Small Bites Friday Five 9-17-21:

Musicians – Check out this blog post from All Classical Portland to learn about well known classical composers of Hispanic heritage.

Mathematicians – Want to highlight Hispanic mathematical perspectives? Lathisms has a great collection of resources and podcasts– great for this month and next month. And the next…

Historians – There is an African proverb that says, “until the lion has his own scribe, he will always be the villain in the story”. The American Historical Association’s Perspectives on History online magazine offers an alternative to the perspectives we often see with articles about Hispanic and Latinx people by Hispanic and Latinx people.

Scientists – Postdoc fellow Christina Termini gets the win for her Cell Mentor article featuring 100 diverse Hispanic scientists. The article gets bonus points because they are all living! Alive means they can lead seminars or maybe that your students can follow them on social media. And maybe a couple of them would even have time to speak to your class.

Writers – The Palabras archive at the Library of Congress has a stellar collection of interview recordings and podcasts, as well as useful links like the Hispanic Reading Room. The Hispanic Reading Room provides resources from individual Afro Latinx countries. Diversity is better when it values and validates specificity.

Before the Pandemic, I was working intensively on my Spanish. Serving my student population well meant communicating directly with my families and that meant being able to talk to them. I already speak 2 languages and butcher a couple more, but this would be my first time learning a language outside of an immersion situation.

Learning Spanish made me see my students differently. It changed how they viewed me as well. When I responded to side conversations about “mi novio” or stopped to sing the chorus of a song they played at lunch, I was building a bridge, one that connected their home culture to the school culture. In me, they saw a teacher who cared enough to try–and fail.

Building that bridge allowed me to critically re-examine inclusion in my classroom. A 7 hour school day’s to do list holds a limited amount of time for good differentiation, even for the best teachers. Seeing ‘boys and girls’ or ‘Black and Brown’ kids helps teachers to file kids into groups in order to make academic and social sense of concepts like ‘differentiation’, ‘inclusion’, ‘diversity’ and ‘culturally responsive’. Teaching in a school with ‘Black and Brown’ kids is one thing. Teaching Black kids, Pakistani kids, Kenyan kids, Peruvian Kids, Mexican kids, etc., is different. That kind of “seeing” kids, means the difference between celebrating diversity and creating an inclusive learning environment.

Including monthly highlights is good. Integrating cultural differences and diverse stories all year is better. Remember the ‘all about me’ you did last month? How can you use that information to highlight diverse stories that are relevant to the kids you teach? How can you promote diverse heroes, scientists, mathematicians, writers, musicians, etc.? Hopefully the resources above will help.

I am glad that we highlight diverse contributions during #HispanicHeritageMonth and I will always be here for the resources. I will be, however, happy when the diverse greats are a part of our daily lessons so that the need to celebrate months slowly melts into the pot.

Small Bites Friday Five 9-10-21:

20-30m – Skim the 51 page Learning Loss handbook from the Human Restoration Project. If you have more time, read it in its entirety over the next few days and make an action plan for implementing your new knowledge.

15-20m – Read and reflect on the information and questions on pages 11-17 of the above mentioned Learning Loss Handbook. Consider whether or not your answers to the questions on page 17 are in alignment with your daily practice.

10-15m – Comb through the Brown Center report on American testing trends. Use the information to inform your practice–and your activism.

5-10m – Read this article from Augsburg professors Jennifer Diaz, Ph.D. and Joaquin Muñoz, Ph.D quoted in the blog below and follow the hyperlinks.

0-5m – Read this article from Americorp’s City Year on why “learning loss” is not the best term.

The Data Monster

This school year, and every one after it, comes down to what you believe. Either you believe that children are our future and that they will make their way in spite of , or maybe because of all that they have endured; of you believe the Data Monster who tells you that the ‘years of loss’ they have experienced during the pandemic must be caught up, or all will be lost. If you believe that, than you’ve lost faith in your kids. Worse, you’ve lost faith in humanity.

