Increase Family Engagement Through

Absent Narratives

Facilitator’s Guide

From

The Minnesota Humanities Center

www.mnhum.org

Thank you for participating in Increase Family Engagement through Absent Narratives. The need for this training and understanding is as critical as it is foundational. You will be challenged to think about your own learning in a new way, through new paradigms. Having knowledge and understanding of the concepts within this offering gives hope and permission for all to seek innovative ways of being and doing in our global world.

This work is part of Northwest Suburban Integration School District’s Family and Community Engagement Grant from the Minnesota Department of Education.

Copyright 2012© by the Minnesota Humanities Center.

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This guide is for Increase Parent Engagement through Absent Narratives. This course works both as an online self-study course and as a larger in-person offering for staff meetings. This facilitator’s guide is geared specifically for use in in-person offerings.

Special notes for facilitator’s are in RED. It is HIGHLY recommended that facilitator’s go through the course as an self-study one or more times before facilitating and in-person session to become familiar with concepts and content.

Slide 1This slide just sits there before you begin

Slide 2Tool KitDistribute materials if they have not already been distributed. Make sure participants are broken up into groups for discussion, preferably with people with whom they do not normally interact.

Slide 3Can skip past this slide if in-person

Slide 4A good exercise to do here is a “name” ice breaker. Facilitators should tell their name to your group and tell story of how your name was chosen or its meaning.

Ask each group to take some time to tell their own personal name stories.

Increase Parent Engagement through Absent Narratives

When I listen to you, I hear your message.When I look at you, I acknowledge your presence.

When you tell me your story, I know you.

Slide 5

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Impart to the group that these are the values that will be covered as part of the offering. Can either read or summarize.

Four Values1. Building and strengthening relationships 2. Recognizing the limits of a single story and the consequences of the

accumulation of absence 3. Learning from the multiplicity of voices in our community 4. Discovering that the solutions to entrenched problems are in the

community These values will deepen understanding of Absent Narratives as human experiences that when in relationship, change minds and hearts.

Slide 6This sets the tone for the workshop. The excerpt plays automatically on the online course but can also be read out loud by the facilitator. Emphasize the red below The Humanities Approach

The Absent Narratives approach is a humanities-based approach. In this sense it privileges experiences and looks at human beings in their totality. It recognizes that humans and communities are the sum of their experiences. It recognizes that each individual and community has a unique narrative to hear and a unique contribution to make. We rely on humanities content as expressed in literature, history, and the arts to understand Absent Narratives as human experiences. This professional development offering prepares educators to know Absent Narratives as human experiences that change our minds and hearts and lead us to empowerment that builds toward a brighter educational and economic future.

Slide 7 Introduce Dave Larsen – he is a friend and scholar working with MN Humanities Center. You can read the text provided on the slide. Video does not play automatically. Click triangle play button in the black bar.

Slide 8

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For any stop and reflect slide, facilitator may opt for small group, large group, or partner discussion or personal, written reflection. This choice may depend on several factors including the “read” of the room, time constraints, group preference etc. Stop and Reflect

Discuss experiences where in our society people have or have not used their head and heart. Why is it important to take this approach?

Slide 9 Describe Absent Narratives here. Can be read out loud or summarized. Absent Narratives are Human Experiences

Absent Narratives are at the heart of a truly equitable education for all.

Absent Narratives are stories, art, music and histories that are often left out of mainstream narratives; they are the human experiences of a people and place.

Through Absent Narratives we restore relationships and act to make available and amplify community voices in order to engage, heal, connect, create, explore, and strengthen the relational experience of all.

Slide 11 After describing Absent Narratives, tell them that this audio is an example of an Absent Narrative in literature. Community Voices

Absent Narrative: Alexs Pate reading Losing AbsalomLosing Absalom is an award winning book by Minnesota author Alexs Pate. Listen to this selection from Losing Absalom where Alexs introduces Sonny, the main character of this novel, and then listen to Alexs reflect on why he wrote this selection.

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Slide 11 Here you may read or summarize the slide. The slide also provides an audio commentary from Alexs Pate that can be played. Clip does not play automatically. Losing Absalom

For Sonny being Black is not a matter of perspective or a matter of having different culture, music, art, food, or family traditions. It’s about fundamentally different experiences – some unique to Sonny and some unique to the community and family in which he was raised. Sonny helps us see that we each bring a variety of experiences, emotions, fears, and hopes to our human interactions. It is these experiences, these emotions, these fears and these hopes that make up Absent Narratives.

Slide 12 Lead into a group/partner discussion or guided personal reflection. Stop and Reflect

This excerpt gives us an inside view of the lived experiences of some people of color as they move out of the world in which they were brought up and try to function in the dominant main stream.

Journal or discuss with a group what might be the dual world of your diverse students and families. What are the implications of this duality?

