Brenda DeRamus-Coleman

Minority Leadership Conference

Orange Beach, Alabama

November 7, 2009

Goals

• Introduction to the text

• Understanding diversity and diversity in learning

• Personal reflections

• Strategies to help reach all students

• Benefits

• Additional resources

Standard 1: Planning for Continuous Improvement• All indicators are key to our continuous improvement and

may be touched on today.• This conversation highlights a few.

– Ability to focus upon student learning as a driving force for curriculum [and] instruction [by using varied processes for gathering information.]

– Ability to assess student progress using a variety of techniques– Knowledge to lead the articulation, development, and

implementation of a shared vision…that places student and faculty learning at the center.

– Ability to lead and motivate [stakeholders] to achieve the school’s vision.

– Knowledge to allocate and GUARD instruction time…– Ability to use external resources as sources for ideas for

improving student achievement.

Essential Questions

• What is it about our students that impede our instructing and their learning and how can we help to filter interferences?

• What are barriers imposed by adults that perpetuate low achievement among students and what are solutions to the barriers that we have found?

• What resources and strategies are available to help gather information to use in making curricular, instructional, and institutional decisions?

Andrea remembers the day it happened. “I was sitting in geography class. I was a sophomore. The day

had started out really bad. My mother was on my case for my bad grades. My teacher was handing back our tests. When he got to me, he threw the test on the desk. All I saw were the red marks. ‘Your kind,’ he said, ‘don’t deserve a desk.’ I didn’t even hear what else he had to say. I snapped. Just snapped when I heard that ‘your kind.’ It was the last straw. I didn’t say anything when he ignored my raised hand or all the times he pretended I wasn’t there. When I snapped, I just glared and said in my meanest voice, ‘Mr. Rossi, just what is it about me you can’t teach?’”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0sLTBX90Qs

I can’t teach you because you…

are…• Black• White• Poor• Rich • EC• BD• OCD• Gifted• Learning disabled• Handicapped• Too quiet• Too talkative

wear…•Baggy pants•Saggin’ pants•Pants that are tattered and torn•Short skirts•Halter tops•Skin tight•All black or •Designer clothing•Weave•Dreds •Multi-colored hair

What are some of the hurdles and pitfalls that students encounter

• Parents’ expectations• Peer pressure• Teachers’ self-

fulfilling prophesies• Media propaganda• State and Federal

mandates

Build Bridges

• Get to know your students– Conduct Surveys – infuse procedures with get-to-know you activities

• Maintain high expectations with attainable goals– No one rises to low expectations-Carl Boyd– Educate to Elevate- African Proverb

• Check for prior knowledge

Intentionality and Reciprocity

Self-Change

Challenge

Goal Planning

Individuation

Sharing Behavior

Competence

Self-Regulation

Transcendence

Meaning

Mediation

Mediated Learning

Help students filter learning for active engagement

Help students resolve tendencies

to become distracted

Check for prior knowledge, skills, talents

Use graphic organizers so they get

THE BIG PICTURE

KWL

Start with what the students know and find out what the students’ interests are that might relate to the study.

Mediation

Intentionality

Meaning

Make learning relevant

What a child learns is rooted in the culture and values of his/her family and early experiences. Use those experiences to enhance and to extend learning.

Meaning

Intentionality

Mediation

Transcendence through reciprocal teaching

Teaching-The teacher will teach comprehension strategies Ask generalizing questions Summarize Clarify meaning Make predictions

Modeling-The teacher will model the strategies Demonstrate generalizing and summarizing with examples from the text or

content related paragraph. Clarify meaning by asking questions and/or by allowing questions related to

the activity Provide examples that allow students to make predictions about what they

are reading and learning Keep students actively engaged in the teaching and learning process

Collaborating-The teacher will encourage community, active engagement and application using various strategies such as:

group interaction Jigsaw research projects

Understanding Diversity

"Diversity extends beyond cultural, linguistic, and academic diversity; understanding diversity shows appreciation for the uniqueness of each individual learner"

Use Assessment Data

Make decisions about classes and individual needs

Help students know themselves, their strengths, their weaknesses, and their processes of learning

What does any of this mean to me?

• Individuals who value others will respect and value themselves.

• Understanding others and valuing their unique characteristics will help in developing positive relationships.

• EDUCATE Alabama

• Planning for Continuous Improvement

Conceptual Framework for Collaboration aimed at Closing

Achievement Gaps

http://www.google.com/images?as_q=three+story+intellects&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgtype=&imgsz=&imgw=&imgh=&imgar=&as_filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images&as_st=y

from Google Images

Three Story Intellects

• What philosophical, policy, or systemic changes might be made to accommodate your goal of providing high quality instruction for ALL students?

• Use the Bloom’s Taxonomy cards to discuss Andrea’s Story.

• Use the vocabulary from “Three Story Intellects” or the Depth of Knowledge wheel to create an activity for your students or teachers.

• Use the “Six Hat Thinking” graphic organizer to assess your participation and the value of any of the presented ideas.

Additional Resources

• http://troup612resources.troup.k12.ga.us/Instructional%20Strategies%20&%20Resources/Instructional%20Strategies%20&%20Resources.htm

• http://academic.sfsu.edu/CMS_uploads/files/7faff-355.pdf

Books to ReadProfessional Development and more…

• What Is It About Me You Can’t Teach?-Eleanor Renee Rodriguez and James Bellanca, Skylight Professional Development, 1996

• A Kind and Just Parent-William Ayers, Beacon Press, 1997• Blacked Out: Dilemmas of Race, Identity, and Success at Capital

High-Signithia Fordham,University of Chicago Press,1996• Holler If You Hear Me-Gregory Michie, Teachers College Press,

2009• In Plain Sight: Simple, Difficult Lessons from New Jersey's

Expensive Effort to Close the Achievement Gap - Gordon MacInnes, Century Foundation Press, 2009

• America's Untapped Resource - Richard D. Kahlenberg, Century Foundation Press, 2004

It’s Your Turn

• On the 3 x 5 – write your name and your school email address.

• On the reverse side– write one question that is still rolling around in your

head regarding your role in the planning for continuous improvement and/or the concepts taken from the manual, What Is It About Me You Can’t Teach?

– List your favorite professional networking or collaboration website.