On Neurodiversity - Child Mind Institute

 The authors argue that...there should be an acceptance and openness of neurodiversity, which encompasses a wide range of natural yet atypical variations of how brain functions and processes work. They argue that there is no right way for a brain to work and that people who are neurodivergent are not at a deficit. 

Three Talking Points:

Beginning:  One of the main points is that neurodiverse people should be recognized for their strengths and not their deficits. Instead of thinking of the ways in which people with autism or ADHD need to be fixed, people should focus on the strengths that they bring to the table and the skills they are working on, as every human has their own unique strengths and areas of growth. Just because someone is neurodiverse doesn't mean they need fixing!!

Middle: One of the points that was made in the middle of the article was that neurodiversity is an identity that more and more children are comfortable with identifying with and that it does not always require a diagnosis. Children who struggle socially may feel comfortable identifying as neurodiverse because it gives them an explanation of how their brain works, and they can find likeminded people to talk about it with. I think it's interesting that neurodiversity doesn't necessarily need a diagnosis for the identification aspect, I feel like that decreases the stigma around having neurodiverse behaviors and conditions!

Ending: The final point though that I found was important was that a diagnosis from a medical perspective is necessary if they have a disorder that impacts how they show up at school and in their personal life. While the process of obtaining a diagnosis is extremely variable, it starts with an evaluation that could lead to a diagnosis based on the symptoms. However, what was really important to note was the fact that the doctor mentioned that not obtaining a diagnosis doesn't negate the child's struggles that they came to seek a diagnosis for. I think that is extremely important because for some children a diagnosis is quite necessary while for others it isn't but they could benefit from therapy or behavioral management strategies to help them succeed. 

Reflection/Connection: 

I think that from all of the information we have read in this class, I connected this article on neurodiversity to Renkly and Bertolini's "Shifting the Paradigm" piece as they advocate for schools to switch towards an asset approach rather than a deficit approach when discussing their students and how they view data. I think that this piece connected because the authors explicitly mention to not speak about neurodiverse students in a deficit manner, but rather recognize the strengths they can bring to the table. Focusing on creativity, hyperfocus to detail, and special interests are ways in which students who are neurodiverse can be celebrated for their skills. Recognizing the difference between differences and disorder can be a large way that adults celebrate neurodiverse students because it doesn't limit them to their diagnosis. If we as adults focus on their disorder in a deficit way, students can internalize this negatively and believe their future is not bright. 

Unfortunately, in the school I work at, the most disproportionate learning gap according to data is between students with IEPs and students without IEPs. I think this is because students are not receiving the special services that they deserve due to the lack of special educators present in the building, as well as resources and professional development that non-special educators need to support their neurodiverse students. Using Universal Design of Learning is a great way to ensure that ALL students can be engaged and access the material; however, I feel like the root cause of why my school's gap is so large is systemic. 

Finally, I really appreciated reading the part where the article mentions that being neurodiverse is an identity that you could claim without receiving a formal diagnosis. This made me feel seen because in the past few years I have pondered a lot about my social behavior and feel like I am neurodiverse. I have trouble making eye contact, have social anxiety (I hate small talk with a burning passion...), sensory issues, special interests, etc. However, this was never something I struggled with as a child and more-so have struggled with as an adult. I have felt like its too late to get a diagnosis and have felt comfortable with just dealing with the struggles I have. Because of the acceptance of neurodiversity I have been like "wait...is that me..." but I didn't really have a recognition of this until I was maybe 20 years old. 

 

Ice Out of Schools

 The authors argue that... ICE has no place infiltrating schools and making students live in instability and fear. Educators now have an extra important responsibility to resist against ICE advocate for students so that they are safe. 

Three Talking Points:

Beginning:

At the beginning of the "Now is the Time to Defend Our Students" article, it was admirable how teachers in LA were not just aware of ICE and their presence but actively organized with the community to resist it. Towards the end of the article, this really struck me "With the new school year in full swing, showing up is no easy task. Patrols start before dawn, and the work it takes to keep a community advocacy group up and running takes many evening hours we might otherwise spend planning, grading, and recharging." It is so true that teachers have a very busy schedule and many tasks to do but the fact that these teachers showed up for their community shows how much love they have poured into their community which is truly inspiring. 

