Chapter 3: Getting Centered-->The Evolution of Learning Communities
My colleagues and I embrace the value and power of learning communities by respecting the time allotted to engage, and participate, within our designated learning communities.
In my school tremendous support exists to move from isolation to collaboration. Our principal, and students' parents, really value consistency amongst grade levels. That is just one of the many reasons we find it worth our time to collaborate, rather then work in isolation. We value each other's contributions and perspectives and we have discovered that we complement each other nicely. We work well as a team and our creative juices flow a lot better when we collaborate than when we work in isolation. Not only do we value our colleagues' contributions, but also those of our students and families. Our parents and students offer us valuable input throughout the school year and they know we count on them to bring ideas to the table as we work together toward our mission, vision and academic goals.
In order to have environments that provide the leadership and support to sustain the creativity and vitality of our learning communities we would need to be provided with the necessary time to meet up with each other in addition to be given opportunities to engage in leadership roles which come naturally to us (capitalize on our strengths) and we would need to be provided with the opportunity to revisit, as a staff, our school's mission and vision in order to come to a consensus of what that looks like so that we may engage only in the type of behavior that will bring us closer to our goals.
Reflection:
So far, I understand culturally proficient learning communities to be a group of educators who embrace a global perspective at all times and it is evident in their lesson-planning, delivery of their lessons, their day-to-day interactions, their mannerisms, their awareness of different cultural norms, and in the way they communicate with the community through different mediums. Culturally proficient learning communities take all the aforementioned characteristics into consideration as they seek to welcome, value, respect, validate and include all stakeholders in the school's decision-making process in order to create a win-win partnership, with all interested parties, that will be in the best interest of our students. Culturally proficient learning communities always seek the best in our students and welcome the diversity present at their schools as an opportunity to expand and enrich students' learning experiences. Culturally proficient learning communities support each other and hold each other accountable through the learning process of how to make schools a more welcoming place that sets students up for academic, personal and social success so that they may be empowered with the right tools to continue to benefit from this success in the real world.
My colleagues and I are in learning communities through PLCs at the school in which I teach. We are also in grade level learning communities as well as through I.D.E.A.S. 2.0. A more recent medium I have started using to be in a larger type of learning community is through G+ communities and Twitter.
A culturally proficient learning community might support my current practices by providing me with the necessary professional development opportunities and materials, such as books, to continue to grow and expand on my ideas of how to provide the best learning environment for my students.
The lens of Cultural Proficiency might support my current learning community by adding a different angle from which to see different situations. Being able to view situations through different angles expands our thinking and as a result enhances our students' learning experiences.
Going Deeper: 3 Keys
3 Key Learnings:
*We must build on each other's strengths as well as on our students' strengths.
*Teachers must see themselves as learners.
*All stakeholders must embrace a set of shared beliefs, values, the school's mission and vision and act accordingly.
3 Key Quotes:
*"However, skillful leaders are able to shift the conversations from blaming students and their circumstances to taking professional responsibility for the achievement of all students" (Lindsey et. al, p.34).
*"The traditional isolation of the teacher in the classroom, where individuals 'teach science' or 'teach math' or other subjects of their passion rather than 'teaching students' creates resistance to collaboration" (Lindsey et. al, p.48).
*"When teachers, administrators, counselors and other school community members express these values and beliefs, a common vision and clearly stated mission are more likely to become a reality for the community" (Lindsey et. al, p.45).
3 Key Questions:
*How do we elicit a desire amongst teachers to shift their way of thinking from one of rejection to one of acceptance?
*How do we create a school culture, amongst teachers, in which they see themselves as learners, and not teachers, and in which we encourage a risk-free environment in which they feel free to ask questions that will help them learn more about the students they serve?