First, I assure you, I am not a naive optimist who believes that “learning loss” has no impact. I just know that norms on standardized tests is not the only measure of learning. The flexibility and life skills this generation has learned are unparalleled. And the skills they’ve learned surviving wildfires, insurrections, hurricanes and tundra like freezes without power will help them through life’s challenges like no amount of Algebra II would. Although, surprisingly, the pandemic even gave us some math gains.

Yes, there is impact, and yes, in some populations the numbers are terrifying. But how valid and reliable are the numbers?

Testing Reliability and Validity

Standardized tests designed for the learning achieved in 2019 are today neither reliable nor valid. Reliability refers to how dependably or consistently a test measures a characteristic. If a person takes the test again, will he or she get a similar test score, or a much different score? So, if a student from a similar demographic and a similar home and school environment with a similar IQ, with the same grades were to be taught by the same teacher today, chances are, that student would not score similarly on the test.

Further, test validity is the extent to which a test accurately measures what it is supposed to measure. SInce every educational testing instrument currently measures knowledge acquired during 187ish routine filled days balanced by consistent–or at least predictably inconsistent–home environments, they are not designed for measuring pandemic era learning. Why are we measuring what would have been as though we are measuring what is?

Look at it like a ruler with two sides. We are no longer measuring inches, it’s time to turn the ruler around and use another unit of measure. For educators and administrators that means pushing back against the narrative that says our students have lost something.

Augsburg professors Jennifer Diaz, Ph.D. and Joaquin Muñoz, Ph.D., put it this way, “Perhaps unintentionally, “learning loss” demonizes some family and community experiences, while maintaining oppressive, dominant race and class-based views of education. Could something other than school-based, oppressive structures (like testing, in particular) become indicative of students’ learning?”

New Measures for a New Day

It’s time to fight back. Think less about getting kids caught up to the 2019 standard and think more about giving them rich learning experiences today. I understand that our most vulnerable populations will not be where we expected them to be at graduation. But that expectation is from another time and the college and job market will be flooded with a global population in the same situation. We don’t need to catch our kids up, we need our testing developers to catch up. Or we need to find new measures altogether. And as we catch up and realize that there will be a new standard; that there is a new standard, we can begin to teach from the place where we realize how much our kids have gained. After all, they are surviving a Pandemic and I have faith that they will be ok.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_validity

https://hr-guide.com/Testing_and_Assessment/Reliability_and_Validity.htm

Enjoy your coffee!

Remember back in May when you were exhausted after a year of COVID-era pivoting? Remember watching life returning to some new normal that resembled the old normal just enough? Remember how you began to look forward to a new school year? Well, this isn’t quite what we were expecting.

This year, we are starting off the school year watching in disbelief as parents attack school board members and governors sue cities and districts. We’re starting the year trying to explain why we’re no longer helping in Afghanistan or why we were there in the first place. In the midst of ongoing anxiety about the rampant Delta variant we’re welcoming our kids back to school and trying to teach 2nd graders kindergarten routines. With some schools shuttering to stop COVID spread and most schools employing limited mitigation measures, it feels a lot like last year.

This Year Is NOT Last Year

In 2020, COVID was new. Students didn’t have devices. We did not know how to feed students experiencing food insecurity. We couldn’t fathom teaching online because we never had. This year is different. Stop, breathe, remember. We’ve learned so much in the last 18 months. Clearly not enough to make this year a walk in the park or keep us from pivoting. But, oft, self care begins with finding the upside. You will thrive this year by reminding yourself how much you learned last year.

Many more students have devices and can access virtual learning.

We now have experience in virtual teaching.

We know how to get students fed in case schools close.

Many more people are vaccinated and unlikely to die if infected.

