Adolescents at School

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Adolescents at School: Perspectives on Youth, Identity, and Education (2nd edition) Edited by Michael Sadowski, Harvard Education Press, 2008

- Glimpse what adolescents might be experiencing – how they view themselves, their place in the world, their capabilities, their limitations, and their futures – understanding real adolescents – who they are and where they are coming from – need caring adults who guide, model, and take an interest
- Adolescents’ identities develop in a complex cultural context – in a climate of cultural racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, immigrant sentiment – family, friends, schools play a critical role to identity formation (i.e., explicit theory of oneself as a person)
- Students’ success or failure in school – academically, socially, and personally – centres on questions related to identity: Who am I?; How do others perceive me? How do I perceive myself? What kind of student do I want to be? What will my life be like in the future? What things are and are not possible for me?
- Transformational learning – students and teachers impact each other
- Identities always in flux
- Give students voice – to create positive school climates; listen to them, ask tough questions: “Adolescents yearn for discourses in school in which they can engage with the issues, questions, dilemmas, and concerns that are most salient to them” (p. 229)
- Teachers need to reflect and critique their own stereotypes, assumptions, prejudices, expectations – to establish inclusive, respectful, accepting, empowering school climates

1. Race and Ethnicity
- “hidden curriculum” – unspoken set of rules that reinforces racial stereotypes of what they can and cannot do because of who they are (i.e., racial identity and academic achievement)
- Racial group loyalty and academic achievement – many black students and peer groups reject academic achievement as “acting white” (don’t want to be viewed as “race traitors”) – black males who do well “acting like girls”; black females who do well “acting white”
- “Tell students that the reason to go to school is to please themselves...you should get educated for yourself” (p. 43) – each student is an individual, work hard and persist
- Need to actively and deliberately challenge racial stereotypes and seek to redefine their racial identities by showing them it is possible to do well in school and be proud of who they are (p. 28) – not to choose between school and racial group
- Unacceptable if students who are black or brown are mainly in lower-level courses (or tracked for lower expectations and underachievement) or are disproportionally suspended or expelled
- Asians stereotyped as foreigners (regardless of time in new country, are outsiders, accents) and as model minority (hard working, successful)
- Stereotype laces a lot of pressure on Asians to do well and can hold inferior views to other races

2. Immigration
- immigration very stressful – removing students from extended family members, best friends, neighbours – need to learn new culture – conflicting norms of home country vs. New country
- if immigrate during adolescence, face challenges of being a teenager as well as challenges of new country
- if live in poverty, may live in crowded housing conditions, may have no health insurance, vulnerable to psychological distresses such as anxiety, depression, difficulty sleeping or concentrating
- academic and social adaption important through connections with teachers and other adults at school


3. Gender- girls’ brains mature earlier than boys – girls able to read earlier, better verbal abilities, able to control impulses and less likely to take risks
- boys have more advanced spatial abilities and like hands-on learning; want relevance and connection to what read
- when girls do well, attribute to easy test or luck; boys attribute to hard work


4. Male Violence- in 28 USA school shootings, 26 were by white males who lived in suburbs or rural areas – were bullied and “gay baited”, different from other males (shy, bookish, honour students) – none of the shooters were actually gay but saw no alternative
- adults at school must intervene with comments such as “that’s so gay” – need to be in the halls during class change; importance of character education
- high risk for aggressive or violent behaviour: family troubles, psychological problems, poverty


5. Sexual Orientation- peer responses can range from rejection, verbal and physical harassment, cyberbullying, physical violence to acceptance, affirmation, respect
- at risk for depression, substance abuse, suicide
- transgender – highest rates of harassment
- LGBT may feel unsafe and skip school
- adults in school must intervene when overhear hostile language, display “safe space” stickers on doors, schools have GSA with staff members who students feel comfortable going to

6. Social Class- students from affluent families – can have access to parental intervention with teachers, tutors, in higher track level, work hard
- students from non-affluent families – believe little is expected of them and available to them – skipped school, became angry, being disruptive in school (e.g., resistance to school personnel


