t know where my 1stperiod was. She rolled her eyes as tightly as she could towards her skull and said, “Well, you’re just gonna have to learn how to survive in this school, now aren’t ya honey?” With that she about faced me with the warmth of a warden and shoved me into the appropriate direction.
After a quiet lunch alone, I eschewed my social skills for trust that my outfit could be a better mouthpiece. I found levitation in that fact that my nylons matched the tan on my arms, and my green skirt echoed hues in my shirt and my bag. This was enough to float me from the lunchroom to my 5th period class. I arrived late and knocked on the door until it parted to show 3 long rows of desks that looked measured out by a ruler. All heads were down at 90-degree angles to paper, and students wrote robotically. The woman at the front of the class barely moved, but I recognized the tuck of her curls and the Technicolor blond hues. “Well,” she said, “Look who decided to show up to class”.
I was ordered to take a seat. She picked up the lesson where she left off, so I rummaged through my bag for a pen, my only pen. Proudly I lifted it to the paper, and with ease began taking notes while a Styrofoam shark bisected by an inner tube connected by a precarious wire, bobbled on the end. Had I been given just a hint of a small piece of a guide to navigating this school, how my Pacific Northwesterly ways might have been tempered a bit to avoid certain misfortune, I might not have dared enter this pen into the Lone Star school system.
Aware of my new audience, I squinted at the board, wrote, squinted more in fake concentration, and contemplated bolting to the door, and then looked through the edges of my lashes as I set the pen down. I knew the pen was a risky move, but how else was I to communicate my humorous interests and unique worth?
It wasn’t long before the pen was in enemy hands, and enemy laps where my hands couldn’t go. I patted my head feverishly and gave me large, unruly hair a scootch off my neck. Too unsteady to see the pen’s travels, I checked my gag reflexes and a list of excuses to get out of class the fastest i.e.: diarrhea and projectile vomiting. With my “getting off on the right foot” status already at an all-time low, even for me, I raised my hand to call more attention to myself.
A cry of awwws, rippled across the room. Clearly I was ruining the newest joke. The teacher jutted her chin toward me just as the pen was replaced. She lumbered over to my saucered eyes and picked it off my desk. Is this how I wanted to start the first day? Umm, not really. Did she need to take the pen from me? Oooh no, oooh, well, OK, I guess you can keep it. My lightness had anchored.
*****I don’t usually end my stories with this sort of wrap up, but since this is a blog post, I have some more to say on this topic of being a new kid in school and relocating. I wish there had been someone to help me then. I hate to look back on these situations and not see the elements of humor from afar, because that’s the way I wish I had been trained to deal with them. Instead, I internalized everything which caused anxiety, undue fear, and unrealistic rationalizations of normal situations that most kids go through.
This compounded with a constantly changing set of environs caused me to have trouble putting faith in my abilities, and focus on academics. Because I left a lot of this untreated, I experienced physical problems such as muscle pain and digestive issues that have followed me somewhat into my adulthood.
I think every kid deserves to be welcomed into a new school in a much different way. They deserve to feel internally safe and to have training and services available if they don’t feel that way. I think of the kids who are now relocating who not only have a social barrier, but a language barrier. How are their insides? Are they a mess? Does anyone ask them? Do they know how to feel better in there so they can do better out there? I wonder if lots of kids have this problem. My wish is to help strengthen girls’ and boys’ insides so that they can deal with the outside pressures.
Teach them to support instead of compete. And if there needs to be competition, make it healthy and teach them how to be amazing losers, beautiful losers. I believe that kids in essence are good and want to be good to one another. Yet sometimes our societal pressures and systems hinder their ability to be good to one another, and thus make it tougher for teachers to manage classrooms and serve such a diverse population of personalities. No one really knew what I was going through because I didn’t say anything about it. I just pushed it down further. If you are reading this post and you want to add to this conversation, please do. I am also interested in putting together a guide for kids and parents who are relocating. Sort of a survival guide. This may start as a blog and go to a book. If you have interest in this topic or experience, I would love to hear from you. I’m at ramillerb@hotmail.com.
Topics: BACK TO SCHOOL | No Comments »
Where are the Role Models?
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Friday, September 19th, 2008
Sometimes questions seem to pop up in several places at the same time. I had a great conversation at Portland State
University about the problems that kids have after they graduate (after all the effort to NOT DROP OUT). My companion pointed out that (based on her personal experience as well as research) even when they make it through school, some kids find themselves unable to continue to college.
