dca 1: how biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies affect teachers’ actions and...

DCA 1: How Biases, Archetypes, and the Diversity Competencies Affect

Teachers’ Actions and Students’ [email protected]

“There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in

ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking, and those that bolt into the mind

of their own accord.” - Thomas Paine

My reflection…

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Introduction

• As you listen to these three teachers, think about and jot down:

• the common themes that seem to run through their experiences.

• To assist you, we’ve included written transcripts in your CM Instructional Materials (pg. 203)

Activity Instructions

Navigating Difficult Conversations

• Someone, who might have had perfectly good intentions and a point that’s worth making, states their point in a way that touches off tension in the room.

• People who hear that statement ignore the speaker’s intent– which again, may have been perfectly good– and respond by attacking the original speaker.

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Norms- Creating a Respectful Environment

• consider the impact of your words prior to speaking • use “I” statements • consider the speaker’s intent and recognize that it may

be different than the way it’s affecting you • ask questions to understand other people’s ideas

instead of making assumptions or dismissing their points of view

Our norms are meant to ensure that we try to communicate our perspectives in productive ways.

They also ensure that when something is NOT said productively, we work to clarify each others’ perspectives instead of assuming we already understand them.

Using the Norms

• How could we have used these norms….

1. To make the point in a productive way?

1. Respond (as an audience) to what was said?

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The speaker might have used I statements…”I felt surprised about this situation with this CM…”

•The audience could have asked clarifying questions to get at the root of her perspective (versus attacking her perspective)•The audience could have given her more time to explain.

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Introduction Activity (4 min.)

• Talk to a neighbor about:

• the common themes that seemed to run through the experiences of the teachers in the audio clip.


Share Out!

• At different times, teachers find themselves in situations when their differences – lines of difference- can take on a particular significance

• When we talk about diversity we’re talking about lines of difference

• Sometimes these lines of difference are real. You may be white and your students may be African American or Latino. You may be from a high socioeconomic background while your students are not. You may be twenty years younger than most of the teachers down the hall.

• Sometimes, people at your school may perceive you to be different than you self identify. Students and other teachers may perceive you as wealthy, even if you’re from a low income community.

• The similarities and differences can cause us to make assumptions about ourselves, about how we’re perceived, and about how others will and do perceive us.

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During our series of six DCA sessions….

• We will examine how real and perceived differences might be affecting our relationships, classroom practices, and students’ achievement this summer and in our regions.

• This is not to say that differences will always make your interactions bad, or hard, or frustrating.

• This is also not meant to imply that you cannot use your similarities with others to build and repair relationships with your students, their families, and your co-workers.

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Why We Do What We Do

• You may be expecting intense, academic discussions about the causes of the achievement gap or the influence that racial discrimination has on the opportunities of people of color.

• We have found that, because they are often so abstract, new teachers frequently leave them without any way to apply what they have discussed to their classrooms.

• Through surveys and interviews with corps members, as well as with professors, principals, program directors, and other researchers, we learned what our corps members found most challenging about interacting across lines of difference.

• How do our most effective corps members overcome those challenges? The principles that guided their success are now the pillars of our diversity programming.

• DCA sessions are intended to make you think productively about the mindsets that might be affecting your understanding of, and response to, tough situations involving lines of difference.

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Introduction Activity (4 min.)

• Use Handout 1 (pg. 195) to reflect silently, and in writing, to the following question:

• Since you’ll be teaching on Monday, what real and perceived differences do you think could affect your relationships with your students throughout the summer? Are there any axes of difference that you are particularly concerned about having to navigate in the coming weeks or in the fall?


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Key Idea

There are many lines of difference that are drawn among individuals. These include: lines of race and ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender, age, religion, political opinion, language, and ability.

DCA will help you build skills to productively respond to the tough situations you might face, and it will prompt you to become a reflective practitioner.

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Key Idea

Our diversity programming focuses primarily (but not exclusively) on the real or perceived differences connected to race and class for two reasons:• because they can make interactions

especially complicated and challenging. • to try to counteract the powerful stream of

negative messages about the potential of students and people living in low income communities.

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students’ academic progress

students’ actions

teacher’s actions

teacher’s underlyingknowledge, skills, mindsets

The Academic Impact Model

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teacher’s actions

others’ actions

outcomes

The Academic Impact Model

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teacher’s actions

others’ actions

outcomes

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Biases and Archetypes

• As you listen to this corps member’s reflection, you should pay attention to:

• the mismatch between how-this-corps-member-is-used-to-disciplining-children and the-way-the-parent-thinks-it-should-be-done.

• And, following the academic impact model, I want you to imagine the ways that this mismatch could influence the actions that this teacher takes.


