Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete/Hope and Healing in Urban Education

Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete

Author: Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade

The author uses this article to discuss hope and its many identities.  Duncan-Andrade highlights three forms of false hope: hokey, hope, mythical hope, and hope deferred.  He uses the backgrounds of students to understand the true potential they lack or have and finds a solution in “Critical Hope” .  Critical Hope rejects hopelessness and demands a committed and active struggle against oppression.

1. Duncan-Andrade states that the election of Barack Obama is a great example of mythical hope.  Claiming the end of racism in America because we have a black president is mythical hope. One exemption cannot be the definition of new hope.  He says maybe things will change and Obama is making history, but the fact is there is still racism and prejudices in America.
2. “The American Dream” is a hokey hope to urban youth, claims Duncan-Andrade.  Teaching students to gain an education means they will acquire the perfect job and live the “American Dream” to be financially stable; however, this is hokey hope because it does not teach students the truth about the under-resourced schools they attend.  The fact is, there is an “uneven playing field” for these students and it will critically impact them. There is an overwhelming majority of working -class urban youth of color that lack opportunities making this hope inaccessible.   
3. Hope Deferred is most often seen with urban youth and teachers because teachers feel they are ill equipped.  Hope deferred is the teacher deferring the hope to a later time; hoping for a Utopian society or the individual student’s future rise to the middle class.  The teacher creates hope deferred by letting students plan a highly unlikely goal “and hope deferred too long is hope denied”. The author says teachers need to realize the backgrounds of these students cannot be seen as stressors but as “roses in the concrete”.
4. Critical Hope is the hope of all hopes and has three sub-categories: material hope, Socratic hope, and audacious hope.  Duncan-Andrade says this hope “demands a committed and active struggle”. It’s knowing the inequities the urban youth are faced with and using it to overcome these “socially toxic environments”.  Marital hope is not focusing solely on the assessment (academic pedagogy) but the quality of the teaching and social justice. Socratic Hope is having a concrete example for students to follow and humanizing the students.  Audacious hope is knowing the struggle but not denying the path; overcoming the odds and making a change because “there is no other choice”.

Mighty Times/Stay Woke

Mighty Times: The Children's March
Director:Robert Houston

In May of 1963, students in Birmingham, Ala. marched in protest of segregation. Birmingham was known as one of the most racist cities in the South.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had described it as a “symbol of hard-core resistance to integration.” Activists had nicknamed it Bombingham, because of the frequency of violent attacks against those fighting the system of segregation. Using word-of-mouth, more than 4,000 African American schoolchildren organized to desert classrooms at exactly 11 a.m. on “D-Day,” May 2, 1963.   Initiated and organized by Rev. James Bevel, the purpose of the march was to walk downtown to talk to the mayor about segregation in their city. There was a week of mass demonstrations and rioting that stunned the nation. Hundreds were arrested. The marches were stopped due to the head of police "Bull Connor" who used  fire hoses to spray the children, and set police dogs to attack the children. Police tried to stop them. Yet, the children prevailed.The issue for students, was civil rights, equal treatment under the law and desegregation. The students were organized and nonviolent. Hundreds were arrested. Many children left their schools in order to be arrested, set free, and then to get arrested again the next day.

The police thought the kids would be frightened to be arrested. Instead, they were happy and singing. The kids were empowered to be a part of the solution to racism. If the adult parents were seen on the picket lines they could lose their jobs, have their cars repossessed and their homes burnt down.The children were glad to be arrested because it was their strategy to fill the jails so that national attention would be focused on the movement in Birmingham. Keeping someone fearful is a way to control that person. This movement was one step towards African-Americans losing their fear….without fear, the police and government realized they had lost that form of control. News images from that day got the attention of the Kennedy White House and with the support and leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights activists, the children’s demonstration resulted in having an impact on the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

More than 100 eyewitnesses contributed to the storytelling, with appearances by participants and organizers James Orange, Gwendolyn Webb, James Bevel, Harry Belafonte, Dick Gregory, and Andrew Young. Richard Cohen, President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center said;

“It is our hope that The Children’s March will inspire youth to take stands on vital human issues affecting their communities and their lives, most especially racism and the devastating impact of discrimination upon our society.”

