Facing the Pressure of Teaching Someone Who Actually Does Look Like You…

I’m a 22 year old, African American woman who actually looks like all of her students…except for one.  I’m not too keen of the title Bonnie Davis chose for this text, mainly because looking like my students has not always made my job any easier or less confusing.  In fact, while reading the text, I noted that much of what Davis recommends can be applied to the teaching experience of a an educator who actually does look like her students. 

According to the text, culture is the total of everything an individual learns by growing up in a particular context and results in a set of expectations for appropriate behavior.  In other words, culture is everything your do that allows you to identify with people who are like you and distinguishes you from people who differ from you.  It is often perceived that people of the same race share the same culture.  While this is sometimes true, there are many more factors that contribute to one’s cultural makeup.  Nonetheless, I must contest that being able to understand some of the struggles that my students have faced as an African American and continue to face in and outside of school has helped me in a lot of areas of my first year teaching experience.

Davis says “diverse learners enter in our classroom with a diversity experiences.”  Even as a Black woman and someone who looks like most of my students, I found myself often being frustrated with my children in the beginning because of their learned practices.  I often had to charge myself to check my own biases, after failing to acknowledge the idea that although my students were brown like me, their experiences in Baltimore were completely different from mine growing up in New Jersey.  Just as their educational, family, and community experiences had shaped each of them into someone different, so had mine.  I had to learn how to “reach and teach them all.” (Davis 13) instead of putting up walls in front of the students who required a little more work to reach.

One of the most important points that Davis makes is the fact that we as educators have to learn the communication styles and preferences amongst our students.  Moreover, the more you know about the cultures of your diverse learners, the better equipped you will be to teach them. For me, this expands beyond skin tone.  While communication styles differ amongst different races of people, from my experience it is clear that there is a regional difference in communication style as well.  Another important point that Davis stresses is the fact that misreading cultural communication cues can result in behavior issues and incorrect feedback about learning (Davis 15) Just like in any other relationship, the teacher/student relationship can experience growth or failure because of communication.  It is up to us to look deeper into our students’ lives.  We can’t always look at surface.  We must get to know them on  a slightly more personal level.  Where do they live?  With whom do they live?  What schools did they attend before?  Do they go to church or to mosque?  Are they living with their parents or a guardian?  Is he or she one of six or an only child?  All of these factors and more are things that can alter the communication style of a student and can determine how culturally comfortable a child feels in our classroom. 

Although many of the ideas in the text are relevant and applicable for many, I’d be curious to know the following:

•         If I was actually teaching students who looked differently than I, do I have a right to stereotype them and teach based on their “obvious” culture?  I.e.: is it safe to assume that all Vietnamese children appreciate structure in the classroom?
•        How is it appropriate to judge your classroom on television shows, which typically over-exaggerate many stereotypes?

All in all, we as educators must always be inclusive, and must always find ways to reach each and every one of our students.  Meeting our students where they are and guiding them in order to meet high expectations in our classroom is key.  We cannot allow our own biases and/or cultural differences to negatively interfere, but instead use it as a tool to grow ourselves and our students

Jasmine

Literacy-focused Teaching Strategies

Within the text, Davis cites many reasons why some students have no developed a love of reading. These reasons include:

·      

•     They may have had teachers who weren’t readers and writers themselves.
•        They may be in schools where a culture of reading and writing is not valued.
•        They may not see themselves in their assigned texts in schools.
•        They may never be offered the opportunities to write about themselves and tell the most important story – their own.
•        They may now know how to read or to write.

In order to create a classroom of learners who love to read, Bonnie M. David provides strategies to reach students who have often resist reading and writing. These strategies include utilizing texts that reflect the students’ cultures, exposing one’s own reading preferences and experiences, and reaching out to our students’ individual interests. These recommendations all, to some extent, acknowledge the need for our students to see themselves in a text. A specific sentence within the book quickly glazed over one of the most critical pieces of a student’s ability to connect with a text – “it is important for students to read texts that reflect their cultures and reflect them accurately” (Davis 104). The word accurately is the driving force behind the movement to allow students to connect themselves and their experiences to a text.

