Diversity has been a big initiative ever since I joined the district in 2005. I distinctly remember sitting in an in-service on Rosh Hashanah during my first year of teaching. As we were listening to a speech on diversity, someone stood up and said, “I find it hard to believe that you’re trying to teach us about diversity on the holiest day of the Jewish year.” Since then, we have had off for Rosh Hashanah. During another in-service, we participated in a large group activity where we had to stand in certain parts of the room depending on how we answered the facilitator’s question. Some questions focused on our upbringing, race, and the wealth of our families. Diversity awareness continues to be a focus in our district and is part of our mission statement. According to Richards, Brown and Forde (2006), “It is crucial that teachers explore their personal histories and experiences, as well as the history and current experiences of their students and families.”
When teachers eliminate biases and have knowledge about their students’ backgrounds, they can better respond to their students’ needs. Our district elementary schools have a number of programs in place so that all students feel included. Response to Instruction and Intervention (RtII) is our newest academic initiative to ensure we are meeting the needs of all learners. Team data meetings take place each quarter to look at data from multiple perspectives and ensure that students are in the most appropriate tier for learning. The school counselors push into the classrooms for a series of lessons in each grade level. In third grade, students experience a lesson on discrimination where they are treated a certain way according to the color bandana they are given. School counselors have the flexibility to work with groups of students depending on the need that is expressed by the classroom teacher. At my former building, I felt very supported by my principal, the school counselor, and all of the other support specialists. “If the teacher-principal relationship can be characterized as helpful, supportive, and trusting, so too will relationships between teachers, students, and parents” (School context: Bridge or barrier to change, n.d.).
This year, RtII will be implemented in grades three and four across the district. Kindergarten, first and second grade implemented RtII last year. When I overhear conversations about RtII, I usually hear negative comments. Even after a year of implementation, teachers see it more of a hassle than a help. They view it as a program that interferes with scheduling and reduces the amount of time they have for language arts instruction. According to Marzano (2005), culture is the number one item that is negatively affected by second-order change. It also does not help that contract negotiations were going on for the first half of the school year. If I could redo the RtII introduction process, I would start out by evaluating student data and showing the teachers how RtII can help meet the needs of all their students. Monitoring and evaluating ranks number one on Marzano’s list for first-order change and number five on the list for second-order change (2005). Being able to demonstrate knowledge of curriculum, instruction and assessment, number one on Marzano’s list for second-order change, would give support to the teachers. Many teachers feel that this initiative was brought to our district without regard to the programs we already had in place. In order to move forward and build positivity around this initiative, we need to continue to monitor and evaluate the student data. If last year’s data shows improvements, that needs to be communicated to staff members to show how their efforts are making a difference. If the data shows no progression, staff members should be involved in deciding the next steps. As stated by Huberman and Miles, “Those involved in school improvement efforts must believe that the needs being addressed are important and that they are meeting those needs (School context: Bridge or barrier to change, n.d.).
References:
Brown, A.F., Forde, T.B., Richards, H.V. (2006). Addressing Diversity in Schools: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.nccrest.org/Briefs/Diversity_Brief.pdf
Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision andCurriculum Development.
School context: Bridge or barrier to change. (n.d.) In Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/change/school/leadership.html#culture
You really hit a key point...teachers are human and may carry their old mental models, prejudices, into a culturally changing school.
ReplyDeleteWhy do we have to do special things for special groups?
I like to use Learning Styles as a first step to differentiation, since every teacher and student have a dominant style. Once teachers learn about themselves as learners thy look at their kids differently.
Jim