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Week of May 24                                                     Chapter 2: Coming into Joy  

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Week of May 24                                                     Chapter 2: Coming into Joy  

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Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Teaching and Learning

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Week of May 17: Read Forward, Introduction, and Chapter 1: Unearthing the Need for Genius and Joy                                          

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Week of May 17: Read Forward, Introduction, and Chapter 1: Unearthing the Need for Genius and Joy                                          

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Read Forward, Introduction, and Chapter 1: Unearthing the Need for Genius and Joy

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Historicall Framework - Thoughts, Wonders, Ah Ha Moments, Questions, Examples of JOY! Watering the Flowers! Genius!

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Historicall Framework - Thoughts, Wonders, Ah Ha Moments, Questions, Examples of JOY! Watering the Flowers! Genius!

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Listen and Respond

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The Chey & Pav Show Teachers Talking Teaching

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Chey and Pav Show with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad

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Week of May 31                                                    Chapter 3: Unearthing Self            

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Week of May 31                                                    Chapter 3: Unearthing Self            

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Week of June 14                                                    Chapter 5: Practical and Creative Uses of the HILL Model: Students, Teachers, and Staff Members   

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Week of June 14                                                    Chapter 5: Practical and Creative Uses of the HILL Model: Students, Teachers, and Staff Members   

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Week of June 7                                                     Chapter 4: Redesigning Curriculum and Assessments                 

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Week of June 7                                                     Chapter 4: Redesigning Curriculum and Assessments                 

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Students, Teachers and Staff Members Thoughts -Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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Students, Teachers and Staff Members Thoughts -Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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1.       The Hill Model can easily be translated to music class, and I already have several of the pieces in place (I just didn’t know it!).  With music, we have many things we need to cover within each month, so often you introduce/review skills to help with other content (learning about and creating music with the blues scale to help introduce blues and jazz music).  I just need to make sure ALL steps are available in all of the lessons.

5. In music class, students are already strong with identity, skills, and intellect.  They pick up new skills quickly, can learn about new content, and find a connection to it.  My students need more work on criticality, and joy.  Many of my students struggle with self-confidence in music class, and do not like to try to find the joy in some music topics.  Likewise, it is also difficult (for me as well), to always find moments of criticality, and it is mainly a time issue.  We have SO much to cover each month in our curriculum, that with only seeing students once a week, it is hard to cover all five pursuits consistently with each topic.

7. Our curriculum is actually very dry and not always age appropriate.  Most of my creative ideas to showcase the curriculum comes with the feeling of surprise.  The majority of the time, creative ideas strike me as a “lightbulb moment” when I see or hear a random item or sound, and so shock drives most of those decisions, followed by excitement.

10. I work well creatively with both myself, and with a partner.  To begin, I work best alone.  My brain is a jumble sometimes and it’s easier for me to come up with something or jot one of my crazy ideas down first, and then after, run it by my teaching partner.  We can then alter my crazy ideas and make them even better.

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Colon
1. How can the HILL Model best be used in your learning space?

The Hill model could best be used in my learning space by using different activities that target the different pursuits. Most of the students I work with learn best by providing them with a multi-sensory way of learning. I feel by incorporating activities that are not only multi-sensory but engaging students in say enhancing their identity, could create a more culturally responsive learning environment that is engaging.
2. How confident are you in your understanding of each pursuit and why?
I feel somewhat confident in my understanding of each pursuit. I feel as a newer teacher there is always room for growth. I have been able to watch a lesson Dr. Muhammad taught to help my understanding more of what a lesson could look like. I feel with more exposure my confidence would increase.
3. How do you plan to start implementing the HILL model?

I think at the beginning of a school year, start out with an activity. I found an article on Scholastic where Dr. Muhammad talks about a textual lineage tree she used to help students develop their identities as part of a lesson she taught on the history of libraries. A textual lineage tree helps students create a visual of texts that are important in their lives. In the lesson, it is mentioned to use the tree at the end of the year. This activity could be done both at the beginning and end of the year as a reflection of students reading identity.
10. Do you work most creatively alone or in collaboration with others?

I feel that I work most creatively when in collaboration with others. But I also feel I can have times of creativity when alone as well. I think having a balance of both is important.

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1. How do you define leadership?
Leadership encompasses any role where a person or people establish norms, regulations, or policies for a community. In our district, examples of leadership roles would be superintendents, principals, and even teachers who are leaders in their own classrooms. They are also responsible for educating themselves alongside the people that they lead so that they can have a shared collection of knowledge.
2. What are roles and responsibilities of leaders?
Leaders are responsible for establishing norms, regulations, or policies for a group or community. For example, in a classroom the teacher is a leader and they have a responsibility to create rituals and routines and lead their students in their educational journey.
7. In what ways could the five pursuits be enacted at a leadership level?
The five pursuits could be enacted at a leadership level by creating a CHRE policiy holding leaders accountable for the pursuits. Identity should be taught to ensure that students learn about the own identities and history as well as those with different identities and history than their own. Skills and intellect ensure that state standards are consistently met across the subject areas. Criticality ensures that students learn to understand power, oppression, anti-racism, and anti-oppression. Finally joy encourages leaders to elevate beauty and truth in students and other people.
10. What barriers do leaders face when adopting and overseeing culturally and historically responsive programs? What are constructive responses to those barriers?
Leaders may face barriers when adopting and overseeing culturally and historically responsive programs because it is hard to create and enforce a new curriculum that other people may push against, or not see the importance of, or resist in changing their ways. The best way to combat that would be by educating their community and other fellow leaders on the importance of CHRE.

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Chapter 6: Practical and Creatuve Uses of the HILL Model: School Leaders, Community Partners, and Families																																													

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Chapter 6: Practical and Creatuve Uses of the HILL Model: School Leaders, Community Partners, and Families																																													

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School Leaders, Community Partners, and Families Thoughts - Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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School Leaders, Community Partners, and Families Thoughts - Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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Week of June 21                                                    Chapter 7: Planting the Seeds for the Future: Artistic Intrepretations of the HILL Model

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Week of June 21                                                    Chapter 7: Planting the Seeds for the Future: Artistic Intrepretations of the HILL Model

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Thoughts -Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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Thoughts -Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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Thoughts -Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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Thoughts -Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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Thoughts -Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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Thoughts -Please respond to 4/10 Questions

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Thoughts -Please respond to 2/10 Questions

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Thoughts -Please respond to 2/10 Questions

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My Reactions - I saw JOY in March during my observations - S. E. Jackson

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My Reactions - I saw JOY in March during my observations - S. E. Jackson

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Grades K, 2, and 3 - Jumping for Joy!!!!!

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Colon

1. Joy is defined by what makes you feel fulfilled. It is something that you find within yourself.
2. In my own experience what brought me joy in learning was a positive environment. One that was encouraging, yet pushed me to my highest potential.
4. I feel the absence of joy is due to the high standards put on classroom teachers for assessments and ensuring kids are where they need to be academically. The increase in negative student behaviors affects joy in the classroom.
7. The purpose of the curriculum is to give teachers a guide to assist them when teaching of what students need to learn.

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1. How do you define curriculum?

A curriculum is a set of standards that clearly define the content and skills that need to be taught in each grade level. This set of standards helps to guide the learning path of students and gives teaching staff requirements to teach and assess these skills.

2. What meanings and feelings come to mind when you think about assessments?

Assessments are a necessary tool to keep track of how students are progressing in the curriculum. Even though there is a need for progress monitoring, there is a redundant quality of the current system for assessing students. The continuous testing is a detriment to the growth mindsets of children. Children who are struggling to understand concepts are aware that they aren’t understanding coursework and the adults working with those students are aware of the needs of the students based on the daily work and conversations had. Assessments, given as they are now, create a stressful environment for students and staff. Also, the data from assessments are not always relevant or reliable.

3. What creative steps do you take when writing or adapting your lessons or unit plans?

When getting ready to write or adapt lesson plans, it takes a full understanding of what the content is. After gaining this understanding of what the students learning intentions will be, it is important to try to align the lesson to the interests of the students, relevant current events and differentiated skill sets. By doing this it increases engagement as the students feel seen in the planning and execution of the lesson which leads to more students reaching the success criteria.

5. Of all the things in the world, what must you teach?

Of everything in the world, it is most important to teach self-motivation. When students are self-motivated to achieve their own individual goals, they will have better results. A student with all the skills in the world could easily not achieve their goals without direction if they are not self-motivated. A self-motivated student can drive their own learning by taking responsibility for their own engagement with the learning. It is evident that everyone has different skill sets, but having an intrinsic motivation for learning can help ALL students make progress in their individual goals.

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1) I define joy has something that makes you feel full-filled inside for many reasons. Joy is being able to see how being in one's life (adult/child) and seeing how you have helped them in someway. When you can let your hair down and dance, sing, and even being with loved ones. Joy comes in many different ways and can vary from person to person.

2) An experience that brought me joy in being in education field in many different capacities was last year during a long term sub-position. I had a student that we didn't always get along and I was hard on her because she had so much potential but didn't want to show it to me or anyone. This student was very angry and hard to make and keep friends. The last day of 5th grade students were being dismissed and she was no where to be found. The student was under my desk and unwilling to come out to go home. There was one last attempt from me to get her to come out and she finally was comfortable enough to come out. On the way out she informed me that she never got close to a teacher, but she got close to me and she was afraid if she left she would lose contact with me. I had to hold back my tears has we walked hand in hand to the bus. The tears, fear, and sadness she had when getting on the bus and let her know that I would keep in touch with her. That is why I went into teaching, because I was able to make an impact and bring joy to a student without realizing it to the last day how much I impacted her life at that point.

3) How often was joy centered in all aspects of my teaching? When it comes to joy and teaching, you have to get it in whenever possible. I try everyday to make my students laugh and do something that brings them joy. I incorporate this by the  students being able to draw, listen to music, or getting confidence to come up to the board and work out a problem. We have had silly moments off and on through the day and that lets me see the joy come out in them and they performed at a higher level with being able to take a minute and do something that brings them joy. I did an assignment with my students and they had to write and present their Informational Essay in front of the class. There are students in my classroom that have social anxiety, but every student presented at least some of their writing. Students that did not feel comfortable doing all of the reading out loud, myself or another student would finish for them. This brought me joy, because of the support these students showed their fellow students. I also was filled with joy because even though it was hard for them to get in front of their peers, they showed how strong they were for facing their fear when it comes to public speaking. This is something that wouldn't of happened in the beginning of the school year. The joy that I had the 3 days that it took for all of them to present the Informational Essay hitting every requirement asked of them and teaching us things we did not know about the topic they chose. A lot of students did personal informational essay that they knew about and wanted to expand their knowledge about or a topic they were interested in learning about. I was so impressed and filled with joy and the student's were too, because they realized they can do things that are hard for them and there are people who will back them up when they get stuck.

7. The purpose of curriculum is to provide teachers with an outline of what students should be taught. A well-designed and well-executed curriculum ensures students are exposed to rigorous and relevant activities. This  benefits all stakeholders by offering learning environments. A curriculum serves as a compass that provides a steady, organized path for learning outcomes.

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Question #5 Of all the things in the world, what must you teach?

Academically speaking, I must teach specifically what my students need to learn at the moment. Something that I know well that can address the needs of them. I must teach what they need to get them to the next level and keep them growing. Also I will teach them to be accountable and responsible for their decisions so they can be productible in life.

