The home of the Rams and the daytime home of myself, Colorado State University offers a Native American Cultural Center that "ensures a successful educational experience for students by providing support and services related to recruitment, retention, graduation, and community outreach. The office embraces and encourages a supportive environment based on the traditions and cultures of Native American peoples." I'm proud to be at a place that has this mission instilled, however it's not always easy to carry through with it entirely. For example, last year we had students in an indigenous community get called on the police by attending a CSU guided tour. What a huge step backward! How can we take a leap forward to improve our allying skills with students in marginalized groups?
The work that the Center for Native American Youth is doing is phenomenal in inspiring younger generations to "create positive change in their communities." Their mission is to address challenges, engage in stakeholders that strengthen support systems, and advocate for Native peers to be vocal and involved. As a future teacher, I want to be aware of resources like these to offer for my students. It is unfortunate that indigenous youth face the reality of disparities in the U.S. such as "poverty and exposure to violence--that can make them susceptible to being arrested, charged, or sentenced in the justice system." Being an ally to students of this marginalized group will require an exemplar of resilience in a depth of social abuse. Students need to know that we are on their side.
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Okay, there's a crowded classroom in front of you. In fact, you're even over the maximum that should be in a class, but there's a teacher shortage (what a surprise). An administrator starts off the year with a conference about how teachers should be tying in multiple intelligences, especially because students with intellectual and developmental disabilities need different modes of transfer.
What now? The National Writing Project offered a beneficial article about including these intelligences. "It makes sense to address as many of these intelligences as possible" by framing your teaching with a touch of logic, with a touch of linguistics, a touch of music, a touch of spatial and visual representations, a touch of moving around, with a touch global and bigger perspectives, a touch of relational and collaborative activities, and a touch of individual work time. That's exciting to me! I see that list and I start envisioning how I can overlap these intelligences with each other. That my friend, is a dynamic and inclusive classroom, especially for students with cognitive disabilities. Best Buddies is an international nonprofit organization that is "dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)." I absolutely love their mission because they are for self-empowerment, self-value, and inclusion. The world would be a different place without organizations like these making a better future for marginalized groups one day at a time. There's still a lot of work to be done though. Us as teachers have a role in this.
I was greatly involved in my high school Best Buddies in Illinois and I want it to be bigger in the Western states as well. We had a national conference that I attended twice in Indiana that made me aware of the lack of meaningful relationships with people with cognitive disabilities at my school and all over. It's funny looking back because I was the president of the club and I had a horrible elevator speech for the mission of Best Buddies. I didn't quite understand the true intent of the organization until I went to college and was immersed in the reality of lots of marginalized groups. We learn and grow I guess. The reason why I bring up Special Olympics as another organization is because I saw how important it was to my hometown community. We had a send-off for our Special Olympics basketball team going to State Championships and we had a banner that everyone could sign wishing the players good luck. These sports teams were the link to the rest of the school in such a natural way. Many of us are fans of sports, bringing us together in commonality. We are a lot more alike than different, but we still honor everyone's uniqueness in the most sincere way. Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are a marginalized group of students who often get separated from "normal" classes. I feel strongly about advocating and being an ally with students who face a different set of challenges that many of us don't face. The thing is, I learn so much about living a full life from hanging with students with IDD. They turn what people might perceive as a hindrance into positive part of who they are. That still doesn't mean it's easy for teachers to support students with IDD.