After looking up the Children's March or Crusade I found quite a few different interviews and videos that extended the individual experiences of the students involved in the march. This short interview was from 60 Minutes. I really enjoyed this film, because it brought to light another perspective of the Civil Rights movement that I was unfamiliar with. It is amazing how organized they were: using codes in radio shows, using songs to communicate.I am astounded at how involved and interested the kids were with being a part of  this movement….they showed no fear, only courage to stand up for themselves and their community.

Film:Stay Woke
Director: Laurens Grant

“Woke” is a term that originated in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) which means something similar to being socially conscious. “Woke” can be traced back to the early sixties but became popular after Erykah Baduh’s song “Master Teacher” came out in 2008, in which she sings, “I stay woke.” “Stay woke” became an embodiment in the Black community, a way of saying “pay attention, work towards justice, don’t accept the status quo.” To be woke is to remain vigilant. Being woke is questioning the dominant media and political narratives and thinking critically about society’s power structures. The term “stay woke” became more widespread with the formation of The Black Lives Matter Movement after the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The term “woke” quickly spread out of the Black community, to allies of other races, and soon filtered out to become a “trendy” word. The word was tossed around so much that it began to lose all meaning. But being woke means more than talking the talk. Wokeness suggests both awareness and action.

Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement is an original documentary film that chronicles the unfolding of the Black Lives Matter movement through the first person accounts of local activists, protesters, scholars, journalists and others. Through this film, actor and activist, Jesse Williams encourages others to be more aware of America’s poor treatment of black lives by exploring this movement. The documentary is directed by Laurens Grant, who produced the powerful film “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” and includes interviews from some of the movement’s major participants, including Black Lives Matter co-founders Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors along with respected leaders like DeRay McKesson, Johnetta Elzie, and Darnell Moore. One quote from Williams  was that the movement “stands on the shoulders of folks who stand on the shoulders of previous movements.” This movement is inspired by the remarkable work of black activists, civil rights leaders and movements of the past.   Black Lives Matter is a movement that fights for the freedom and justice of black people in a world where these basic rights weren’t afforded to men and women like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray and countless others.

“The black community has been in a state of emergency and crisis and pervasive traumatic stress disorder since 1619.”-Jesse Williams

Racial discrimination has always been a part of American history. The racial dynamics have been constantly evolving over the nation’s history. Wherever there has been racial inequality, there have been movements protesting for justice. As with the Black Lives Matter protests, the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s included non-black activists. It was very interesting to read articles that compared these two movements.  There are notable differences between the civil rights movement and Black Lives Matter, specifically the organization of the protests and how they protested. Media played a big role in shaping how the public received the methods of 1960s civil rights protesters. Today with the use of technology and social media the portrayal of the protesters can be viewed/skewed differently, sparking more controversy.  Although both movements used boycotts as a tool to achieve their goals, their methods were very different. For example, After the arrest of Rosa Parks, many prominent ministers and civil rights activists gathered in person to organize the boycotts and handouts were made the following day urging blacks to stop using the city bus.The Black Lives Matter boycotts on the other hand were organized by the online campaign known as #NotOneDime. The difference in messaging strategy and technology shows the differences between the two movements. The Bus Boycott spread information through handouts and word of mouth, Black Lives Matter shared information to millions through Twitter hashtags and Facebook posts. The difference between the effectiveness of both strategies is interesting to consider. The Montgomery Boycotts was focused in just one city, yet they made a profound impact. On the other side, social media allows supporters of the Black Lives Matter boycotts to participate all over the world. Some 1960s activists have significant disagreements with what young people are doing today.

One of the first steps to being “woke” is understanding the depth of dangerous myths and how societal constructs impede on the lives of marginalized people. -Jesse Williams

After watching this film, I spent more time watching videos and reading articles to learn more about the Black Lives Matter Movement. Much of what I saw on the media was so negative. This TED talk shared what the founders learned about leadership and what gives them with hope and inspiration.They shared their personal experiences and shared the "why" behind the movement. The shared advice on how to participate in ensuring freedom for everybody: " join something, start something and "sharpen each other, so that we all can rise."

Disability Studies in Education and Dis/ability Critical Race Studies

Disability Studies in Education:
The Need for a Plurality of Perspectives on Disability

Written by Susan Baglieri, Jan W. Valle, David J. Connor, and Deborah J. Gallagher

Baglieri, Valle, Connor and Gallagher argue that the traditional definition of disability in special education has hindered method, practice and the overall way we educate our students. Since the passage of the Pl 94-142 and the growth of the Disability Rights Movement, the meaning of “disability” has evolved, however, special education methods have not all changed to reflect this. Public Law 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975) introduced a piece of legislation that drastically improved the way students with disabilities were treated in school settings.

