Blog 13: Teach Out Final Project Reflection

Rebecca Hobin

Dr. Lesley Bogad

FNED 502: Social Issues in Education 

June 23, 2023

 Teach Out Final Project Reflection Paper

    Throughout this summer, our class has explored several social issues in all dimensions of education. We have covered important topics such as power, privilege, difference, race, culture, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality,  language, ability, and literacy. One word in particular that has consistently stood out to me during this summer session is the word power. What I have learned is that power so profoundly exists everywhere in our society; in government and politics, in neighborhoods and communities, and in American school systems. Power structures exist within our school systems as school committee members, central office and building administrators, as well as classroom educators are the dominant figures who hold the most power to dictate curriculum and agenda. Meanwhile, students and their families are the passive and oftentimes powerless recipients of their education. This power dynamic, while helpful for some students, is detrimental to many in our educational system.

The current system is one that prepares students for a “white man’s world,” while leaving behind the needs of students of color, low-income students, special education students, and LGBTQ+  youth. The foundation of the system is designed to help students of identities consistent with SCWAAMP to reach great educational success, while others are gradually left behind. According to Lisa Delpit, Those who possess the most power and privilege are often the least aware of it while those who hold the least amount of power are the most aware of it (Delpit, p. 26). I decided to base my teach out project on Delpit’s concept of the “culture of power.” Delpit argues that the rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the culture of those who hold power (Delpit, p. 25). In our class discussions, we related the “culture of power” to American school systems and institutions. Students are conditioned to attend school and learn the cultural codes and rules of their school, which is typically led by white educators teaching through a curriculum that prepares students for the white man’s world. The “culture of power” in schools reflects the culture of white educators teaching students of color who enter the classroom with unique lived experiences.  

Like Delpit, I believe that teachers should certainly teach children the cultural codes and rules of school while affirming and validating the culture of the students before them. While learning the codes and rules of power, students should be educated in a way that not only  prepares them for the world, but also supports their identities. In reflecting on the “culture of power,” I wondered how I could connect this concept to my content area of Spanish. I am a white, 24 year-old woman from Cranston, RI who teaches high school Spanish to a diverse student population. While most of my students are teenagers of color from very different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, I am the white classroom teacher who holds power. I am aware that in each encounter that I have with my students,I have the opportunity to empower them or oppress them. I always wish to be a teacher who empowers my students and makes them feel supported, accepted, affirmed, valued, and powerful in their education. Fortunately, my content area of Spanish calls for me to teach about culture and cultural codes in addition to language! 

For my teach out project, I decided to demonstrate the cultural codes and rules that exist within the Hispanic world. While I teach the Spanish language, cultural topics are equally important and often more engaging to teach and learn about in the classroom. My cultural lessons are typically centered around Hispanic holidays and traditions, food, music, dance, festivals, family life, and religious practices. The “culture of power” certainly exists within Hispanic cultures as certain social groups hold more power than others, and some cultural groups believe that their linguistic and cultural practices are superior to others. Additionally, traditions are celebrated differently, gender roles are classified differently,  food is prepared and eaten uniquely, music and dance is practiced differently, and so much more. I decided to create a unit plan in my project that would cover different topics of cultural codes and rules within Hispanic cultures. 

My two favorite readings from this summer session were Other People’s Children by Lisa Delpit and Power, Privilege and Difference by Allan Johnson. These two readings helped me most to understand that power and privilege are so deeply woven into the educational system. As an educator, I have a responsibility to use my power in the classroom to promote social change. I hope to be a language educator with cultural competence who seeks to affirm students’ identities and take interest in their cultural and linguistic backgrounds. I wish to be a Spanish teacher who explicitly teaches the cultural codes and rules of the Spanish-speaking world to my students so that they may feel empowered to acquire the Spanish language, gain their own cultural competence, and explore the products, practices, and perspectives of all cultures. Above all, I wish to recognize my privilege in my work and teach my students to the best of my ability in order to prepare them to reach success in their world instead of the world of the white man. 