Question #5

Teaching to empathize is essential. Some people live in their own world, and for the most part, that's OK. But it is necessary to at least recognize that there are other people and that they live in their own world. A person may be in a different place in the World. They might not understand how this change in perspective may change what they believe is essential. It is also important to imagine how other people feel. Part of this process involves seeing things through someone else's eyes.

#1

Curriculum is a teacher's guide. The curriculum contains topics of study that students are expected to learn for their grade  level of development.

Yoder

Question #1: Curriculum is a guide for teachers to follow that outlines the essential content and skills that students need to learn. It is aligned to standards and follows a specific sequence of planned experiences.

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3. While I am not overly interested in being a leader at the administrative or even Arts Department Director level, I am interested in being a leader in terms of music (and other subject) curriculum (hopefully get a Ph.D in curriculum design at some point!).  I believe my talents in leadership stem from my constant need to continue learning (about anything and everything), my Type A personality, and my desire to do the best possible for our students, regardless of how easy or difficult it may be for me.

4. I do believe that CHRE is achievably without a strong leader at the forefront because while I do a lot with CHRE (and not just during Hispanic Heritage Month, African American History Month, etc.), our curriculum does not really lead us in the direction of CHRE.  Our curriculum is a mess of skills, genres, generic content.  The positive with that is that I can then incorporate CHRE in beneficial ways. But to not have guidance makes it more difficult, just not impossible.

8. I think district and school leaders need to be on the same page when it comes to CHRE.  There is so much inconsistency, with some schools doing a plethora of CHRE content and lessons, while other schools, due to a lack of guidance or leadership from a district level, do the bare minimum, if that.  Some schools have strong administrative leaders who don’t need guidance from the district level.  However, to best serve our students, all of our students, all leaders need to have the same expectations and the same goals.

9. This kind of goes along with answer #8.  Our school and District need consistency.  Even with my own department (“Essentials”), we are not consistent.  Some teachers are burned out and don’t want to/have the energy to buckle down and create new lessons to support CHRE, other teachers are unbelievably excited to get started.  School-based leaders and District leaders are the same.  We need consistency.  It’s the only way to make sure all the students are getting the same experience.

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4. The amount of testing and standards needed in a curriculum (as well as constantly changing curriculum/materials/programs) takes the joy out of everyone involved in education.  Teachers lose joy because they are trying to cover so many things in relatively short amounts of time, and everything rides on how their students perform on the test.  Their anxiety and lack of joy can then be felt by the students, who struggle sometimes to keep up with the pace, and get physically and mentally tired from the bombardment of skill-learning, test prep, and the tests themselves.

7. I believe curriculum currently is a step-by-step guide of what we should be doing every minute/day/month/year with our classes (specials classes included).  In many cases, there is little flexibility, and little room to continue a topic students may struggle with before being pressured to plow ahead.  I believe curriculum SHOULD be a guideline.  Basic concepts or skills that should be taught, with broader timelines, so that it is easier for us to incorporate moments of joy, intellect, and experiences, without feeling rushed to move to the next thing (for example, in music, we may have 6 concepts to teach 3rd grade in just a one-month period, when we only see students once every four days).

9. Because music can be such an inclusive class, my hope is that students are learning to be kind, accepting, confident, and intellectual musicians.  They should be excited and willing to learn about music of their own cultures and others’ cultures.  We should have a community of kindness and acceptance every music class within my room, and celebrate each other’s differences, while also finding moments of togetherness.  A skills-only approach (at least in music), would not create that.  Teaching just rhythm does not celebrate students for who they are, it just becomes math.  But, learning about African drums and learning/using rhythms to create a drum circle, accomplishes the skill while also creating joy.

10. I currently teach and lead for joy (or at least try to in our very tight curriculum) by trying to incorporate cultures and current events in the skills we need to cover (see #9).  I look at the skills needed to be taught, and think about which culture(s) can be correlated with that skill, and create a fun experience as well for students to demonstrate that skill.  I also teach and lead for joy for truly knowing all of my students.

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Bradford:
2. I am a music teacher.  As a music teacher, I see all students, truly see them.  I am able to showcase the genius of all cultures and backgrounds, because music class provides ample opportunity to explore the creativity, achievements, and contributions of all people, while still very easily connecting to performance and knowledge-based standards.  I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I saw two former mentors/teachers of mine show their love and respect to all of us, no matter who we were or what our backgrounds were.  And I realized: that’s who I wanted to be.

3. My choral teachers helped to shape me and teach me about the importance of all people.  Through choral works, I was exposed to various faiths, cultures, genders, world events, etc.  And my teachers didn’t just teach us the lyrics of the pieces, but also spent time teaching us about the composers themselves, the subjects of the pieces, the importance of them to the world today.  They showed me the way on how to go out and seek perspectives different than my own, and to embrace what each individual person/culture/faith has to give to the world.

6. My hope of a legacy is to be thought of in the same way that I think of my teachers from Question 3.  I wish to be known as a teacher who loved and respected all of her students, and showcased the genius of all of their cultures and backgrounds.  I have worked toward that from taking a ton of PDs to learn about other cultures and faiths, going to conferences, and honestly, listening to my students.  They are oftentimes our best teachers.  And then I take what I have learned and I use it to connect to as many facets of the skills listed in our curriculum as possible.  I will never stop learning.

8. As an Irish/German (Caucasian) American, I do sometimes find it hard to be confident in teaching about cultures that are not my own.  Not that I am afraid to, or that I am uncomfortable in the subject matter, that’s not it.  But I have sometimes been told by my students, or by past colleagues (not at our school, but my first school), that I “have no right” to be teaching about specific cultures because they should only be taught by people who are of that culture.  That threw me for a loop, and while I understand the intention behind the comments, it’s also not like there are a ton of music teachers waiting to be hired.  I love my students, and I love teaching about everyone’s backgrounds.  But my confidence was definitely shaken.

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2. When I think about assessments, I am conflicted between my elementary/middle school self, my high school/college self, and my current self.  As an elementary and middle school student, I did extremely well in school.  I skipped grades in math and science, took honors courses, etc, and assessments got me excited because it allowed me to show what I had learned.  I thrived on getting A’s on classroom tests, or 4s on the TONYSS exams (Test of New York State Standards, remember those?), because it meant that I was excelling.  Then I hit high school, and I started to battle with anxiety, and a few not-so-great teachers.  My confidence tanked, and I second-guessed all my answers, usually crossing out or erasing the correct ones, and choosing an incorrect replacement (one teacher discovered that and helped me with it).  Testing became a thing I dreaded, and instead of whipping through tests with correct answers, I had to slow down, and double check everything.  Now, as an adult, I am back to loving sharing what I’ve learned and what I can do!

3. For me, writing lesson or unit plans, it’s easy to focus on creativity (especially as a music teacher).  When I have to plan, the easiest creative step I take, is imagining myself in the place of my students.  How can I make this interesting?  How many hands-on activities can I use to reinforce the concept?  How can I give them space to create their own opinions or work on a project.  How can I relate it to their lives?  If I, as an adult, find myself getting weary or bored of the lesson, I can’t possible expect an elementary student to appreciate it, or find the topic fun.  Some topics are more difficult than others (I’m looking at you, opera), so putting myself in my students’ shoes is super important.

5. In terms of all things in the music world, my sole job is to teach them to love music.  It doesn’t have to be every facet of music: instrument playing, singing, dancing, genres, etc.  But my goal is to help each and every student find at least one musical thing, person, style, etc to love.  Music is creativity, and the ability to be free from mental or academic constraints.  And I truly believe every human on Earth can find one musical facet they love.  In terms of all things, I believe my job is to teach acceptance.  Acceptance of themselves, acceptance of others, acceptance of life.  How to celebrate differences, and work together.  I feel in many places in the world, we are lacking in acceptance.

7. I am not going to speak on our school’s curriculum, but rather our district’s music curriculum.  Our most recent fully completed music curriculum is almost ten years old.  I was still in my first couple years of teaching, and I do not know who exactly created it.  I only know that I was not a part of the conversation.  I believe it was created by the Arts Director at the time, as well as the mentor teachers.  But the community, students, parents, and the rest of us music teachers were not included.  While it is complete, much of it is not age-appropriate in terms of skills and concept understanding.  A few more have been started (some including all teachers, some not) but have not been completed and are thrown aside after a year or two.  It is ridiculous.

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How can the HILL Model best be used in your learning space?

I liked idea #2 Check in With Students Through Questions.  It fits in well with some of the SEL activities and data chats we currently have with students.  The proposed identity questons such as “How are you feeling?” or “What are you excited about?” help you to develop a realationshlp with students and learn about their identity.  The skills and intellect questions, “How do you feel about what you have learned?” or “What topics would you like to learn more about?” are questions that could be asked during data chats.

Do you work most creatively alone or in collaboration with others?

Working collaboratively fosters more creativity.  Working with others brings different perspectives which generates better ideas.  This allows you to learn from others and better problems solve.

How do you plan to start implementing the HILL Model?

Idea #5 seems like an easy place to start.  Rely on Read-Alouds and Discussion Questions.  We already do read-alouds in classe.  The next step would be to be more mindful of the 5 pursuits and craft questions for each one as you read.

In which pursuits do you feel your students already excel and in which do you feel they need more support.

Of the 5 I feel they excel in identity the most. Most students are more comfortable talking about how feeling and what is important to them; they do if often.  Through data chats I find students struggle more with questions around intellect.  When asking students questions like “What have you learned that you value most and why?” many students seem to be at a loss for words.  I think it is because they are not asked questions like this often and they really have to pause to think about it.  Crafting intellect questions and using them on a regular basis so students begin to think more deeply about this pursuit is an area that could use more support.

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1.  I define curriculum as a standards base guide for teachers comprised of the content and skills that needs to be taught at each grade level in order to prepare students for the next grade level, for a job or career and most importantly to reach their highest potential and be productive citizens in society.

2. When I think of assessments I have a bitter- sweet feeling. I understand the need for assessments and value them when they are done correctly. I think we can get very valuable data from assessments but too much testing is not conducive to anyone.  It creates a lot of stress and anxiety for teachers and students. We need to use a variety of ways to assess our students learning and they need to be done appropriately meaning it should be relevant, age appropriate, unbiased and done in an optimal environment.

3. When writing my lesson plans I think about my student's strenghts, needs, interest, goals, their grade level standards and the curriculum. I try to engage my students by making the lessons relevant to current events and/or my student's interest and when difficult to do so I explain the purpose of learning the content. I also give students choices  and allow for multimodal ways to demonstrate their learning when it is appropriate.

4. I think the whole purpose of schools and education is to prepare people for the world and therefore everything that is taught is related to the world. From how it was formed, what is it made of, the inhabitants (people, animals, plants), non-living things, inventions, history, current events, the future, how to care for the world and its inhabitants, cultures, how to make the world better and so much more.

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1. I define joy as something that brings you happiness and fulfillment. It’s something that can brighten your day, regardless of the circumstances, and can bring feelings of relief and peace. When you find something that you are passionate about, that is something that can bring joy to someone’s life.

4. I think that these places are absent of joy because there is not a lot of space for creativity and allowing students and teachers to follow new ideas that may inspire them. Curriculums and tests are so strict in material that it makes it difficult for anyone to find joy in what is being taught. People also deal with situations outside of work and school that can cause them to lose their joy, such as living situations, other jobs, financial burdens, and it takes a toll on everyone involved. Students can get so overwhelmed by all of these stressors that it can make it feel impossible for them to feel what joy can be. Joy requires peace of mind, and these circumstances don’t allow for that to happen.