Middle:

One of the themes of these articles that really spoke to me was the ways in which they explained resistance and how it can be used by the community against the system. During the "Recipes for Resistance" article, the author explains that resistance is like salsa, simple and spicy. Because of the fear that students have with ICE in their neighborhoods and the increased surveillance of it all, school has naturally been more difficult to make a priority. Thus, it is really important for teachers to make their resistance efforts embedded in relationships and understanding. By doing this, it allows the partnership between families and teachers to be more homely so that students can feel safer going to school. 

End:

The final point I felt like was worth mentioning is this idea of imagination not needing to be solitary but it can be collective. I think with all of the uncertainty and negativity around ICE, this has caused students to harbor their own struggles and feel like these cannot be discussed at school. However, imagination can be a powerful tool that educators can put in their classroom as a way for students to think about a positive future. Obviously, educators do not have all the answers and we cannot snap our fingers and make this terrible situation stop. However, the author argued to "create the space in your classroom to have that one thing be something your students can engage in with you on a regular basis. It starts small. Maybe it’s to incorporate circle practice into your classroom and have your students get used to that way of being able to communicate and to be able to talk with each other, to listen to each other deeply." Allowing students to imagine together creates a new generation of hopefuls and advocates. 

Connection/Reflection:

When I was reading these articles, it reminded me of the documentary "Precious Knowledge" that we watched in class because of the ways in which teachers really became active members in the students' lives and instilled ways for them to be advocates of their communities. It was clear that the teachers in Arizona who were filmed were very present in their students' lives and cared about their safety and emotional stability. Many of the teachers mentioned in these articles did the same and took time out of their busy lives to show up for their students in powerful ways. This connects to the idea that being a teacher is so much more than content instruction. 

One day this school year, a staff member in my school received a notification that there was an ICE person or vehicle spotted within the same zip code / few block radius of our school. Of course, I was the only classroom outside when this happened, as it was the kind of weather that was on the fence whether it should be an outside recess or inside recess day (and I am always the advocate for my students to run around outside). When I tell you the panic that was shown with the admin that came outside and rushed to make our class go inside...haunting. I had no idea what was going on because we went into an internal lockdown and there are no speakers outside and I received no information via my phone about this happening. The few admin that came out ordered us to come inside and all of my students were like what's going on what's going on and I didn't have the answers for them. When we got inside I learned 10 minutes later the situation and that it was a false alarm anyways. PHEW. However, I started to go down a cycle of thoughts of like "what if that was real" "What if they came behind the school and took one of my kids" All of these negative thoughts just made me feel so sad... It took a few days for these thoughts to not enter when I was at the workplace but then I started to (and still feel) concerned about like what I would do in that scenario if that ever happened to my school. It's something I think there should be more professional development on so that educators are as prepared as possible in the event that ICE shows up. GROSS. UGH.

"Why Do You Live Where You Live?" - Carl Faucher

 The author argues that... it is necessary to teach about the historic racist political processes like redlining to students so they have a better understanding that where they live now is still a result of an intentional design to exclude people of color. 

Three Talking Points:

Beginning: The author of this article, found in Volume 39, No. 1, "Teaching about Redining", opens up with saying that because schools have a lack of insight on the policies that shape them due to redlining that "especially white students, live with an incomplete and distorted history of their racialized experience." The fact of the matter is many racist policies across every metropolitan area in the US during the 1930's and 40's were designed to exclude nonwhite people from receiving loans from the bank to purchase property in areas of the city designated as "desirable", thus only restricted to live in "red zones." Although these policies are no longer in tact, I would agree with the author that if students are not educated on this history, they are not being challenged to think that segregation policies still permeate society. 

Middle: The author then explains the process of which he instructed his students on this topic. One thing to mention here that is super noteworthy was the usage of interactive maps to allow students to connect the historic makeup of their neighborhood to what it looks like now. They were able to use interactive map that allowed them to see racial demographics and where they settled a hundred years ago up to now. The discovery of the south of the city becoming a larger black population over the years whereas all other areas of the city became whiter allowed the teacher to explain the process of gentrification. The visualization of their communities through interactive maps allowed for a better understanding of the issue at hand and was a super good teacher tool in this case!

