Lane Middle School Book Group discussion
This topic is about
Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain
Week 1 - 7/21-7/27 - Chapters 1-4
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Chapter 1: As a new teacher to Lane, I am going to refrain from answering questions specifically about Lane students. I do think that culturally and linguistically diverse students are more likely to become dependent learners because their teachers confuse the purpose of education. When teachers focus on the transmission of knowledge, rather than ignition of curiosity and creativity, students are more likely to not develop the passion or interest to become independent. Furthermore, when students are treated as vessels of information, an answer can only be right or wrong. By allowing the focus of education to be more than merely making up for the knowledge or information children are deemed to lack, students can have more opportunities to measure themselves and only value their education by what they can collect: how many facts can they memorize, how quickly can they answer a question correctly. While teachers know in their hearts that education is not just about rote memorization and facts, the barrage of evaluation targeted at struggling schools with high populations of students of color can sway lessons and curriculum towards reinforcing fixed mindsets of intellectual growth and habits of dependent learners.
Chapter 1: How do culturally and linguistically diverse students become dependent learners? In general, do you see Lane students as dependent learners as described in this chapter?In general, I do see many Lane students as dependent learners as described by Hammond. In many classrooms, I see students depending on their teacher to complete cognitive tasks and sitting passively (or disengaging/disrupting) if they do not understand a task. However, I have also seen the opposite - when presented with a relevant task, I have seen them deeply engage.
Chapter 3: Thinking about your students at Lane, which “brain rule” (pg. 47-49) resonates with you and why?
Thinking about Lane students, the first brain rule resonates with me - "The brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with others in community." I can think of so many examples - students disengaging from work to minimize the social threat of not knowing or getting something wrong, students relying heavily on positive relationships with students and staff, etc.
Chapter 4: What is your “go to” strategy that allows your amygdala to re-balance itself when you feel triggered by a student behavior in the classroom?
Humor, especially removing myself from a power struggle and joking around with other students about an unrelated topic. If I'm really thrown off kilter (rare- once or twice a year), I ask for backup, go for a walk around the block, and do a deep breathing video on YouTube for the whole block. P.S. feel free to call me if you are in that situation and need your own walk around the block!
Chapter 1: How do culturally and linguistically diverse students become dependent learners? In general, do you see Lane students as dependent learners as described in this chapter?Those students become dependent learners often as a result of bias (implicit or explicit) on their teachers' part, due to presumptions of a lack of caring or ability to be challenged as learners. Also at play is misunderstanding, cross-culturally, when the teachers do not recognize a different communication/learning style which results in the students having to act the way their teachers expect, and therefore losing independence in their path as learners.
I feel that many of my 6th graders last year acted as dependent learners. They came into middle school with expectations of "hand-holding" through each task, inexperience with being held accountable to proceed through work independently, and uncertainty with their own abilities to struggle then succeed with their learning. Many of these students initially responded to these challenges with defeatist attitudes and their defenses up. It took a good amount of work to teach them some independence (especially in Math), and that's definitely in part to my learning how to let them struggle positively as well!
Chapter 2: How do you see individualism and collectivism operating in your classroom and/or in the Lane community?
I really see a lot of both types in my experiences so far at Lane.
When it comes to classwork, I had many students who thrive off of having time to work and discuss with others, as well as many who prefer to work independently and thrive off of focused time to work through problems on their own. Though I tend to aim for groups of 4, I feel the most student-led groupings would end up in groups of 2, with some stretching to 3 or 4.
When it comes to relationships with teachers/admin, Lane students are significantly more Collectivist-oriented. Our students are very supportive of each others' successes, enjoy discussions (overall), group dynamics and harmony are extremely important (with peers), and they seem hugely motivated by positive relationships with the adults in the school.
Chapter 3: Thinking about your students at Lane, which “brain rule” (pg. 47-49) resonates with you and why?
Brain Rule #1 resonates the strongest with me - "The brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with other in community". I feel that this is the OverLord of the principles for a reason ("The order of the principles isn't important, except for Number 1. It is always first."), as it's critical to know how to maximize my time/opportunities to connect with my students. Being aware of microaggressions is so important, and with so many dependent learners I need to help them feel supported so that they do not feel threatened. And further than that, I need to recognize and acknowledge their cultural schema in order to help them feel as integral pieces of our classroom community. I starred the final paragraph in this principle: *It is not enough to have a classroom free of psychological and social threats. The brain needs to be a part of a caring social community to maximize its sense of well-being. Marginalized students need to feel affirmed and included as valued members of a learning community.*
Chapter 4: What is your “go to” strategy that allows your amygdala to re-balance itself when you feel triggered by a student behavior in the classroom?