The first helpful article I found about forming allies with students with disabilities is to include their families too. Providing guardians and family members information and resources, especially pointing to why you are teaching a certain way, will help keep them in the loop and be supportive themselves. Another tip the author gave in this journal is to consistently help students with transitioning processes. Students with disabilities are often thrown around in different programs and classes throughout a school day or year. We can't do that without helping them learn how to adjust to quick change. Plus, one thing is to try and implement pattern in their lives, even at school. I understand there are various resources they attend throughout a day possibly, but forming relationship should NOT be forgotten and those develop with consistency. Then, the Council for Exceptional Children said to teach self-advocacy, navigation, and safety skills. Being a human outside of school walls can be difficult for anyone and those who have disabilities might come across more challenges. Being an ally is about watching out for each other's back. I would want my future students to know how to feel safe in different contexts while also knowing how to advocate for themselves. Those go hand in hand I feel like. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (a not-so-good name for IDD) state that "Children develop at their own pace, so it's impossible to tell exactly when a child will learn a given skill." Celebrating milestones is huge, but we have to be careful as to when we expect those milestones to happen. We don't want any of our students to feel discouraged because they can't meet the "due dates" for certain skill-learning. As teachers, we need to know when we can move on though right? That's why it's important to work with Special Education teachers at all times. There can be a process of working together to do what's best for the student. Students with IDD cannot be put into a box. There are lots of different variations of cognitive disabilities, but this resource did a pretty good job of gathering an "average" of skills this marginalized group has difficulties in: using logical thinking to solve problems, following directions, and using abstract thought and judgement. So in order to do work-arounds, consider using concrete examples, role models, chunking, avoiding an overwhelming amount of instructions, being explicit in expectations, and asking for their input on their learning styles. All students need a voice in the classroom, including those with IDD. Dear Mrs. McNeeley,
I think about you more often than you have probably considered. As I'm earning my English Education degree, I find myself asking whether the assignments I'm creating would be comparable to yours in the way you thought about learning as a long-term journey. I felt like it wasn't a pass-the-quiz type of teaching, but a mission to dig deeper into our strengths and forgive our weaknesses. It takes a pretty special person to do that. The only reason why I still know what a gerund means is because of you. Somehow, you integrated language skills into the curriculum in an including and engaging way. I also felt as though you consistently cared about us as people and your equals. You encouraged our potentials and supported us through that the entire year. My boyfriend Zac Frazier, you may remember him, and I still talk about how we loved you. It's funny how we met in your class. I'm a teacher's assistant at a local middle school and no offense, they are pretty crazy. How did you ever put up with us? I hope people have been giving you credit for what you deserve and deserved. Thank you for being such a significantly positive impact in my life. I feel as though writing is part of who I am now and you helped me create the skills in order to do so. Zac will always need help on his grammar though, but that's why he has me. I hope everything in your life is going well. Take care! Warmly, Kelly Peterson Dunlap Valley Middle School Graduate of 2013 Dunlap High School Graduate of 2017 Colorado State University soon to be graduate in 2020 “Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still for once on the face of the earth, let’s not speak in any language; let’s stop for a second, and not move our arms so much. It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines; we would all be together in a sudden strangeness. Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt would not look at his hurt hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victories with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing. What I want should not be confused with total inactivity. Life is what it is about… If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving, and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves and of threatening ourselves with death. Now I’ll count up to twelve and you keep quiet and I will go. This poem beautifully touches your soul and tastefully draws you to the natural world around us humans. Our home on Earth has a sweet breath of stillness integrated with a conversation of dynamic movement.
"Chess For Progress: How A Grandmaster Is Using The Game To Teach Life Skills" caught my eye when I was scrolling through NPR's 50 Great Teachers series. I personally do not know how to play chess myself, but it made me think of my younger sister who loves chess... and doesn't really like school. I thought to myself, maybe there is potential in including chess in my students' environment.
There were beneficial takeaways about being an ally in Maquita Peters' article and this was the list I compiled that Peters' piece developed: Allies to teachers Allies to international students Allies to students with financial difficulties Allies to students with nontraditional dreams Allies to students with nontraditional backgrounds Allies to students who need more support in their personal lives Allies to students who need practice with decision-making and critical-thinking skills "That's really what's critical for me, that they are learning to be better students, role models, and citizens," the chess grandmaster Maurice Ashley stated. I agree Ashley. The second article I read was about active learning and considering the possibility of ditching lectures. Okay, we've heard that before in my English Education classes, but I was interested because it was talking about STEM education. I love my English degree because it's teaching me how to think, but honestly, my friends going into Veterinary school have a lot of stuff to know and lectures help out with those facts. In fact, Eric Westervelt writes about the advantages of lectures. But, the other perspective was determined to show the evidence that project based learning really does help you ally with students. They needed to drive their own education and organize knowledge effective for them and that's the deal. Just keep in mind you teachers out there that this thing that we call 'teaching' is a learning process. Perfection isn't possible so drop that now and just be honest with your students. It really does cultivate a great environment to be allies in. Since this is a blog, I often feel compelled to encourage my audience. In my life right now, I am overwhelmed with school work, but I try to remind myself of the victories in my life, maybe specifically victories for that day.