7. Disability- stigma impacts how youths with disability construct identity – cognitively, socially, academically
- promote self-efficiacy (belief in one’s ability) – do not want students to give up or stop trying – “teens with disabilities” not “disabled teens”
- want students to self-advocate and self-regulate – have strengths and abilities – build on them and address needs through accommodations
- partners with parents – students’ first and longest-lasting teachers
- inclusive education whenever possible
- Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences: schools favour linguistic and logical intelligences followed by spatial – these students do well in school

Creating the Opportunity to Learn

Creating the Opportunity to Learn: Moving from Research to Practice to Close the Achievement Gap by Wade Boykin and Pedro Noguera. ASCD, 2011

Reflections
The focus of Creating the Opportunity to Learn is to close the achievement gap of Blacks and Latinos. I am reminded of the quote “Good for all. Essential for some” by then-Education Officer Anthony Azzopardi back in 2005 when I was contracted to help rewrite the Ontario high school mathematics curriculum. The reality is teachers have students with varying abilities, interests, and readiness. There may be students who have immigrated to Canada from war countries and have not been in school for a few years. There may be students living in poverty. There may be students functioning at the beginnings of the English language. To close the achievement gap, which has remained virtually unchanged, we must meet the needs of our at-risks students. Research gives us hope: “Under the right conditions, poor and minority group children can achieve at high levels” (p. xi)”.

It all begins with relationships and having high expectations for all students. Students know if we genuinely care. We must be disturbed with the findings of the meta-analysis from 1968 to 2003 of Tenenbaum & Ruck (2007): “Teachers have more positive expectations for White students than they do for Black or Latino students. Teachers direct more positive speech (in the form of praise, affirmations, and positive feedback) toward White students” (in Boykin & Noguera, p. 79). With low expectations, these students get asked low-ordered questions, receive more criticism than praise, and less time to answer questions. Sizer (1984) reminds us that “schools should function as the equalizers of opportunity” (in Boykin & Noguera, p. 199) so we must confront out stereotypes.

In addition to high expectations for all students, we need to focus on teachers’ instructional and assessment practices. Much has been written about differentiating instruction and assessment for learning. The focus is on meeting students’ academic, social, and emotional needs – not just “cover curriculum”. At my previous school, I was a part of a pilot study on implementing Assessment for Learning (AfL) – writing and sharing learning goals, co-constructing success criteria with the class, providing descriptive feedback, and student self and peer assessment. My class in the video studyquickly saw how Alf made them actively engaged in their learning, resulting in: “The more self-efficacious a student is, the more likely he or she will pursue adaptive self-regulatory learning strategies and believe that effort matters. The more self-regulated a student is, the more confident he or she will be about the possibility of success and believe that efforts will make him or her ‘smarter’” (p. 67). Similar findings occurred in all subsequent classes, including grade 9 applied mathematics, with AfL being used to drive the instruction.

As Chenoweth (2007) reminds us: “...simply must do whatever it takes to meet the educational and social needs of the children they serve...there is no one single factor that is at the core of a successful school...there is no magic bullet” (in Boykin and Noguera p. 179). Further, “catching up is difficult, particularly when one considers that middle-class White students often have access to substantially superior resources, both within school and at home, that affect learning outcomes” (p. 15). Through the complexity, we cannot give up. We know from the research of Ken Leithwood that the teacher is key. Through quality teacher-student relationships, teachers are empathetic, supportive, fair, and genuinely care. With each small success, students gain confidence and self-efficacy. We need all students actively engaged in higher-order thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving – and they need to see what they are learning relevant and meaningful. We need teachers engaged in professional learning conversations about best practices and development. We need parents as partners. We may need the support of guidance counsellors, administration, and the school social worker. This is a team effort and a worthy one.

Breaking Barriers: Excellence and Equity

Breaking Barriers: Excellence and Equity for All By Avis Glaze, Ruth Mattingley, Ben Levin. Published by Pearson Canada, 2012