This year will not be easy, and the statements above probably don’t make you any less exhausted or any more motivated. After hospital staff, I think educators are probably the group most traumatised after last year. But, since most of us are doing our best to pull it together for our students, here are a couple of things that might help:

Streamline Your Systems

Be intentional about teaching POWER standards and consider working across curriculum to reduce everyone’s load. Assigning science projects that have a process journal component? Share them with the ELA teacher and have her provide writing feedback while you assess science content.

Automate learning assessments. Utilize apps like Quizizz, Plickers and Edpuzzle that grade automatically and integrate with multiple LMSs. If you have to create your own checks for learning, use your school’s LMS integrated assessments or set up a self grading Google form like this one from Alice Keeler. Consider going gradeless and using growth portfolios. Whatever you do, find an alternative to grading for hours at the end of the school day.

Make socio-emotional learning a priority. Not an emoji check-in, not a new curriculum, but socio-emotional learning that comes from mutual respect and real relationships.

Reject the need to be the teacher you were in 2019. That time is gone and comparing what you did then to what you did now will only end in frustration. Build solid relationships with your students. Teach in a way that brings you and your students joy THIS year. Make it a priority. We are at a different place than we would have been and that means we have a new standard. Let the testers and data nerds catch up. Even if students graduate having completed pre-algebra instead of algebra 2 or calculus, they will be just fine, thank you very much.

Accept that things are different.

The pandemic has changed us all. Everything about education has–or needs to–change. Students are traumatized, educators burnt out. Students and teachers alike have left the physical classroom for good. For students who stay, we have a duty to make a difference and that may include letting our voices be heard in political arenas where decisions are too often made by non-educators.

For educators who stay, it’s essential to find a healthy self-care strategy that allows us to take care of ourselves, our families, our students and our teaching duties. (By healthy, I mean not diving all weekend into a bag of chips and a bottle–or 3–of wine.)Try to get some movement in, but if curling up with a good book is what rejuvenates you, do that. Binge watching old episodes of Grey’s or Naked and Afraid? Go for it. Axe throwing or hammering something incessantly? Go ahead, get the aggression out. Mostly, GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION to do what works for you. Yes, there are some silver linings, but if you don’t keep yourself healthy and happy you won’t see the good stuff.

And I promise, even this year, there will be good stuff.

While taking a break from teaching and creating SmallBites, I have had time to reflect, recover and re-evaluate priorities for the coming school year. Moreover, I have created space to enjoy time with family and friends. That joy leaves me ready for whatever ’21-’22 brings my way.

SmallBites will start up on YouTube again in September to help you grow as an inclusive, culturally responsive educator. Until then, become a part of the growing SmallBites Lagniappe podcast audience. You’ll find useful information on Critical Race Theory, including a special bigger bite 2 part series with Dr. Sheldon Eakins of the Leading Equity Center.

Meanwhile, here are some excellent resources for culturally responsive planning across contents from earlier blogs. See you in September!

A Black colleague from the LGBTQ community said recently that at least folks know how to celebrate #Pride.

It really made me think. It’s not like the LGBTQ community does not have to fight bias and discrimination on a daily basis. Still, it seems like that as a community they make a conscious decision to celebrate the wins, at least for 30 days.

The Black community may have only 28 days, but that’s still 672 hours in which to take pride in how far we’ve come, in what we’ve already overcome. To really celebrate, I hope we can catch the #pride spirit next February and celebrate the wins. March 1st, we can go back to singing We Shall Overcome and Glory. But how about we relish, for example, Black Wall Street before the angry white mob burned it to the ground? How about we celebrate how many patents Granville T. Woods had (60!) for inventions recognized by Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and companies like Westinghouse? How about we celebrate Simone Biles and UCLA’s fabulous gymnasts integrating culturally relevant music and movements into their routines? What about finding those old photos of our grands and great-grands in fine Jazz clubs in Harlem, Chicago, D.C. and yes, even on the chitterling circuit in the South? And what about, not confining that pride to those 28 days in winter?