*As we shift to culturally proficient learning communities in the k-12 educational setting, are other educational institutions of higher learning engaging in this paradigm shift? Is this happening in all schools or only in schools with diverse populations? Are different agencies and future potential employers of our students also empowering their staff with culturally proficient learning communities? In Douglas J. Fiore's book he outlines the National Education Goals (Goals 2000) and in goal #6: Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning, it states that "every major American business will be involved in strengthening the connection between education and work" (Fiore, p. 60). I like the idea of providing people in minimum-wage jobs with the opportunity to set career-advancement goals by meeting them where they currently are, without any judgment, and helping them close the gap by guiding them through small goals to help them attain their desired goals. This could be done with the help of college students who volunteer their time in order to meet a requirement, to give back to the community, depending on their major. It would be a win-win situation, not just for the people directly involved, but for society as a whole. Perhaps business admin students could help provide money-management workshops to people currently employed in minimum wage jobs. I think it would benefit the individual, and society, to attend workshops, at their job site, that would support and develop different job-placement skills so that they do not remain in minimum-wage positions for long.
Insights or "Aha!" moments about my own professional practice:
I always seem to gravitate toward the same people when it comes to collaborating for various reasons, such as we share the same grade level or we are in other learning communities, such as I.D.E.A.S. 2.0, therefore we have had the same previous training so it is easier to use different ideas as reference, rather than trying to explain concepts to other teachers who have not yet been exposed to those concepts. But even when we have the flexibility to reach out to others who I do not normally collaborate with, I stay with whom I feel comfortable. A truly culturally proficient leader will purposefully seek out to work and engage in conversations with not just like-minded people, but people who may think differently as well. We must model the behavior we expect of our students, even when they are not looking. As much as we all have biases can we get past that and look for each other's strengths? I say we can!
Observations and Questions:
Why do we feel threatened by each other's differences?
How will we know that we have achieved cultural proficiency and how do we sustain it once we have achieved it?
Who do you think benefits from culturally proficiency?
Do you think that if we truly follow and implement Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People it will lead to cultural proficiency? Will following the 7 habits suffice? Or is there more we need to do to reach cultural proficiency?
My colleagues and I embrace the value and power of learning communities by respecting the time allotted to engage, and participate, within our designated learning communities.
In my school tremendous support exists to move from isolation to collaboration. Our principal, and students' parents, really value consistency amongst grade levels. That is just one of the many reasons we find it worth our time to collaborate, rather then work in isolation. We value each other's contributions and perspectives and we have discovered that we complement each other nicely. We work well as a team and our creative juices flow a lot better when we collaborate than when we work in isolation. Not only do we value our colleagues' contributions, but also those of our students and families. Our parents and students offer us valuable input throughout the school year and they know we count on them to bring ideas to the table as we work together toward our mission, vision and academic goals.
In order to have environments that provide the leadership and support to sustain the creativity and vitality of our learning communities we would need to be provided with the necessary time to meet up with each other in addition to be given opportunities to engage in leadership roles which come naturally to us (capitalize on our strengths) and we would need to be provided with the opportunity to revisit, as a staff, our school's mission and vision in order to come to a consensus of what that looks like so that we may engage only in the type of behavior that will bring us closer to our goals.
Reflection:
So far, I understand culturally proficient learning communities to be a group of educators who embrace a global perspective at all times and it is evident in their lesson-planning, delivery of their lessons, their day-to-day interactions, their mannerisms, their awareness of different cultural norms, and in the way they communicate with the community through different mediums. Culturally proficient learning communities take all the aforementioned characteristics into consideration as they seek to welcome, value, respect, validate and include all stakeholders in the school's decision-making process in order to create a win-win partnership, with all interested parties, that will be in the best interest of our students. Culturally proficient learning communities always seek the best in our students and welcome the diversity present at their schools as an opportunity to expand and enrich students' learning experiences. Culturally proficient learning communities support each other and hold each other accountable through the learning process of how to make schools a more welcoming place that sets students up for academic, personal and social success so that they may be empowered with the right tools to continue to benefit from this success in the real world.