7. I believe that the purpose of a curriculum is to give teachers an organized way to construct their lessons and ensure that students are learning the necessary information for their grade level. By following a curriculum, students are ensured to stay on track so they can be better prepared and successful the following year.

10. I currently teach and lead for joy by allowing students to incorporate their own ideas and creativity into their learning. I work to incorporate the music and history of other cultures into my teaching so students can still feel valued and represented no matter what skill we are working on as part of our curriculum. I also want students to have the opportunity to express their creative ideas because they are more likely to feel joy for something that they were able to create.

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Thoughts -Please respond to 5/10 Questions

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Thoughts -Please respond to 5/10 Questions

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1. According to the text, joy is the  practice is loving self and humanity; caring for and helping humanity and earth. For us, joy is something that brings you happiness. It is something you are passionate about. Joy looks like student and teacher engagement.

4. Our schools and classrooms are absent of joy due to high rates of absenteeism and the amount of testing our students are expected to do.

7. We believe the purpose of curriculum is to have an organzied and consistent way to teach and assess students based on grade level standards. It provides for students to access rigourous and relevent content to enhance student learning.

10. We currently teach for joy by incorporting student interest and choice into our planning. We have a cultrually responsive curriculum where we celebrate a variety of our students' cultures.

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Colon
2. Who are you? When did you know you wanted to be a teacher and learner? I believe I am a free spirit, a person who always tries to do the right thing. I am passionate in everything I do. A teacher, a good helper, a daughter, and an advocate. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was a social worker working in the children’s program and I was teaching a kid to learn how to tie his shoes. I knew social work had part of my heart but I wanted to make more of a difference supporting children in the education setting.
3. Growing up, what or who shaped your beliefs, values, and thoughts about humanity and those in the world who are often marginalized? Growings up my family, school, teachers, soccer team, and coaches shaped my beliefs, values, and thoughts. What shaped my beliefs was being exposed to different jobs with a diverse group of people.
6. What legacy or imprint do you desire to leave a an educator? How are you working toward it? The legacy imprint I hope to leave as an educator is to never give up. You may not succeed at first but that does not mean you are not capable of achieving whatever you put your mind to. I am working toward this by every day encouraging and modeling never giving up in everything I do.
9. Why do you think there is so much resistance to education rooted in Black histories? I think that there is a significant amount of resistance to education rooted in black history because there is a lack of diversity and knowledge of black history. Also when people get stuck doing something a certain way they are less likely to challenge to change their way of doing things.

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Colon

1. Throughout my school years, I felt that the type of education I experienced was one that did not welcome differences. One that wanted conformity and order. The only cultures or histories that were taught from what I remember early on were Native Americans, Civil War, and different World Wars that occurred. In the early grades teachers were creative in how they wanted learning to occur through different projects. As I reached middle school and on, there was only one way you could learn the material and if you weren’t able to that was on you as the student.
2. Some problems from my education were conformity, lectures, and no recess time. I feel that conformity is still prevalent in schools today, asking students to walk in lines, and raise their hands to speak. Some classrooms instead of teaching small groups do a whole group lesson in the style of a lecture. Recess time sometimes is depended on time or what the class gets done that day. Recess, is in my opinion is important for children to have because it gives them a chance to get out of the classroom and take a break.
4. The education system is like a garden. A garden requires planning, time, tools, nurturing, and water. So does the educational system, it needs proper policies, training to educate staff or materials, and energized staff who are motivated and engaged in their work and feel supported and valued. Staff who can sustain their compassion and commitment to their work. What you put into the garden is what you get out of it.
7. What is needed for equity, justice, and culturally responsive practices is using cultural knowledge, review of school policies, collaboration, self-awareness, and building on students' cultural strengths.
9. Some historical triumphs that have shaped the system are Plessy v. Ferguson, the Civil Rights Movement, Brown v. Board of Education, and the No Child Left Behind Act.

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Colon
1. How do you define curriculum?

A curriculum is a guide for teachers to follow which has specific content, standards, and assessments to assist students learning.
2. What meanings and feelings come to mind when you think about assessment?

When it comes to assessments I feel that there is a importance to having them. Knowing where your students are to properly instruct them and what they need. But also I feel that assessments are stressful for everyone involved. Whether it is the pressure on teachers for their students to perform well or students to remember what has been taught and now apply it. Also, assessments are a constant as a teacher. You have formative assessments and informative assessments. Both of these are important but there needs to be a balance.
9. How can we reimagine and redesign curriculum, instruction, and assessment? Giving students the opportunity to use their voice on what they should learn, how to instruct it, and what type of assessment to give.
10. What do you hope curriculum and assessment will accomplish?

I hope the curriculum enhances student learning. I hope assessment encourages reflection and life-long learning.

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Marcucci:
1. In my district, we discussed these histories in detail and had opportunities to understand the information in multiple ways. In elementary school, we had a big unit about Native American tribes and cultures. This involved several hands-on projects and field trips to museums that specifically focused on Native American histories. In middle school, we had a big focus on the period of the Civil War, where we learned about slavery and watched many documentaries from historians that explained what happened. Along with this subject, we were assigned a project that focused on researching a specific African American who was influential at that time in trying to abolish slavery. This involved reading documents, poems and letters that were written in the first person narrative, depending on what was available, and then presenting on that particular person. In 8th grade, we took a trip to Washington D.C. where we got to visit all of the historical monuments, including the Holocaust museum which gave a lot of valuable and important insight into that part of history. World War II was then a big topic in high school where we discussed intensive details about the holocaust and what Jewish people endured during that time. We watched documentaries, interviews with survivors, and read many first person narrative documents to learn about what really happened. All of this led me to want to learn more about all of these parts of history and I was fortunate enough to have opportunities in college where I could study and present more insight on historical events such as slavery, the civil rights movement, women’s rights, and the holocaust. I think what we didn’t learn very much about was Asian/Asian-American culture, and I do wish that Hispanic heritage was brought up more than just in Spanish class.

4. A metaphor that I would use for the educational system would be a stereotypical bully from a television show. The bully is always picking on the little guy, knocking them down and trying to make them live in fear. The educational system is like this because, in many cases, the people in charge of education are only looking out for themselves and disregard the feelings of their teachers. Because of this, teachers constantly are in fear of job security which threatens their stability in other aspects of their lives. People in charge of education, whether it is by district or at the state level, don’t always think about what is best for the students or for the teachers. They think about what is best for themselves and then make decisions based on selfish reasoning after attempting to justify the choices with reasoning that doesn’t make sense. A television bully operates in the same manner, creating an environment that isn’t livable and creates uneasiness and uncertainty.

5. As a music teacher, we are lucky in the sense that we are taught several different theories that can be molded to students, regardless of any cultural or racial differences. We have four main theories that we can use at our discretion and can base lessons off of different concepts within these theories that we think our students can benefit from. Orff, Kodaly, Dalcroze, and Learning Theory. These four all focus on different aspects of music that the creator thought was the “best” way to teach music to children, however what is really special about them is that they all can be connected and interchanged so students can learn in whatever way is most conducive to their learning style. These theories prepared me to be a teacher because I have many tools now that help me understand my students current skills and then be able to figure out what next steps to take so they can become even better musicians. Music is for everyone, regardless of who someone is or where they come from, and that gives me a special opportunity to connect with my students on a more personal level as they learn to express themselves through this art.

6. I personally think that these responsive practices haven’t been mandated in schools because the people in charge of making these choices are afraid of backlash from the close minded people who are against these practices. I also think that in certain cases, those people themselves are also not fully in favor of these practices because of their own personal beliefs. This then leaves it up to teachers to incorporate these practices, and once again if they do not have that belief in these practices then the students do not have them enforced.

7. In order for equity, justice, and culturally responsive practices to be adopted and mandated in policy, all people involved need to be on the same page of open mindedness and inclusivity. The people in charge of putting these policies in place need to be people who believe in these practices and will do whatever is necessary to ensure that they are implemented in every school and every classroom. Change doesn’t happen when people are too afraid to make waves, or too selfish in their own opinions to not do what is right by every person. Change can only happen when people do what is right regardless of what backlash may come of it. People can only change their mindset when they are presented with the opportunity to do so, so it is vitally important that the chances are present otherwise these practices will be pushed to the side and nothing good will come out of it. Additionally, students need to be shown the mistakes that have been made throughout history so that they will not be made again. If we don’t talk about these mistakes that involve inequities and injustices, then history is bound to repeat itself and everything that past leaders fought for is just wasted. So, all of this is to say, people need to stop looking at each other as different and just treat everyone as a human life that deserves to be respected and valued.

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Colon
1. How do you define leadership?

I would define leadership as someone who doesn’t see themselves as better than anyone else but is there to guide.
2. What are roles and responsibilities of leaders?

Roles and Responsibilities:

-lead by example

-approachable

-honest

-knowledgeable

-seeking more knowledge to better oneself and others

-decision-maker
4. Is culturally and historically responsive education possible without strong leaders at the center? If not, why is leadership key for successful implementation?
Yes, it is possible, because education does not come from one person. It is made up of a team filled with many different individuals with different talents, skills, and years.
7. In what way could the five pursuits be enacted at the leadership level?

Identity: Be open to learning about the culture of others and their backgrounds.

Skills: Having the knowledge and proficiency, and passing on that knowledge/skills to new teachers through personal guidance and professional development.

Intellectualism: Always be a life learner and be willing to learn from others

Criticality: Being able to critically think and investigate topics, to share knowledge with others.

Joy: Encouraging others through their own joy in education.

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Colon & Belcer

1. How does it feel to congregate and collaborate with conscious colleagues and youth? In regards to congregating and collaborating with conscious colleagues and youth, it is evident that our awareness is heightened and intentions are focused on embracing differences, diversity, and community

5. What does educational freedom mean to you? Educational freedom means you have the freedom to plan, implement, and evaluate useful instruction on your own terms without consequences.

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1. Joy inspires, Joy is untroubled, Joy can  and should be constant, Joy is a strong emotion of inner peace.

4. How are your communities, schools, and classrooms absent of joy? Joy is rarely seen in our schools, communities and classrooms. I wish this wasn't the case. It's hard to see joy in our current schools.  As educators there are many demands that suck the joy out of teaching.  Our energy is needed elsewhere. As educators, we are feeling drained by the demands of everyday teaching. The Maya Angelou quote at the beginning of this chapter is a great reminder that we all need joy:
"We need joy as we need air. We need Love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share."

7.  What do you believe is the purpose of curriculum? Curriculum is the central guide for all educators as to what is essential for teaching and learning so that every student has access to rigorous academic experience. Our current curriculum lacks moments where joy is present. For joyful learning to happen curriculum should excite, empower and engage our students.

10. How do you currently teach and lead for Joy: Strive to provide an environment where the students feel safe, loved, accepted, appreciated and valued will hopefully lead to joy.

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Bradford:

1. Where I went to school, we learned about many cultures and histories of cultures.  We learned about the culture and history of Africans/African-Americans (slavery, abolition, underground railroad, accomplishments, etc), Asians/Asian-Americans (accomplishments, work camps during WWII, our impact when we dropped the atomic bombs, etc), Irish/Irish Americans (Irish potato famine, indentured servitude, etc), Germans (WWII), and Hispanic Culture (contributions, immigration, war/turmoil, etc).  Honestly, we really didn’t learn much about other European cultures or the history of India.