There are many reasons that kids don’t go on to college; financial reasons, or family responsibilities for example. But for some, even if they are able to attend, they don’t because they simply have no idea what they might be or do if they get there.This subject has also been mentioned frequently in the Making Connections course. There has been discussion about how to keep the students who make it through school connected – with learning, with work, and with the desire and inspiration to continue to move forward in their lives. Students state that they are looking for ways to inspire the kids who are currently in school (at every grade) with the idea that if they STAY in school – they can go on after school to do something they love, or at least, are interested in.No matter the discussion, the same question keeps coming up - where are the role models? How can teachers and mentors connect their kids with people of every color and kind - who can demonstrate by their simple presence, that there is a place in the world of work for people of every description?
One student expressed this question perfectly. “What I want to work on this year is introducing the kids to some successful minority community members. I am thinking about how I can do this in the most effective way, because I want my kids to get to know (and see) business people, doctors, scientists, lawyers, dentists, college professors, business owners, financial planners, engineers, and the like. I want my kids to know that there are more possibilities for them besides being a teacher, working in a factory, in construction, or selling drugs. I really believe that the students need to see successful people who look like them.”
I agree that this is an important issue, so I am including some ideas that teachers and mentors can use to think creatively about find interesting people who do interesting things. I hope that readers will add to my list, even add specifics. If you would like to volunteer to share your experiences with work and school, please post your information and ideas to this blog.
• Talk to your friends and colleagues who do interesting work, and have interesting hobbies and sidelines. Ask them to talk to your kids about the things they needed to learn in school to be able to do what they do now.
• Ask these same people about the people they know. Build a list - think of this as your personal backpack of connections.
• Seek out people who do interesting or valuable things - who have NOT gone through the traditional college path - but needed to learn skills to do their work.
• Read the newspaper – this can be a great activity for students. Ask each student to find a story about someone who does something that is interesting to them (mountain rescuers, firefighters, soldiers, artists having an opening show, dancers, photographers, lawyers who win a case, doctors, veterinarians at the zoo …. the possibilities are endless. These articles are useful in several ways – it allows you to build a list of jobs that people do, it lets you get to know your kids a little better, it provides names and organizations connected with the work that people actually do, and, at times, contact information. Use this list to start thinking creatively with your students about ways to invite people to come to your classroom, program or school.
Years ago, I was a TAG teacher - working with kids of many colors. One African American girl seemed shy and was having a hard time connecting with the class. I tried all everything I knew to connect with her and draw her out - with minimal results … until …We were doing a unit on whales, and the kids had invited a speaker to come from Greenpeace to talk to them - purely randomly, a young black woman came into the classroom. My student literally snapped to attention - she was riveted by this woman. She spoke in class, asked questions and dsiplayed a great sense of humor. What a difference! Long story short the changes stayed. She was a new girl - bright, involved and far more confident. When I asked her at the end of the term what she wanted to be - she (who in the beginning wanted to ‘have no responsibilities’) wanted to be a Marine biologist. So the key to finding role models may not be to look for people who fit a description, but to keep your classroom and program open to the many people who may be part of your community. Trust that color is not the only diversity your kids need to see, and that the perfect role model may look different, but still bring that perfect something into the life of a kid, without YOU needing so hard to make things happen. Present as many possibilities as you can, as you go through your classwork and activities, and trust that the details will take care of themselves.
Topics: Creating a Positive, Inspiration, Mentor Stories | 2 Comments »
Bullies & Victims: What Teachers, Mentors and Parents Need to Know
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
Kids who feel unsafe in school are more likely to drop out. Even in the most caring school communities, many kids face disrespectful and sometimes abusive behavior, from other kids. Anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of bullying knows that make life in school and in the neighborhood unpleasant or even terrifying. Bullying is definitely a challenge that some students face today. It is an issue covered in the course, but well worth mentioning here. The following article, from Skipping Stones Magazine (a great resource) has information that help teachers, mentors and parents identify and address bullying behaviors in their classrooms, programs and communities.
Students can get bullied due to factors such as race, social status, sex, age, disability, physical features, or being otherwise different.
Bullying can take the form of name calling, teasing, fighting or attacks, taking money, vandalizing belongings, and may result in anger, fear, sadness, insomnia, lack of appetite or withdrawal from activities. Falling grades, mood or habit changes, drug or alcohol problems or self-esteem issues may also result. There is a fine line between bullying, school violence and violation of human rights. Bullying even violates some of the articles in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For example, Article 12 of this declaration states: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.” To empower your students against bullying, you may wish to share the following advice with them:
• Be kind and respectful to yourself and others. Minimize or avoid contact with people who diminish others.
• Believe in yourself. People can make you feel inferior only with your permission. If you strive to be a good person each day, no one can diminish you on the inside.
• Practice withholding judgments of yourself or others. Take the time to get to know people to end gossip (myths).
