california alliance of african american educators stanford institute

Copyright © 2007 EDEquity, Inc. All Rights Reserved

California Alliance of African American Educators

Stanford Institute Responsive Classroom and Structures to

Engage Black Students Presented by

Edwin Lou Javius President/CEO EDEquity, Inc.


Miss Tolliver


Greatest barrier to learning…

is not what students know, but what teachers believe!

Dr. Wade Nobles


Do we believe?

• African American – 950 • Latino – 900• White – 840• Asian – 790


Do we believe?

• African American – 950 • Latino – 900


Diggin’ Deep with NCLB

“…soft bigotry of low expectations.”

George W. Bush


What would be your staff development for NCLB?


Closing the Equity Gap

75% Mind-set

25% Instructional Strategies


Key Principles of Equity

Awareness

Attitude

Analysis

Action

Accountability

Mind-Set

Strategies


Race does not impact student achievement! It’s how educators

view and react to race that impacts student achievement.


Research Says It’s…

• Not Race

• Not Class

• Not Poverty

• Not Gender

• School’s response to Race

• School’s response to Class

• School’s response to Poverty

• School’s response to Gender

BUT


To understand the impact of race and culture on student achievement,

you need to be willing to abandon the belief that colorblindness is a

possible solution.

Equity Based Instructional Leaders are Color Conscious.


Commitment


Krispy Kreme Theory


If we do not better equip black boys to the nature of schooling, we will fail

them.


Who’s more equipped to change?


What do we already know about black students

(Affective Domain)

• Black students are highly relational • Black students will test your

resiliency to work with them • Black Students synthesize their

experiences



(Cognitive Domain)

• Inferential learning styles is a strength

• Improvisational and verbal skills • Musical and high movement • Synthesize their experiences



• Will overtly participate when she/he is confident about material

• Will perform at high levels when he/she knows the teacher cares

• Will sacrifice achievement for peer acceptance


How to equip black boys to succeed

• Provide every avenue to develop and sustain positive racial identity

• Assist black boys in understanding and channeling their masculinity

• Give culturally relevant literature reflecting positive role models

• Model academic talk• Demand academic responses from boys • Validate, affirm and bridge home/

community language• Overtly teach situational appropriateness


• Provide explicit positive and constructive feedback for academic and behavior performance

• Teach effort!!!

How to equip black boys to succeed


Language Taxonomy of African American Students

Recitation

Repetition

Rhythm

Rituals

Relationship


Student Voice


“Culture is to humans, as water is to fish.”

Dr. Wade Nobles


Making Cultural Connections


The quality of a school as a learning community can be measured by

how effectively it takes action of the needs of struggling students.

Jim Wright, 2005


What is the data saying

• Re-designated ELL are one of the highest performing student groups in California

• Acquiring academic language is the key to academic success in all subject areas


Characteristics of an Academic Language Learner (ALL)™

An ALL student can…• use the English language in more complex, cognitively demanding

situations. They use intricate structures such as idiomatic expressions and passive voice.

• use a wide variety of grammatical structures to describe concrete and abstract concepts.

• comprehend core text and other multifaceted materials with clarification of ideas or vocabulary.

• write with increasing length and complexity for various purposes and use expressive language and academic vocabulary.

• read grade-level books with an understanding of main ideas, idioms, and figures of speech.


Characteristics of an Academic Language Learner (ALL)™ cont.

• participate confidently in verbal exchanges with teachers and peers about both academic and personal topics.

• They understand and use idioms and slang without repetition.

• participate in academic presentations, such as drama and debate.

• They comprehend factual and figurative language presented in core texts.

• They read independently with appropriate pacing and intonation.


Creating Classroom for Academic Language Learners (ALL)™

• Teachers must model academic language

• Teachers must know how to bridge community/home language with academic language

• Know how to suspend the curriculum briefly to validate cultural connections


What else do we need to know?

Nothing!

We need to know how to act on what we already know!


Most Effective Teachers of Black Students

One who…

Knows

Acts

Cares


Manufacturing my own Morale

This is how I get started!