4. If I had to use a metaphor to describe the educational system today, it would be to describe it as a timid, non-confrontational child.  There is a lot of fear, I feel, in education right now.  Fear that we may get in trouble (for lessons, for management, for communications), fear that we may offend our students/colleagues/parents (unintentionally, and maybe intentionally), fear that we may not portray historical and cultural aspects appropriately (based on the opinions of many outside entities).  So, we have to adopt a non-confrontational, timid approach with our teaching sometimes, in order to make sure we can keep teaching (and some states are worse than others).

5. As a music teacher, our educational theories and models are very different from classroom teachers.  We have 4 main models (with 5th and 6th ones kind of emerging), and they are all vastly different: Kodaly (folk/cultural songs, folk/cultural dances, “ta” “ti-ti” rhythms, etc); Orff-Schulwerk (visuals, instruments, movement, play); Dalcroze (piano, dancing, movement); Gordon Learning Theory (analytical, “du, du-de”, assessment-based); Suzuki (aural learning); and “First Steps” (play, songs, games, dances, stories).  Some teachers in some colleges learn just one theory, other colleges (like mine) taught us (or at least introduced us) to all of them.  We can choose just one to practice (and then “level” in), or we can create our own hybrid.  They are designed to be molded and adapted to the students we have in front of us, whether it be students who match our culture, or students who celebrate and embrace a different culture.  With music, we are able to teach about everyone, and everything, as genius surrounds our topic.  In college, I also had ample opportunities to take cultural courses (African-American Literature, Auschwitz and After, World Music, etc), which also helped to mold my teaching.  I feel pretty solid in my ability to use what I have learned and been taught to teach my students highly effectively.

6. I think that equity, justice, and culturally responsive practices have never been mandated in schools, because everyone has a different opinion of what those practices look like.  If State testing is not the same throughout every state in the country, how can we expect anything else to be?  Federal government doesn’t or won’t use their authority to mandate such practices, so they leave it to the states.  Every State is viewing equity, justice, and culturally responsive practices in different ways (i.e. what we see as valuable and necessary in NY may not be what is viewed as valuable or necessary in FL).  And some states don’t necessarily want to ruffle feathers and enact/mandate certain practices, so they pass it down to the Districts.  And with politics and political views also playing such an important role in deciding “which side” people are on, a general and positive consensus will never occur.

7. For equity, justice, and culturally responsive practices to truly be adopted and mandated, we need to take the politics out of the conversation, and focus on humanity.  The country has been divided throughout its relatively short life, but even more so today.  People blindly adopt the mindset of “for” or “against” culturally responsive practices merely by their political party and their views.  It’s a “well, they don’t believe this is right, so I don’t either”.  We have taken humanity out of lawmaking.  We need to look at the students in schools now, in all schools, in all cities/towns, in all states.  What should they know in order to learn from history’s mistakes and to grow into better human beings than we are seeing in our current adult generations?  Lawmakers need to come together, and look at humanity, and the traits that they want our children to grow up having, not whether an idea is red or blue.  I think that is the first step to then being able to work together and come up with a truly adoptable and mandated plan to teach our children equity, justice, and culturally responsive practices.

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1. Joy is something that makes you feel full-filled and happy. You can experience joy when you feel loved and cared for. When you experience success  or it can be experience for many different reasons. It is an emotion that people can have and experience in different ways for a variety of reasons.
2. My education was successful and I experienced joy when I received my grades. (I was a good student.) When I participated in extra curricular activities with my friends like chorus and music and we went to competitions, when we had recess. I experienced joy when my teachers and parents were proud of my work and progress.
4. I feel that our classrooms lack joy. The curriculum is constantly changing causing stress. We are asked to teach way too much in a school year leaving little of no time for joyous activities that are developmentally appropriate or even for the children to socialize. The demands of students and teachers are just more than anyone can keep up with and it causes stress. All the testing, progress monitoring constantly causes anxiety. Students are pushed to complete tasks that are way beyond their ability and many not developmentally appropriate. Prepping children to do and keep up with all the standards and testing comes at the expense of joy.
7. The purpose of a curriculum is to provide teachers with a roadmap or outline as to what the students should be taught and learn at a given grade level. It is a guide to ensure that students have access to rigorous academic instruction.

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1.  Traditional, European model where students are all placed in rows.  It was very Eurocentric, Anglocentric curriculum.  There was not a lot of diversity and promoted conforming to the model.  We experienced sit and get types of lessons.

2.  See above for problems.   Lack of diversity, lack of cultural relevance, lack of representation.  We feel that these problems still persist to different degrees.

6.  A lack of willingness to recognize these things.  It's a push to maintain the current models.  People fear change.  In some places they are banning cultural relevance.   For example, in today's society (Texas, Florida, New York, etc.)  we are currently experiencing these rigid models that are focusing on the old and not the progress of cultural awareness.  On p.48, Gholdy speaks of the Georgia standards SSKH1 and SSKH2 are examples of what are missing from practicing cultural relevance.

7.  The district needs to have a 100% buy in and to be consistent with the cultural relevance of our student population and society as a whole.  Looking at the amount of testing that bilingual students experience, it leaves less time for instruction.  What are the tests really measuring?

9. We honor MLK Day and Juneteenth nationally, which is hopefully the right path of change in society.

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1. Primarily white dominant classrooms with 20-25 students in a room. Some sat in rows, some sat in small groups. All students were expected to bring in their homework, not talk unless being spoken to, and receive the information that teachers were telling us. Lots of standardized testing!
2. Negative student behaviors - which look very different from the typical behaviors we see today in schools, perhaps because of the clientele we service, and the many other factors that can affect children.
5. The belief that everyone can learn, everyone is entitled to a proper fulfilling education, regardless of your background and upbringing. This idea of wanting to help others to make a difference in their lives, the belief that we're going to change things for the better, and that were preparing little ones for the hard future ahead. These things helped us to have a positive mindset when we knew we were stepping into a very challenging profession.
6. This is a tough question because some would say that they do see equity and culturally responsive practices in classrooms nowadays. Individual teachers and administrators do make an effort to make this their practice daily, but as a whole we are lacking. Maybe because we are afraid to change curriculum, maybe for fear that people would rise up and disagree with new practices, or maybe traditional thinking has kept people content to not make changes.
7. People need to be accepting of change. People need to understand why change, in certain scenarios, is just necessary for the betterment of all individuals, especially for our little children who are so impressionable. Teachers, admin, and curriculum makers need to work together to see what is the best way possible to disseminate information, all information whether it's good or bad, to students in a fair, fun, and engaging way that makes everyone happy and involved in a rigorous way. Too many people are not held accountable for their poor choices and until we all get on the same page about what equity, justice, and cultural responsive teaching looks like, it will continue to remain the same.

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1. An array of different classroom settings (some were diverse, others were predominantly white). Within these settings we were exposed to extracurricular activities including intramurals, clubs, etc. There were a variety of histories and cultures represented, but some were grazed over.

3. Having teachers that seem to value our growth and education was very conducive to our joy. It was important to know we had someone to count on in school and someone to guide us. In schools today, most teachers/staff are still welcome to the idea of having those relationships with their students, however, there are some instances where relationships are not built. For example, some teachers believe they are solely there to "teach and follow a lesson plan".

6. Equity, justice and culturally responsive practices may have not been mandated in schools because school officials focus more content and instruction. Diversity and the acknowledgement of such values depends on the demographic of administration and may look different to everyone.

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2. I experienced ill-equipped teachers because the classrooms were too jam-packed with too many students. I still see some classrooms today with a high student-to-teacher ratio.

5. In undergraduate studies, I was exposed to a theory and model that stemmed from Montessori learning that place the teacher as a coach only and not a lecturer. There are many times I have to reflect on my practice to try to maintain that coaching role with students.

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1. Suburban public school education/Puerto Rico public school- did not provide culturally diverse instruction, learned a lot about our own historical experiences, not about other cultures. We experienced whole group instruction primarily, very little/minimal differentiated instruction,
Puerto Rico- Each grade level was separated by grades (high/medium/low)-therefore, we were differentiated based on performance, no state tests

Urban public school education- some culturally diverse instruction depending on the school, both whole group and small group instruction, saw a lot of peers being pulled out for services

2. Problems- some differentiation, all homogenous grouping, limited services
Yes, in some classrooms/schools we do still  see lack of differentiated instruction.

4. Education is the key to new worlds- The educational system/schools offer a platform for expansion for our future.

School is a vaccine for ignorance- Education can be a potential cure for gaps in our society.

7. Supports, materials, curriculum, liberation among all stake holders

9. Historical triumphs that have shaped the educational system include Brown vs. Board of Education, Ruby Bridges, Civil Rights movement, Individuals with Disabilities Act

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My experience in k-5 was wonderful. I got to learn about different cultures and have different experience's that I wouldn't normally have. My school was well diverse in teaching and also in the staff and student population. However in 6-12 grade it was pretty much cookie-cut education. We only learned what was in the text book, we did not get to learn or celebrate anything outside of that.

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Chapter 1 Question 2 Morales-McBride

A few of the members in our team went to school outside of the United States and in private schools. We did not have the same education experience that many children have now. When we went to school, definitely education was different. In our education there we were taught how to do things one way. We were not taught how to do things in multiple ways, using multiple intelligences or means. There was one way to think and learn. We would memorize words, vocabulary, facts, and spelling words. Teaching was lecture based and there were no choices. This method of learning worked for us or we would not be here.

I do feel that in some ways it fell short on teaching perspective, critical thinking and problem solving skills and in providing choices for students.

I feel that education has changed in this area. We are expected to teach children to think, we are supposed to teach children how to solve problems using multiple ways, and teach them using their strengths. We are supposed to give them opportunities to be successful. Sometimes all of this is not provided to all students.

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4th Grade Team

2. There was not a lot of differentiation. It was a you either “get it or not” approach. There was no differentiation in anyway. Now, as teachers we have to differentiate in order for our students to progress.

3. When I was a child everything was different school was a joyful place. Students wanted to go to school and learn. Now, students don’t. They are not motivated for their learning. They don’t find a purpose for learning. It’s sad, which is why we are pushing more to build relationship and finding a purpose for their learning; trying different ways to help the student achieve their academic goals.

5. Teacher motivation. Teachers were motivated to teach and that’s what made me become a teacher.

7. I went to a public school and I noticed that there was a difference. We didn’t have a decent curriculum, we didn’t have the materials necessary to be successful.

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1. I attended school in a small, rural district. Students were predominantly white, 20-25 students in a class. Instruction was mostly teacher led. A lot of standardized testing. We did not really learn about other cultures.
2. I don't remember learning about or celebrating different cultures. No Black history month, Hispanic Heritage, or women's history month etc. There was a lot of standardized testing. Students were identified by test scores and labeled accordingly- advanced learner, low achiever - and then placed within a certain tract that they remained in for the most part.
4. The educational system could be thought of as a garden. The children are like the different seeds or plants that require unique needs to grow and reach their full potential. The teachers, admin. are the gardeners that provide these needs. On the other hand, teachers, admin., curriculum writers can represent  the pesticides that cause harm to the plants, the weeding that occurs, selecting  what is taught and what is left out.
7. First, people need to accept that there needs to be a change in practices/policies. A diverse group of people need to communicate and agree for the good of all what equity, justice, and culturally responsive practices look like. A curriculum needs to be designed that clearly defines this.