• If you are a bystander, report incidents of harassment to an adult. You will not be tattling. Rather, you will be alleviating the suffering of another student and creating a support network for someone in need of your empathy and compassion.
• If, as a bystander or victim of bullying, you do not get help from one adult, continue to look for an adult who can help and seek support from family and friends.
If students, teachers and parents everywhere work on this issue, eventually there will be less school violence in the U.S. and around the world. Everyone has the right to live in peace on Earth—free from harassment and intimidation. — Patricia Wong Hall, educator,
Topics: Creating a Positive, How to Help, RESOURCES | 3 Comments »
How to Create a Boy-Friendly School
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
The subject of how boys are struggling in school and in life seems to come up regularly in the media. Two years ago, PBS ran a powerful documentary, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys, which “explores the emotional development of boys in
This week, there is an article in Newsweek, Struggling School Aged Boys. Though the medium is different, the message is the same. Many boys, (according to the research) an extraordinary percentage of them, are having emotional or behavioral problems that are affecting their lives, and their ability and willingness to stay in school. Many of the problems are severe enough to cause parents to consult a doctor or health care professional.
As an educator, parent, and citizen of the nation that leads the world in fatherless families, violence and failing boys, I can’t stop thinking about the faces, and the voices of the boys in the film, and the issues and problems of the boys I see and hear about every day. So, the questions keep playing in my head … How can we do a better job of raising our boys? And, what can Oregon educators do to create a boy friendly school - a place where boys feel safe, welcome and able to learn and be themselves?To clarify my thoughts, I contacted Marilyn Brown-Dikeos, whose program Empowered Learning includes strategies that teachers, mentors and parents can use to help boys feel safe and respected in the classroom. She offers the following insights and strategies.
1. Honor the risk of learning. Trying to learn something new can be risky for a boy who is afraid to fail. Help your student’s understand that learning is a process that includes trying, doing, and making mistakes. It is not about achieving perfection. Value a student’s attempts to master a new subject or skill. Celebrate effort and recognize even small accomplishments along the way.
2. Provide safe entry points to learning. Group learning and project based activities offer multiple entry points for students. The ability to choose a role or task which will allow him to work from his strength may help a boy feel confident enough to enter into an activity.
3. Allow students to self-evaluate. Many boys struggle in school because success and failure are tied up with their sense of themselves. A boy who gets a bad grade or fails a test is likely to feel stupid and embarrassed in front of his classmates. Rather than risk failing again, some boys simply stop trying. One way to work around this is to allow students to grade themselves according to the criteria you set. When they turn in a paper ask, “What grade do you think you earned?” Allow them to tell you how they might have done better. Remind a boy that understanding how to do better next time shows that he is learning.
4. Treat them with respect and kindness. Just because boys don’t show their emotions, we tend to treat them as if they aren’t there. In fact, research shows that boys are even more sensitive and more eager to please than girls. Treat them as if they are fragile. They are.
5. Provide opportunities for boys to talk about their feelings – through sports or chess or other games. Boys need to be reassured that their inner lives are NOT shameful, that play violence is not violence. Use their violent games and fantasies as a starting point for conversation or story writing.
6. Boys need to move around. Recess time is being eliminated as school days are shortened. Try to find ways to build action and motion into your activities and schedule.
7. Boys need to feel safe. They need an adult to talk to about bullies, fear, humiliation and their need to be protected. They also need an adult to show them that men are caring, compassionate and kind.
8. Offer opportunities for boys to resolve their own conflicts. Conflict resolution takes communication skills, the ability to listen, willingness to compromise, and often, creativity. It can help boys reflect on their actions, and see them from someone else’s point of view. Best of all, the ability to resolve a conflict without rage and aggression can result in friendship, something that no boy can succeed without. Related Resources: For more information about this subject, help for parents, and classroom ideas, visit the following websites
Raising Cain: Boys in Focus
http://www.pbs.org/opb/raisingcain/
The PBS Parents Guide to Understanding and Raising Boys
http://www.pbs.org/parents/raisingboys/index.html
Boys in School
How to help boys adjust to school and schools adjust to boys.
http://www.pbs.org/parents/raisingboys/school.html
Buy the Program
Raising Cain (DVD)
http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=2175911
Topics: Boy Friendly Schools, Creating a Positive, How to Help, RESOURCES, Relationship Strategy | 1 Comment »
A Story with Two Edges
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
One school, two boys, two knives. Two totally different stories.
Someone told me this story, about what happened at their school. First, a teacher overheard a classmate ask a 5th grader – mouth the question actually, “does anyone know you brought a knife?” This happened in the office. The boy was aghast; the teacher who witnessed the interchange, the principal, the school admin were shocked. Everyone reacted - with shock, and horror, but also with attention and caring. They brought him into the office, they confiscated his knife. They talked to him. They asked why he carried the knife – “Is it for protection? Are you scared of someone else?”