Blog 12: Theory into Practice- Intersectionality in the Classroom

Theory into Practice: Intersectionality in the Classroom 

Teaching at the Intersections by Monita K. Bell 

5 Tips for Being an Ally, by Franchesca (chescaleigh)

This week’s reading and video bring all of the topics from our class together into one. Race, culture, power, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, ableism, access, and opportunity are just a few of the themes that we have explored as a class this summer through readings, videos, and class discussions. Teaching at the Intersections by Monita K. Bell focuses on the essential  work of honoring the multiple identities and intersectionalities of students in the classroom. According to the article, “Intersectionality refers to the social, economic and political ways in which identity-based systems of oppression and privilege connect, overlap and influence one another.”This definition of intersectionality aligns with Allan Johnson’s Privilege, Power and Difference. The existence of privilege leads to an unjust and uneven distribution of power which creates oppression and marginalization of social groups. Intersectionality seeks to understand how these factors interact with one another and ultimately manifest in all people across society. 

The article begins with a case study on a student named Nicole who is not meeting academic expectations in the traditional American classroom. Nicole’s teachers, who know little about her life, could treat her as a student with a single story: a young, African-American female with poor grades, a bad family life, and truancy issues. Little do her teachers know that Nicole is the oldest child of a low-income family who is responsible for taking care of her younger siblings. To support this student, educators should view Nicole through an intersectional lens which would acknowledge that her gender and socioeconomic status are strong contributors to her academic performance in school. Nicole’s problems are not solely a result of her multiple identities, but of several oppressions that exist due to her combined identities. This case study reminded me of Armstrong and Wildman’s Colorblindness is the New Racism. To deny the reality that race has a large impact on socialization and education due to the systems of oppression that exist is in itself a racist and oppressive act. In this student Nicole’s case, her race, gender, and socioeconomic status all create barriers for her as a learner. Students are beyond what teachers see in front of them in the classroom. They are human beings with  familial, cultural, social, and linguistic histories that impact their learning in every single way. We cannot treat students as if they hold a single story.

Oppression, power and privilege are constantly at play in the classroom. Helping children understand the relationship between power and privilege in school curriculums and empowering them with the tools to think critically about it is a fundamental responsibility of an educator. We simply cannot deny the role that power and privilege play in American schools. Power and privilege exist in every aspect of schooling for children grades K-12. We must make students aware of the systemic problems that have existed for decades and help them to navigate the world with powerful literacy. My favorite part of this article was reading about the perspective of English teacher Cristina Torres on power imbalance in the classroom. She states, “Every day kids enter our class, there’s an opportunity for them to be empowered or oppressed. When I don’t consider intersectionality and what they might need, I run the risk of oppressing my kids. ... When we stop seeing our kids as whole people—as whole, nuanced people, with context to gender and race and class—we stop seeing them as real people.” To teach authentically and effectively, I believe that all educators must do what Torres is encouraging us  to do, which is to see students as human beings with layers of context, history, experience, personality, and circumstance in order to treat and teach all children equitably. 

In the video 5 Tips for Being an Ally from Youtube, Franchesca offers five important tips for being a good ally for marginalized groups in society. She outlines the following five tips in her video which I believe are highly useful for educators: 

1. Understand your privilege 

2. Listen and do your homework

3. Speak up-not over

4. You will make mistakes! Apologize when you do

5. Ally is a verb- do the work

My favorite tip is tip #5: Ally is a verb- do the work! Oftentimes, a person will claim to be a strong ally who supports various causes and initiatives of marginalized groups. However, a person stating that he or she is an ally is simply not enough. Taking action and doing transformational work is necessary to being a good ally and standing for a cause. Great work can include joining an organization, taking political action, advocating at events, or working alongside leaders to implement true social change. Being an ally requires looking inward at ourselves to analyze our privilege and role in the social issue, as well as looking outward to contribute to solutions through real-life work in order to make real change to create a greater and more just society. As educators, it is our role to support our students in being their ally by doing the work.