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teacher’s actions

others’ actions

outcomes

archetypes

Archetypes are people’s mental models for what leadership should look and sound like, the “right” way to parent, how “good” students look, speak, and act, etc.

What actions might the teacher take because of his mindset (archetype) mismatch?

The Complication…

• When what we see around us fails to match up with our archetypes for how things “should be,” we can jump to quick, negative, sometimes faulty conclusions about events and people.

• These conclusions can sometimes be particularly harsh and can lead us to take actions that may not lead to success with our students.

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teacher’s actions

others’ actions

outcomes

biases

Biases tend to be negative messages that teachers have absorbed about the intelligence, competence, motivation, and values of people, especially people of color and/or people who live in low income communities.

archetypes

Owning our mindsets, thoughts, words….

“I want to get kids wanting to be successful…”- A mindset of “saving” kids from communities, and that kids don’t want to be successful, a bias about the communities we work in

“Most teachers are there [in the classroom] for a paycheck.” – a bias about current teachers’ intentions

“I don’t know if I want to reward kids for what they’re supposed to do…” – An archetype about what kids are “supposed to do”

“Can we expect kids to turn in homework?” “Do you think kids can do this kind of work?” – a mindset of lowered expectations, possibly based in a bias of race/ socio-economic status

“That teacher [an FA] wasn’t teaching correctly…that’s not going to happen when I take over.”

“I have fundamentally different beliefs than that teacher [an FA]…”- a mindset/ bias that a relationship is beyond repair.

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Key Idea

Our biases and archetypes can lead us to make unfair judgments about others and interpret events inaccurately.

This can lead us to take unproductive actions that lead to less successful outcomes with students, their families, and our colleagues.

Because the parent in the situation in the audio clip is a person of color from a low income community, it’s possible that the teacher’s biases could influence his reaction to the situation.

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teacher’s actions

others’ actions

outcomes

the diversity competencies

• tap into their most productive mindsets about students, their families, and colleagues.

• circumvent problematic mindsets (biases and archetypes) that may be drivers of unproductive actions.

• know how to approach and act during situations that involve lines of difference.

• productively interpret outcomes and causes in reflection.

The diversity competencies can allow teachers to:

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Suspending Judgment

The ability to identify moments when we might be unfairly judging someone’s competence, commitment, effort level, or way of doing things and suspend our judgment so that we can ensure that our read on the situation is objective and productive.

Asset-Based Thinking

The ability to consciously search for and focus on the positive aspects of a person or situation, and build on an individual’s strengths, even when they are not immediately apparent.

Locus of Control / Growth Mindset

The ability to identify and relentlessly attack the problems that are within your control and worth solving, to avoid obsessing about the ones that are not, and to conceive of setbacks as opportunities for personal learning.

Interpersonal Awareness

The ability to build trust and deepen relationships with others by recognizing the limits of your own perspective and seeking to understand their point-of-view.

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Biases and Archetypes- (6 min.)

• Read Handout 2 (pg 196-197).• You should skim each box of questions. • Then, in groups of 3-4, talk about and record how asking these

questions might affect the way this corps member reacts to the upset mother. (What might asking these questions lead this corps member to do with the upset parent?)


As you listen to this teacher recount the outcomes of this situation, I want you to think about whether he took the actions that you and your group predicted he might take and if you are at all surprised by the outcomes of the situation.

Group Discussion – 3 min.

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Did what happened in the clip match what you predicted the diversity questions might lead the teacher to do?

To Recap- We heard how a teacher’s archetypes for how to discipline children were challenged, how he used asset based thinking and interpersonal awareness to respond to that challenge. These diversity competencies made him take actions which led one struggling student to achieve.

He could have easily thought, “This parent is wrong, and I don’t need her help.” The competencies, though, made him take smarter actions—something that can be incredibly difficult to do when you’re in the heat of the moment.

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Applying the Diversity Competencies- 6 min.

• Read Handout 3 (pg. 198) and answer this question:

• In the case of the students with disconnected phones and in the case of the student whose mother seems unreceptive, what negative things might you be tempted to think—about yourself, about these two situations, and about these students’ family members?


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Applying the Diversity Competencies

Suspending Judgment:

would have stopped us from jumping to negative conclusions about parents when they seemed unenthusiastic during our initial calls.

would have kept us from immediately thinking negative thoughts when the parent said, “I don’t know what to tell you.”

would have kept us from making negative assumptions about parents whose phones had been disconnected.

Asset-Based Thinking:

would have caused us to go into the situation believing that students’ families had strengths that we needed to tap into.

would have helped us refocus on the potential benefits of a relationship with the last parent instead of jumping to the conclusion that she’s disinterested in her children’s education.