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1. According to the book, joy is the feeling of love and care for one's self, humanity as a whole, and the environment. It is achieved through examining the truths, emphasizing self empowerment, justice, voice, and mind. It is a feeling of happiness.
2. I experienced joy during my education when I played with my friends, played learning games in class, made art projects to take home, and succeeded academically. Those are things that made me feel happy. Beyond the classroom, I felt joy when the school and community came together to complete projects. One year we  worked together to plan a new playground that would be accessible to all and environmentally friendly. We fundraised, built it together, and celebrated the finished product. Joy was in the process itself and in the end product- playing on it.
4. Our classrooms are absent of joy for many reasons, one being testing. The amount of time spent preparing and taking the tests, as well as the anxiety that comes along with them, takes the joy out of the classroom for both the students and teachers. The increased expectations at given grade levels can also take the joy of the classroom. Kindergarten often feels like the "new" first grade. Students are pushed to read and write at higher levels, often at the expense of developmentally appropriate activities, including play. Teachers often find themselves choosing between things such as play, or art projects etc and the skills lessons that need to be taught.
9. My wish is to cultivate a child who loves him/herself and others. One who is happy, empathetic, and socially/emotionally well. One who is intelligent, skilled and confident.

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1) I define joy has something that makes you feel full-filled inside for many reasons. Joy is being able to see how being in one's life (adult/child) and seeing how you have helped them in someway. When you can let your hair down and dance, sing, and even being with loved ones. Joy comes in many different ways and can vary from person to person.

2) An experience that brought me joy in being in education field in many different capacities was last year during a long term sub-position. I had a student that we didn't always get along and I was hard on her because she had so much potential but didn't want to show it to me or anyone. This student was very angry and hard to make and keep friends. The last day of 5th grade students were being dismissed and she was no where to be found. The student was under my desk and unwilling to come out to go home. There was one last attempt from me to get her to come out and she finally was comfortable enough to come out. On the way out she informed me that she never got close to a teacher, but she got close to me and she was afraid if she left she would lose contact with me. I had to hold back my tears has we walked hand in hand to the bus. The tears, fear, and sadness she had when getting on the bus and let her know that I would keep in touch with her. That is why I went into teaching, because I was able to make an impact and bring joy to a student without realizing it to the last day how much I impacted her life at that point.

3) How often was joy centered in all aspects of my teaching? When it comes to joy and teaching, you have to get it in whenever possible. I try everyday to make my students laugh and do something that brings them joy. I incorporate this by the  students being able to draw, listen to music, or getting confidence to come up to the board and work out a problem. We have had silly moments off and on through the day and that lets me see the joy come out in them and they performed at a higher level with being able to take a minute and do something that brings them joy. I did an assignment with my students and they had to write and present their Informational Essay in front of the class. There are students in my classroom that have social anxiety, but every student presented at least some of their writing. Students that did not feel comfortable doing all of the reading out loud, myself or another student would finish for them. This brought me joy, because of the support these students showed their fellow students. I also was filled with joy because even though it was hard for them to get in front of their peers, they showed how strong they were for facing their fear when it comes to public speaking. This is something that wouldn't of happened in the beginning of the school year. The joy that I had the 3 days that it took for all of them to present the Informational Essay hitting every requirement asked of them and teaching us things we did not know about the topic they chose. A lot of students did personal informational essay that they knew about and wanted to expand their knowledge about or a topic they were interested in learning about. I was so impressed and filled with joy and the student's were too, because they realized they can do things that are hard for them and there are people who will back them up when they get stuck.

7. The purpose of curriculum is to provide teachers with an outline of what students should be taught. A well-designed and well-executed curriculum ensures students are exposed to rigorous and relevant activities. This  benefits all stakeholders by offering learning environments. A curriculum serves as a compass that provides a steady, organized path for learning outcomes.

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Mrs. Diaz and Ms. Bauzo, Ch. 1, Question #4

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Mrs. Diaz and Ms. Bauzo, Ch. 1, Question #4

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If you could offer a metaphor for the educational system, what would it be and why?

The educational system is the key that opened the doors to a better future where each student can acquire opportunities to succeed. It is also the time that is worth gold where every minute you take advantage of you can obtain the maximum of knowledge.

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Chapter 3- Unearthing Self

2.  I had different experiences before I realized that I wanted to be a teacher.  I had the opportunity to tutor a classmate who was 3-4 years behind in school.  I was given copies of the 2nd grade reading book to “study.”  It was an awesome experience.  I worked as a para-professional for half a year before going back to work on a masters’ degree.  I really enjoyed it.  My frst year teaching was when I truly realized it was what Iwas meant to be.

3.  My parents and grandparents are the ones who shaped my beliefs and values.  Although I became very different from them, I still have the same basic values.  I grew up valuing other cultures and not belittling or in any way having any overt prejudices (I recognize that they exist).  Many of my friends used inappropriate language talking about Black people and Latinos, but it was something that I simply never did.  I think more because of my mother than anyone, although I never heard those things in my home.

6. I have always wanted my students to know that I care for them and will be there for them.  I always tell students who have been in trouble, “tomorrow is a new day and we start over.”  I want my students to know that the world is a wonderful place with wonderful people and cultures.  Don’t just know one group, but learn from and make friends with all.

8.  I think the most difficult piece for me is to naturally integrate my students’ culture into my teachings.  I try to make the learning relevant to all of students, but I recognize that there are many times where I need to specifically recognize and talk about their culture.

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Question 2- Kinder 121

A few of the members in our team went to school outside of the United States and in private schools. We did not have the same education experience that many children have now. When we went to school, definitely education was different. In our education there we were taught how to do things one way. We were not taught how to do things in multiple ways, using multiple intelligences or means. There was one way to think and learn. We would memorize words, vocabulary, facts, and spelling words. Teaching was lecture based and there were no choices. This method of learning worked for us or we would not be here.

I do feel that in some ways it fell short on teaching perspective, critical thinking and problem solving skills and in providing choices for students.

I feel that education has changed in this area. We are expected to teach children to think, we are supposed to teach children how to solve problems using multiple ways, and teach them using their strengths. We are supposed to give them opportunities to be successful. Sometimes all of this is not provided to all students.

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1) My heart is a place I hold the people that matter the most to me. My heart is where my passions grow to become better. My heart is where I have compassion to show others love that many my not get from everywhere and anyone else. My heart is protected because of the pain and damaged done to it. My kids are my heart and that is what keeps it going to show them and others love, compassion, and understanding.
2) Who Am I? That is a loaded question, because for a long time I forgot who I was and which direction I was going in. There was a time when I only knew myself has a mom, wife, caregiver, and friend. I knew who I was when I got married: I was a wife. I also knew when we had kids: I was a mother and a wife. When I got divorced, I was still a mother but no longer a wife. In these moments I lost a huge part of my identity and almost everything I knew changed. I started to get it back when I decided to go back to school at 34 to become a teacher. I was a 1:1 aide for 15 years and I wanted my own classroom and to be able to help more students at a time then just one. When I was a little girl I always dreamed of being a teacher or lawyer. As I got older I wanted to help shape the children of the future and the best way for me to do that was to get in the classroom. My journey started at 34 with getting my associates, then bachelors, and finally at 42 my Master's. I finally found what was missing and now my heart has the part that has been missing.

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3. Who shaped our beliefs, values, and thoughts growing up:
- parents
- siblings
- grandparents
- teachers
- spiritual advisors
- community leaders
- coaches

What shaped our beliefs, values, and thoughts growing up:
- education
- organized clubs/activities
- religion

6. The legacy we hope to leave as an educator is a passion for learning. We hope to instill the idea of being a life-long learner. We are working to achieve this legacy by creating a growth mindset, setting attainable goals and achieving them.

9. We believe there is so much resistance to education rooted in Black histories because of the lack of diverstiy in schools and community leader positions. Also, people fear change. Last, there is a lack of foundational support at homes towards education.

10. We try to integrate more culturally diverse instruction through read alouds, projects, music, poetry, reader's theater, and field trips. We encourage students to celebrate their cultures through choice about what they want to see and learn about in their classrooms. It is important to cultivate relationships, to make sure they feel loved and seen in the classroom.

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3) Growing up, the main people who shaped our beliefs, values, and thoughts about humanity and marginalized people were our parents and family, our friends, and our teachers.  Often, where and when you grew up also played a big part in that.  Depending on what views you were raised with and what ideals were engrained into your head, you may have had zero knowledge of any kind of wrong doings against humanity and any marginalization of people. And for some, that still holds true. But then as some of us went to college, perhaps out of town/state, or moved to a new state or country, we may have gained new perspectives to consider that greatly differed with what we’d always known to be true. The places we moved to, the jobs we held, and the people we became exposed to most likely helped shape new perspectives for us to consider. Working with children also has had a big impact on shaping our beliefs and values.

7) The 5 Pursuits are maybe more familiar to us teachers than we know.  When we ask our students “have you ever…”, “what do you and your family do for…”, etc., we are definitely touching upon their IDENTITY. We are always connecting students to the work we are doing by examining things like Text-to-Self and Text-to-World; Concept-to-Self and Concept-to-World; Idea-to-Self and Idea-to-World.

For SKILLS we are mindful to share and discuss Learning Intentions and Success Criteria. We let them know the skills they’ll be learning, why they are learning them, and how they will learn them. We give them to reflect on whether they’ve learned the skills yet or not by doing self-assessments.

For INTELLECT we give them new knowledge, build background knowledge, and touch upon prior knowledge.

For CRITICALITY we ask critical questions involving right and wrong, what could be changed, what is important and why, etc.

For JOY we ask questions like “how does it feel when…?”, “what do you think about…?”, “how can you use art to show your ideas?”, etc.

We believe as elementary teachers, we’ve always included the 5 Pursuits in our teaching experiences in some way or another. As we’ve experienced years of teaching, we’ve become more and more mindful of including these pursuits in our lessons and students’ experiences.

8) We think for a lot of us, culturally and historically responsive education have become “buzz” words. It’s the HOW do we exactly produce culturally and historically responsive education, especially when we have to follow certain curriculums?  We have no say in the curriculum writing. But how can we include CHRE in those pre-written curriculums on an even deeper level? What exactly does it look like for younger students in PK-5? Is it even appropriate to reference the past so deeply at this young age? Or are we responsible to introduce historical people to their base knowledge at this point so that upper grades have something upon which to build new knowledge? Just including multicultural texts and perspectives can’t be all that we do PK-5, is it? To be CHRE educators, what should we be mindful of? We explicitly want to know.

9) We believe there is so much resistance to education rooted in Black histories because people have been raised in such a way that it’s hard to change. There is no self-reflecting happening, no considerations for other viewpoints. People won’t and don’t want to hear about real historical events that go against what they’ve been led to believe. If it happened, why didn’t we hear about it before now?  They have an absolute refusal to change. There is a true ignorance about history. It’s why our country is so divided now. If you can get a leader to spout lies concerning the guilting of white people, about saying things so derogatory, and use words like “critical race theory” or “taking over the country”, then people will listen and follow.  Their minds are not open to anything different, even if you pull out written and photographed evidence. Change comes slow to our country, and to the world. Advances for Black people, for Women, and for anyone different have always been slow to acceptance and change. It will continue to be like that for a long time to come. But if we as educators can do that self-examination, self-reflection, and consider those we teach, maybe that change will begin to move a little faster.