If needed, this is a good place to take a break.

Slide 13Can be read or summarized.

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1. Building and Strengthening Relationships

Slide 14

Just a title slide to introduce the first value.

Slide 15 This may be read or summarizedThe Relationship Gap

Absent Narratives accepts that there is an achievement gap and it honors the need to create sophisticated global community members. However, the Absent Narratives approach insists that the reason we have an achievement gap and the barrier to creating true global community members is based on a relationship gap – a gap of human understanding and meaning.

Slide 16 Read or summarize. After reading/summary, *introduce the next clip. Strengthening Relationships

The Absent Narratives approach to learning is about helping us strengthen our relationships with each other as human beings who operate within human communities.

Absent Narratives is about restoring our relationship to ourselves, to each other, to our communities, and to the places we live and work. It is about embracing those untold experiences that make up each of us and those unvoiced stories (positive and negative) that dominate the lives of too many students and communities.

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Absent Narratives are not about adding a few multicultural stories here and there. *Let’s take a look at an example of an Absent Narrative in which there are many relationship gaps. Take notice of these gaps for discussion.

Slide 17 Clip plays automatically.

The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir; Kao Kalia Yang

Kao Kalia Yang, the author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, is featured in TPT’s MN Original series. During the following segment, she reflects on her lived experiences, family and writing the book The Latehomecomer.

Slide 18 This can be an emotional video. Allow participants a moment to compose themselves and then to talk about their feelings at their table or take a moment for personal reflection. Allow 10-15 mins for discussion in small groups and then 15 mins in the large group discussionStop and Reflect

1. Journal or discuss what you’ve heard and how you are feeling and why.

2. Now that you know Kalia’s narrative (where she comes from, what she has experienced, and how she feels) how can knowing her stories restore the relationship gaps she talks about?

Slide 19Building and Strengthening Relationships: Wrap - Up Read or summarize.Thus far, we have examined the impact of Absent Narratives as human experiences of people and places. These stories are not missing from the current lives and histories of students and communities, but they are unknown by many and are often excluded from our mainstream stories. You heard honest and unmediated community voices encouraging you to understand more deeply the human experiences that surround us all. You have considered how the achievement gap in education is based on a relationship gap of human understanding and empathy. Restoring these relationships happens when we embrace untold experiences that help us relate to one another as human beings. This work goes beyond traditional cultural diversity or proficiency programs because the humanities approach encourages us to build

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relationships with one another through understanding the variety of stories and experiences that constitute all of our experiences.

Slide 20Take away learning slides provide good opportunity for brainstorming and critical thinking. If possible, here facilitators should add one positive personal narrative that sets the stage for participants to answer the questions on this slide. Take Away Learning

Absent Narratives happen everywhere.

Reflect on a time when you have taken steps to restore, or build, a positive relationship with a student and their family.

How might positive relationships with students and their family benefit your classroom and school community?

If needed, this is a good place to take a break.

Slide 21

This is just a title slide to introduce the second theme.

2. Recognizing the Limit of a Single Story and the Impact of Absence

Slide 22 Clip does not play automatically. Explain that this video is a TED video and runs about 20 minutes long, but that for our purposes we have clipped an 8 min segment for them to view.

The Danger of a Single Story…Writer Chimamanda Adichie discusses both the power and dangers of a single story.

Slide 23

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Allow 10-15 minutes, to guide participants through reflection/discussion method of their choice. Stop and Reflect

1. Journal or discuss with a group: how do we recognize the limits of a single story?

2. How have we seen the impact of single stories created in our schools today?

3. How might these single stories affect how families intersect with schools and classrooms?

Slide 24Reintroduce Dave

The impact of Absence: Elder, Dave Larsen

Slide 25 Allow 10-15 mins for group/partner discussions and/or written reflection.

Stop and Reflect

1. Journal or discuss with a group how you would feel if your experience was not acknowledged, expected to assimilate to be like others, or often excluded?

2. How absence leads to different ways of being, behaving, or acting ? How have you seen this play out in interactions with students and their parents and families?

Slide 26 This is a good piece that helps sum up the learning in this theme. Clip plays automatically. Works as a good segue into the wrap-up.

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Tell Your Own Story

Slide 27Recognizing the Limit of a Single Story and the Impact of Absence: Wrap-Up Can be read or summarized.

Perhaps the greatest danger of a single story is that it continues to perpetuate history from a single, dominant narrative and, therefore, makes it the norm. It is crucial that we think about the “single” story that we tell in our classrooms, in our schools, in our society so that we allow for the multiplicity of voices and perspectives. Integrating Absent Narratives in our classrooms does just that.

Slide 28 If possible, facilitator should share a personal narrative that speaks to the question below. This is a good opportunity for participants to brainstorm strategies together. Ask groups to share out or list ideas on a white board or large piece of paper. Take Away Learning

Think about a cultural/ethnic/gender group whose story/voice is not prominent in your classroom, school community, or society.