End: I really appreciated how the author of the article also taught his students how to use census trackers to look up the racial demographics in their neighborhoods. He live modeled to the class how to isolate the race feature to see racial demographics in the zip code of their school. I really think this lesson had every student learn more about their racial identity and geographic location are intertwined. White students in his class found their class to be diverse, since the proportion of students of color in the class was higher than what was representative of the zip code. However, students of color did not find the class to be diverse since they were still the minority and live in much larger neighborhoods. The lesson was very culturally relevant and allowed students to have a better understanding of their identity and community and did so through multiple modes of engagement. 

Connection/Reflection:

This article caught my attention because I studied geography in undergrad, and I especially did lots of research on how marginalized communities are negatively affected by urban planning. One of my largest projects I contributed to in undergrad was for my capstone project in geography where I researched the effect of gentrification on historic black churches in Washington, DC, as many of them in the past thirty years have had to close their doors due to urban policies that have prevented black people to attend the churches due to gentrification. As part of the research, I worked on an interactive map for the organization Mapping Segregation, which has lots of different interactive maps that depict aspects of racial segregation in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, it appears many of the maps are offline and unable to be viewed currently as they are being repaired by the organization. However, this was a super cool opportunity to learn more about how racist policies like redlining and gentrification still have long withstanding holds on marginalized communities today. 

As someone who really cares about geography and inspiring my students to care about their communities, this article really made me recognize that there are more creative ways I could make geography more interactive within the classroom so that my students gain understanding around the world around them. I feel like geography is not prioritized in the American education system, which is so unfortunate because I find it to be one of the discplines that can be super connective to student personal experience! This connects to the documentary we watched in class, Precious Knowledge, because the teachers explicitly teaching ethnic studies to the students had a huge impact on igniting passion on figuring out more about their identity. I find geography to be super similar in this manner. 

Teach Out Project Proposal

 CHOOSE A TEXT:

Review your whole blog to remind yourself about what we have read so far in class. What texts have stayed with you so far? What articles inspire you?  What topic matters most to you in terms of your own work? Are there any of these texts that you would like to share with others in your life? 

The sex and gender based systems articles really stuck out to me the most and is the theme I am choosing for my project. It was really interesting to read about RIDE and PPSD's policies on LGBTQ+ issues in education as well as read the articles "Queering Our Schools" and "Being There For Nonbinary Youth" as these felt the most personal to my life and journey with educational attainment. I really appreciated the stance that queer identities have to be integrated and protected within the classroom. 

WHO DO YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH?

Are there people in your life with whom you would really like to talk about these texts? Colleagues? Students? Family members? Friends? Children?

After the most recent class where we discussed this topic, I got pretty vulnerable about an experience I had in high school that was related to a policy surrounding gender. This made me realize I would like to further explore and research the policies put in place from the public school district in the town I was raised in and use the arguments presented in the articles to argue that the field trip lodging policy is not inclusive for gender non conforming students. I know that at the bare minimum I could have a conversation with my aunt who is a Board of Education member from my town. I would love to open up to her about this experience I had and the struggles that I and other queer youth have faced/currently face in school and see if this could warrant any policy change at the local level. 

WHAT FORMAT MIGHT WORK FOR YOU?

Individual interview? Small group discussion? Art activity? Professional development workshop? Poster for your office? Pamphlet to share? Lesson plan? Etc?

To start, I would like to have an individual interview with my aunt to discuss LGBTQ+ issues in education at broad and how they are viewed in the town I grew up in. I would urge my aunt to address these issues at a Board of Education meeting. After this conversation, I would like to see if it would be possible to have a conversation with the Principal of the high school and Superintendent of the school district I attended to see what their opinions are and if they could influence a policy change. This is conditional as to whether the policy has been updated (I haven't researched it yet) and whether the conversation with my aunt is sufficient enough for the project. 

Nonbinary educator reporting live...

After reading the policies from RIDE and PPSD, the Queering Our Schools article, and other classmates blogs, I would say that the policies are blankets that raise questions as to whether they have a strong impact on keeping transgender and nonbinary youth warm. 

At a first glance, the policies are very progressive, as they mandate schools to have recognize the genders students have if they differ from the one they were assigned at birth and not allow discrimination based on gender expression. It is quite sad but after a quick search, twenty two states do not have explicit student nondiscrimination policies based on sexual orientation and gender expression. So, at least Rhode Island has something. 

