DCA 6: Thinking Back, Looking ForwardMy non-CS email

laura.kirklin@gmail.comwww.kirklinhsela.pbwiki.com

Books and Film referenced in this session:

The Hobart Shakespeareans- PBS documentary

There are No Shortcuts- Rafe Esquith

Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire- Rafe Esquith

What do you have to believe?

• As you watch these few clips of Rafe Esquith’s 5th grade classroom, I would like you to consider the following questions:

• What do you have to believe about students to make this a reality?

• What do you have to believe about parents to make this a reality?

• What do you have to believe about each other to make a classroom like this the rule, and not the exception?

• And finally?

• Did you/ do you believe that your students this summer could do this? Why or why not? How can the diversity competencies help us sustain this belief?

Gallery Walk- 10 min.

• Grab a writing utensil and visit our “gallery” posters around the room.

• In response to the guiding word or question, write a sentence or two that (honestly) conveys some of your greatest learning this summer.

• As you move around the room, you may also add to or respond to another person’s reflection.

• You do not need to sign your name to these reflection posters.

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Why this Session?

• We need to reflect on how the influence that our biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies have had on our actions this summer.

• This session is going to build heavily on the extension exercises that you have been completing for the last four weeks.

• Throughout your teaching career, you are going to work on your own and with others—like your program director and your colleagues—to continuously increase your effectiveness as a teacher.

• This process basically involves thinking about the Academic Impact Model in reverse.

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teacher’s underlyingknowledge, skills, mindsets

teacher’s actions

others’ actions

outcomes

gather data to examine the outcomes you are reaching with your students, their families, and your administrations.

gather data to examine the outcomes you are reaching with your students, their families, and your administrations.

figure out what student habits (or parent or administrator actions) are leading to these outcomes.

figure out what student habits (or parent or administrator actions) are leading to these outcomes.

isolate the actions that you’re taking that are leading to these student habits, parent actions, or administrator actions.

isolate the actions that you’re taking that are leading to these student habits, parent actions, or administrator actions.

Are your biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies—suspending judgment, asset-based thinking, locus of control, and interpersonal awareness --the underlying factors that are affecting the actions?

Are your biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies—suspending judgment, asset-based thinking, locus of control, and interpersonal awareness --the underlying factors that are affecting the actions?

Andrew’s Story

• How this summer’s diversity programming (and all of the other programming) has made me reevaluate (and gain new insight into) a past experience that I’ve had inside my classroom.

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teacher’s underlyingknowledge, skills, mindsets

teacher’s actions

others’ actions

outcomes

The Academic Impact Model

Solidifying or Changing Mindsets

• We may enter the classroom having internalized hidden, negative mindsets about children of color and children in low income communities.

• We also all have archetypes for how motivated, capable students look.

• The outcomes of situations can have the potential to solidify—in our heads—our biases and the “right-ness” of our archetypes.

• For example, if our students underperform consistently, they might confirm our mindsets that all children are not capable of achieving.

• On the other hand, outcomes of events can lead us to change our initially negative mindsets. If we have negative mindsets about our students’ potential, and our class performs beyond our expectations, it can have a tremendous effect on the subsequent actions we take.

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Using the diversity competencies to respond to and reflect on tough moments allows us to be highly effective at setting ambitious goals, investing our students and their families, and working with our colleagues.

Using the diversity competencies to respond to and reflect on tough moments allows us to be highly effective at setting ambitious goals, investing our students and their families, and working with our colleagues.

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Key Idea

Operating with the diversity competencies all of the time is difficult, but it can have an enormously positive impact on me and my students.

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Key Idea

Thinking about how biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies affect my work is not a judgment on my character; it’s a way to make me more effective.

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Thinking Back (Choose-Your-Own-Reflection)Try it High-Tech on http://750words.com/

• Take out your DCA extension exercises from this summer and give them a quick skim.

• (DCA 1: pg. 180-181; DCA 5: 481-482; DCA 3: 617-615; DCA 4: 675-676; DCA 2: 764-765)

• Pick a challenging moment that you want to focus on during this session.

• Take a look at Part I of Handout 1- pg. 771

• In the left hand column, write about the incident in neutral language.

• In the right hand column, name the unspoken thoughts and feelings that emerged during this situation.

Activity Instructions (6 minutes)

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Thinking Back (Choose-Your-Own-Reflection)

• Turn your attention to Part II of Handout 1: pg. 772.

• Take a moment to think and write about the impact this incident had on you and your students.

Activity Instructions (4 minutes)

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Thinking Back (Choose-Your-Own-Reflection)

• On your own or in a pair, use Handout 2: pg 773-775 to think some more about this incident.

• You’re going to reflect on:

• how your biases and archetypes may have influenced your initial read on the situation

• the extent to which you used the diversity competencies.

Activity Instructions (16 minutes)

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Thinking Back (Choose-Your-Own-Reflection)

• If you choose to work in a pair, you will focus on each person’s situation for about 8 minutes.

• Partner 1 will start the conversation by describing the incident s/he just wrote about, how s/he understood the situation at the time, and how s/he saw biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies affect the way s/he reacted to the situation.

• Partner 2 will then react—adding other ways s/he thinks the competencies may be affecting the “speaker’s” interpretation of the events. Partner 2 may ask questions to learn more about the situation or how the “speaker” is interpreting it.

• Then, you will switch.

Activity Instructions

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Looking Forward

• Using Handout 3: pg. 776, think about:

• Looking back: What has this experience taught you about the way that biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies might affect your understanding of (and reaction to) challenging experiences in your region?

• Looking forward: How do you plan to monitor your thoughts and actions ongoing to ensure you’re making the best choices for yourself, for your relationships with families and colleagues, and for your students?

Activity Instructions- 6 min.

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The Group Debrief

• Is anyone willing to share:

• your experience• what you learned from this experience?

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Key Idea

My response to difficult situations this summer provides a window into how I might handle challenging moments in the fall.

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Key Idea

I head into my classroom having demonstrated strengths in some of the diversity competencies and areas for growth in others.

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Key Idea

I need to find a way to monitor the impact of biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies on my thoughts and actions in a way that works for me.

Everything that I think, believe, or don’t believe affects what my students are able to achieve.

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Closing

• We’re going to close this session by listening to an excerpt of an interview of a Teach For America corps member who was taught (when she attended high school) by another Teach For America corps member.

• As you listen, think about the power you have (with the help of various diversity competencies and our core values) to positively influence the trajectory of your students’ lives, regardless of the various lines of difference you’ll have to cross as you work to make this happen.

Activity Instructions- pg. 777