Blog 11: Language and Power

Language and Power

"Aria" by Richard Rodriguez

"Teaching Multilingual Children" by Virginia Collier 

"Teaching Bilinguals" (Even if you are not one) by Cuny-NYS

   Up until the 1970s, students in American schools were expected and conditioned to speak English only. Monolingualism in schools unfortunately resulted in profound cultural and linguistic loss of students’ home languages. Parents and families were urged to speak and practice English with their children at home in order for them to have academic success in school and professional opportunities in the workplace. This week’s readings and videos bring light to the damage and disservice that the monolingual narrative created for learners in schools. In their American education, multilingual learners were practically stripped of their cultural roots and expected to assimilate into American culture. Today, the educational approach to multilingualism has shifted drastically. Now, educators treat students’ linguistic repertoire and multiculturalism as an asset in the classroom where second language acquisition is made possible with the help of the students’ first language as the strong and invaluable foundation. 

Virginia Collier’s work Teaching Multicultural Children  offers evidence-based guidelines for teachers working with multilingual learners to ensure that students’ home languages and cultures are respected and upheld in their education. To me, one of her most profound guidelines is the following, “Don't teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language” (page 227). In the past, educators expected students to abandon their first language to acquire English. Today, educators are taught to encourage students to utilize their first language to make meaning of the English language. To affirm a student’s home language means to provide them with positive feedback while learning and refrain from telling a student that they are “wrong.” The teacher should instead look to analyze, compare and contrast language and grammar  structures between the students’ home language and the target language being taught while remaining supportive, open-minded, and culturally responsive. This work reminded me of Lisa Delpit’s work Other People’s Children  as any kind of work with multilingual learners involves the culture of power and calls for culturally responsive teaching. There are rules and codes within all languages, communities, and cultures. Being in a classroom where English is the dominant language creates a power imbalance between the teacher and the multilingual learners. Educators must work to rectify this power imbalance by incorporating more student culture and voice into the curriculum. 

Richard Rodriguez’s personal memoir Aria recounts the author’s experience learning English throughout his childhood while attending Catholic school. Rodriguez expresses that during the process of working tirelessly to learn English as a child, he simultaneously forfeited his home language and cultural Hispanic roots. He writes, “Because I wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intrinsically private one, I easily noted the difference between classroom language and the language of home” (34). In this part of his memoir, Rodriguez is describing his Spanish language and Mexican culture at home as “private” and his second English language as “public.” He is describing how assimilating into American culture molded his “public” identity and overshadowed his “private” or home identity. Rodriguez ponders how his adolescence and language acquisition would have been different if he had been encouraged to speak and utilize his home language in school. I connected this reading back to the article that I read from Rethinking Schools which was centered around anti-racist and multicultural education. The article begged for educators to take a multilingual and multicultural approach to teaching by recognizing and validating the cultural and linguistic backgrounds and stories of all students. To not recognize the rich cultural diversity that students bring into the classroom is a disservice to students and only contributes to the power imbalance that is prevalent in schools. 

Finally, a video series from Cuny-NYS titled Teaching Multilinguals (Even if you are not one) shows American educators in practice implementing great teaching strategies for multilingual learners in modern-day classrooms across New York state. In addition to the first introductory episode, I watched episode three titled “Bilingual Superpowers” and episode four titled “Knowing Your Students.” Episode three showed an English as a New Language teacher from Chinatown, Manhattan describing her students as “bilingual superheroes.” Using their home language to make sense of the English language, she assists her students in translanguaging while writing their own autobiographical graphic novels. This was fascinating to watch! In episode four, an 8th grade English teacher from Brooklyn discussed how teaching is about more than language and direct instruction. I found it interesting when she explained how she utilizes technology and translation tools in the classroom to converse with multilingual students when necessary and teach new content. To be an effective educator, teachers must truly know their students, their stories, familial backgrounds, temperaments, home languages, and individual circumstances. In watching these videos, it was evident that these teachers take time to truly know and understand the students in front of them.

Blog 10: Going to School- Reasonable Accommodations in the Classroom

 Going to School 

Reasonable Accommodations for Students with Disabilities 

Three Talking Points

1. Up until around 1990, students with physical and/or cognitive disabilities were discriminated against and systemically segregated in American schools. 