Equity is defined as giving each student what is needed to be successful – what that looks like differs from student to student. Having high expectations for all students is paramount in reducing the achievement gap. Regardless of student’s race, culture, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, special needs, “All students come to school with a range of strengths and talents. It is important for educators to build on students’ prior knowledge and experiences and not focus solely on the challenges they face” (p. ix). Breaking Barriers: Excellence and Equity for All describes 21 high-impact strategies organized into 5 key areas of focus for equity of outcomes:
• Strategy 1: High expectations for all students (failure is not an option)
• Inclusive School Culture
o Strategy 2: Build relationships
o Strategy 3: Help students feel safe and respected at school
o Strategy 4: Offer flexible programming
o Strategy 5: Establish career development as an integral part of the
curriculum
• Instructional Practices
o Strategy 6: Focus on literacy across all subjects
o Strategy 7: Develop oral language
o Strategy 8: Differentiate instruction
o Strategy 9: Emphasize higher-order and critical thinking skills
o Strategy 10: Make formative assessment integral to learning
o Strategy 11: Integrate the arts
• Culturally Responsive Classroom Experiences
o Strategy 12: Practise culturally responsive teaching
o Strategy 13: Make classroom activities culturally responsive
o Strategy 14: Select culturally reflective learning materials and resources
• Early Interventions
o Strategy 15: Implement early and ongoing interventions
o Strategy 16: Provide tutoring
o Strategy 17: Support summer learning opportunities
o Strategy 18: Strengthen access to guidance and counselling
• Character Development
o Strategy 19: Identify character attributes
o Strategy 20: Promote inclusive practices
o Strategy 21: Maximize student engagement

Reflections
I truly believe all students can achieve and be successful. As educators, we must put students at the forefront – support them academically, socially, and emotionally. We know from Ken Leithwood that teachers are the number 1 factor to student success and they need to differentiate instruction and use assessment for learning to drive their teaching. Students need to experience genuine success which builds confidence and the desire to learn more. They need to know we care: “Teaching is about human relationships. The more we as educators learn about our students, the more they are likely to learn from us” (Cummins, 2007, in Glaze et al, p. 45). As a vice-principal, I strive to be visible in the hallways, visit classrooms, and get to know students as they work in the library or are called down to my office.

School is our second home – or home away from home. We must take good care of it – that means ensuring it is a safe place to be, where we treat each other with respect, and where each student is here to learn and can reach their potential. All students feel welcomed (regardless of race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, special needs) and are connected to the school (including participation in clubs and sports). They see themselves represented in curriculum and are given a voice on how the school culture can be improved. Bullying and any type of discrimination or harassment are unacceptable and will be dealt with consequences and with learning outcomes. For teachers, instructional time is preserved, and where the workplace is a professional learning community so they can continue to develop. Administrators are responsible for providing such conditions and by serving as instructional leaders.

I agree that literacy is key. When I taught high school mathematics, I modelled and expected students to strengthen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Each subject discipline has its own vocabulary which needs to be explicitly taught. Reading a mathematical text is not the same as reading a novel in English class. I am proud to have introduced ESL mathematics at the grades 9 and 10 academic levels at my previous school – we focused on literacy to get at the mathematics. As vice-principal, I work with the 5% of the student population who for whatever reasons are not attending class regularly and are disengaged. In my diagnostic questions, I ask about how much reading they do outside of school. If students don’t read then they can read aloud for 20 minutes in my office. I walk the talk as reading is a gift that opens doors to learning.

When I was mathematics head, I received criticism from colleagues for “saving” students. For 3 years, part of my timetable was with the Alternative Education department. Since class maximum is 16 students, I would, with parental and student approval, move students into my Alt Educ class with a level change. Previously, they were resistant to the move and only become receptive when they see the realities of failure. As a vice-principal, I wear a “guidance counsellor hat” and see if a level change can be made before the mid-term; else it becomes me intervening and working with both student and teacher. Fortunately, I also have my student success teacher, special education, ESL, and child-youth worker for support.

Ultimately, it is Character Education traits that I want to see as the end product of our graduating students. My board, York Region DSB, has 10 such traits, spearheaded by Glaze when she was a superintendent in York Region: respect, honesty, courage, optimism, responsibility, perseverance, empathy, fairness, integrity, initiative. The learning skills component of the report card is so important since we need students to adapt to the ever-changing society (e.g., explosion of technology). I am enthused when conducting Teacher Performance Appraisals as a vice-principal that teachers track students’ learning skills and ask them to self-assess them with reasons.

One area of inequity that continues to “bug” me is the private schools where students can buy their credit with high marks (universities treat the mark at face-value). This is so unfair to students who live in poverty. I have students in my office who no longer live at home and must self-support, while others have parents who must work 2 jobs to put food on the table.

Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School

Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School: Strategies that Turn Underachievers into Successful LearnersBy: Kathleen Cleveland
ASCD, 2011

Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School (2011) seeks to “examine how the way we ‘do school’ might be interfering with an underachieving boy’s potential for achievement” (p. 8). Fear of failure is a reality as some boys prefer to “self-sabotage”. Cleveland describes the Boy Code as: “to behave like superheroes and hide their emotions, but they also do not want to be perceived as smart, always fight instead of talking through a conflict, and do not enjoy reading and writing...boys often purposely shun such tasks in order to avoid being associated with anything feminine or ‘girly,’ thereby stunting their ability to master the kind of skills necessary for success in school and, arguably, outside of school as well” (p. 40).

The book seeks 4 overarching goals: (1) Replace negative attitudes about learning with productive perspectives; (2) Reconnect with school, with learning, and belief as a competent learner; (3) Rebuild life skills and learning skills that lead to academic success and success in life; and (4) Reduce need to use unproductive and distracting behaviours as means of self-protection. The author describes 6 pathways to re-engagement:

(1) Support
• trusting student-teacher relationships
• nonthreatening learning environment
(2) Guide
• clear expectations (how and what teacher communicates)
• informational feedback (identify strengths [the medal], shortcomings, and
how to improve [the mission] – before summative assessment)
• positive reinforcement
(3) Reinforce
• tools for communication (physical domain – appropriate distance, maintain
eye contact, use facial expressions; verbal – voice modulation, taking
turns; cognitive – detect emotions in others, anticipate other’s reaction)
• tools for collaboration (cooperative learning)
(4) Adjust
• zones of comfort (adjust physical environment)
(5) Ignite
• active learning (“All genuine learning is active, not passive. It involves
the use of the mind, not just the memory. It is the process of discovery, in
which the student is the main agent, not the teacher” p. 175)
(6) Empower
• engaging literacy-building activities (“Reading is the key to academic
achievement” (p. 215); “If a boy cannot read, and if he cannot or will not
read, his ability to write is also diminished in nearly equal proportion”
(p. 189)

Reflections

During my 16 years as an educator, I have and continue to come across underachieving boys who are disengaged or disinterested in school. I am committed to never giving up on any child. Teaching is complex – that’s why there are no easy solutions and we must keep trying to see what works.

My board, York Region DSB, has made literacy central focus of all we do: “All teachers are teachers of literacy”. As a mathematics teacher, I have incorporated literacy and have published my action research study on “Using Journal Writing to Explore ‘They Communicate to Learn Mathematics and They Learn to Communicate Mathematically” in the Ontario Action Researcher journal (available on-line http://oar.nipissingu.ca/archive-Vol7No2-V722E.htm ). A similar, non-published study, was conducted on reading-to-learn mathematics. When I was mathematics head, I introduced ESL mathematics courses at the grades 9 and 10 academic levels. The intent was to use reading, writing, speaking, and listening as central to learning mathematics. In my current role as vice-principal, I diagnostically ask if student’s literacy skills are weak. I encourage them to read at home – whatever they are interested in and in whatever format (newspaper, magazine, book). It disheartens me to hear boys tell me they hate reading and thus do not do it. I have had an ELL boy read for 20 minutes in my office. Reading is a gift and opens doors to learning. One gets better at it through practice.

One group of students we do not do an effective job is supporting students identified with ADD/ADHD. Most often boys, they cannot focus, sit still, and are disorganized. Lost in School, by Ross Greene states we need to explicitly teach students the skills they lack. There is no point calling home to parents to tell them their child is disorganized – they know that. How do we help them become organized? We need to adapt our instruction and assessment practices to the needs of our learners. For instance, can we expect our ADD/ADHD students to concurrently listen to the teacher and copy notes? Whatever is written in the notes, does it get into the binder?

In my role as vice-principal, I monitor attendance and speak with students when I notice numerous absences and lates on the truancy list. For some students, truancy discontinues after an initial meeting with me. For others, truancy continues and I need to establish a working relationship with the student as I try to determine the reason for this behaviour. Often times, there are personal issues, other times students just don’t like school, or have gotten into a hole and they deal through avoidance. Being punitive is ineffective. Supporting students is vital as Cleveland reminds us: “The problem of underachievement didn’t happen overnight, and we need to recognize that finding solutions will take time too” (p. 218). There is never blame.