The authors  identified a divide between two groups who have differing ideas on the concept of disability.  The Instrumentalists, who conceptualized special education as simply requiring the “incremental improvement of a basically sound system” and the Reconceptualists, who saw special education as needing the “substantial reconceptualization of a fundamentally broken system”.

The incrementalists:

1.  assume that a deficit exists within an individual
2. believe that the purpose of special education is to change the individual through performance enhancing interventions
3. believe special education prepares students to adapt for the postschool world
4. believe the course taken by the special education field is set and the practices are promising

The reconceptualists:

1. frame disability as a social construction
2. focus on changing environmental limitations
3. seeks creation of caring society that accepts human differences without labels
4. Claim special education knowledge base is limited and inadequate

As DSE scholars and former teachers of students engaged with special education, we acknowledge that individual differences may have neurological, biological, cognitive or psychological referents.  

Different disciplines, cultures, and individuals do not agree about what "disabilities" are and how to explain them. All educators should understand that one's  way of thinking about "differences," results in distinct responses to disabilities. Three ways of thinking about disability (deficit, cultural, sociological) typically guide people's thinking about the term. The meaning of disability  is no longer attributed to the deficit-based medical model.For students with disabilities, this approach contributes to the tendency to think about them as deficient, or somehow less than their classmates without disabilities.

Different cultures often hold different perspectives about the concept of disabilities. As educators we need to do more to change the perspectives on the nature of disability.  We will all benefit from acknowledging broader understandings of disability. Teachers today have increased education and awareness about disabilities. Increased visibility has also led to more acceptance. Today’s changing attitudes try to dissolve stereotypes to treat all students with dignity. However, at times the labels or names themselves can be the obstacles.However, many labels today still stigmatize students before they even set foot in a classroom. Regardless of the name or diagnosis, whether it is mental retardation, intellectual disability, cognitive challenge, or a developmental disability, the needs of these students remain the same. The utmost necessity is for students with disabilities to be treated with respect by adults, students, and peers in school, community, and home settings. Relating learning to students’ lives is important for those whose measured aptitudes may seem limited or deficient, but are in fact capable of achieving strides in different ways. If the goal is to have students lead productive, independent lives, then all role models must treat the student, not the label.

Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit):

theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability

Written by Subini Ancy Annamma, David Connor, and Beth Ferri

In this article,Annamma, Connor and Ferri, combine aspects of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Disability Studies (DS) to propose a new theoretical structure that combines a dual analysis of race and ability: Dis/ability Critical Race Theory and Disabilities Studies (DisCrit).  

The goal of DisCrit is to push CRT and DS to merge the common practices of both theories (academic and practical) to encourage growth instead of separation. There is a strong link between race and ability that needs to be acknowledged in education. Connor and Ferri have used the term "dis/ability," as a way "to counter the emphasis on having a whole person be represented by what a person cannot do, rather than what he or she can, and disrupts the notion of the unchanging and permanency of the concept of disability, seeking rather to analyze the entire context in which a person functions"

Despite the change in definition, "African Americans continue to be 3x as likely to be labelled mentally retarded, 2x s likely to be labeled ED, compared to their white peers." The authors noted observing black and other minority/marginalized groups’ over-represented among those diagnosed with disability—e.g., emotional disorders, behavioral vices, learning challenges—in educational environments.

Using DisCrit, the authors look to communicate the "structural power of ableism and racism" by acknowledging the historical, social, political and economic interests of restricting access to educational equity to students of color with dis/abilities on both "macro and micro" levels.

For DisCrit to be useful, these are their 7 tenets:

1. 1. focuses on ways that the forces of racism and ableism circulate interdependently, often in neutralized and invisible ways, to uphold notions of normality.
   2. Values multidimensional identities and troubles singular notions of identity such as race or dis/ability or class or gender or sexuality.
   3. Emphasizes the social constructions of race and ability and yet recognizes the material and psychological impacts of being labeled as raced or dis/abled, which sets one outside of the western cultural norms.
   4. Privileges voices of marginalized populations, traditionally not acknowledged within research.
   5. Considers legal and historical aspects of dis/ability and race and how both have been used separately and together to deny the rights of some citizens.
   6. Recognizes Whiteness and Ability as Property and that gains for people labeled with dis/abilities have largely been made as the result of interest convergence of White, middle-class citizens.
   7. Requires activism and supports all forms of resistance.

