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“The kind of teacher you will become is directly related to the kind of teachers you associate with. Teaching is a profession where misery does more than just love company – it recruits, seduces, and romances it. Avoid people who are unhappy and disgruntled about the possibilities for transforming education. They are the enemy of the spirit of the teacher.” (Pg. 208)

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“The kind of teacher you will become is directly related to the kind of teachers you associate with. Teaching is a profession where misery does more than just love company – it recruits, seduces, and romances it. Avoid people who are unhappy and disgruntled about the possibilities for transforming education. They are the enemy of the spirit of the teacher.” (Pg. 208)

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The quote below parallels Emden's idea. Misery does more than love company, it needs company. A sure-fire way to avoid misery is to avoid miserable people. This concept is not exclusive to the teaching profession. Therefore, teachers not only surround themselves with positive influences but should encourage their students to do the same. "You're only as good as the people you surround yourself with" is an important life lesson. Positive energy is highly contagious.

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“The teacher reviews, writes comments and responses to metalogues, and identifies students that may or may not be engaging in the class through their responses to their peers.” (Pg. 205)

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“The teacher reviews, writes comments and responses to metalogues, and identifies students that may or may not be engaging in the class through their responses to their peers.” (Pg. 205)

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9 Ways to Assess without Standardized Tests by Lisa Nielsen

For most of us, success in life has little to do with how well we can memorize information and fill in bubbles. Assessments should include what the students can do rather than focusing on what the students can remember. Tests and quizzes are not the only ways to measure learning and teacher effectiveness. However, there are more authentic ways to assess learning, such as Emden's use of metalogues, or group journals. Metalogues support divergent thinking (Ken Robinson).

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“Once word got out about the damage students had done to some of the laptops, faculty began to gripe about how ‘destructive and unappreciative these kids are.’ The white folks who teach in the hood seemed almost gleeful that their preconceptions about these urban students had been validated.” (Pg. 190)

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“Once word got out about the damage students had done to some of the laptops, faculty began to gripe about how ‘destructive and unappreciative these kids are.’ The white folks who teach in the hood seemed almost gleeful that their preconceptions about these urban students had been validated.” (Pg. 190)

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Low expectations limit students. The quote below is extremely fitting. If you view students as destructive and unappreciative, they will prove you right. You can't teach students if you don't believe in them or care to listen. When you set minimal expectations, students are not motivated to become more.

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“The identification of an issue, and the capturing and preserving of that issue on tape, created an opportunity for me to be more reflective about my practice. That experience led to my belief that part of the work of teaching well is allowing youth to critique their learning environments.” (Pg. 188)

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“The identification of an issue, and the capturing and preserving of that issue on tape, created an opportunity for me to be more reflective about my practice. That experience led to my belief that part of the work of teaching well is allowing youth to critique their learning environments.” (Pg. 188)

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The inquiry cycle used to promote learning can also be applied to teaching. Improving student learning involves reflecting on your own pedagogical practice. Summarized by three main phases, teachers must "tune in," "find out," and "take action." Allowing your students to join you as you reflect on your teaching convinces the students that it's their classroom too. It's also important to remember that reflective teaching is a cyclical process.

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“Recently, in light of a number of deaths of black people at the hands of white police officers, and the shooting of a black teenager Trayvon Martin by a vigilante neighborhood watchman, a narrative has been created that black youth provoke acts of violence against them by dressing or acting in ways that reflect neoindigenous culture.” (Pg. 178)

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“Recently, in light of a number of deaths of black people at the hands of white police officers, and the shooting of a black teenager Trayvon Martin by a vigilante neighborhood watchman, a narrative has been created that black youth provoke acts of violence against them by dressing or acting in ways that reflect neoindigenous culture.” (Pg. 178)

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The video below is very powerful. Students discuss the obstacles they face due to the false narrative that has been created. I will never understand their struggles and fears, but as a teacher, I should provide a safe environment where they can voice their concerns. Although I may not relate to them directly, I can't invalidate their thoughts and emotions.

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A Conversation About Growing Up Black | Op-Docs | The New York Times

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"'In this class, you can be whatever you want to be and wear whatever feels comfortable for you. As long as we do our best academically and prove to the world that we are more than what we wear, how you dress is up to you.'" (Pg. 173)

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"'In this class, you can be whatever you want to be and wear whatever feels comfortable for you. As long as we do our best academically and prove to the world that we are more than what we wear, how you dress is up to you.'" (Pg. 173)

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The image below is a sign I want to post on my classroom door. It's important to recognize each student as a valuable member of the classroom community. Everyone is welcome. Everyone is important. Students are free to be whoever they want to be. I really appreciated Emden's message.