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Q#2- When did you realize that you wanted to become a teacher?
-When I started noticing struggling kids around me (about 23 y.o.)
Q#3- Elements that shaped our beliefs, values, and thoughts about humanity:
-School, Church, community, parents, family, friends, neighborhood, media, clubs/organizations.
Q#6- The legacy I would like to leave behind as an educator working with black and brown children that live in the City of Rochester and are considered disadvantaged by many is to teach as many as I can to read and write. I KNOW that our students are capable of great things. I know it first hand. I have taught long enough to have students earn free rides at U of R, RIT, Alfred and I have not only helped them to move into college but have kept in touch and know that they have graduated and have become marketing executives, nurses, engineers, etc. I do not believe in the mentality of poor child he or she has trouble or he or she can’t do better because…. I know that in life no one will give them that pass. They will need to be prepared to compete for college spots, for jobs, and learn to have discipline and meet commitments. I believe my job is to prepare them as much as I can for that by teaching them responsibility even in Kindergarten by holding them accountable for their assignments. by expecting their personal best and not accepting any less than that from them. When I speak to my students about their learning I tell them you will come here to learn and you will give me your best and I will take nothing but your best because I love you.

I work toward my legacy daily by having high expectation of ALL my students, regardless of who they are and their situations and by holding them accountable for their learning each and every day. I also do it by teaching them according to the grade level standards and not lowering them or dumbing them down. They are capable of grasping and understanding complex ideas.
Q#8- I struggle with the idea of whether some issues are more subjective or objective. All responsive education is personal on some level, and with so many different (and extreme) viewpoints- the lines can become somewhat "blurred".

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Chapter 3- Unearthing Self

2.  I had different experiences before I realized that I wanted to be a teacher.  I had the opportunity to tutor a classmate who was 3-4 years behind in school.  I was given copies of the 2nd grade reading book to “study.”  It was an awesome experience.  I worked as a para-professional for half a year before going back to work on a masters’ degree.  I really enjoyed it.  My frst year teaching was when I truly realized it was what Iwas meant to be.

3.  My parents and grandparents are the ones who shaped my beliefs and values.  Although I became very different from them, I still have the same basic values.  I grew up valuing other cultures and not belittling or in any way having any overt prejudices (I recognize that they exist).  Many of my friends used inappropriate language talking about Black people and Latinos, but it was something that I simply never did.  I think more because of my mother than anyone, although I never heard those things in my home.

6. I have always wanted my students to know that I care for them and will be there for them.  I always tell students who have been in trouble, “tomorrow is a new day and we start over.”  I want my students to know that the world is a wonderful place with wonderful people and cultures.  Don’t just know one group, but learn from and make friends with all.

8.  I think the most difficult piece for me is to naturally integrate my students’ culture into my teachings.  I try to make the learning relevant to all of students, but I recognize that there are many times where I need to specifically recognize and talk about their culture.

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1-How do you define joy? Joy is what brings a person pleasure or happiness. Joy comes in many forms. It is happiness and smiles. At times it is overwhelming and tear filled. Joy looks different person to person and day to day but remains true in emotion. Most importantly, joy is something that is needed by all. It is something that fulfills our souls.

4- How are schools absent of joy? Schools are absent of joy because we continue to be in cyclical patterns. We test. We test again. Then we test some more. We try to provide every service, support and opportunity to our families. We make ourselves available to help in any way we can.  Yet, we continue to be asked only for data. Numbers and scores, are all important “pieces” but the whole student should be looked at. Teachers have lost most opportunity to have professional judgment be “enough” to get children what they need. Instead we continue to take more tests (that are not differentiated the way we are asked to differentiate in our rooms-State and CFA) to show what we already know from teaching them and working together every day to grow.

5- How are schools rich with joy? Schools are rich with joy because they have teachers and children forming meaningful relationships. They are full of celebration for academic growth, smiles for coming to school, and lifelong friendships. Schools are rich in joy because teachers take the time to acknowledge that sometimes trying is enough. It is found in curriculum that has been modified to reflect our student population. Joy is found in pictures being shared with families about a child’s day to help connect school joy to home. Schools are rich in joy from relationships and from knowing that your teacher is someone you can always depend on.

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Brockmann
1.I had great schooling experiences from my schooling. I enjoyed school and had teachers each year that I felt really understood and cared about me. I felt that my district did an okay job (at the time) incorporating and celebrating other cultures and histories but comparative to the work many of us do now, it definitely left room for improvement. We did have many cultural days/ celebrations/ assemblies, etc. We learned of many cultures, religions, backgrounds, and historical events. The primary day-to-day curriculum, however, was not representative of the world outside of our classroom.

2. I remember seeing families that could have used additional support from our district growing up.  Our school helps more than just academics. By providing a health clinic, the smile mobile, a parent center, a food pantry, social workers/counselors, etc.,  the whole student is supported.  It shows there is an understanding that supporting the whole child helps meet the needs so learning can continue. I also think that growing up there was often only one way of presenting information to students. You had to learn it the one way it was presented. There were not things like choice boards for alternative work selections. With technology, student centered learning and more culturally responsive curriculum, that has improved.

7. People need to be willing to adjust and reflect on practices. It requires an investment of time, materials (curriculum and other), and accountability. Further, it cannot be successful without mindfulness.

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Brockmann
3. Many people and things shaped my beliefs and values growing up. The people who shapes my beliefs include but are not limited to parents, grandparents, my brother, my cousins, teachers, coaches, friends, and my community.

6. I always want my students to know they are cared for. I want them to leave me knowing they would always be welcomed back and supported.  I want students to do what works best for them regardless of the opinions of others. I want my students to believe in the power of yet. Maybe you can’t do something “yet” but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Believing in the value in self-reflection and in lifelong learning is also important. But, I also want them to take with them the lesson that you do not have to be friends with everyone (in class/work etc,) but you do need to be kind to everyone. It is very important because it is an honest take on how life’s relationships work but also reminds them of the importance of being kind. Kindness is something that seems to be lacking in our community/world right now

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Chapter 1 Mrs. Mendez, Mrs. Rodriguez-Rosado, Ms. Alexander

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Chapter 1 Mrs. Mendez, Mrs. Rodriguez-Rosado, Ms. Alexander

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1. Mendez- I grew up in the RCSD Bilingual Program where we celebrated our cultures and learned more about our histories and about those around us. The only culture I feel wasn't represented very well from my memory were the Asian-American community.
Alexander- I had a very culturally diverse experience growing up. The only culture I can remember being excluded was the deaf community.
Rodriguez- My experience was different due to growing up in Puerto Rico. My classmates were spanish like me with similiar backgrounds, but my education included learning of diverse cultures. I don't believe there was any culture excluded during my education.
2. Mendez- The only problem I had was that as a native Spanish speaker, I was not able to expose myself to another language due to my school only offering Spanish. Now, students are able to learn French, asl, or some schools may have other options.
Alexander- My teachers were unable to differentiate my math lessons so that I was able to better comprehend it. I feel that in some school settings that is still a problem.
Rodriguez- Puerto Rico was vastly different from the way we learn here. There was no differentiation everybody learned at the same pace.
3. Technology boomed and everything suddenly became faster, and more accessible to most. With open access to computers and the internet questions that were left unanswered became attainable. Now, more and more students have access to technology and it is easier than ever to access information.
4. "Education is a marathon, not a sprint" We feel this is because many districts are data-driven without taking the time to see the steps that the students are taking to get there or the leaps that they are making even if they are not exactly grade level.
7. I think what is most needed so that equity, justice, and cultural responsiveness are put into policy is diversity amongst those incharge of policy. The changemakers need to know their audience to better serve and understand what it is that needs to be done.

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Chapter 3 Ms. Alexander, Mrs. Mendez, Mrs. Rodriguez-Rosado

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Chapter 3 Ms. Alexander, Mrs. Mendez, Mrs. Rodriguez-Rosado

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3.My mother, church, neighborhood, and friends. She taught me that I was smart and able to do whatever I desired despite what I was taught at school and what I saw in church.
8. The fact that educators are only able to teach one side of history which reflects that only one race made this country what it is today.
9. When research is done the story told doesn't reflect what actually happened. History, or his-story, usually reflects great things done by one race which in reality was not. It would show how this country would not have survived without Black people.
10. I try to state facts and give examples of what should be stated.

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Bilingual First Grade Mrs. Melendez, Mrs. Alexander & Mrs. Rodriguez-Rosado

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Bilingual First Grade Mrs. Melendez, Mrs. Alexander & Mrs. Rodriguez-Rosado

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1.We define joy as a feeling of accomplishment. Whatever it is that you what to accomplish, reaching that goal will bring you joy, across all activities and events in life.

2. For us the feeling of learning new things at any stage in your life will bring us joy, such as learning a new hobby like rock painting, netting or gardening anything that will make you grown in any aspect in life will be joyful. When we were growing up our teachers were a bit different for what we see now days. Teaching was more whole group center that now we individualize our students learning for their needs, we think that school would have been more joyful for us if we were seen as one and not has a whole group.

3.During our schooling preparations to be a teacher, was so much work all together that it was hard to find the joy since it was so overwhelming. Ever the first-year teaching was such a learning experience and so many tasks to learn that it was hard to find joy. Once we are settled as a teacher we can find so much joy specially in our grade level it is so much joy to see them mature and learn so much during this school year, most of them come in as none readers and leave our classrooms reading writing, adding and subtracting it is just amazing to see them grow.

4. Our communities lack of joy because the exclusion of certain communities such as Latinos, African American just to say some of them takes way the joy in our communities every day. Our communities would me so much happier is we all enjoy life as one kind (humans).

5. In various occasions our communities tried to be as inclusive with all ethnicities and organized cultural festival, activities and organizations for our community to enjoy. In our school we believe is full of joy because every teacher celebrates all of the student’s accomplishment as well as administrator on school wide activities to celebrate each one of them in so many ways.

6.We find that having the students visualized their own growth in a way that they can see it daily and show the others how well they are doing promotes joy and pride.

7. We believe the curriculum is a guide for us as teacher to develop the best way to approach what needs to be cover during the school year, always thinking in the scaffolding that some students may needs or accommodations that might arise during the school year.

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1. Joy - a feeling of being happy, satisfied, carefree.
2. My experience of joy in my own education is not one specific memory. Rather, whenever I had a teacher that was excited about the subject he/she was teaching, that joy would emanate and cause me to become excited and interested in learning from that teacher.
4. I think the recent pandemic caused a major absence of joy. Communities, classrooms and schools were so focused on keeping everyone safe and healthy, that creating joy was forced to the back burner.
10. I try to find activities that will address their needs, but also keep them engaged and excited to learn and make progress. Student's feeling successful, respected, and encouraged helps to instill joy.

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1. My 1st through 8th grade education was in a small, private, religious school. Most of my teachers were religious women, and classes consisted of between 26-31 male and female students. I enjoyed school very much, but in hindsight, realize that my schooling did not learn about many diverse cultures and stories.
2. Teaching was mostly taught by one teacher, lecture style, with no ability to question what was being taught. Student's point of view was rarely asked for--we learned what we were taught without being able to provide any feedback or opinion (wow! that sounds so stringent now, but it was just the way it was back then). And, we were asked to show our learning through tests and reciting what we had learned from memory.
4. My metaphor would be "Education is the ultimate equalizer." No matter what your background, race, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic status, ...., becoming an educated person helps break down stereotypes and pave the road to a successful future.
6. Interesting question - equity, justice, and culturally responsive practices have been around for a long time, but not mandated. Could it be because these themes were not considered a priority for education (like reading, writing , and arithmetic?).
9. Civil Rights Movement-equal opportunities for all children no matter color or culture.