After reflecting on my own classroom library which was provided by my school, I am not convinced that the “accurate” reflection is present in the majority of the texts. The characters in many of the fiction stories, while ethnically diverse, do not connect to my students’ daily experiences. While the surface-level view of diversity is achieved, that is often times where the connections end. As educators at many different grade levels, do you find that the texts required by your school and curriculum provide a real opportunity for your students to connect with the stories? If you do not feel that your students are able to connect with the stories, what would it take for them to identify with the plots and characters? Are there enough resources at your disposal for you to make these connections?

-Michelle

Teaching Strategies: Diverse Learners

One major portion of How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You by Bonnie M. Davis concerns how to teach diverse students in the classroom. In chapter two, Davis explores the diverse students in our classrooms. She discusses the different communication styles that they may bring, the varied backgrounds they come from, and the different responses our diverse learners may have to stereotypes.

Throughout this chapter and Part IV, Davis offers numerous strategies for teaching diverse learners and making sure that instruction is culturally relevant to our students’ lives. First and foremost, Davis believes that the best way for an educator to prepare him or herself for a diverse class is to develop relationships with the students. By getting to know the students, their families, and the various cultures and customs they come from, teachers can make their students feel more comfortable and cared for in the classroom. Doing so will also help the teacher understand the social cues that students may be giving from their cultures, which may reduce misunderstandings and tensions.

Additionally, Davis offers some ethno-centric suggestions for reaching students of different backgrounds. She suggests the use of rhythm and movement for African-American students, group work for Latino and American Indian students, and long wait times for American Indian students. Davis also suggests making sure that different ethnic groups and types of people continually present themselves in the texts and literature students are exposed to. This increases investment and creates meaning in the material. Certainly, these “strategies” are not solely for these groups; to act in such a way would be stereotyping. Rather, these strategies should be thought of and utilized as best practices to keep all students engaged and to address the multiple ways that kids learn.

Beyond these more obvious strategies differentiated along racial/ethnic/cultural lines, most of Davis’ suggestions are fundamentally best practices for teaching literacy and differentiation along learning styles. For example, Davis devotes two chapters to utilizing read-alouds and setting up a balanced literacy block. Then, she offers examples of differentiated projects and activities. These suggestions fell mostly across the lines of learning styles (e.g. visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.) and were truly applicable across all cultural and ethnic lines.

Davis’ suggestions are not particularly revelatory. For a book that purports to be primarily about differentiating along the lines of culture, a surprisingly small amount of the content deals specifically with the issue of culture. Rather, the true takeaway from these strategies may be that the most important strategy for differentiating and being culturally responsive in a classroom is to get to know the students as individuals – not as stereotypes and not as a single entity with uniform ability levels. Student from any culture will struggle and excel at different things – beyond understanding the different cultures, perhaps seeing and addressing students for themselves is the most important strategy any teacher can use.

Jeff

Teaching Strategies for Building a Multicultural Responsive Learning Environment

     Bonnie Davis discusses classroom behaviors in chapter two of her book, How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You. She writes that students differ in how they begin tasks and view their roles in the classroom. She encourages teachers to state their behavioral expectations for each activity in a classroom.  The guidance of behavior expectations allows students to focus on the academic portion of their day. In the first chapter, Davis discusses the coffee and tea culture of schools. Some schools have coffee for all members of the staff, where others only have coffee available for staff members that pay for coffee, and some schools have no refreshments available to staff. A substitute teacher when entering a new school does not know the norms and expectations of the group. Davis relates this example to students in classrooms. By expressing norms and expectations, students can feel more part of the group and can worry less about how they need to act to “be cool” and fit in with their peers.