• This felt unbelievable for me to think about at the beginning of the documentary. While 1990 was over thirty years ago, it is still very recent in our American history. The fact that students with disabilities were maltreated, unseen, unheard and undervalued in schools prior to the 1990s is unjust and inequitable. Students were placed in alternative schools and treated completely differently from general education students. I think about all of the students who attended school prior to this time who endured their education with a cognitive disability that went undiagnosed, ignored, or  unrecognized. Special education has come a long way since this time. 

2. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990 ensures that all students with an identified disability are provided with special education and accommodations to ensure that all of their educational needs are met. As mentioned in the documentary, a student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) serves as a promise to families and students with disabilities that the student's needs will be recognized, services will be provided, strengths will be highlighted, and goals will be implemented.

• A student's IEP is a legally binding document that educators must become familiar with and honor to implement reasonable accommodations in the classroom for students with disabilities. As a general education high school teacher, I usually have 3-5 students with IEPs in each of my classes. I prefer to print the IEPs in a hard copy, and I highlight the necessary information that will pertain to the student's experience in my Spanish class. At the beginning of the year or semester, I take time to meet with each student privately to review their IEP accommodations and give the student the opportunity to share with me anything else that will help them feel accommodated in the classroom. This usually works very well for my students. My goal is to help them feel respected, supported, empowered, and valued in the classroom. 

3. Treating special education as completely separate from general education is extremely isolating and emotionally damaging for students with disabilities. When separated from other students, children with disabilities lose their sense belonging in their school community as well as the hope that they can demonstrate mastery in their academic subjects.

• The most damaging thing to do to a student with disabilities is to socially and/or academically isolate them from other students. Students with disabilities need to be in the least restrictive environment where they can learn and grow alongside their peers. Isolating students with disabilities from others can make those students feel lonely, insecure, undervalued, and powerless in their education. Students with disabilities learn best when they are treated as equals to their peers and included as much as possible with other students. 
  

Argument Statement 

Richard Cohen's documentary "Going to School" follows the uplifting stories of middle school students with disabilities and their families from a middle school in Los Angeles, California. This documentary argues that integration, inclusion, and the upholding of human rights for students with disabilities is of the utmost importance in schools. Students with disabilities learn successfully and grow socially when they are provided with high learning expectations, reasonable accommodations, and ample social opportunities with other students in their school community. 

Blog 9: Teach Out Project Article Summaries

 Teach Out Final Project 
Article Summaries 

Article 1: "Other People's Children" by Lisa Delpit

      Lisa Delpit’s famous work "Other People’s Children" explores the five aspects of the “culture of power” that exist in the traditional American classroom. Her work proves that education is not a separate entity  from politics as socio-political dynamics are constantly at play in the classroom and are often reflected in the relationship between educators and students. She argues that academic problems that exist in vulnerable populations of students are a result of misunderstanding and miscommunication between teachers and “Other People’s Children,” or children of color. Teachers, whether consciously or subconsciously, seek to guide students to “success” by focusing on the discourses and literacies of the white man’s world, instead of empowering students of color to live as their authentic selves and master the languages codes and cultural rules of their own world. The educational system is deeply  flawed because of this power imbalance that permeates across classrooms, making the teacher the dominant figure and the students passive recipients of a failed education.

Article 2: “Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest ” by Patrick Finn

    “Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest ” by Patrick J. Finn is about literacy and its connection to access and opportunity for students. In his work, Finn treats literacy as a gateway to citizenship and social class. He argues that poor and working class students are conditioned through literacy to remain in that social class and consequently show resistance to their education. Middle class students are educated differently with possibility at the heart of their literacy as they are conditioned to believe that they can achieve great things through hard work. On the other hand, upper class students are granted powerful literacy from the beginning that prepares them for excellence in all capacities. Finn argues that our job as educators is to empower all students with powerful literacy, or literacy with an attitude, regardless of zip code or socioeconomic status. The unjust cycle of socialization cannot be broken unless educators first believe in the abilities of all students and secondly, provide powerful literacy to all.

Blog #8: Seeing Queerly

 Rhode Island Laws & Policies

Creating Safe and Supportive School Environments

Three Talking Points 

1. "RIGL §16-2-17 Right to a safe school asserts that each student, staff member, teacher, and administrator has a right to attend and/or work at a school which is safe and secure, and which is conducive to learning, and which is free from the threat, actual or implied, of physical harm by a disruptive student" (Page 6). 

