SPE 555 “ Teaching Reading to Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males…what educators and parents should know” June 2009 Prepared by: Layne Smith http://www.stenhouse.com/conversations.asp?r=n75
“How can teachers use assessments to ensure students are being provided with i instruction that takes into account t ti th t t k i t t their strengths and weaknesses?” –Dr Tatum on weaknesses? Dr. Tatum on “Critical Questions” Dr. Tatum is an assistant professor in the Department of Literacy Education at Northern D t t f Lit Ed ti t N th Illinois University. Before joining NIU’s faculty, he was an assistant professor of reading in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland. He began his career as an 8th grade teacher on the South Side of Chicago where he taught for five years.
Contents Literacy Development in Black Adolescent Males Turmoil and the Promise of Reading Black Males and the Reading Achievement Gap Reconceptualizing the Role of Literacy Instruction Structuring Curriculum Orientations that Empower Students Culturally Responsive Teaching Literacy Instruction Cognitive Close-ups Methods of Professional Development for Teachers Anticipatory Set of Questions Participant Evaluation
Rites of passage, turmoil and literacy the reading and literacy, the reading achievement gap Chapters 1,2,and 3
Chapter 1 p Literacy Development in Black Adolescent Males l k d l l
Black Males and the “Adolescent Shift” “Black males’ adolescent shift is greatly influenced by their schooling and whatever value they attach to it…” Classroom environments often alienate the black male. Peer culture becomes more relevant culture becomes more relevant and meaningful than the school environment.
The Result The Result These students often fail to see the relevancy in the school experience. Some are exposed to violence and exposed to violence and gang activity at a young age, and are too consumed with and are too consumed with fear and a need for personal safety to actively engage in a curriculum that is not related to this primary need.
Boys and Reading: y g The “Flow” Experience Two ideas—gender- awareness and an emphasis on masculinity have led to several specific suggestions on how to get boys involved in reading.
Suggestions Suggestions • Use male-oriented texts with male characters. • Use texts that are apt to engage boys emotionally engage boys emotionally with the characters. • Expose boys to non-fiction Expose boys to non fiction that involves learning something new. • Use texts that legitimize the male experience and support boys’ view of themselves. boys view of themselves.
“Flow” Flow The flow experience involves text that can be easily transported into conversations and involves multiple perspectives.
Four Conditions Make Up this Experience: • There is a feeling of control • There is a feeling of control. • The activities provide an appropriate level of app op ate e e o challenge. • Clear goals and feedback are g included. • The focus is on the immediate.
Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Turmoil and the Promise of Reading of Reading
Globalization and its effects on the urban effects on the urban community Many urban communities are populated with low-skill laborers with little opportunity for job growth. As multinational corporations grow multinational corporations grow larger, urban economic neglect and the scarcity of job opportunities have led to a decline in the overall quality q y of life for young black males during the 1980’s and 1990’s. This has led to higher levels of drug-related crime and violence and violence.
Rites of Passage Rites of Passage “I read about an anxious young Jewish boy preparing J i h b i for his Bar Mitzvah. I concluded that something g was missing in my life. What was my rite of passage? As I compared my life to those compared my life to those characters in the books I was reading, I came to feel as though my development was being charted in insignificant waters waters… ”
The Roots of Black Male Turmoil In their book Black Man Emerging , J Joseph White and James Cones h Whit d J C assert that the story of black men in America has three beginnings: g g o Their past in Africa o The coming of the slave ship o The period after the Civil War Years of oppression and stereotyping in the media set up barriers to black in the media set up barriers to black males in a subservient role in society.
Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Black Males and the Reading Achievement Gap
Black Male Response to p Turmoil: “The Cool Pose” The “Cool Pose” is ritualized form The Cool Pose is ritualized form of masculinity that uses certain behaviors, scripts, physical , p , p y posturing, and carefully crafted performance to convey a strong impression of pride, strength, and f d h d control. It is a coping mechanism.
The black male adopts the cool pose as a way the “cool pose” as a way to: • Cope with oppression, invisibility, and marginality. • Communicate power, toughness, detachment, and t h d t h t d style. • Maintain a balance between Maintain a balance between his inner life and his social environment. environment. • Cope with conflict and anxiety. y
“Cool Pose” con’t Cool Pose con t. • Render him visible and empower him. • Neutralize stress. • Manage his feelings of rage in the face of discrimination and prejudice. • Counter the negative forces i in his life. hi lif
Although adopting the cool pose as a coping mechanism can be in some ways p g y positive, it can have some negative consequences. • Trouble with authorities who lack understanding of the coping mechanism. • Lack of self-disclosure that makes L k f lf di l th t k him difficult to “reach” • Avoidance of institutions that are Avoidance of institutions that are “uncool” (school, museums, churches, etc.) churches, etc.) • Refusal to retreat in the face of violence.
Institutional Responses p to Black Male Turmoil Institutional responses to black male turmoil vary. Some are designed to help black males move beyond black males move beyond their turmoil. Other are punitive in nature, their punitive in nature, their intent being to stamp out the black males’ response to turmoil.
“Treating the g Symptoms” According to the study Cellblocks or Classrooms? The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections Higher Education and Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men , spending on corrections grew at least six times ti t l t i ti the rate of state spending on education between 1980-2000.
“Treating the g Symptoms” con’t. During this time, the number of prison inmates in the United states quadrupled from 500 000 to 2 million from 500,000 to 2 million. Although only 13% of the total population are black total population are black males, they make up 50% of the prison population.
“Treating the g Symptoms” con’t. This increase in spending came as a result of the War on Drugs w hich targeted Drugs, w hich targeted young black males w ho had turned to drug g dealing as a response to turmoil, as a w ay out of a life of poverty.
Getting Beyond the g y Turmoil To remedy black males’ underachievement some underachievement, some educators have established school and community programs specifically to programs specifically to educate black males. Some examples: o Detroit’s Malcolm X Academy D t it’ M l l X A d o Ujamaa Institute of New York These schools offer an These schools offer an Africentric curriculum and “rites of passage” programs specifically for black males. specifically for black males.
Traditional schools inadvertently create difficulties for black males create difficulties for black males in turmoil in several ways: • Micro-aggression gg • Psychometric warfare • Misguided educational • Misguided educational placements • Barriers to learning • Barriers to learning • Expulsion and suspension
Micro aggression Micro-aggression This includes minor things teachers say or do on a day-to-day basis that may anger their black male students For example: “If male students. For, example: If you practiced your math as much as you practiced basketball, you as you practiced basketball, you wouldn’t be failing.” Statements like this project stereotypical images of black males.
Psychometric Warfare Psychometric Warfare Assessments such as IQ Tests often become a simplistic approach to d fi i defining students abilities and t d t biliti d potential. This approach ignores historical truths and cultural historical truths and cultural principles.
Misguided Educational g Placements Bl Black males are very rarely k l l found in gifted programs. This may be a result of lower This may be a result of lower expectations of teachers, brought on by heavy reliance g y y on the testing that ignores history and culture.
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