Locus of Control:

would have given us a chance to think about how to reach the parents whose phones were disconnected.

would have asked us to learn from our botched relationships and become better at building them in the future.

Interpersonal Awareness:

would have caused us to think about whether there was something we were doing to prompt the parent’s seemingly negative reaction.

might cause us to consider how the parent’s response stems from the fact that we have not lived up to our initial claim that we would be in touch once a month.

would have allowed us to think more about how we were coming across in the interaction.

• • How would any of the diversity competencies have helped you overcome these negative thoughts and affected your actions?

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• As you listen to the next two teachers, who describe a similar challenge they faced with their students’ families, think about:

• how effectively they both used (or did not use) the diversity competencies.

• how this affected student achievement.

• Use Handout 4 (pg. 199) to take notes.


Group Debrief of the Audio Clip

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Diversity Competencies Teacher 1 Teacher 2

Suspending Judgment

Asset Based Thinking

Locus of Control

Interpersonal Awareness

seems to doubt that parents are capable or interested in helping students. She seems to blame them—somewhat—for giving up on the process

believes parents will have a strong, positive impact on their children. She doesn’t question whether they want their students to do well academically.

assumes a deficit perspective in the way she thinks about parents. She doesn’t really think they can help

assumes an asset based perspective about students’ families. Parents cared about their kids but had other important priorities that could not be ignored

sees disconnected phones as an insurmountable obstacle. When parents cut off contact (it totally curbs her efforts.

sees disconnected phones as a challenge she can overcome. Whatever measures it took to get in touch, she took them.

is not thinking about her contribution to the situations when parents don’t respond. She’s having a difficult time seeing the obstacles that parents are up against.

sees that there are likely reasons why she cannot reach her students’ family members.

Remember…

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Our students’ success is affected by our ability to:• suspend our judgment when we begin to question someone’s competence, commitment, effort level, or way of doing things to ensure that our read on the situation is objective and productive

•Consciously search for and focus on positive aspects of a person or situation

•Identify and relentlessly attack the problems that are within our control and worth solving, and avoid obsessing about the ones that are not

•Recognize the limits of our own perspective and seek to understand other people’s points-of-view

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• Teacher 1’s students:• made [less than a year’s progress] last year as

measured by [State Test] proficiency

• Teacher 2’s 83 students• had an average of 1.55 grades of reading level

growth. • 86.4% met the standard on the 2007 Reading

[State Test]. • In 2007, the number of her students who earned

commended status on the Reading [State Test] jumped from 9.6% to 42.1%.

We’ve seen an early correlation between these competencies and student achievement.

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Key Idea

The four diversity competencies enable teachers to hold and maintain high expectations for their students, ensure their classroom environment is safe and welcoming, and navigate challenging situations with colleagues, administrators, and parents or guardians.

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teacher’s actions

others’ actions

outcomes

creating a safe and

welcoming environmen

t for students

building effective

relationships with

students’ families

building effective

relationships with

colleagues

holding and maintaining

high academic

expectations

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Closing & Extension Exercises

DCA 1: How Biases, Archetypes, and the Diversity Competencies Affect Teachers’ Actions and Students’ Achievement

DCA 2: Working with Families

DCA 3: Behavioral Expectations, Classroom Culture, and Diversity

DCA 4: The Challenge and Power of Holding High Academic Expectations

DCA 5: Working with Colleagues and Administrators

DCA 6: Thinking Back, Looking Forward

Extension Exercise and Purpose

• It’s important that we capture our thoughts about some of our experiences ongoing.

• Institute can move fast.

• For this reason, in the week following each DCA session, we’re going to ask you to use an extension exercise to capture your thoughts about particular things that are happening.

• think about how the issues we discuss during DCA sessions may be affecting you in real time during the summer.

• monitoring your experiences for the influence of biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies—since they are often a key underlying factor in whether your students succeed.

• Effective teachers are continually reflecting on their actions and progress.

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Closing & Extension Exercises (pg. 180-181)

• Take two minutes now to look at this week’s extension exercises.

The habits of reflection that you develop here are also going to prove really valuable to you throughout your time as teachers.

These reflections are not intended to make you feel judged or uncomfortable. It’s a way to make you more effective now and ongoing.

Try: http://750words.com/

3-2-1 Reflection

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On an index card, write…

3- Ways the diversity competencies can impact your students’ achievement.

2- Things you still have questions or concerns about.

1- Suggestion for improving the session.

Thank you for your thoughtful participation.

dca 1: how biases, archetypes, and the diversity competencies affect teachers’ actions and...

Documents

teachers actions

students achievement

perceived differences

activity instructionsshare

lines of differencesometimes

introduction activity

cmthe audience

different times