How to Become Batman

How to Become Batman

Alix Spiegel and Lulu Miller

This podcast was an episode in the Invisibilia series. The show, hosted by Alix Spiegel and LuLu Miller, starts with a simple question, “can our thoughts influence the actions of a rat?” Random NPR employees were all asked this question and, unsurprisingly, all said no. Their thoughts had zero effect. But the opposite is true. People’s thoughts and expectations can influence others. Alix Spiegel, who tells the story, talks about an experiment with a group of lab rats. Scientist Bob Rosenthal first documented this unconscious effect way back in the 1960s. Signs were randomly placed outside the cages, saying either positive or negative things about the rats. The rats with the positive signs finished mazes faster than the ones labeled as dumb or lazy. The rats responded to the treatment they received from the lab technicians. Positive treatment returned quicker maze rats. Negative treatment, slower rats.

Rosenthal would rationalize that the same effect would occur with teachers and students. Rosenthal’s most famous study was conducted with Lenore Jacobson in 1963 at an elementary school just south of San Francisco, California (Spiegel, 2012). His purpose was to figure out what would ensue if teachers would react differently towards certain students if told that a select number of students were expected to learn more information and more quickly than the students in their class.The conclusions demonstrated by the study greatly illustrate the Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, which is the phenomenon that explains better performances by people when greater expectations are put on them (Bruns et al., 2000). For example, the teachers in the study, may have unnoticeably given the supposed academic bloomers more personal interactions, highly extensive feedback, more approval, and kind gestures, such as nods and smiling (Spiegel, 2012). On the other hand, teachers would generally pay less attention to low-expectancy students, seat them farther away from teachers in the classroom, and offer less reading and learning material (Bruns et al., 2000).

The expectations the experimenters had in their head translated into tiny behavior changes.  This dynamic happens in people as well. If you set low expectations for someone, you might make less eye contact or stand a little further away, says Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck. The expectations of other people are acting on you making you faster, slower, smarter, dumber. We're not aware how we are conveying our expectations to other people. Spiegel and Miller talk about the focus of the Invisibilia series.  They are looking at these invisible things-emotions, beliefs and assumptions and try to understand how they affect our lives.  The invisible thing they looked at during this episode was expectations. During the podcast, we also heard Carol Dweck explain the things that expectations can influence like a teachers expectations of students.The expectations of other people are acting on you making you faster, slower, smarter, dumber. If you set low expectations for someone, you might make less eye contact or stand a little further away. Dweck stated that we are unaware of how we are conveying our expectations to other people. During our faculty meeting at the start of our school year, our principal showed us this Ted Talk from Carol Dweck and Growth vs. Fixed Mindset.

Growth Mindset has been a huge part of our school day and is incorporated throughout our curriculum. “The Power of Yet” was introduced to my second graders this year and we revisit it daily.  

Giraffes Can’t Dance is one of my favorite read-alouds. It’s a perfect platform for launching a conversation about differences in the classroom. The book centers around a Giraffe who can’t dance like all the other jungle animals and is made fun of because of his lack of dancing skills. Gerald is the perfect character for teaching students about growth mindset!This entire idea of the power of yet and growth mindset isn’t just something Dweck came up with and wrote overnight. She (and many others) actually did research and showed time and time again that if a growth mindset is encouraged, children earn better grades and achieve better results than they did before – even better than some of their peers from much more affluent schools, which shows that growth mindset is a great path to achieving a more equal education system. This research illustrates two important facts about growth mindset: it does work and it can be developed. It is not something we are born with.

