It was a beautiful August morning and the sun was bright as children and their families arrived on our school campus. The five classroom portables, each adorned with flags reading, “Welcome Everyone,” were ready to welcome new and returning students. Children were dressed in pressed pants and shirts, dresses, bows and new book bags. Some appeared hesitant, clinging to their parents’ hands, and others were carried, their arms wrapped around parents’ necks. Other children, those who were with us last year, ran ahead of their parents or caregivers to greet their teachers for another school year. Teachers too experienced the range of emotions, excitement for the new school year and returning students and their families, but also some trepidation regarding the few very young children, who had never been away from home or family. The first day of school that year also marked the continuation of the professional journey begun two years prior; this year we would focus our ongoing explorations of diversity specifically on issues of race, culture and language marginalization through a variety of professional development experiences in the hopes of cultivating practices supportive of students’ positive literate identities.
At the end of the first week of school, I gathered three teachers, Kim, Lyndsay and Tammy, for what was hopefully the beginning of a deeper focus on equity issues following whole faculty Inservice sessions and smaller group Diversity meetings the year
before. The four of us planned to meet weekly as a Focal Group in addition to monthly Diversity Group meetings and whole faculty Inservice days in which we would
participate with other faculty members. Due to the hectic nature of school life - mine as well as theirs – the weekly Focal Group sessions we hoped for were ultimately limited to monthly meetings.
Although these teachers and I had worked together for the previous two years studying issues of equity and diversity with other faculty members, this August marked the beginning of more focused work and the research through which I studied the process of our experiences. I sought to understand: What happens when a school administrator and teachers explore issues of culture, race, and language for the purpose of generating teaching practices that support and nurture students’ positive literate identities? In particular, I wanted to know:
• What challenges are met? How are those challenges negotiated?
• How is the experience reflected in day-to-day life in the classrooms, particularly as it relates to supporting children’s positive literate identities?
• What is the role of the administrator in this process?
Audio, video, and artifactual data were collected during sessions with varying groups of faculty (Table 4.1) over the course of this study: (a) monthly sessions with Focal Group (three primary participants -Tammy, Lyndsay, Kim, and me), (b) monthly
Diversity Group meetings (a group of seven teachers – on whom secondary data were collected - which included Tammy, Lyndsay, Kim and me), (c) two Inservice Sessions (all faculty members - 13 teachers - from across nine sites within the child development program), and (d) approximately once a month One-to-One meetings with primary
participants. See Chapter Three for detailed descriptions of each faculty group. Data were also collected (audio, video, field notes, and artifactual data) during regular observations in the classrooms of the three Focal Participants; during home visits and other community experiences in which we engaged; and from interviews with students, teachers and family members.
Table 4.1. Groupings of faculty members in this study highlighting the four primary participants in each group; pseudonyms are used for all secondary participants.
Focal Group
(Primary participants; meeting monthly as a group and approximately once a month one-to-one with me)
Diversity Group
(Primary and secondary participants; voluntary group consisting of teachers working on their district- required Goals Based Evaluations (GBE); meeting monthly as a group)
Inservice Session
(Primary and secondary participants; mandatory meetings for the entire faculty; meeting twice during the study)
Kim Lyndsay Tammy Sabina Kim Lyndsay Tammy Sabina Shirley Sally James Kim Lyndsay Tammy Sabina Shirley Sally James Lynn Samantha Diane Andrea Thomas Ashlee Eve
I planned curriculum for the monthly Diversity Group sessions, which formed the nucleus of this study (see details in syllabus in Appendix E). From August 2010 to December 2010 those plans involved Tammy, Kim, Lyndsay and me (as primary participants) along with three other teachers in equity and cultural conversations that
consisted of the following topics: (a) looking at our cultural selves – based on the belief that before we can truly understand others, we must first understand ourselves; (b) identity development – recognizing that children come to us with an identity steeped in cultural and linguistic knowledge that should be valued and utilized in classrooms; (c) cultural and linguistic marginalization – working to recognize and challenge
marginalization and understand how it affects students’ performance in schools; (d) issues of race - in particular, how race and racism are manifested in classrooms and schools and tied to learning opportunities; and (e) language and literacy development – how children develop as literate beings. The exploration of these topics was supported by readings (see list of readings in Appendix E), guiding questions, home and community visits and debriefings and book studies, which provided us with direction, focus and a foundation for discourse.