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"The question is then, how are youth expected to truly engage in the classroom when even the physical structure and aesthetics of the places where they are supposed to be learning are the same as those in places where they go when they have been arrested?" (Pg. 170)

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"The question is then, how are youth expected to truly engage in the classroom when even the physical structure and aesthetics of the places where they are supposed to be learning are the same as those in places where they go when they have been arrested?" (Pg. 170)

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The image below illustrates the tone of prison-like schools. When students enter the building, they are not greeted with excitement for learning. Rather, they are treated as criminals. As you can see by the student's facial expression, school doesn't seem very welcoming or exciting. Yet teachers and administration expect them to perform with enthusiasm.

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"Reality pedagogy functions with the general principle that the work of raising rigor or guiding students to think more deeply is achieved through identifying phenomena that emotionally connects or motivates the student, and that the most significant emotional connections we have are to the art we consume and the most powerful and healthy emotional releases we have is through the art we create." (Pg. 168)

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"Reality pedagogy functions with the general principle that the work of raising rigor or guiding students to think more deeply is achieved through identifying phenomena that emotionally connects or motivates the student, and that the most significant emotional connections we have are to the art we consume and the most powerful and healthy emotional releases we have is through the art we create." (Pg. 168)

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Teaching is all about connecting instruction with interests. Art is the most significant connection we can make. Students will think much more critically about topics that are relevant to them. Through emotional connections to the art we consume and create, teachers can motivate their students. When students have opportunities to exercise their creativity, learning becomes lifelong.

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"When the activities or tasks that one is engaging in on the course to receiving an education are something that the learner sees as valuable, the entire process of learning becomes pleasurable, and the student experiences what researchers have called the 'joy of learning.' I argue that there is an equivalent 'joy of teaching' that must be reached and that this joy comes from being so embedded in the same context with young people that you are operating in the same place and space as they are as you exchange information." (Pg. 142)

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"When the activities or tasks that one is engaging in on the course to receiving an education are something that the learner sees as valuable, the entire process of learning becomes pleasurable, and the student experiences what researchers have called the 'joy of learning.' I argue that there is an equivalent 'joy of teaching' that must be reached and that this joy comes from being so embedded in the same context with young people that you are operating in the same place and space as they are as you exchange information." (Pg. 142)

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I love watching student TED Talks. More often than not, I'm blown away by the manner in which the student presents themselves and their ideas. Necati Unsal delivers a powerful TED Talk below. I appreciated hearing about the joy of learning from the student's perspective. I also agree with Emden. In order to build passion in our students, we must model that same passion. A joy of teaching is possible when you relate to your students on a personal level and operate in the same place and space.

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Trust and the Joy of Learning | Necati Unsal | TEDxYouth@FHS

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"Somehow, I hadn't convinced them to put as much effort into learning as I had put into preparing to teach. I was tired, frustrated, and felt that what my colleague and I were doing each day to improve our teaching was unsustainable and unhealthy." (Pg. 134)

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"Somehow, I hadn't convinced them to put as much effort into learning as I had put into preparing to teach. I was tired, frustrated, and felt that what my colleague and I were doing each day to improve our teaching was unsustainable and unhealthy." (Pg. 134)

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As you can see, more work doesn't always equal more output. Teaching is a craft and involves much more than perfectly planned lessons. Working long nights and early mornings does not guarantee student participation. Teachers must be able to deliver their lessons effectively by actively engaging the students. In other words, they must consider not only what they teach but who they teach.

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"In a cosmopolitan classroom, the goal of the class is not for the students to be assessed so the teacher can discover who the top performer is. On the contrary, the goal of the cosmo duo is for all students to reach their academic and emotional potential." (Pg. 120)

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"In a cosmopolitan classroom, the goal of the class is not for the students to be assessed so the teacher can discover who the top performer is. On the contrary, the goal of the cosmo duo is for all students to reach their academic and emotional potential." (Pg. 120)

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I really appreciated the powerful message behind the following TED Talk. Michael Davis stresses the importance of helping peers, which is common in cosmopolitan classrooms. "Success is helping others." When students realize they aren't in competition, the "top performer" becomes irrelevant. Students feel motivated to assist each other with the learning process. As a result, everyone achieves.

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Success is helping others: Michael Davies at TEDxRockyViewSchoolsED

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Michael Davis is a student leader with Rocky View Schools. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.

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"The teacher's task is to let students know how important they are and how essential their jobs and roles are to the functioning of the classroom. This process involves making students aware of how each of them (through performing their tasks) becomes responsible for ensuring that the class runs well." (Pg. 106)

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"The teacher's task is to let students know how important they are and how essential their jobs and roles are to the functioning of the classroom. This process involves making students aware of how each of them (through performing their tasks) becomes responsible for ensuring that the class runs well." (Pg. 106)

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Rita Pierson's motivational attitude in the following video epitomizes a cosmopolitan teacher in the classroom. The students should believe wholeheartedly that they are valuable, particularly in the classroom community. When students become aware of their value, their participation skyrockets. Each student then becomes responsible for the classroom as a whole. As a result, students gain confidence for themselves while also building support for one another. "With great power, comes great responsibility." Students will feel excited and motivated to fulfill their obligations.