What needs to be done to create a balance of stories that build respectful, open relationships for families, students, the school community, and society as a whole?

If needed, this is a good place to take a break.

Slide 29

This is just a title slide to introduce the third theme.

3. Learning From Community Voices

Slide 30What is Epistemology?

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Read or summarize. *Introduce the next clip.Once you know the meaning of the word, epistemology, you will likely find yourself using it in the context of various ways in which you understand the world. In this unit, you will begin to look at the impact your own subconscious beliefs and understandings have on your interactions with people around you. While they are invisible to you, they show up loud and clear, like the pattern on your shirt, to your students and parents that you interact with. *In this next excerpt, Dr. Omowale Akintunde and Alex Pare are featured in interviews examining epistemology.

Slide 31Clip does not play automatically. What is Epistemology? Omowale Akintunde and Alexs Pate

Dr. Omowale Akintunde and Alexs Pate are featured in interviews examining epistemology.

Transcript:Can you help us with the definition of epistemology and what that means?

Absolutely, the best response I’ve gotten is from a student. It’s what you know when you don’t know that that’s what you know. It’s that subconscious set of knowledges and realities that exist so deeply within you that form the basis of how you see the world and the lens through which you view it that you don’t even know that you are viewing through a lens or a set of ideas over a period of time.

Slide 32 As you define epistemology, engage the group into discussion of this – briefly, note that after the next video the group will discuss in greater depth. Epistemology defined:

The Study of Knowing and the art of learning Ways of Knowing How You Know What You Know

Slide 33 Clip does not play automatically. In this video, Omowale talks about his niece’s hair and the “whole Columbus thing.” Both are personal accounts of him coming in contact with white neutrality. This clip usually makes people laugh—and that’s ok, and encouraged. Framing Neutrality: Omowale Akintunde and Alexs Pate

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Omowale Akintunde and Alexs Pate discuss the idea of neutrality

Slide 34This can be a difficult concept to grasp for some participants. Be sure to leave enough time for group discussion or personal reflection. Stop and Reflect

Journal or discuss with a group an aspect of your own ways of knowing (epistemology).

Describe an example of when you have met others with a different way of doing or knowing and what you learned from that experience.

Slide 35Michener’s Novel

This provides some background to help contextualize the next clip.

In the next clip, Dr. Omowale Akintunde describes his experiences while reading a section of James Michener’s, Centennial, a novel which traces the history of the plains of northeast Colorado from prehistory until the early 1970s.

Prior to this clip, Omowale discusses the attention that Michener pays to each detail of his writing. Michener’s writing follows the formation of the Earth and the lifeways of Earth’s first inhabitants all the way through the arrival of dryland farming to Colorado.

To frame the story, Michener uses the plot line that the character Dr. Lewis Vernor, a professor is being called on to verify facts of a story written by Carol Endermann. The excerpt that Omowale describes is part of the fictional framework of the novel.

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Notice Omowale’s “a-ha” moment, where he is challenged by his own knowing (epistemology).

Slide 36 Clip plays automatically. Set this up by saying that Omowale shares an eye opening example of his own epistemology as a black man.The Impact of Whiteness: Dr. Omowale Akintunde

Omowale Akintunde describes his experience while reading James Michener’s novel Centennial.

Slide 37 This is a good time for large group discussion and questions. Stop and Reflect

Discuss or write about a time when you had an “a-ha” moment or experience where you were challenged by your own knowing.

How did you feel? How did the experience change you?*Discussion leads into the next slide.

Slide 38Clip plays automatically. If needed, reiterate to the group the section highlighted in red. More Equitable Epistemologies: Omowale Akintude“With that said, we’re always working within a context. We’re all a product of our civilizational evolution and I think that whether we have ever been consciously aware ofit or at what point we became consciously aware of it, the true issue is – how can we create an epistemological framework that is more equitable to a more diverse group of people? The goal is not to get rid or epistemologies, but to develop epistemologies that are more inclusive.”

If needed, this is a good place for a break.

Slide 39

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Community NarrativesMay read or summarize. This part of the offering allows participants to be exposed to different community narratives. If needed, you may only choose a few. You may choose to stop after each narrative for reflection and discussion or go through them all and discuss as a whole afterward.

“The goal is not to get rid of epistemologies, but to develop epistemologies that are more inclusive.”

In the next few slides, you will hear examples of narratives that are often left out of mainstream curriculum and societal understanding.

As you watch, listen, and read, consider the impact that certain stories not getting told has on the students and families with whom you connect.

Even further, consider how providing space and opportunity for stories to be told might affect your classroom and school community.

Slide 40How I lost my nameClip plays automatically.

Slide 41Braided Lives PoemsSome options for this slide could be printing out the poems to read individually or having people take turns reading out loud.