As it turned out, this was a boy with a pocket knife “too nice” to leave at home; too cool not to show his friends. This knife was just small enough, he was told, that he would not have to be arrested. Just a little bit bigger and the rules say they would have to call the police.
This was not an angry or scared boy – just a boy who did something against the school rules. He has reprimanded and put on “house arrest” in the office. Other than the fact that he had to do math, he was treated fairly and kindly.
He cried and cried. He said he is sorry.
Next day, another boy. Another knife, bigger and scarier. Another attitude – angry and violent. Another outcome, involving police and handcuffs. In an elementary school.
It is always my hope to paint a positive picture, to focus on good practice, good results and stories and strategies that encourage more of the same.
But, the reality of schools today has a way of fogging my rose colored glasses. Negative things do happen in school, nasty and unpleasant things. We read about the big ones in the paper, but everyday, teachers, and administrators, and mentors – anyone who work with kids in all kinds of ways, react to kids’ behaviors – negative, positive, in between. As educators and mentors, we all need a sixth sense that will help us to judge behaviors, motivations and, correct responses. We all need to know how to react to situations, because the way we react to in any circumstance can not only make a difference in the outcome – but can change the path of a life.
This story of two knives illustrates how one act – described with the same words, a kid brought a knife to school, can result in such very different stories.
MY QUESTIONS: As teachers or mentors, do you receive any training about how to react in difficult situations? Are you taught to discipline students? Are you taught to defuse situations? Who trains you? Are school rules consistent across the state, or do they vary by district?
Topics: Questions, Relationship Strategy | No Comments »
Mark Your Calendar: World Animal Festival
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Thursday, September 4th, 2008
Well, I was at the zoo yesterday to see the new baby elephant. You must have gone over the long weekend because, the crowds were smaller yesterday, and I heard it was packed Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The new baby is a wonder, and standing on line was an opportunity to hear kids of all ages, and their adults talking about all things elephant, where they live, how they live, and how mothers and babies interact. It was quite educational, and a great reminder of informal learning.
Another thing I learned yesterday is of a great event coming up soon:
World Animal Festival:
September 27 - October 5 (details on the site)
This is an “exciting showcase of how various cultures around the world revere and celebrate animals. Local cultural groups will present animal folklore to zoo guests in a variety of ways, including performance art, hands-on crafts, educational activities and art exhibits.”
Topics: Culturally Competent, Quality Time, Things to do | 1 Comment »
Ten Ways to Make a Newcomer Feel Comfortable in Your Classroom or Program
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Monday, September 1st, 2008
A new school year is beginning. Every year, children and families come to Oregon from around the country and around the world. For some kids, this means not only a new classroom, but a new school, and for some, a new state, even a new country and a new language. It can’t be easy to be in a new place surrounded by unfamiliar faces, rules and expectations. The climate is different, the rules have changed, and even the way people speak is new.
To start year off right, for newcomers (whether from around the block or around the globe) are ten things that teachers and mentors can do to help newcomers feel at home:
1. Help orient newcomers to their new school (or program) with a complete tour.
2. Make sure they have a buddy for recess, lunch, bus, etc. If possible, extend the buddy system to include an older native speaker (6th grader, HSer, adult) to chat, read, help with homework.
3. Invite newcomers to tell their story - either to you or the class.
4. Draw and present a picture or share photographs of their former home. Invite the newcomer to include pictures of family, pets and favorite places.
5. As the class learns about the place the newcomer is from, compare details such as climate, language, school clothes, etc.
6. Invite non-English speakers to help label classroom items in room in their native language(s). You might provide 3×5 or sticky notes to hang around the room. For example, the door will have labels saying puerto, and whatever other language is found in the room.
7. Hang flags from native countries that represent the school population.
8. Have multi - lingual welcome signs to welcome families and students.
9. Schedule culture days – opportunities for students to explore different cultures, read books, view movies, hear music, taste food, share pictures from their original homes.
10. Provide multi-lingual books and books that take place in other states and countries to read during quiet reading. Encourage student to maintain 1st language reading skills.
One more thing, teachers - allow newcomer to “checkout” for a bit, especially if they are immersed in a new language. A card with green on one side and red on the other let’s the student flip it to red when they need a break. Experience shows that this prevents students from hiding in the bathroom for a brain break.
Thanks to Ms. Sooper, English Language Development teacher from the North Clackamas School District for these ideas.
Topics: BACK TO SCHOOL, Creating a Positive, Culturally Competent | No Comments »