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"The inclusion of neoindigenous forms of communication, including having students take the helm, creates an entirely new classroom that moves from 'place' to 'space.' The space becomes a communal one in which all are deeply invested in the emotional and academic well-being of the entire classroom community." (Pg. 100)

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"The inclusion of neoindigenous forms of communication, including having students take the helm, creates an entirely new classroom that moves from 'place' to 'space.' The space becomes a communal one in which all are deeply invested in the emotional and academic well-being of the entire classroom community." (Pg. 100)

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Using dialogue circles is an effective way to develop classroom community. Each student feels like their voice matters, which transforms "place" to "space." In the video below, the students at Glenview Elementary School genuinely care about each other and the classroom space they inhabit. Investing in the learning environment, academically and emotionally, is critical for success.

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Using Dialogue Circles to Support Classroom Management

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"If students are rewarded with good grades only for performing well on written tests and following instructions, they get conditioned into thinking that tests and classroom behavior are the only things that schools value." (Pg. 96)

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"If students are rewarded with good grades only for performing well on written tests and following instructions, they get conditioned into thinking that tests and classroom behavior are the only things that schools value." (Pg. 96)

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Promoting inquiry-based learning allows students to take charge of their education. However, the teacher must relinquish a degree of control. When education is driven by student questions as opposed to student answers, the teacher diminishes the culture of one right answer. Students become active learners. When students actively engage rather than passively receive, room for misbehavior decreases and the focus becomes genuine learning.

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"It is important for the teacher to make the goals of coteaching clear: to foster family, to give voice to students, and to help the teacher learn from students the best ways to connect with them." (Pg. 94)

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"It is important for the teacher to make the goals of coteaching clear: to foster family, to give voice to students, and to help the teacher learn from students the best ways to connect with them." (Pg. 94)

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Kayla Delzer delivers an amazing TED Talk below. She explains the reciprocality between teaching and learning. Teachers learn from students as students learn from teachers. Coteaching allows teachers to learn from students in new ways. When students have a voice in the classroom, teachers get to know students for who they are rather than who the teacher wants them to be.

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Reimagining Classrooms: Teachers as Learners and Students as Leaders | Kayla Delzer | TEDxFargo

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"In a school system that positions black and brown boys as loud, abrasive and unteachable, and that rewards black and brown girls for being submissive, teachers often give students good grades for being 'nice and quiet' at the expense of ensuring that they are learning." (Pg. 66)

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"In a school system that positions black and brown boys as loud, abrasive and unteachable, and that rewards black and brown girls for being submissive, teachers often give students good grades for being 'nice and quiet' at the expense of ensuring that they are learning." (Pg. 66)

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I really enjoyed Dr. Terri Watson's contributions to the following video. She made some very powerful statements regarding black girls being pushed out of schools, which paralleled several ideas in White Folks Who Teach in the Hood. What happens when black and brown girls aren't submissive? "They're perceived as being loud or unruly or uncontrollable. In essence, they're not really seen at all." Looking in the mirror to see a false representation of character or no one at all is a struggle faced by the neoindigenous.

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EdCast 112 -- Black Girls in School: Wanting to Belong

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Dr. Linda Hirsch speaks with Dr. Terri Watson about the unique challenges faced by Black girls in schools including high suspension rates and lower academic achievement. Dr. Watson shares her research on what Black girls want and how schools can better address their issues.

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"Pentecostal pedagogy teaches us that once student voice is prominent in the classroom, and a classroom family structure has been established, issues that traditionally plague urban classrooms, like poor management and low participation, are quickly addressed or even self-corrected. Students with behavior management issues begin to self-manage and may even facilitate classroom discussions when there is a space for voice within the classroom family." (Pg. 60)

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"Pentecostal pedagogy teaches us that once student voice is prominent in the classroom, and a classroom family structure has been established, issues that traditionally plague urban classrooms, like poor management and low participation, are quickly addressed or even self-corrected. Students with behavior management issues begin to self-manage and may even facilitate classroom discussions when there is a space for voice within the classroom family." (Pg. 60)

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In urban schools, behavioral issues typically stem from cultural miscommunications. In particular, white definitions for appropriate behavior create a divide between teachers and "neoindigenous" students. As a result, they are far more likely to get in trouble. Valuing the culture each student brings into your classroom is critical for a welcoming learning environment. When students feel accepted, there is less room for misbehaviors. Teachers shouldn't expect or encourage students to abandon their identities at the door. Students are the reason teachers are there, not the other way around. I really appreciated how this comic unapologetically addressed this issue.

