beverly cross university of memphis. you can determine the quality of any city/community by the way...
TRANSCRIPT
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING: THE FOUNDATION FOR TUTORING &
LEARNING
Beverly CrossUniversity of Memphis
KASSERIAN INGERA: “HOW ARE THE CHILDREN?” You can determine the quality of any
city/community by the way it treats its children
You can determine the future of a city/community by the way it treats it children
You can determine the ethics, morals and culture of a community by the way it treats its children
Education reflects the quality of leadership in a community
Education is a civil rights issue A community either views its children
and youth as an asset or a nuisance—there is no middle ground
Do we have faith in our kids? (Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation & Improvement, US Department of Education, James Shelton III, 2/2011)
EXIGENCY STATEMENTS
A superior democracy cannot exist with inferior schools (Corey Booker on Oprah, 9/24/2010)
Our future will be increasingly determined by our capacity & our will to educate all children well. (LDH), 2007
While the US is going backwards in educating its citizens, most of the rest of the world is moving forward.
We know that education is the foundation for our students’ success and ultimately our community’s success. (Cash, 2010)
Fourteen million diverse children in poverty are currently being miseducated. The seven million in urban poverty (disproportionately represented by children of color), attend school in the 120 largest school districts. By many accounts, these districts are failing school systems in which greater size correlates positively with greater failure. Every miseducated child represents a personal tragedy. Each will have a lifelong struggle to ever have a job that pays enough to live in a safe neighborhood, have adequate health insurance, send their own children to better schools than they went to, or have a decent retirement. In most cases their lives are limited to dead end jobs or wasted away in street violence or prison. Living in the midst of the most prosperous nation on earth, the miseducated will live shorter, less healthy lives characterized by greater stress and limited life options. Miseducation is, in effect, a sentence of death carried out daily over a lifetime. It is the most powerful example I know of cruel and unusual punishment and it is exacted on children innocent of any crime.
Haberman, 2006
USA MYTHS Education is the great
equalizer in our society We live in a meritocracy Underachievement is
individual or personal failure
Traditional middle class pathways to success are open to all McLaren, P.
Or
“Ensuring that young people, particularly low-income African Americans and Latinos, are fully equipped with the tools they need is a continuing civil rights issue NAACP
EXPLANATIONS FOR SCHOOL FAILURE Parents don’t
care Students don’t
value education
Lack of role models
They are poor & this limits their abilities
Single and/or broken households
Students are culturally deviant
Community disinvestment
A message of redundancy
Low/no expectations
Necessity for status quo & capitalism
Overwhelming presence of institutional mediocrity
Ignoring the gaps and breeches
TOO MANY GAPS Between teachers and
students Between the curriculum and
students Between school culture
student culture Between school realities and
student realities Between schools and
communities Between Resources Between opportunities to learn All represented as
performance Gaps rooted in eugenics
PEDAGOGY OF POVERTY Giving information Asking questions Giving directions Monitoring work Reviewing tests Reviewing homework
CULTURALLY RELEVANT TUTORING--RESPECT Keys to respect
Express interest Value diversity Be culturally self-aware Limit barriers Understand the dynamics of
cultural interactions Engage students in planning their
experience Ask students to reflect on their
own lives & how they came to believe, understand and feel as they do
Foster relationship building Appreciate identity development Encourage academic excellence +
identity formation
CULTURALLY RELEVENT TUTORING--RIGOR Require rigor & high
expectationsBelieve the student can achieveBe persistent in tutoringHelp students see major
content & big ideas rather than isolated facts
Get students actively involvedAsk students to question
common sense or assumptionsEngage students in applying
ideas to the problems of livingAllow students to redo, polish,
& perfect their workHelp students build vocabulary
CULTURALLY RELEVANT TUTORING--RELEVANCE Create relevance
Connect content to vital & current concerns & issues
Relate content to human differences
Assist students in applying ideals such as fairness, equity or justice to the world
Connect to real-world & real-life experiences
Use technology
RESOURCES I Won’t Learn from You by
Herbert Kohl
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by Gloria Ladson-Billings
Star Teachers of Children in Poverty by Martin Haberman