Slide 42The Cost of Boarding Schools Clip Plays Automatically

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Slide 43Learning from Community Voices: Wrap-UpIf it hasn’t happened already, have a discussion about the community narratives. The point to bring home is the portion highlighted in red. This slide can be read or summarized.

From these stories, it is apparent that cultural ways of being, knowing, and learning differ greatly between people

Understanding one’s own epistemology inspires a revision of prior thinking and formerly held beliefs and practices in order to be more inclusive of that which we simply don’t know.

Slide 44 If possible, the facilitator should share a positive narrative that relates to the questions on this slide. This is a good opportunity for groups to brainstorm strategies and ideas. Ask if groups are willing to share out findings. Alternatively, ideas may be recorded on a white board or large piece of paper.

Take Away LearningWe’ve talked a lot about different ways of seeing and doing.

List ways to include other epistemologies in your work to engage with students, parents, and communities. How does this differ from “including a few multicultural stories here and there?”

How might you involve students, families, and community in this process in a way that is thoughtful, respectful, and uses both head and heart.

If needed, this is a good place to take a break.

Slide 45 This is just a title slide that introduces the fourth theme.

4. Discovering Community Based Solutions

Slide 46Read or summarize

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Preparing to be inclusive of Absent Narratives takes a change in not only the educational materials used, but in one’s attitude, will, and approaches. In this unit, community voices continue to speak to the need for an approach that includes the lived experiences of all community members.

Slide 47Read or sayAs educators, you are often expected to have all the answers, but in reality that is not possible. To deal with this expectation, there are two attitudes from which you can choose. Epistemological arrogance and epistemological modesty.

Slide 48 Epistemology can be a tricky subject to grasp. Take some time here to talk through the definitions of each, with the understanding that further examples will be coming up next. If possible, facilitators should share an illustrative narrative. Attitude of ArroganceEpistemological Arrogance

One way of knowing One way of knowing is more important / valued over another

Attitude of ModestyEpistemological Modesty There is not one way of knowing There are many ways of knowing and no one way is privileged over another It embraces learning from others rather than about other

Slide 49Audio clip plays automatically. This example is meant to be very accessible. Later on, examples will get more tricky. The important concept to emphasize is below. No One Way of Solving Problems

This is a different sort of knowledge than we are used to relying upon. However, the person choosing the modest attitude learns not to trust just one way of thinking. They open their heart and mind to learn from others.

Slide 50Introduces narratives that allow participants to see the differences between epistemological arrogance and modesty. Small discussions may occur after each clip or a larger discussion at the end. See if participants can spot examples of epistemological arrogance and epistemological modesty.

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Slide 51 West Side NarrativesClip plays automatically.

Slide 52A Deeper UnderstandingClip plays automatically.

Slide 53Why We Tell Scary StoriesClip plays automatically.

Slide 54Storytelling and CultureClip plays automatically.

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Slide 55 If you have not yet done so, allow participants time for discussion and reflection about the last two slides. Read or summarize this slide. Epistemological Modesty

Bumping up against the knowledge of how little we know (or even can know) is a major cause of discomfort in this work. However, there is a very helpful attitude one can choose that is called Epistemological Modesty.* This is an attitude toward life that comes out of the awareness that we simply don’t know ourselves fully. Therefore, we also have trouble fully understanding others. Those who choose this humble attitude believe that wisdom begins with an awareness of their own lack of knowledge and with the recognition that there is no one way of solving problems. * Epistemological Modesty as described in The Social Animal, by David Brooks

Slide 56 Nearing the end of the session, participants may be tired. Might be good to make this a lively group discussion, as opposed to a self-reflection. Stop and Reflect

Write or discuss instances in your life where you have experienced epistemological modesty and/or arrogance? How did you feel? How did this change you?

Why is it important to adopt an epistemologically modest attitude when interacting with your students and their families?

What might epistemologically interactions look like in practice?

Slide 55

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Video does not play automatically. If possible, here the facilitator should share a positive personal narrative pertaining to the question on slide 56.This video is sort of a summary narrative. No need for discussion after it, as it leads seamlessly into the take away learning We Aren’t So Different

Slide 56Read or summarize.Take Away Learning

This offering is designed to help you see that which may at first be invisible. This kind of transformational learning takes place over time as individuals see the need and have a desire to bring about change because of new knowledge they have come to understand.

A good exercise here might be that each person talks with a partner and writes the step the other one will do. This practices good listening and learning from others.

Given what you have learned today, what is one thing that you are going to do differently in your classroom or community?

Slides 57-EndThese slides are not workshop slides and are geared more toward online self-study learners. However, they provide a wealth of resources for teachers and staff going further. If there is time at another staff meeting or perhaps during a break during this offering, they may be good to share at that time.

END of slides

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