While the policies tackle surface level issues like bathroom protections and bullying as these are some of the major concerns with transgender and gender non-conforming youth, they seem to neglect the root causes of bullying and why these demographics are targeted in schools. 

What these policies do not account for is how entrenched binary gender identities are in our society and how it is structured. Unfortunately, no matter how progressive the policies are at protecting varying gender identities from the top looking down, because of the conditions of our schools from the bottom looking up, the lived experience of transgender and nonbinary youth can still be quite difficult no matter what. 

I think about my first grade classroom and how reluctant boys are from sitting with girls and vice versa (although boys are always way more dramatic about it if I'm being honest).  When the binary of genders is so obvious at such a young age, the conditions make it difficult for someone to even recognize their gender may differ. 

With my lived experience, I always knew I was different than "boys" as child but I never knew why. From fear of judgement or bullying, I felt like I had to fit in with the boys and couldn't immerse myself in what the girls were doing, even though I felt like on a social level they were more relatable and funny. However, this brought a lot of pain as the male circles eventually would ridicule me for my feminine traits.

While I grew up in Connecticut which has very similar guidelines to RIDE on gender discrimination policies, I think that my schools did not actively disrupt the binary gender structures like the Queering Our Youth article suggests. By creating classroom environments that champion empathy and inclusion, this could dismantle the ways that gender is viewed so that non cisgender youth can feel seen at an earlier age. 

Now that I feel much more comfortable with my gender identity and expression, I hope that living my authentic life can inspire students as well so that I could potentially be a champion for them, however they need!

Lisa Delpit's "Other People's Children"

 The author argues that... culture power is enacted in the classroom in an inequitable way wherein white teachers disseminate their cultural norms and expectations onto black students that conflict with their culture resulting in lowered expectations on black performance.  She states that in order to shed this dominant cultural power found in classroom, educators should embrace all of their students' cultures and identities while being honest about the political power game that is played. 

Three talking points:

Beginning: Within the first few pages of the text, Delpit powerfully describes the experiences black educators have had with encountering white educators viewpoints on education and specifically their views on educating black children. It seemed to be a theme from the black educators to have to smile and nod at the opinions of white educators or hold their tongue. I found it striking that "[white educators] only want to go on research they've read that other white people have written." This doesn't surprise me based on systems of racial inequality that are seeped into the structure of society in this country but it is quite baffling that there has been a pattern of white educators only listening to their racial counterparts on cultural matters they oftentimes do not attempt to learn about. 

Middle: One of the quotes I found most worthy of mentioning was, "What the school personnel fail to understand is that if the parents were members of the culture of power and lived by its rules and codes, then they would transmit those codes to their children. In fact, they transmit those another culture that children must learn at home in order to survive in their communities." This section was super powerful because I feel like this is something that educators fail to recognize--that some of their students really have to learn how to live a double life because their existences at school and home are vastly different. It also recognizes that parents cannot be at fault for the way they raise their children based on their culture and should not be expected to raise their children in line with the cultural expectations of educators who have cultural power. 

End: I love how towards the end of this reading, there was almost a call-to-action section where "black parents, teachers of color, and members of poor communities must be allowed to participate fully in the discussion of what kind of instruction is in their children's best interest." While some white liberal instructors attempt to have good intentions with the ways in which they teach nonwhite students, many times they are actually teaching them in a way that is not pushing them to succeed because their expectations are lowered for them. If a white educator is to work with a nonwhite population, they should really consult ways to instruct their youth in a way that takes account their personal experiences but does not restrict their ability to be challenged. 

Reflection/Connection:

This reading was a great continuation of learning about social issues in education. I feel like it really expanded upon the discussion that Johnson had in "Privilege, Power, and Difference" that we read at the beginning of this course, specifically because of the connection between dominant power ideologies being present in our society. This reading more specifically references the power dynamics present in classrooms, which is very relevant to us obviously as educators, and the Johnson almost previewed the topics covered in this reading to make it an easier read.