If you have ever been to a #pride event, it often feels a lot more like Brazilian Carnival than an ode to Stonewall, although each has its place. I want that for the Black community too!

The #tulsaburning was NOT the main idea of Greenwood’s story.

This week my ask is, as you learn about Black moments history, look for the joy and achievement, those moments that often get lost as we talk about the struggle, oppression and the many, many horrific lynchings and burnings. You may have to dig a bit, because the search engines are still not so full of artifacts, but places like Blackpast.org or History.com are good places to start and there’s treasure there.

Note: Welcome to Summer!! After a year to beat all years, I’m on vacation–sort of! Be on the lookout for SmallBites summer #shorts on YouTube & co., as well as the regular Monday podcast and mini-blog, #SmallBites Lagniappe, on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform. If you miss me too much, feel free to contact me for fall PD or consulting.

Look for SmallBites Live again in August with lots of back to school fanfare!

While I won’t be teaching you about 50 ways to leave your lover, I do want to let you know that #SmallBites season 1 ends with tonight’s 50th episode. You’ll still find me on Apple podcasts, Spotify and wherever podcasts are heard each Monday, but I will spend the needed time off recovering from the Hardest Teaching Year Ever and getting my Solution Tree book on educational strategies ready for an early winter release.

Thank you for coming each week, listening, learning and most importantly, for putting your learning into action. If you’d like to learn more before season 2, catch up on earlier episodes and please join me for back to school PD or one of 2 June book studies.

For now, here are my top 10 resources to take you through summer:

SmallBites 50th Episode Top 10

10. Watch Jay Smooth’s Media Literacy crash course that delves into media strategies, our reactions to those tricks and our biases. And use Allsides Media to check the lens through which your favorite news outlets operate.

9. Use this Precious Children article from PBS to help you understand why teaching acceptance is important early on, then prepare at least one of the activities for your class or personal kids and grands. My favorite line, “If your group is not diverse, display images of diversity in your community or in U.S. society.”

8. Explore 3 Steps to Civil Discourse in this 8-page socialstudies.org document containing strategies for grades 4-12. It’s intended for older students but many of the strategies can be adapted to younger classes. Begin with the first strategy, start with yourself.

7. Go to Project Implicit and pick a test or two. Use the insights to guide you in mitigating behaviors grounded in bias.

6. Watch episodes of this season’s Grey’s anatomy and Station 19, both Shonda Rhimes shows that explore issues of race, bias and survival in the face of them. Both shows are on ABC and Hulu. Here’s an article on their weightiness.  If you need to laugh while you learn, consider Black-ish or Mixed-ish, both found on the same platforms.

5. Read Marcus Lu’s article on 50 categorized cognitive biases. Pay special attention to the one called “moral luck”. Reflect to see if you’ve been guilty of that, or any others.

4. Watch this TEDx Talk as Dr. Michelle Chatman explains the difference restorative justice practices can make in a child’s life, and how Black children are perceived as older, angrier and less in need of nurturing than their White peers. Here’s a PNAS article on bias and racial disparities in school discipline provide context.

3. Use Ballotpedia to keep up with politics in your area–and vote. This is the best way to advocate for your students and your community. Vote411.org and whenweallvote.org are also excellent resources.

2. Read up on the stuff we only touch on in our textbooks on the Voices of a People’s History website that include videos, lesson plans and a full teacher’s curriculum guide. Special for this month, there are resources entitled “Women, Gays and Other Voices of Resistance”. Learning about other civil rights struggles is a great way to acknowledge the oft unheard voices from the LGBTQ community.

1. And of course, no “best of” collection would be complete without Learning for Justice. With articles, lesson plans and even teaching standards, it’s your first stop for everything that relates to identity and inclusivity.

As I said in #SmallBites, I am grateful for so many things. Closing out the school year, surviving this harrowing time and challenging school year and, of course, you, for investing in our students.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. See you in Season 2!