My colleagues and I are in learning communities through PLCs at the school in which I teach. We are also in grade level learning communities as well as through I.D.E.A.S. 2.0. A more recent medium I have started using to be in a larger type of learning community is through G+ communities and Twitter.
A culturally proficient learning community might support my current practices by providing me with the necessary professional development opportunities and materials, such as books, to continue to grow and expand on my ideas of how to provide the best learning environment for my students.
The lens of Cultural Proficiency might support my current learning community by adding a different angle from which to see different situations. Being able to view situations through different angles expands our thinking and as a result enhances our students' learning experiences.
Going Deeper: 3 Keys
3 Key Learnings:
*We must build on each other's strengths as well as on our students' strengths.
*Teachers must see themselves as learners.
*All stakeholders must embrace a set of shared beliefs, values, the school's mission and vision and act accordingly.
3 Key Quotes:
*"However, skillful leaders are able to shift the conversations from blaming students and their circumstances to taking professional responsibility for the achievement of all students" (Lindsey et. al, p.34).
*"The traditional isolation of the teacher in the classroom, where individuals 'teach science' or 'teach math' or other subjects of their passion rather than 'teaching students' creates resistance to collaboration" (Lindsey et. al, p.48).
*"When teachers, administrators, counselors and other school community members express these values and beliefs, a common vision and clearly stated mission are more likely to become a reality for the community" (Lindsey et. al, p.45).
3 Key Questions:
*How do we elicit a desire amongst teachers to shift their way of thinking from one of rejection to one of acceptance?
*How do we create a school culture, amongst teachers, in which they see themselves as learners, and not teachers, and in which we encourage a risk-free environment in which they feel free to ask questions that will help them learn more about the students they serve?
*As we shift to culturally proficient learning communities in the k-12 educational setting, are other educational institutions of higher learning engaging in this paradigm shift? Is this happening in all schools or only in schools with diverse populations? Are different agencies and future potential employers of our students also empowering their staff with culturally proficient learning communities? In Douglas J. Fiore's book he outlines the National Education Goals (Goals 2000) and in goal #6: Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning, it states that "every major American business will be involved in strengthening the connection between education and work" (Fiore, p. 60). I like the idea of providing people in minimum-wage jobs with the opportunity to set career-advancement goals by meeting them where they currently are, without any judgment, and helping them close the gap by guiding them through small goals to help them attain their desired goals. This could be done with the help of college students who volunteer their time in order to meet a requirement, to give back to the community, depending on their major. It would be a win-win situation, not just for the people directly involved, but for society as a whole. Perhaps business admin students could help provide money-management workshops to people currently employed in minimum wage jobs. I think it would benefit the individual, and society, to attend workshops, at their job site, that would support and develop different job-placement skills so that they do not remain in minimum-wage positions for long.
Insights or "Aha!" moments about my own professional practice:
I always seem to gravitate toward the same people when it comes to collaborating for various reasons, such as we share the same grade level or we are in other learning communities, such as I.D.E.A.S. 2.0, therefore we have had the same previous training so it is easier to use different ideas as reference, rather than trying to explain concepts to other teachers who have not yet been exposed to those concepts. But even when we have the flexibility to reach out to others who I do not normally collaborate with, I stay with whom I feel comfortable. A truly culturally proficient leader will purposefully seek out to work and engage in conversations with not just like-minded people, but people who may think differently as well. We must model the behavior we expect of our students, even when they are not looking. As much as we all have biases can we get past that and look for each other's strengths? I say we can!
Observations and Questions:
Why do we feel threatened by each other's differences?
How will we know that we have achieved cultural proficiency and how do we sustain it once we have achieved it?
Who do you think benefits from culturally proficiency?
Do you think that if we truly follow and implement Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People it will lead to cultural proficiency? Will following the 7 habits suffice? Or is there more we need to do to reach cultural proficiency?