I have always believed it to be extremely important that all cultural identities are embraced and fostered in the classroom. Especially as a white educator who works with a majority population of nonwhite students, it is soooooo important to do lots of internalization in order to not continue the cycle of committing cultural power imbalance to the next generation. I found this podcast pretty relatable and for those who want to listen, its advice from a teacher on five actionable ways that white educators can embrace their black students' cultured in the classroom. I think that one thing that I do is to embrace translanguaging in my classroom because I think it is pretty beautiful for students with different language backgrounds at home to be able to use that in the classroom, and I don't think those need to be always separated. 

Finally, I wanted to include this graph because many statistics always show that white teachers in the US are a significant majority of all teachers by race, yet all other races/ethnicities have more percentages of students than teachers, meaning this could have the potential for nonwhite students to not feel represented by their teacher in the schools.

Shannon Renkly and Katherine Bertolini's "Shifting the Paradigm"

 The authors argue that... it is imperative for schools to adopt an assets based model as opposed to a deficit based model. This is because the process of building up students' strengths fosters more growth and learning and is proven to be more successful than the process of fixing students' weaknesses and risky behaviors. 

Three Talking Points:

Beginning: The beginning of this reading identifies the issue that schools tend to use deficit models as opposed to asset models. In a deficit model, if a student is failing, the assumption is that the student is not trying hard enough and educators and schools have to fix this problem. The authors write, "it seems the education field is focusing too heavily on reducing risks, when a higher emphasis should be placed on building up student strengths." They identify 40 assets that students may have and split them between external and internal assets. They argue that if schools put their energy towards building up their students assets, risk reduction will occur naturally. 

Middle: The middle section points out that asset based models support higher partnerships between schools, parents, and the community. In deficit situations, community members could be unwilling to be supportive to youth as they are associated with being "trouble-makers." In contrast, the authors note, "When the focus shifts to assets, community members can easily work together to build up and nurture positive attributes in youth." When adults see all of the good things that children and adolescents can provide for their communities, they will be more willing to support their growth as students! Youth programs are super beneficial for students are very reliable for providing predictable thriving outcomes for student success.  

End: The ending section was most impactful to read, as it emphasizes specifically the importance of building assets in middle school settings. This section notes that the largest drop of assets in a student happens between seventh and eighth grade. The authors note that it is during the middle years of education that less asset building opportunities are typically provided to these students, yet these years are the most pivotal in terms of a student either becoming a high achiever or getting off academic track and leading towards frustration and/or failure. Educators have a very large role in ensuring that their students do not get off track. One study even claimed that "teachers’ expectations impact student success more than a student’s own motivation.” This was super powerful to read because educators really make a huge influence in a child's life!!!

Reflections/Connections:

First, I really appreciated the academic tone and formatting of this reading, it really took me back to my undergraduate days of reading peer reviewed articles and papers! I really appreciated the quantifiable statistics they provided throughout the paper as well, such as the number of assets there are and how many an average sixth grader possess, and how that number decreases until they reach adulthood. For me, I find quantitative data to strengthen a piece of research and it makes me conceptualize the issue at hand a bit better.

After reading this, I definitely agreed with the argument presented by the authors. It was concise and straight to the point. The asset based model corroborates with the way in which I view my classroom because it is so much more powerful to assess what your students can do and are capable of versus what they cannot do and what they are lacking. Also, one thing I have been engraining with my first graders is the power of the word "yet." This word can have such a huge impact and it's only three letters. During social emotional learning blocks, I really try to motivate my students when we are about to learn a very new concept. Instead of saying "I can't do this" say "I can't do this yet." This is one way that I connected to the reading because saying yet switches to an asset/growth mindset versus a deficit one. I think that fostering growth mindsets in our students would be essential to an asset based model, and here is an image on some of the ways educators can do this!

Finally, the portion of the text that discussed how asset based models strengthen family and community partnership really resonated with me because it made me connect to something I learned from a different graduate course at RIC. Family partnerships are super important in the context of a school. However, it is important to note that for families who come from low socioeconomic status, there are many factors that could potentially contribute to them being less involved in their schools, such as personal previous negative experiences, inadequate access to transportation, language barriers, work conflicts, etc. There are so many benefits to a family being involved more in their child's progress in and out of school, and schools need to ensure they are reducing barriers for families to be involved in the school community. As an educator who works in a Title I school district, this is especially relevant, and educators have a responsibility to involve families and inform them on their child's growth so they can also support at home. This resource from the IRISCenter on family engagement gives advice to educators on how they can better strengthen the partnership with families.