School work won't be the death of me. I am privileged to be able to learn from English and Education experts so that I one day will reach my personal goals, ones that I made for myself. Many, many people in this world don't get to choose their personal goals, let alone their dire situations. Doing homework is a victory believe it or not, but that still doesn't eliminate all the stress of course. I want to do my very best in order for my future students to have the chance to choose their paths, and that's why I work hard today and tomorrow. Their learning is in my and their hands. Let's work together to shoot for the stars. Another victory I had today was 'clear thinking.' Sometimes, I tend to blunder through thoughts and missions throughout the day, but so far I've been honest with myself, organized my plans, and have set my mind to allow hiccups, something that is extremely important in my mental health. I have been raised to be perfect all the time, but it's not possible. Hiccups are a natural body response and so is making mistakes. When I think clearly, I can go with the flow better. Ironic, right? I've decided to use a bulleted list as my format to draw attention to the main points and consolidate what I've learned so my readers can absorb clear content.
The National Writing Project (The Current) - 'Project Make It Happen' - Making a cozy cove for students to calm down their emotions and de-stress - Use a light color scheme (I love pastels anyway, yay!) - Have comfortable furniture - Coloring books and fun books - Giving back to the community: made checkerboards for local hospitals, made pollinator boxes for non-stinging bees - Hands-on: constructed outdoor seating for their school - Advocate for a school art fair - Employ audio, video, text, conferences, charts, student work, parent feedback, and supporting research = Overall, a great resources with entire collections of resources specifically for connected learning, radically changing the 'conventional.' Educator Innovator - Utilize Google Classroom and Google Drive - EngagementLab's Suite, Archive.org's Popcorn, LAMP's MediaBreaker (online creation tools) - Connect history and current events: shows that history is being made and it matters - Use fictional/creative forms to engage students as well = Technology and content can overlap to create shared spaces and efficient learning. It's refreshing to read through these resources because I know that I have an entire online community supporting me which I hope my students will be able to tap into. Through the plethora of websites, my relationships with other teachers can be rooted in supported research, allowing authentic conversations in person. So far in my Connect Learning series, I've learned these main points:
"connecting to interest" "connecting to peers" "connecting to academics and career" "connecting to community" I want my students to create, to make, to build. I don't want their schooling to be focused on narrowing, memorizing, and limiting. How can I set up a class that supports this claim? Will their learning involve solving problems? Will their learning involve their past, present, and future? It's not really possible for curriculum to connect to interests, peers, careers, and the community all in one go. So, my goal is to connect to interests in one part, connect to peers in other part, and so on. I also want to throw out that all students won't be engaged. It just is reality. I was in my high school classroom yesterday and I felt that my lesson plan wasn't good enough because not all of the students were participating. However, the teacher came up to me after class and congratulated me on such a good job. I was surprised. She's right though, you have to take a win when you can. "Nobody's perfect," Hannah Montana taught me, not I or students. It was neat to dig into the main ideas that connected learning has to offer future teachers and current teachers at that. They were separated between learning spheres, core properties, design principles, and roles of media. There's a lot that goes into a well-equipped classroom. I think media can be a huge asset for students because everyone's voice can be heard. They can choose certain communities to be a part of. However, I want them to be able to practice using their voices in person as well, especially since there are so many perspectives out there. We have to learn how to understand many different sides of an argument which is why a connected class is important. Cross-referencing different contexts, authorities, learning experiences, and literacy styles cultivates a democracy. Another part of the checklist included recommendations to utilize mentors. I wonder what type of mentors would be possible? This doesn't seem like a guaranteed request at many schools. I understand the reasoning behind it. Developing peer respect is healthy for staying connected with their generation. People don't have to be older to respect their help. I also feel like they could serve as mentors to younger students because those who help teach, understand their learning that much more. I definitely want to look more into how to add hands-on activities, like "tinkering," "exploring," and "hypothesizing." There's honestly limited time already in the classroom and sometimes, it's hard to justify projects like these, but the results are worth it, or so they tell me. Having team competitions is also always fun and engages students instantly, adding a spark to their learning. When looking at curriculum that connects different contents, I usually switch up my articles. I throw in texts about space, Native American culture, advances in the medical field, a fictional piece about baseball, and so on. Knowing my students will also help me be connected with my students. |
Greetings!I'm Kelly! I like to find beauty in what might seem mundane to us over time and bring to life what we experience each day. Check out the About Me tab for an additional look at who I am. Archives
July 2019
Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is. |