     Granted, I agree that firm and consistent behavioral expectations are important to establishing successful classrooms that focus on academic rigor, but I wonder how teachers can create more culturally diverse learning environments when they are expressing these expectations. Are there general manners and rules that need be enforced in all classrooms to increase productivity? How can teachers’ expectations of behavior not be somewhat biased and based upon their own educational experiences? For example, I have very high expectations for my students when they move and interact in my classroom. I expect them to use manners and talk in quiet tones. Am I discriminating against cultures that use more verbal cues and physical movement or am I establishing a learning environment that generates student productivity? Davis writes that African American students tend to be multimodal and work best when they are invested emotionally and physically (16). On the contrary, she writes that a Vietnamese immigrant might feel uncomfortable if a class requires students to work together and ask questions rather than following a formal, traditional classroom style (16). How can teachers establish learning environments which make all types of learners comfortable?

     Davis has some suggestions to establish a multicultural responsive learning environment in chapters seven, eight, nine, and ten. She establishes her platform for developing a learning environment based on high expectations and academic rigor. While Davis believes expectations need to be clear and consistent, she does not want teachers to create long lists. I find one her most interesting points on rules and expectations to be her use of discipline infractions as teachable moments. I will adopt this point of view going forward to use infractions as “opportunities to teach social skills to our students” (67). 

     Moreover, Davis encourages building a classroom community. Welcoming students is important in establishing relationships with the students. She stresses the importance of students taking an active role in the responsibility of their conduct and merit. One way for students to reflect is to share the class mood each day. Other suggestions include working as a class on a community event, writing and illustrating a class book, taking pictures, doing a student of the week bulletin, and posting reading lists for students (70). I have implemented the use of classroom jobs this year in my classroom, and I have found it extremely helpful in creating a positive classroom culture. My students actively participate in the daily routines and maintenance of our classroom.

     Another way to build a multicultural responsive learning environment is to promote academic success. Schools need to send the message that academic achievement is the “cool.” Davis includes some books that can be useful to generate conversations about community building in partnership with parents and students and lists them on page 80. Two other ideas that I like from her relationship building section include “Friday Final Five,” where a student selects a topic to share during the last five minutes of class on Friday (89), and “Snaps and Taps” in which students write positive comments about other students on paper and put them into a bowl. Students get five seconds to snap or tap before the teacher shares the comments from the bowl (89). 

     In conclusion, Davis gives multiple ways to generate a multicultural responsive learning environment. She believes that academic rigor, clear and consistent expectations, and partnership with parents and the community are integral to developing a multicultural responsive learning environment. However, I invite you to join me in a conversation about if there are general guidelines all schools and classrooms should follow to be productive. My school follows the CHAMPS acronym for giving expectations. I explain before each transition how they should talk (Conversation), ask for help (Help), what they are about to do (Activity), if they will be moving (Movement), and what good involvement looks like (Participation) as guidelines for student achievement (Success). How can I include more student input in this process to be a more multicultural responsive educator? Are there norms that need to be followed nationally, locally, and school wide? Or, can each classroom develop their own norms?

Alli

First, Let's Look at Ourselves...

First, Let’s Look at Ourselves…

We’ve now defined culture—or we’ve at least come to a mutual understanding of it—and before moving on to any sort of classroom strategies, Davis encourages us to look inward at our personal experiences with race and culture. This next section will take a look at your life rather than your students, because in order to reach our students we, as educators, must know who we are first. As Davis said, “the more we know about ourselves, the better we can reach and support our diverse learners” (40).

That being said, teachers continually lead a dual life. One life takes place in the classroom (we’ll call this the Educator Self) and the other takes place outside (we’ll call this the Personal Self). Both are extensions of the other and must be explored before moving on in our discussion.

First, let’s reflect on our Educator selves. Based on the questions that Davis presents, I’d like you to consider the following:

·       

      Think of the physical environment of your school and classroom. Do they reflect diverse individuals? How many steps must you walk before you see a picture of a culturally diverse person?