Skills of Effective Teachers of Black Students

1. Effective teachers maintain an overall atmosphere (verbal and non-verbal) of general encouragement and support for the learning process of all students-and not just specific to student responses to teacher questioning. They generate a supportive, positive, and challenging atmosphere in the classroom. They act as a major resource of information and support to students.

1. Effective teachers maintain an orderly environment that is safe, structured, and comfortable. They should create a sense that this is a place to concentrate on the learning at hand rather than on immediate anxieties and distracting events in the school, home or neighborhood environment.

1. Effective teachers not only have high expectations but also set clear standards of attainable academic and behavioral performance, and hold students to them.

1. Effective teachers carefully think, plan, and make decisions to ensure strategic teaching.

Source: Dr. Robert Green


Effective Teachers…5. Effective teachers call on all students to participate in classroom

discussions with challenging questions, in multiple forms, related to the cognitive information being covered. Effective teachers appreciate the importance to every student.

5. Effective teachers give students adequate time to formulate answers when called upon. “Wait time” is used to cultivate good responses.

5. Effective teachers help to lead students into correct answers, using encouragement and clues, and by developing and shaping answers interactively-probe, restate questions, give hints, etc.; reinforce good responses in multiple ways.

5. Effective teachers structure opportunities for students to achieve significant success:

• Assure cognitive entry attained;• Task breakdown;• Ordered sequencing;• Mastery learning model: presentation, guided practice, independent

practice, review, assessment, re-instruction, and reinforcement.



Effective Teachers…9. Effective teachers react to student responses with praise:

• Appropriate in timing and quantity; directed and specific;• Not general, stereotyped, and/or single-worded.

10. Effective teachers use significant amount of positive non-verbal behavior as well:

• Smile;• Nod positively;• Look students directly in the eyes;• Lean forward;• Encourage more than one direct response.

11. Effective teachers design learning activities to be challenging, engaging, relevant, and directed to students motivations; emphasize the process of learning and its excitement as a quest.

11. Effective teachers are proactively available; assist students and demonstrate willingness to help both during class and non-class time; encourage students who are “response-reticent.”



Effective Teachers…

13. Effective teachers give adequate evaluative feedback and constructive criticisms that are, and are perceived as, positive and instructional.

13. Effective teachers place primary stress on academic role definition, and does not settle for solely social or other non-academic goals.

13. Effective teachers appreciate and celebrate diversity in the classroom.

13. Effective teachers continually update their skills.

13. Effective teachers participate in induction, mentoring, and collaborative activities with experienced teachers.



Multiple Literacies for Black Males

Emotional

Cultural Academic

Social

Multiples Literacies

Source: Alfred Tatum, 2005


Multiple Literacies

• Academic Literacy-skills and strategies that can be applied independently to handle cognitively demanding tasks

• Cultural Literacy-a consciousness historical and current event that shapes cultural identity as an African American

• Emotional Literacy-the ability to manage one’s feelings and beliefs

• Social Literacy- the ability to navigate a variety of settings with people of similar or dissimilar views


Culturally Responsive Structure

Progress Monitoring

Research Based

Curricula & Interventions

Data-Based Decision Making

Multi-tier Supports:

AcademicBehavior

Problem Solving

Collaborative Collaborative Problem-SolvingProblem-Solving

School wide School wide Active Active

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support support Use of Use of

QuantitatiQuantitative and ve and

QualitativeQualitativedatadata

Progress Progress MonitorinMonitorin

ggEquity Equity

Walks™Walks™

Multi-tier Multi-tier SupportsSupports

: : Academic

&Behavior

Early Early InterventioInterventio

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The Rose That Grew From Concrete

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?

Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.

Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.

Long live the rose that grew from concrete when a teacher was the only

one that ever cared.Adapted from Tupac Shakur


Contact Information Professional development support provided

by EDEquity, Inc. please contact:

Edwin Lou Javius President/CEO

8351 Elm Ave. Suite 104Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

1-877-EDEQTY-1 (333-7891)www.edequity.com

california alliance of african american educators stanford institute

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