Hi Sarah Trapido - Welcome to Lane :) One thing you will find out about our students is that they become dependent learners because many of their elementary school teachers thought they could not do it - that they could not memorize their multiplication tables, nor learn how to read a clock. So, what happens is that students have major gaps in their education and feel embarrassed. Our seventh grade social studies teacher actually stopped class once to teach kids how to read a clock, if you can imagine that. So kids become dependent on adults for basic facts and skills, and get frustrated and angry because they can't understand. If a student doesn't "get it," more often than not it is because they are missing a basic skill. In my AVID elective class, my tutors have helped students learn multiplication rules, science vocabulary, basic sight words, and other skills that our kids really should have learned before middle school. We assume kids should have it before 6-8th grades.... And I will say from experience that it is our number one mistake. If kids do not have basic skills, it is really difficult to move to higher critical thinking exercises.
Hi Stephanie! I hope you are having a great summer. I agree with your answer for chapter 2. It makes me wonder how successful students feel in classrooms that are purely individually graded as opposed to classes that are more project based.Also, I wonder how we can do better with peer collaboration as a learning community. It seems like the feedback we often get as teachers is to adding group roles. Some students I have hate group collaboration roles because they feel restricted, whereas others like feeling like the roles give them a sense of group identity. What have you tried in your own classroom? What did you find to be successful?
Hi Lisa! Thank you for the welcome!I taught at a Title 1 public middle school in New York City the past 6 years, and definitely relate to having students whose dependence was developed as elementary school students.
What I found will not surprise any of you: when students had engaging project based work, they were more likely to operate with a growth mindset. Working in teams when there is not simply a right or wrong answer, gave them the freedom to take risks and push each other to do their best work. In order to do this, the classroom culture must already be safe, inclusive, and fight deficit thinking. For middle schoolers who desperately want to fit in and be cool, trying can feel like a huge risk.
I really agree with Sarah Waltrip that humor is a powerful classroom tool. I think it's equally important for students to take you seriously as an authority and see you as a human able to acknowledge mistakes and laugh at yourself. Working with students who do tend to frustrate easily, walking and breathing are so useful. Last year, I had a group of students for whom I was creating little exercise routines that we would do in the hallway.
Years ago, I read in a New York Times article about romantic relationships, but found the advice equally true for all relationships. People need a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions in order to have a neutral perspective. That means for every one comment or interaction a student perceives as negative, they need at least three positive experiences in order to feel positively about the class or teacher. We need to constantly invest in our relationships with students so when we make withdrawals, they are worth it.
Great point about positive interactions, Sarah. In chapter 3, the brain rule that resonates with me is number 5, "All new information must be coupled with existing funds of knowledge in order to be learned," or, to restate, "All learners have to connect new content to what they already know." I have found that when students can relate something in their own lives, they will be more engaged and take ownership of their knowledge.
In chapter 4, I use the S.O.D.A. strategy that is outlined on page 68:
Stop,
Observe (10-second break, count, breathe, sip coffee),
Detach (I think of the beach, with sand between my toes),
Awaken (Can I put myself in their shoes, is there another perspective)
Lisa wrote: "Hi Stephanie! I hope you are having a great summer. I agree with your answer for chapter 2. It makes me wonder how successful students feel in classrooms that are purely individually graded as oppo..."Hi Lisa!
Summer has been awesome, I hope yours too!
I have tried various group roles, first borrowing from my student teaching experience with a teacher with very successful student-collaboration techniques, then shifting the role titles a couple times in order for them to feel most authentic to me in the science classroom. My 6th graders last year were actually really positive about their roles, trying to stick with them and holding each other accountable! It's also up to me to remind them to turn to their group mates first, and who should be in charge of what (when they are asking me for help). In math, however, which is the only subject I am teaching this year, I did not use roles at all this past year. I see their helpfulness in a way, but it has to feel authentic TO ME first of all so that the students have buy-in, and I didn't feel the roles were necessary. I do really like the strategies that are talked about later in this book, in chapter 8, to have more intentional think-time with students discussing with each other using strategic "talking tools" such as the three (or four) on a pencil protocol - which I had to look up but really like and am planning on using :)
SarahTrapido wrote: "Hi Lisa! Thank you for the welcome!I taught at a Title 1 public middle school in New York City the past 6 years, and definitely relate to having students whose dependence was developed as element..."
Hi Sarah!
Stephanie (Steph) Abbott, 6th grade math over here! Welcome to Lane! I am looking forward to picking your brain this year, as I weave more project-based learning into my instruction! I have used a bit of it and the students really enjoy it - I am learning as I go too, that the time-frame matters (sometimes one day is awesome, sometimes one week is not enough, sometimes two weeks is too much...), and would love to have some feedback as the year goes on. :)
Chapter 1: How do culturally and linguistically diverse students become dependent learners? In general, do you see Lane students as dependent learners as described in this chapter?
Chapter 2: How do you see individualism and collectivism operating in your classroom and/or in the Lane community?
Chapter 3: Thinking about your students at Lane, which “brain rule” (pg. 47-49) resonates with you and why?
Chapter 4: What is your “go to” strategy that allows your amygdala to re-balance itself when you feel triggered by a student behavior in the classroom?