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1. My heart is fine. Filled with love and passion for things that are important to me.
2. I would like to think that I am a person that is reliable, kind, honest, empathetic, and hard-working. I always enjoyed helping others, but it was in high school when I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Narrowed it down to Speech Pathology when I was a Senior.
3. My family, religion, people I respected shaped my beliefs, values, and thoughts about humanity. My father was an attorney, and one of his roles as Public Defender taught us , "innocent until proven guilty." We were always taught to respect others, not make assumptions, and appreciate differences.
6. I want students to know and always remember that I respected them and appreciated (and celebrated) their genius. I try to work on that everyday by providing a working environment where students know my expectations, but also understand that my role is to help support and encourage them as we focus on strengthening communication challenges.

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I am the product of the Rochester City School District. At the elementary level I attended the bilingual program (#28, #9). When sharing my experience, I always say I was fortunate to have been part of this program. I was in classrooms with peers and teachers that looked like me, spoke my language, and shared the same culture. It gave me pride of who I was and a strong sense of self. I was able to preserve my language that enable me to keep the connection between my elders as well as those family members in Puerto Rico.
My middle and high school years were different in that I no longer was in the bilingual program and my peers were more culturally diverse. My teachers, however, were not.
I did not find "joy" during these years. They were boring and not challenging. I didn't feel like there were high expectations for us.

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Chapter 1       Ms. Griffin, Mrs. Bonacchi, Mrs. Windom-English, Ms. Hearn 

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Chapter 1       Ms. Griffin, Mrs. Bonacchi, Mrs. Windom-English, Ms. Hearn 

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Response to Question 1

As we discussed all of the various preschool experiences, we realized how diverse our educational backgrounds are. While some of us have very vivid memories some had very specific experiences that we could recall. We all had shared memories of lots of experiences we now know as social play. While some were not exposed to a culturally responsive curriculum and could not recall seeing a representation of ourselves in picture books, some of us did have the representation. In addition, we all remember learning about Indians ironically and their alignment with Thanksgiving.  We now realize the historical perspective that was pushed was a false narrative. In addition, we remember singing the alphabet song each day and creating letters by using paste and some type of pasta and or cereal. We all remembered learning about primary colors. We all had nostalgic memories of having fun and special friendships!  We agreed that it was sad that what was missing from some of our early educational experiences was the representation of our specific culture.

Response to Question 4

Learning theories that support our preparedness for our career paths

The social learning lens heavily emphasizes social interactions and how they are interconnected to learning.  Moreover, Vygotsky coined the theory of social constructivism and he believes that a child learns through their direct interactions with others. Moreover, a child’s social interaction and the tools they acquired from their culture have a direct impact on how they conceptualize and process the world around them. Additionally, social learning facilitates the development of a child and is impactful on how they interact with one another, and aids in the functionality of decision-making. Constructivism is a learning theory that allows a learner to integrate new information and skills based on their own prior experiences and development while simultaneously constructing new knowledge. The student engagement theory puts an emphasis on the learning environment and the role that plays within the learning process.  Students’ personalities and learning modalities should be intertwined with academic and social-emotional instructional resources that are culturally relevant and responsive to promote the acquisition of skills, the development of self-regulatory processes, and student agency by our scholars. In addition, Maslow's Hierarchy identifies the needs that students have in order to flourish. Oftentimes, the issue a student has is not with class or with the teacher, but some other need that is not being met. This is why it is so important to be aware of students' needs.
These are the learning theories that we align ourselves with as it relates to the preparedness for our chosen career paths.

Response to Question 5

Metaphor

Education is the act of gardening.

Gardening requires patience, problem-solving, and perseverance. Gardeners nurture their crops with proper soil, water, and sunlight. Muhammad, states that the growth of a flower calls for work from the educator. As we cultivate education we have to exhibit patience, problem-solving, and perseverance. The proper soil, water, and sunlight are symbolic in nature as it pertains to the whole child, the learning environment, the learning and teaching pendulum, and the careful analysis of our pedagogical practices from a lens of joy.

Response to Question 2

Areas for the potential for growth: student behavior, diversity, cultural relevance, differentiation, and social/emotional support. We feel that all these still exist today – even with people trying to address them.

Response to Question 6

This is directly correlated with the individual school/teacher. Some teachers are very good at incorporating culturally relevant teaching into their day-to-day curriculum, others not so much (depending on how much value the classroom teacher sees in this). Additionally, it is how people react to culturally relevant teaching. It changes the way you have to look at events and how ideas are taught. We have to remember that we are helping to shape these students’ future ideas and interpretations because of how we present ideas.

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Chapter 2     Ms.Griffin, Mrs. Bonacchi, Mrs. Windom-English, Mrs. Hearn 

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Chapter 2     Ms.Griffin, Mrs. Bonacchi, Mrs. Windom-English, Mrs. Hearn 

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Response to Question 1

Joy is an expression and emotion that is evoked from triumphs, delight, and success! Joy is everlasting. Joy is pure bliss. Joy goes beyond happiness, as it is deeply profound. Joy allows you to connect with your spiritual side. It extends beyond physical activity. It is dedication. It is love. It is experience. Joy is a sustained sense of fulfillment. Joy is limitless!

Response to Question 5

Our school, classrooms, and school community are extremely rich with joy. There are many joyful experiences that have occurred throughout the year that has enriched our student’s experiences and has helped them build background knowledge across all context areas strengthening our overall academic culture. Our families have benefited from school-wide events such as our Mother’s Day family dance with an embedded social-emotional workshop for families to participate in. Students have participated in multiple field trips that have expanded their horizons for learning, providing hands-on opportunities to interact with the content that they learned.

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Chapter 2  Ms. Griffin, Ms. Bonacchi, Ms. Windom-English, Ms. Hearn 

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Chapter 2  Ms. Griffin, Ms. Bonacchi, Ms. Windom-English, Ms. Hearn 

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Response to Question 6

First grade participated in a project-based learning activity centered around the lifecycle of a butterfly aligned with the new science curriculum (Amplify). Students were able to observe and record data about the four stages that make up the lifecycle of a butterfly in real time! Students were excited to engage in academic discussion regarding their observations and shared out their thoughts with one another, and made meaningful connections throughout their PBL endeavor using key vocabulary, such as cocoon and migration, to describe their experience. This project exemplifies and supports that PBL is truly rooted in the fundamental belief that in order to truly understand something you must live through the experience! It truly was a joyful experience! Check out the awesome visuals and video that capture some of the stages of their PBL project!

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Chapter 2  Ms. Griffin, Ms. Bonacchi, Ms. Windom-English, Ms. Hearn

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Chapter 2  Ms. Griffin, Ms. Bonacchi, Ms. Windom-English, Ms. Hearn

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Response to Question 10

A resource was provided by two of our community resource teachers that was disseminated school-wide for a framework for a curriculum that focuses on highlighting the JOY in teaching and learning, that is grounded in and responsive to the histories, identities, literacies, and liberation of children and the social world.  Unearthing Joy by Gholdy Muhammad is the primary resource and inspiration for the framework that incorporates lessons using the HILL model. As a grade level, we continue to use these resources to develop criticality, intellectualism, identity, and skills. Muhammad states that identity is composed of notions of who we are, who others say we are ( in both positive and negative ways) and whom we desire to be. Moreover, these resources provide our students with exposure to characters that have relatable characteristics for students, such as overcoming adversity, having big dreams, and working hard to achieve them. In addition, it helps students develop comprehension and analyzing skills while building a positive sense of identity, as they can relate to different character experiences. This aids students in building a positive sense of identity by showcasing the importance of hard work and determination. It also allows students to feel seen and represented positively in literature, furthering their desire to be readers and writers

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Culturally and Historically Responsive Teaching and Learning  

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Chapter 3 Ms. Griffin, Mrs. Hearn , Mrs. Bonacchi, Mrs. Windom 

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Chapter 3 Ms. Griffin, Mrs. Hearn , Mrs. Bonacchi, Mrs. Windom 

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Response to Question 6

The legacy that we would like to leave as educators….

We would like for every student that we have contact with every student, understand their true identity without thinking of their uniqueness in a negative way as it encourages them to. We would like to encourage students to form their own understanding of their identity by looking in a literal and figurative mirror. We hope to help students establish personal identities, by thinking about them and understanding where they come from in the past, which can help them feel more capable of achieving things in the future. We would like for our students to absorb positive affirmations by noticing and naming positive attributes they like about themselves inside and out.

Response to Question 9

Schools are not adequately teaching the diaspora of Black history some educators are not sufficiently prepared to teach it and there are some instances not enough resources to reference that are not biased. Thus, students lack a basic knowledge of the important role of Black history in shaping the United States and the impact it continues to have on race relations in America and beyond. The intractable nature of racial inequality is a part of the tragedy and it hurts and is hard but the information should not be withheld. Some people are just not ready nor do they have the motivation to teach the truth. Some people feel like it will make students feel guilt or create confusion. Black History is deep, complex, and has many dark, traumatic components however as Muhammad pointed out it can and should be taught through a lens of JOY.

Response to Question 5

Narratives, we desire to disrupt in reference to teaching Black History and teaching Black children

Black history is not indicative of one month out of the year. It should be taught year around.

When teaching black history, one should never start with slavery.

Students should see a historical depiction of images of themselves as queens and kings, not in chains

Africans who were enslaved should not be referenced as (slaves). They were enslaved people.

When teaching about imperialism as it relates to Africa, ensure that students learn about the rich culture and traditions of Africans prior to being imperialized

The approach to teaching students about slavery should be executed through a lens of joy.

Unlearn the ideology behind sexualizing and criminalizing young black and brown queens.

Unlearn the ideology behind referencing speaking with an urban dialect as wrong incorporate code-switching and ensure that students understand what it is

Response to Questions 2 and 3

Growing up many of our values were shaped by our heritage family, friends traditions, and life experiences have been very impactful on who we are and why we decided to pursue a career path working with children. Although each of us has had very different experiences that segue into the path of educating and working with children we all agree that we want to be a positive influence for our scholars.  Minority groups from a variety of cultures have been and continue to be underrepresented, undervalued , misrepresented, and marginalized. As educators, we can help change that narrative.

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2. We feel that standardized testing is contradictory to the ideal of differentiation and instruction. We feel that there is way too much assessing that takes away from instructional time. ELL kids are most impacted by assessments because not only do they have to do the NYS testing they also have to take the NYSESLAT. We feel that authentic assessments and PBL is a better forms of assessing students.

5. We feel that students need to be taught to take pride in the progress they make individually and not compare themselves to other individuals. Students need to be taught how to manage stress and overcome obstacles in their academic lives.

6.  We as teachers have to follow the district curriculum but as professionals, we do differentiate based on our student's needs. We closely follow data to best provide for our students. We adjust the needs of our students based on data chats. We also take into account the culture of our students and teach culturally relevant instruction year-round.

9. Curriculum, instruction, and assessment can be reimagined by giving students more of a say in their education. Flip the traditional script of the classroom and have students become the teacher in the room to give them a sense of ownership in their education.