Photo Link: https://userscontent2.emaze.com/images/5ef77db8-4119-4669-9096-12384cfac6f8/2191e2e90e24d4a398065c582c6daad6.png

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"Cutting a white dude's hair is different than cutting a black dude's hair. I had to take time out to learn how to cut white hair. I needed to get new tools to give haircuts to people who weren't black because the texture of their hair was different. I really had to go practice a new approach." (Pg. 58)

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"Cutting a white dude's hair is different than cutting a black dude's hair. I had to take time out to learn how to cut white hair. I needed to get new tools to give haircuts to people who weren't black because the texture of their hair was different. I really had to go practice a new approach." (Pg. 58)

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As teachers, we should incorporate several different strategies and tools in our classroom to meet the diverse needs of our diverse students. There isn't a "one size fits all" method of teaching. Providing students with equal assistance and guidance only allows a select few to reach their potential. Just like the barber, you really have to practice a different approaches. Students experience life much different from one another. Being an equitable teacher means giving each individual student exactly what they need to succeed. The image below really captures the importance of equity of equality. It also reminded me of Suzuki, who referred to children as seedlings who need individualized attention and care in order to reach their full potential.

Photo Link: https://yali.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/11/equality_feature.jpg

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"Clients walk into my shop to get a haircut, but as a master of my craft, my responsibility is to ensure that the client leaves the barbershop having had a personal experience with me that makes them want to come back. It's bigger than just a haircut." (Pg. 57)

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"Clients walk into my shop to get a haircut, but as a master of my craft, my responsibility is to ensure that the client leaves the barbershop having had a personal experience with me that makes them want to come back. It's bigger than just a haircut." (Pg. 57)

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The snapshots below are scenes from one of my favorite movies, Freedom Writers. Mrs. Gruwell inspires an urban classroom of disengaged and disinterested students to take charge of their education. She touches the lives of her students in countless ways. If you apply the barber's philosophy to the teaching profession, it speaks volumes. As a teacher, it is "your responsibility to ensure that the [student] leaves the [classroom] having had a personal experience with [you] that makes them want to come back."

Photo Links: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/dvd/aplus/freedomwriters/freedomwriters6-hi.jpg, http://img.edunuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/22123415/Freedom-Writers.jpg, https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jezCt6AZ2Cg/hqdefault.jpg

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"To MC or move the crowd is to be able to share information, spark thinking, invoke dialogue, and keep an audience engaged. Whether we are talking about preachers or MCs, both use music to create a context for engaging their audience and then utilize the context that has been created as a tool for sharing information." (Pg. 52)

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"To MC or move the crowd is to be able to share information, spark thinking, invoke dialogue, and keep an audience engaged. Whether we are talking about preachers or MCs, both use music to create a context for engaging their audience and then utilize the context that has been created as a tool for sharing information." (Pg. 52)

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MC Hammer is a great example of a rap artist who undoubtedly "moved the crowd." During the 80s and 90s, his unique style engaged his audience and facilitated discussion. As a result, his music extended far beyond the genre of rap. As a teacher, it's important to incorporate a style of teaching that allows you to reach a variety of audiences in order to connect with all your students.

Photo Link: https://media.giphy.com/media/kgKrO1A3JbWTK/giphy.gif

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"The students' symptoms of fear, anger, and powerlessness led to what Dr. Wells calls postracial tension stress disorder, which derives from youth seeing themselves as powerless in a world that conveys to them the message that race doesn't matter, at the same time it subjects them to physical and symbolic violence (at the hands of police and schools) because of their race." (Pg. 22-23)

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"The students' symptoms of fear, anger, and powerlessness led to what Dr. Wells calls postracial tension stress disorder, which derives from youth seeing themselves as powerless in a world that conveys to them the message that race doesn't matter, at the same time it subjects them to physical and symbolic violence (at the hands of police and schools) because of their race." (Pg. 22-23)

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The picture below accurately represents the creation of "All Lives Matter" in response to the BLM movement. Many people refuse to accept the concept of white privilege because we all have equal rights now and schools aren't legally segregated anymore. In this country, race does matter. It always has. African Americans have always been at a disadvantage, through slavery, Jim Crow, stop and frisk programs, the prison system, the list goes on and on. Schools and prisons are more segregated today than ever in history. Students in urban classrooms experience a wide range of emotions. Emden describes feelings of powerlessness, anger, and fear. Teachers must acknowledge these emotions exist in their students and provide a welcoming, safe, and empathetic environment for students to voice their concerns.

Photo Link: http://thereelnetwork.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/blalface.jpg