Findings resulting from a pattern analysis of all data are organized in this chapter according to two overarching themes which align with the study’s first two research questions. Those themes are: (a) challenges (that we encountered through the process of our study) and (b) beginning to negotiate challenges (ways in which we attempted to address our challenges, learn from them, and alter attitudes or practice as a result). Discussions of those themes are prefaced by further introductions to each of the major players in this study: brief descriptions of our backgrounds as revealed during our Diversity Group, Focal Group and One-to-One meetings. The introduction of major players does not, however, merely serve to provide descriptions of participants as in Chapter Three but it constitutes findings about each participant based on analysis of data and the understanding that our stories matter (Boutte, 1998; Hamel, 2006; Nieto, 2009;
Milner, 2010) in the process of professional development that seeks to deepen educators’ understandings of self and others. Thus, to understand the challenges we met and how we tried to negotiate them, it is important to learn a little more about each of us.
Understanding Others Meant First Understanding Ourselves
Riessman (2003) wrote: “The meanings of life events are not fixed or constant; rather they evolve, influenced by subsequent life events. The stories we tell to ourselves, to each other, to researchers, offer a unique window into these formations and
reformations” (p. 331). In other words, our personal lives and experiences provide a glimpse of the people we are and the people we are growing to be through our
experiences in life and with each other. Also, it is important to note that our stories are partial and incomplete, given that we each chose to reveal specific experiences and not others and that these narratives are continually evolving as they are shaped by present and future events (Riessman, 2003).
This study set out to examine the process of professional development designed to support educators’ deepened understanding of others. As found by other researchers, we learned that this required first understanding ourselves recognizing we cannot begin to value others if we are not aware of our own biases, cultures and beliefs (Ayers, 1993; Boutte, 1998; Earick, 2009; Howard, 1999; Milner, 2010). Bringing personal stories and experiences into our conversations was one way to begin to examine self while learning more about each other. Our conversations, grounded in the specific readings and
engagements outlined in Appendix E, revealed some of the ways in which we came to our beliefs about race, culture and language. This knowledge about our pasts allowed us to begin negotiating the challenges we faced regarding our biases or stereotypes of others
by making us more aware of our ideas and attitudes and to consider how and where they had been developed; these conversations helped us define ourselves as we worked to better support students’ positive literate identities.
Although some of us shared more than others, we all engaged in personal storytelling at some point. Our discussions often centered on experiences with other people and travel (which helped us understand the importance of valuing other ways of knowing), interactions with our families (which provided insight into each other’s values and beliefs), and experiences outside the classroom (which influenced our work and interactions with students, families and each other). Teacher experiences and stories presented here are not presented to be profiles or comprehensive in any way but merely a glimpse into each participant’s background as a backdrop for understanding further findings.
Kim
Kim spoke often of her sons, who were eight and six years old, and of her husband. She shared that one of her biggest reasons for placing her two sons in public schools was to be with a diverse group of people. This was important to Kim because she witnessed, through her husband’s business, what happens when people have limited experiences with culture, language and beliefs and have no awareness of worlds beyond their own, insinuating that this was necessary to be able to succeed in one’s work. She remarked:
When there is one dominant group and they [her children] miss out on these learning experiences and you get to adulthood and these are the people, I mean [my husband] sees it all the time, big corporation guys or big state agency people leading the group who are so ignorant [about] others. (One-to-One Meeting, October 21, 2010)
Kim brought in many other stories of her own children and the importance of their experience with other cultures. Another example was when she told of an incident
involving her younger son’s Korean classmate, Joshua. Kim explained that her son’s kindergarten teacher sent home a flyer about a Korean festival in town and that he asked her, “Mom can we go? Because it’s Joshua’s.” Kim spoke about how she would have never randomly taken her son to the Korean festival had Joshua not been a good friend of his. She felt that it was very important to her son to go to the festival to support Joshua and his family and to “foster a relationship with them.” Kim’s story spurred a
conversation regarding the importance of “putting a name to culture and language.” It was not just the Korean festival; it was Joshua’s festival. I added that, “children can identify with a friend or someone who means something to them. It just makes more sense to them that way” (Diversity Group meeting, October 21, 2010).
Tammy
In many of our meetings Tammy talked about her two young children, ages five and two, as well as her husband. During a One-to-One meeting Tammy shared how she worked at home with her son, teaching him about respecting others. In particular, she stressed her need for him to respect his teacher regardless of the cultural differences that might exist between them. She offered, “Respect is not just for when it’s comfortable. Respect is him making the earnest decision to respect what [his teacher] says the first time.” Tammy explained that she wanted her own children to understand that for
someone else to respect them, they had to respect others. She continued, “I want my child to respect the person he’s with, not because it fits him but that he learns to respect people,
whether they look like me [his mom] or not” (October 5, 2010). Tammy explained that having children helped her realize the importance of valuing differences.