·       

      Think of your verbal and nonverbal interactions in school. Does your body language change when communicating with some students and not others? Do your interactions with both colleagues and students reflect the sort of interactions you expect back from them?

      

      Think of your relationship with your content. Do you practice it outside the classroom? Do you have a broad understanding of it, and are you continually learning about it? Will your students leave at the end of the year liking your subject more than when they started?

In order to continually improve, any professional must constantly reflect on his or her performance, but I would argue that the reflection questions above are just as valid as those that reflect on lessons or unit goals. After all, students are far more responsive to our actions than anything else. Without even realizing it, we may be communicating certain biases or opinions. Therefore, it’s important to consider the actions of the Educator Self first.

The next step in this reflection is to move beyond the Educator Self and consider the Personal Self. After all, the actions and understandings that go on in your classroom most likely stem from your experiences outside of it. There are several ways in which we can reflect on ourselves, but Davis encourages us to explore our racial identity above all else. This once again proves that this book is targeted to White teachers who are teaching students of other races. In fact, Davis says at one point that in order to “bridge better the cultural gap between the diverse learner and ourselves (if you are a White teacher), we must explore our racial identity” (44). I’m not sure why learners are only “diverse” when compared to a White teacher. I’m quite positive that there are a high number of diverse learners in any classroom, regardless of the skin color of either the students or the teacher. I’m also convinced that in order to be effective, every teacher must consider his or her racial identity and how it affects his or her actions in the classroom and beyond. Davis focuses specifically on this issue of Black and White, which does not (in my opinion) give enough credit to all the types of diversity that exist in our communities and schools. That being said, even though Davis focuses on Black and White racial identities, I feel that these reflections can apply to every person. She even says at one point that in our society “race impacts us 100% of the time, no matter our color” (44). Therefore, throughout the next part of this discussion, I encourage everyone to consider his or her racial identity and how race affects his or her personal life.

Davis presents two stories, the first being her racial history as a White woman, and the second being the racial history of her African American colleague and friend. These stories reveal a lot of insights not only into their personal lives, but also into what it means to be Black or White in America. However, these stories only reflect two people’s experiences; it is impossible for them to represent two racial groups. Thus, I’d like you to take the next few minutes to reflect on your racial past.

Think of how race has impacted (or eluded) you at these various times in your life:

·       Childhood

•       Adolescence
•        Adulthood
•     How might your personal story compare with that of your classmates or your colleagues?

Finally, because Davis focuses mostly on White educators teaching students of color, she brings up a discussion of White privilege, by presenting a day in the life of the two women who shared their stories earlier. Once again, two people cannot possibly represent the experiences of entire racial groups, but the differences in their daily experiences are striking. Think about your own daily life. What or who do you see? What do you hear? How are you treated? How are people who look like you reflected back to you?

Davis refers to the diversity expert Glenn Singleton by stating that “each morning he looks out the window as a Black man, while I, as a White person, look out the window as just a person” (55).

Would you, regardless of your skin color, agree with this statement? Then, whether you agree or disagree, how do you think this could affect our students? How might White privilege be affecting them in their daily lives? How might this translate into the actions and opinions that exist in our classroom?

As you continue on in the future, I encourage you to consider your role in either supporting or eliminating White privilege at your school. What are some ways that you can privilege all children? What are some ways that you can call attention to any oversights that occur at your school? How can you work with your students to ensure that every child feels confident and welcome at your school, regardless of his or her skin color or culture?

I hope you’ve had the opportunity to really look into who you are and how your personal story might contribute to the topic of diversity in America. I also hope that you can continue to use this knowledge as we go on to consider concrete strategies for dealing with diversity in our classrooms.

Lindsay

What is Culture?

   I come from an anthropological background, where this question is a constant matter of contention. In anthropology, we must always define our interpretation of the term before we make an argument founded upon it. There are, after all, as many definitions as there are anthropologists. It is impossible to move forward with our work if we are not candid and upfront about our understanding of the term.