• This is an extremely important RIGL that all educators and support staff should be aware of. All students and staff members alike are entitled to a safe and secure learning and working environment where they are free from discrimination or harm of any kind. All students and staff, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, are entitled to and deserving of this. Schools need to do everything in their power to ensure that people are safe in the learning environment. 

2. "Transgender and gender non-conforming students have the right to discuss and express their gender identity and expression openly and to decide when, with whom, and how much to share private information" (Page 9). 

• Last year, I had a ninth grade student in my class who preferred to be called a different name. This student expressed to me that they wished to be referred to by this name and politely requested that I keep that information private since their family was not accepting of this different name. I was very appreciative that this student felt comfortable and safe enough with me to tell me this, and I called the student by their preferred name throughout the semester. Transgender and gender non-conforming students at the high school level experience a tremendous amount of social, emotional, and physical change. As a teacher, I feel strongly that my job is to protect my students and make them feel safe, accepted, heard, and valued. While it is not within my control to discuss these matters with their families and meditate conversations, I feel that it is my job to control what I can in my classroom which is how I support and respect those students to the best of my ability. 

3. Accordingly, the student may access the restroom, locker room, and changing facility that correspond to the student’s gender identity. A student, upon request, should be provided with a safe and non-stigmatizing alternative to a gender-segregated facility. This may include the addition of a privacy partition or curtain, permission to use a nearby private restroom or office, or a separate changing schedule" (Page 11). 

• Schools are required to provide safe and non-stigmatizing settings for transgender or gender non-conforming students, even if that means a private restroom or changing facility. More than anything, it is critical to make these students feel comfortable in their school and help them to feel safe and protected by the school community. Providing a private space for these students when necessary is a great way to help them feel valued and protected in their school.

4. Woke Read Alouds: They, She He Easy as ABC

• Ki reads this children's read aloud with the focus of affirming peoples' identities and expanding peoples knowledge of gender. The focus is showing respect, care, and understanding to others at the elementary level.  

Blog #7- Teach Out Final Project Proposal

 Teach Out Final Project Proposal 

The rules of culture and power in the Spanish-Speaking World

by Rebecca Hobin

Each week, I have consistently connected our class readings and discussions back to Lisa Delpit's work Other People's Children. I am especially moved by her emphasis on the "culture of power." The traditional dynamic between teachers and students reflects a relationship of control. The teacher is expected to dominate and dictate the various discourses and literacies of the classroom. According to Delpit, "The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power." While she argues that it is essential for students to understand language codes and rules, Delpit encourages educators to shift the power dynamic to incorporate more student voices in the classroom. As educators, we must prepare all students, especially multilingual learners and students of color, to succeed in their own world, not the world of the white man.

As a high school Spanish teacher, I am constantly learning the various discourses and literacies across the 21 countries of the Spanish-speaking world. While my Spanish education is rooted in Castilian Spanish from Spain, I teach non-native speakers as well as native Spanish-speakers who enter the classroom with rich linguistic knowledge and experience. All of my students present with unique dialects, accents, attitudes, and colloquial ways of speaking from their prospective cultures. Being the classroom teacher, the "culture of power" exists as I deliver direct Spanish language instruction to my students. However, I am not all-knowing in the Spanish language and culture. There are cultural codes, normalities, and linguistic rules that differ between the Spanish-speaking countries. For my Teach Out Project, I will be using Lisa Delpit's framework to deliver a culturally-based lesson to teach some of the various rules of culture and power that exist across Spanish-speaking countries. My goal is to promote cultural awareness and competency through this lesson. 

Teach Out Lesson Plan: 

1. With high school students as my target audience, I will introduce Lisa Delpit's five aspects of the "culture of power" and connect it to the rules of culture and power in the Spanish-speaking world. 

2. I will provide examples of a few social rules and norms found within Hispanic cultures

3. Students will be asked about their own experiences in the Spanish language, and encouraged to reflect on the diversity of cultural codes in the Spanish speaking world.

4. Students will play a game (Kahoot) to review the cultural facts that they have learned.