Daniel Kish, profiled in the episode, lost his sight as a child from cancer. Kish is blind and he can ride a bike. Kish wanted to be everything, policeman, fireman, pilot, doctor. David went through all the same phases that everyone goes through. He  was never really exposed to anyone saying, "You can't do that. You're blind. Let's be realistic." His mom “put it away” she decided to treat him like a seeing child without putting restrictions on him.  By 6 years Daniel could ride a bike completely on his own….”how can you let him do that?” others would ask of his mom and her response was always “How can I not?”. In school Daniel clicked and the school said that it was “socially unacceptable”.  His mom said “too bad.” His mom was in an abusive marriage and felt small and powerless. When she got out she vowed never to be ruled by fear again. Despite all his injuries his mother always let him keep going. She banished her fears. “ There is life and then there is living your life.  There's a difference.” Daniel’s mother refused to let the thoughts of “what could happen”... what if” get in her way of how she parented Daniel. She responded that any of the “what if’s” could happen to anyone and so he continued to climb trees and ride his bike….wander the world as any sighted child.  

Adam is the 1st other blind person Daniel met in 5th grade. Daniel was not very welcoming.  He was unnerved by how incapable he was. Adam never needed to get around on his own….he went to school for the blind and everyone did things for him there.  Daniel just didn't understand it. At school, the kids started to mix up/lump them together the “blind boys”. They would mix up their names. To prove his distinction from Adam he made fun of Adam, tease him, and even beat him up a few times.  Eventually. Adam and Daniel went off to separate schools and lost track of each other.

We’re next introduced to the author of  The Making of Blind Man, Bob Scott.  He stated in his book and believes that  “Blindness is a social construction”. Through his research and work with blind people he kept hearing the same message…  “Blind people can’t do those things”. It was constantly being communicated by the blind organizations. Even though their intentions were to help blind people, it was quite possible their low expectations of what blind people could do was actually limiting the individuals they sought to help.  Daniel reads this book and thinks about Adam. He realizes Adam was a product of the system…..the system taught Adam he would have trouble getting around. People did things for him and led him around. I love this quote from this part of the podcast:

“When you lighten someone's load you don’t allow them to expand.”

I learned that most blind kids intuitively will click or stamp to test out their environments to hear the vibrations but are often discouraged to develop using echolocation and never get to develop this skill.  From the teacher, to the parent, to the stranger who looks at a blind person and assumes they need out help. Kish stated “We are creating slaves to others thinking, others perceptions, what others think they should be doing.” After realizing that not much had changed from when he was in school and how many organizations were still not preparing blind people to be independent he decided he would spend his life to trying to liberate blind children...like “Batman”. "It is the same process bats use," he says. "You send out a sound or a call and sound waves are physical waves - they bounce back from physical surfaces. So if a person is clicking and they're listening to surfaces around them they do get an instantaneous sense of the positioning of these surfaces. The echoes from his clicks inform Kish about an object's distance, size, texture and density. Echolocation has allowed Kish to pursue outdoor hobbies such as hiking, despite being totally blind.

He now devotes almost all his time to training other blind people in his technique, which he calls FlashSonar. More than 500 students in at least 25 countries have taken the course which is run by not-for-profit organisation, World Access for the Blind. He began working with blind children but was faced with the challenge/question: Can I undo the damage of low expectations?  You can learn echolocation at an older age but it gets so much harder with age. When working with children Daniel said his one focus is tot try to get people around them to back off. He feels that  parents/teachers rob blind students from that learning moment when they jump in too soon. That keeps happening over and over they don’t get that moment of self confidence to trust themselves and how to use the information around you.  He understands that parents are looking to protect their children and that it is love that often gets in the way. Daniel will continue to be up against this challenge in his journey to change expectations.

I think it’s important to  challenge everyone – parents, teachers, coaches, etc. – in all communities to heighten our expectations of our children and give them the guidance they need to not just survive life’s challenges, but to thrive.  For students to achieve to anywhere near their potential, teachers and parents need to have high expectations. What adults believe about a young person’s capacity, often determines what will be achieved.This may mean that you give them the opportunity to redo a test or a task because you know that they can achieve more. It means that you don’t accept that a student cannot learn. You find alternative ways to make the learning accessible to the student. Perhaps you recruit other students for peer tutoring, or you have the student who is struggling to teach someone younger or less able in order to boost their confidence. It may mean that you offer alternative ways for the student to demonstrate the learning outcomes because they find writing difficult. I believe that every student can learn and if they haven’t learnt yet, you just haven’t found the way that is meaningful to them yet. Do not make excuses for students and give them the easy way out by making their background or their upbringing or their disability the reason for them not achieving. Show them that you believe they can achieve through your unwavering encouragement and enthusiasm.

So since expectations can change the performance of kids, how do we get parents/teachers/individuals to have the right expectations? Is it possible to change bad expectations?