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1. Curriculum is standards-based and expectations that are to be taught across content areas. It serves as a guide for teachers to follow and allows for reflection.

2. Assessment provides feelings of anticipation becuase of the high expetations we have for our students and the high expectations placed on teachers.
Based on the amount of testing and assessments mandated, there is a lot of stress and anxiety among students and teachers brought on by assessments.

Assessments are ongoing to monitor student growth.

7. Our school's curriculum was developed in combination of teacher experiences, School 9 curriculum, state and district guidelines/materials. Teachers were involed in creating the curriculum, but to our understanding, parents and young people were not involved.

10. We hope the curriculum advances student knowledge, increases academic skills and proficiencies, helps students affirm their understandings, bring joy and lifelong learning.

We hope that assessments will be a way for students and teachers to monitor growth. Teachers and students are overwhelmed by the amount of assessments at the end of the year, we hope that students will be assessed on 1-2 platforms instead of the amount used now.

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1.  Gholdy defines joy as practicing self love and humanity,  a feeling of wholeness and centeredness where mind, energy, and spirit are elevated.  We feel that joy also includes a feeling of hopefulness and love for what you do.

4.  Presently, coming out of Covid there are very high stakes testing for catching our students up to grade level and to bridge the gaps that occurred due to significant interrupted instruction.  The amount of assessments impacts the continuum of learning.  This amount of pressure impacts joy of learning for learning sake.

5.  Post Covid, it is great to celebrate students and teachers returning to some sort of normalcy.  It is also nice to interact with kids and to celebrate their learning and their progress.  It is great to get back to doing our job.

7.  The purpose of curriculum is to empower students to reach their full potential and  to provide access in order to  participate in and be a productive member of society.  Curriculum should  celebrate  life, language, culture, and knowledge.  Education has always been the key to success.

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3.  We all come from different backgrounds and are influenced by many different people.  One of us spoke of his grandmother.  She was an RCSD teacher and when he was young, Grandma would take him to School #33 at least once a year.  Growing up in the suburbs did not allow for a lot of exposure to diverse cultures, but those days spend in an inner city school was eye opening, even at a young age.

6.  We all agreed that we want our students to know that we were there for them, that we supported them, and that we cared for them.  The legacy is that our students will become happy, caring, kind members of society.  The legacy is that they will pass on that compassion to others.

9.  The resistance comes from a number of places.  One is racism or at the very least bias.  Few people will openly admit that they are racist, and few people are even aware that they have racial bias.  The resistance comes from the policy makers that, even though they say they want change, do little to make the change for fear of what may happen if they do.  The resistance comes from those who "have" not wanting to change the status quo.

10.  When we encounter the resistance, we teach.  We teach the honest truth.   We teach the honest history.  We teach not only the students, but those that are resisting.  We question them and ask them to explain their position.  What are they afraid of? Why do they resist the honesty.  The reality isn't always pretty, but it is necessary that we teach.

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1. Curriculum is what someone else decides we need to teach.  It is a guide for teachers so that everyone at every  grade level gets the same content.

2.  Stress and pressure are the predominate feelings when it comes to state assessment.  True assessment based on the curriculum that the teacher develops and provides helps us to improve student learning so that students can reach their goals.

5.  We think that the most important things that must be taught are how to be a good, kind person, how to problem solve, and how to critically think.

7.  Our curriculum is a combination of state standards, district guidelines, and school/teacher input. As far as we know, parents and students were not involved with the development of the curriculum.

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1. I define joy a state of emotion that stems from wellness, healing, freedom, and nature

2. The abundance of testing our students creates a lack of joy.

7. I believe curriculum is a guide for teachers to provide students with adequate and rigorous instruction.

10. There is a quote that I firmly believe in: "You must first touch the heart before you can teach the mind" This is how I teach for joy. I get to know my students, build relationships, and more importantly LOVE them.

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2. I knew I wanted to be a teacher early in life. My aunt was an educator and I admired her so much.

3. Growing up my parents, grandparents, extended family, teachers, and friends shaped my beliefs, values, and thoughts about humanity.

#6 As an educator I hope that the students I serve believe in themselves and their ability to achieve.

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Griffin, Windom, Brockmann, Hearn, Bonacchi

1. Curriculum is experiences and activities designed to help achieve proficiency in content and skills. It provides guidance/guidelines but should be adjusted and supplemented.

2. Assessments bring up mixed feelings. We understand the importance of using them, but in today’s classroom the amount of assessments we do is ridiculous and does not truly assess what we need. There is a need to know where each student falls academically but when all of the  assessments are pretty similar,  the amount of time taken away from academic learning is outrageous. Also, some of our assessments do not actual assess what it is supposed to. For example, when giving a written response the majority of the points should fall on the actual written piece instead of being able to get full credit for being orally able to tell what is going on. Also, having 4 assessments that really do the same thing is a bit unnecessary.

5. Kindness. Tolerance. The power of YET.
5. Social & emotional wellness. Unless students come to school ready to learn they cannot actually learn anything academic if their social and emotional needs are not met. Many of our students come to school without their basic needs met. This is where we have to start. School has to be a safe place where needs are met before any academic tasks are required to be completed.
5 . Of all the things in the world, you must teach students skills across the content area that help them understand the culture and how it is a major part of society today. Everyone’s culture has a history that plays a role in our society, which affects the way we live. As a teacher, we must be able to teach proficiently and effectively about one’s identity and culture around the world. Students should be able to walk away with the knowledge and understanding of how their history began within their own culture and their purpose in the world.

6. Reflecting on what I learned during Prek-12 grade,  I wish I had learned more about black history through the lens of joy. For example, I learned about Harriet Tubman for multiple years, but she was described as the black Moses that helped free over 300 slaves. Muhammad suggests that teachers describe Harriet Tubman as an innovative, creative hero who assisted over 300 enslaved people with their freedom journey! How the information is presented and the verbiage that is used to disseminate that information is critical. There is a sense of empowerment embedded in Muhammad's description of Harriet Tubman. During the journey to freedom on the underground railroad, cornrows ( braids) were braided in a pattern that provided a visual map for those to follow. This can be viewed as an example of early "coding". This is an example of the things that I wish I had learned and the verbiage that I wish my teachers utilized when teaching me. In my experience, I wish I had learned about what it truly means to be multicultural and more about prominent women and how their actions, dedication, and sacrifice have impacted society. Throughout history, women have been marginalized and downplayed for their essential societal roles, which is unfair and misleading

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2. I am a music teacher and, like my students, I am still a music learner. I am someone who values listening to the creative ideas of others to showcase what everyone can contribute. Music is all about expression, and the way we express ourselves is influenced greatly by things that we have experienced. Giving my students an opportunity to showcase their truth and background through expression is something that has always been important to me because, not only is it beneficial for them, but they end up teaching me and helping me learn more. It’s important for teachers to remember that we never should stop learning and that there is always something that we can gain knowledge on in order to improve our work. Growing up, I had some bad experiences with teachers and it made it very hard for me to feel okay going to school. When it came time to choose a career path, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher because I wanted to create a safe space for my students where they can feel comfortable, valued, and respected regardless of who they are or where they come from. I have always found these things in music so, for these combined reasons, I became a music teacher.

3. Growing up, I had a lot of teachers incorporating the history of other cultures and gave us exposure to many of the injustices that those people have faced. I remember reading books and articles that spoke on the marginalization of certain groups, or watching documentaries in classes that did not sugar-coat what the actual truth is about those histories. My previous music teachers incorporated a lot of music from other cultures and taught us about the history behind the music and the people involved. I have had several band teachers who have chosen music that represents other countries. One in particular that comes to mind is a piece I played in college called Heritage written by Shawn Okpebholo. This work includes West African drumming and indigenous melodies that the composer learned on a research visit to Nigeria. One of the primary musical themes  is an adaptation of a song that comes from the Esan people, a small ethnic group in the southern part of Nigeria, and is the composer’s personal cultural background. One part of this piece that really resonated with me was that in various moments the composer wrote for the musicians to chant the text of the quoted Esan song, “Ekine leleyea do obhimen la doeki nalo.” The translation of this being, “My investment in you has paid off. Because of your hard work, your future is bright.” I truly value every opportunity that I have where I can experience and gain a better understanding of these other cultures and of the people, and I believe my exposure throughout my life from my teachers has allowed me to feel this way and become who I am.

6. As I mentioned previously, I did not always have great experiences with teachers growing up, so this left a negative imprint on me. A bright side to these experiences is that I learned what kind of teacher I wanted to be, and it was the opposite of what I experienced. I want my legacy to be that I am a teacher who supports her students, values them and their education, and cares about them for everything that they are. I work toward this by continuing to learn about their different cultures and find ways to represent them in the music curriculum. I will continue to find PD opportunities that will allow me to keep learning about cultures and faiths outside of my own, and  I will always listen to my students because they often will bring up something that I may have never thought of before. I want to continue learning to be a better teacher for them.

9. I think that the resistance to the education of black histories is rooted in the fact that people cannot accept that what happened in this history was wrong. If people were taught history a certain way, whether it be at home or at school, then that is the history that they are going to believe and they won’t want to change their minds. In my opinion, it stems from ignorance and stubbornness. If the exposure wasn’t there all along, then they will not find any issues in continuing to believe things the way that they always have, and no amount of proof against them can change that. The people who have any kind of power over these changes typically act selfishly, so if there’s no direct benefit for them then it doesn’t matter. This needs to change in order for this resistance to finally disappear, because the educational system (and quite frankly, the country) cannot function when only one viewpoint is being represented.

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1. I define curriculum as a set of learning objectives that are in place to guide teachers in a way that helps students to be successful. The objectives and expectations should be clearly defined for learning goals, as they are all connected to one another for smooth transitions between units.

2. When I think about assessment, I think about progress. When I am assessing a student on a particular musical skill, my first thing to consider is the comparison of where they were before, to where they are now. I recall what issues they had previously, and observe whether or not those same issues are still present. This visual/aural assessment informs me of what next step the student is ready for, whether it be that I explain directions/suggestions for how to fix that issue and observe how well they can apply that information to what they are doing, or we move forward because the student has demonstrated an understanding of the information. Thinking from the perspective of a student, the word assessment brings up feelings of anxiety or nervousness. As a teacher, this word brings up feelings of supportiveness and understanding because I know what it is like to feel nervous and not wanting to do a bad job.

5. Of all the things in the world, I personally strive to teach acceptance. I do not tolerate any kind of discriminatory or prejudicial behavior, whether it be about appearance, race, background, or faith. At the end of the day, we are all people and none of those things should be a reason to treat someone differently. It’s important to value those differences because they help to create our own identities and become our own individual selves. In music class, acceptance is extremely important to teach students because it can be difficult for students to feel confident in themselves that they are allowed to be creative. Students may feel self conscious out of fear of making a mistake and not wanting to be embarrassed. I honestly welcome mistakes in my classroom, because mistakes are what help us learn and grow and this is exactly what I teach to my students. My classroom is a supportive environment and I want students to always feel like I will never judge them for a mistake, but rather I will be there to guide them through it so they can be successful in the future.

10. I hope that curriculum and assessment will accomplish making students successful. The curriculum is set in place to show the steps needed to get from one skill to the next, and the assessment is there to ensure that students are staying on track. These things combined allow students to learn connections in material, as well as learn how to reflect on that material in a way that promotes retention. If these two things are done correctly, then students can absolutely be successful.