Tammy also shared some of her experiences growing up often as the only Black student in all White schools. These stories often included her mother who was a major influence in her life. Tammy told us that her mother intentionally placed her in schools where she would be with White students so she “could assimilate into the White schools.” Always aware of her “Blackness,” Tammy explained differences in her
interactions across racial groups, “While I always got along well with my White friends, the kinds of conversations I had with my White friends were very different than the conversations I had with my Black friends” (One-to-One meeting, December, 2010). I asked Tammy if it was a kind of “code switching” between the different groups of friends but Tammy believed that she really did not do much code switching in terms of the way she used language, but that it was “more about what we talked about that make the conversations different.”
She talked about how, as one of the only Black students in her school she would often be looked at as having “all knowledge about all things Black.” She relayed her frustration with being called on to be the Black expert when she told the group, “I’m just Black like me. I don’t do any other Black but this Black, you know? It’s just so much pressure” (September 16, 2010).
Lyndsay
Lyndsay was a second year teacher and came to our school right after graduation. Thus, of all the teachers Lyndsay had the most current theoretical understanding of issues related to race, culture and language due to the specific classes she took at the university
that addressed issues of equity in education. She spoke of her experiences growing up in the south as a Christian, with her parents, two younger sisters, and even younger brother, who was five-years-old. She spoke of her recent engagement to her fiancée, and
upcoming nuptials. Lyndsay spoke of how she grew up but how she envisioned life differently for her own future children. Her comments reveal how her attitudes towards accepting others have changed due to her experiences with university classes, with travel and learning about others in the world, and acknowledged biases she held prior to those experiences:
I would never say that I was brought up bad, but I do want to introduce my own children to other languages, cultures and religions. I think the first time I went out of the country really opened my eyes to the world and that everything in my life isn’t all there is; there is so much more. I think there are so many judgments that I have made in my life because I thought the only way to live was the way I was living, and I want to make sure that my children appreciate all the differences around them, but find similarities and accept who a person is. (One-to-One meeting, December, 2010)
As a young, single, second year teacher, the experiences Lyndsay shared also centered on her university classes and her learning about culture at school. On many occasions she discussed that “her eyes were opened up” in terms of issues of race, culture and language marginalization through her interactions with professors, classmates, readings and assignments given during that time. In particular, she spoke about her realization of the privileges she was afforded, “being White” and coming from what she felt to be “a middle-class family.” The classes she took along with her experiences were important in our understanding of Lyndsay but also provided us with jumping off points for discussion that helped us learn to rethink the idea of one right way of existing. For example, in a Focal Group meeting, early on in the study, we discussed how important
their families. Lyndsay’s talked about how her university classes, “made me want to learn more and to be open to more cultural issues . . . and more accepting of others”
(September 16, 2010).
Sabina
As the administrator and facilitator of many of our discussions, I shared my experiences as I hoped they would provide insight to me as a person and as an
administrator. I also hoped that my experiences and stories would provide a platform to share how my coming to understand issues related to race, culture and language was helping me to move forward in more just ways in the educational setting and in life. On many occasions I relayed stories from my youth or provided examples of my learning trajectory. I felt that it was important that I placed myself in a vulnerable position so that teachers knew it was okay to take risks. I used stories of my childhood, my children and husband and discussed the shifts in my thinking as I took classes, read books and stepped outside my cultural comfort zone. So much of what I requested of my teachers were opportunities and strategies that helped me reach beyond my once held beliefs.
I shared my experiences from the classroom as a special education teacher and early childhood teacher. I also spoke of my two boys, ages 19 and six, and my husband, who was born and raised in the South. I shared my personal experience growing up with a father with a disability and my disequilibrium in moving from Brooklyn, New York, to Manchester, Tennessee, when I was a junior in high school. I relayed my personal history of how I grew up in a diverse area in Brooklyn, New York, and how I thought I “knew about diversity because I lived in a diverse neighborhood and had friends of Color and of diverse religions” but how, looking back, this could not have been further from the truth.
It was true that I had diverse experiences and many friends of Color, but I was
completely oblivious to the racism, oppression and language marginalization that existed.
Patterns and Anomalies Across Our Background Stories
Key insights from our stories revealed that we were all middle-class and each of us grew up Christian although from differing Christian belief systems (Baptist, Methodist and Catholic), with the exception of Kim who converted to Judaism as an adult. We each experienced race, culture and language in our own unique way: Tammy as one of the only Black students in her school; my experience living in a diverse community in New York; Kim’s travels around the world; and Lyndsay’s learning about diversity at the university. The stories we chose to share are those that we felt immediately connected to our professional development conversations.However, with exception to Tammy’s experience our pasts do not reveal that we ever reflected on our identity in any of our lived experiences. Kim, Lyndsay and I, as White middle-class women, had never
seriously explored our understanding or notions of what it meant to be “not like me” prior