   With this perspective in mind, I was happy to find that Davis, too, chose to began her book on culturally responsive education with her interpretation of the culture concept. Culture, to Davis, is "the lens through which we view the world" (3). It is the complicated conversation of our various perspectives. My culture combines my gender, my religion, the color of my skin, the country of my origin, my academic history, my job, my paycheck, my diet, my family structure, and a multitude of other pixels which create my self-image. It is not simply, as I was afraid Davis might argue, a matter of ethnic identity.

   But culture, much more than it constitutes our personal identities, determines the groups we form. Davis reflects upon a definition of culture by Lindsey, Robins, and Terrell as "everything you do that enables you to identify with people who are like you and that distinguishes you from people who are different from you" (4). It creates groups that define themselves in opposition to what they are not. (As I sit in my living room watching Christina Aguilera belt out the national anthem as fighter jets fly over head, and big, burly players wipe tears from their eyes, I think about the SuperBowl as a moment of shared cultural consciousness. And, by the same right, I imagine: how many people look at this event and define themselves as members of a country who would not indulge in such excess. But I digress.) Walls and boundaries are a natural part of the cultural process--they help us understand where we fall in the world order. Everyone finds her place in relation to everyone else.

   With this definition of culture, Davis urges us to move forward. While we may define our unique identity in opposition to cultural others, we must develop the cultural proficiency to learn from, teach, and work with diverse groups. Here, Davis suggests a number of activities through which individuals may begin to develop the self-awareness, and recognize the shapes, tones, and dimensions of their cultural lenses. With this self awareness, she argues, we can recognize "teachable moments" to share ourselves and learn from others (5). We can begin the work that culturally responsive education is all about.

   These activities have helped to inform my prompts. In addition to responding to the obvious questions, "What is culture?" and "How does Davis's interpretation jive with you?", I'd like you to consider the following:

Examine this list of cultural factors. Which do you share with your students and/or colleagues? At which points do you differ?

• Family
• Gender
• Race
• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Language
• Friends
• Religion
• School
• Geography
• Income of family/social class
• Political views
• Ethnicity
• Electronic media
• Social organizations
• Others

What points of contention or convergence had you not considered before, and how do you imagine your awareness of this point may change the way you approach your job tomorrow?

Chloe

Beginning the Conversation

   In a book that reads more like a how-to manual than a critical reflection, Bonnie M. Davis guides us through the steps to teaching children who "don't look like us." Addressing the how of multicultural education, rather than the why, Davis provides concrete strategies for building high expectations, welcoming diverse learners, differentiating instruction, and instilling a love of learning in our students. We welcome these strategies as allies in our efforts to provide transformative education for our students.

   But, before we can productively delve into the strategies that Davis provides, we must address this author's assumptions. Implicit in her title is the expectation that the reader is a white, middle-class teacher, whose "diverse learners" are "the homeless children, the migrant children, the immigrant children learning english, children dealing with gender issues, children with learning disabilities, special needs children, and children from diverse cultures" (x). For a book that aims to address issues of diversity, we find this to be a surprisingly inadequate definition of that term. Nowhere does Davis allow that teachers interested in culturally responsive education--teachers who might pick up this book--might, in fact, look like their students.

   While this assumption is problematic, Davis does not claim to be an expert on the topic of cultural diversity. Rather, she invites a fluid dialogue on the topic, encouraging teachers to take the text, mold it to their interests and situations, and create unique action plans to serve their students. In the coming posts, rather than summarizing Davis's own perspective, we will be reflecting on her ideas as they relate to our own experiences. We will question, converse, and likely disagree. While difficult and controversial, these conversations will form the necessary foundation for honest, productive work.

   We invite you to join us as we begin this conversation.

   All the best,
   Alli, Chloe, Jeff, Lindsay, and Michelle