Why Did We Choose This Work?

Our school is experiencing a phenomena whereby some students who enter our small learning community (SLC) with basic or proficient CST scores, are then regressing to lower levels as they continue their education with us. Our team wanted to know why this was happening and what could be done. These struggling students expressed frustration with what they perceived as a paucity of relevant learning experiences in their classes. When asked their thoughts on school, their responses were:  “Boring…why do we have to learn this anyway?  What does this have to do with me? Why can’t I learn what I want to learn?”  If students do not see the curriculum as relevant, they are less motivated to learn (Howard, Tyrone C., Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Ingredients for Critical Teacher Reflection, Theory into Practice, Vol. 42, No.3, Summer, 2003, p.195-202). The following data bears this out:

The teachers on our team wanted to help students make stronger, more relevant connections between their world and the academic world. We asked ourselves the following questions:

• How can we use the local community to develop those connections/skills?
  
• What pedagogical skills would teachers need to develop and implement to meet these needs?
  
• What would the curriculum look like?
  

These are some of the questions that guide our work to build culturally relevant, rigorous, and more connected learning experiences for our students.

What Learning/Training Did We Need?

We decided that we needed to look at our teaching methods through a Culturally Proficient lens. To achieve this, Barbara Doten contacted the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE). Michelle Herczog, the History/Social Science Coordinator for LACOE, agreed to provide professional development for us in this area. Ms. Herczog provided five days of extensive training for us in August 2011. Part of the training included classroom observations throughout the 2011-2012 school year, with the purpose being to utilize the training we received earlier in a classroom setting and to provide an opportunity to share our experiences with the rest of the team. 

To further our development of a culturally proficient lens, all three of our team members, Barbara Doten and Thomas Valdez and Bernice Banares, have been trained in the elements of active student engagement called Equity and Access Training. This training is offered by the University of the Pacific. While Mrs.Doten had received the training before becoming involved with this project, it was her experience with Equity and Access training that lead Mr. Valdez and Ms. Banares also take the training. We are attempting to find funding to allow other members of our small learning community to take this training in order to establish culturally proficient and equity norms across the disciplines and grade levels.

Equity and Access revolves around strategies to include all students in class assignments. While this may sound elementary, there is a tendency for teachers to exclude some students from everyday participation. For example, in a collaborative group setting, the more outgoing, confident students may dominate the lesson, effectively shutting out the under-served students. Equity and Access training helps teachers develop strategies and protocols to mitigate these scenarios in the classroom. Also, other strategies that address the issue of status in the classroom are provided to teachers to keep more students engaged. Lastly, there is a self-reflective inventory of teacher lessons that asks the teacher to address this question: How am I broadening the learning and skill sets of my lesson to include more learners?

What Actions/Teaching Strategies Were Implemented As A Result?

As mentioned earlier, through the cultural proficiency training we were able to observe one another as we utilized strategies we had learned. Being able to debrief and get feedback from our colleagues after each observation was extremely helpful!

As another part of developing a culturally proficient curriculum, Mr. Valdez's Modern World History classes participated in a mock-United Nations simulation called the Contemporary World History Project or CWHP. This project takes students and places them in the roles of various nations as they negotiate through different scenarios, dealing with problems facing countries today. CWHP is based on many of the same strategies used in Equity and Access training. In fact, two of the driving forces in Equity and Access, Dr. Ronald Herring and Ms. Marilyn Benefiel, play vital roles in CWHP. Mrs.Barbara Doten is the southern coordinator for the CWHP program has also been involved with CWHP since 1995. It was through her intercession that Mr.Valdez joined the project.

Reflection/Feedback of Teaching Using a Cultural Proficiency Lens

The training provided by Dr. Herczog allowed our team the chance to examine our own class room methods. Using a special template, we were able to develop lessons in our content area that were moving towards cultural proficiency. We were also able to observe our teammates in the classroom as they implement some of the elements of cultural proficiency and provide feedback to one another using one or more of the the cultural proficiency continua:

1. History/Social Studies Cultural Proficiency Continuum
2. Science Cultural Proficiency Continuum
3. VAPA Cultural Proficiency Continuum
4. AVID Cultural Proficiency Continuum

Next Steps

As noted above, we are striving to get the rest of our SLC training in Equity and Access. We will also take what we have learned from our culturally proficient training and apply it to our upcoming 10th and 11th grade Performance Mapping Projects and overall SLC action plan so that these principles and elements are implemented across the disciplines and grade levels.