Chapter 8 - Models of Success

Summary

• The following are five major factors of effective schools:
• The principal is the instructional leader.
• Teachers have high expectations.
• Students spend more time on task.
• There is a positive school climate.
• Testing is used to guide further instruction and not solely for evaluation.

• The following list is things that schools can do to better the performance of African American students:
• Mandatory in-service training for teachers on black male learning styles.
• A Booker T. Washington/W.E.B. Dubois role model program.
• A Rites of Passage program.
• A fourth-grade intervention team (ministers, social workers, community activist entrepreneurs, and psychologists).
• Increase black male teacher assistance.
• Increase black male teachers.
• A Dr. King class on nonviolence.
• A Malcolm X class for those assigned to in-house suspensions.
• Single gender classrooms (Over 500 schools have created single-gender classrooms and report less suspensions and teen pregnancies, and an increase in test scores).

Commentary

I liked a lot of the suggestions that the author made. School systems are constantly striving to find qualified black teachers; however, it never occurred to me that they could also find black paraprofessionals. With the economy in disarray, many educated African Americans may be unemployed from fields outside of education. Although they might not be licensed, these educated African Americans could inspire African American youth in schools. The idea of single-gender classrooms in public schools is something to which I have never been introduced. I think that a lot of misbehavior in intermediate and middle schools comes from trying to impress the opposite sex. If that peer pressure is removed, the students could very possibly be more attentive and learn more. This is something that I would like to learn more about.

Chapter 7 - African American Parents

Summary

This chapter focused mainly on the African American parent. In essence, the author spoke to the parents and gave them direction in interacting with the schools. The author gave guidance on IEP meetings, meetings with parents, and home life. The author even made a list of things that would be found in the home of a family that valued education. The following is the list of objects in a home that values education:

• dictionary
• thesaurus
• calculator
• atlas
• globe
• books
• library card
• Scrabble
• Password
• checkers
• ches
• encyclopedia set
• musical instrument
• microscope
• chemistry set
• computer with Intenet access

Additionally, the chapter gave a quiz for the parents to take and share with their children. The questions were:

• Have you taught your children about God, His word, and the power of prayer?
• Do your children have goals?
• Do you provide quality time?
• Do you praise more than you criticize?
• How well do you listen to your children?
• Are you consistent?
• Do you give them high expectations?
• Do you teach your children African American history?
• Have you provided your children with a nutritional diet?
• Do you monitor homework?
• Do you select, discuss, and monitor television shows?
• Do you know your children's friends and their values?
• Could your children develop a family tree?
• Do your children receieve adequate sleep?
• Do you take your children on field trips?
• How frequently do you visit your child's school?
• Do you listen and discuss your children's music selections?
• How disciplined are your children?
• How well do your children complete chores?
• How frequently do you hug your children?
• Have you provided a safe environment for your children?

Commentary

I really feel that parents (of any race) would benefit from reading this chapter. I feel that lack of parent involvement is debilitating in schools. The parents are not involved - maybe because they do not know how or do not feel prepared to become involve. Regardless of reason, it is easy to blame the teachers for the plight that is the suffering education system. However, to place blame on the teachers is a gross exaggeration of our ability to transform a student. If a parent does not support the teacher, even the most inspirational educator will not make permanent changes in the student. I feel that parents and educators should think and act as though we are on the same team because we are. We both have the student's best interest at heart, and with cooperation, the best adults are created by a village of adults.

Chapter 6 - African American Students

Summary

• Low-income children lack money, not intelligence.
• Do not give left-brained lessons to right-brained students.
• Do not expect black male students to act like white female students.
• To achieve academic success, students must select their friends wisely.

Commentary

I feel that African American students do have dynamic situations. Many low-income students are perceived by educators are unintelligent. It is very common for a students that are not understood to be placed in special education. My graduate concentration is in English as a second language (ESL). The concept of putting a student in special education because the educator does no understand him/her is very common for the ESL student. However, upon reflection on the reading, I suppose that it is very likely that some African American students placed in special education could be there because the educators do not understand the culture and peer pressures that surrounds the student. The author talks about much of the African American society placing little emphasis on education. I have never witnessed this personally, but I do see that many students (both black and white) look up to people that do not have an education - Britney Spears, 50 Cent, Dave Chappell, Mariah Carey - and this could cause the negative peer pressures surrounding education.

Chapter 5 - Relevant Black Curriculum

Summary

• Culture is more than food, festivals, and music; it is a way of life.
• True education transmits skill, a commitment to your race, a love for learning, and an adoration for God.
• Black students see pictures of presidents and other imortant historical figures in school hallways and it negatively impacts their psyche.
• What the pupil wants to learn is as important, if not more important, than what the teacher wants to teach.
• A failing grade may indicate the degree of disconnection between students and curriculum rather than students skills.
• Facts that are understood last longer than those memorized.
• 
  
  A master teacher could integrate mathematics to African American males by using the following questions:
  1. How many teams are in the NBA?
  2. How many players are on a team?
  3. What is the total number of players in the NBA?
  4. How many teams make the playoffs?
  5. How many teams are eliminated?
  6. How many players desire to make the NBA?
  7. How many players are unsuccessful?
  8. If a players signs a contract for $10 million and his agent receives 1 percent, how much does the agent receive?
  9. If taxes are 38 percent, how much of the agent's pay does the government receive?
  10. How many minutes are in one quarter of play?
  11. How many quarters in a game?
  12. What is the total number of minutes in a game?
  13. If a player takes 21 shots and makes 14, what is his shooting percentage?

Commentary

This chapter focused on how to make curriculum relevant to the African American student in poverty-level or working-class families. My graduate work focuses on curriculum and instruction, and the concept of making curriculum relevant is a recurring theme. One textbook mentioned that some schools and administrators are still preparing students based on a Wolly Mammoth principal. The author described the differences between the curriculum that humans were taught at the time of the wolly mamoth to the curriculum of today's student.

I feel that it is so important to make curriculum relevant to the students. I use student surveys and inventories to gain insight into my students' likes/dislikes. It is important for me to try to integrate those likes. In my opinion, this serves a dual-purpose. It helps students to be connected to the curriculum, which in-turn, will allow the students to retain the information easier. Additionally, I want my students to know that I care about them. By using things that they like, I am showing them that I care enough about them to learn their likes and integrate those likes into my teaching.

Chapter 4 - Master Teachers

Summary

• The most significant characteristic of master teachers is not their race or gender but the expectations they have of their students.
• Students need teachers who will make them learn.
• If you listen and observe children, they will tell you how to teach them.

Commentary

I feel that expectations are so important. I know that I suffered from low expectations in behavior my first year teaching. I really wanted the students to have appropriate behavior; however, I rationalized inappropriate behavior and sometimes even blamed myself for the students' behavior! The author stated, "[Master teachers] understand the difficulties students have in the community at home, but refuses to victimize them further by making excuses for them." I see how clear expectations affect student performance. I completely agree with the author when she focuses on the importance of teacher expectations. Students do need teachers that will make them learn. A student can be made to learn when he/she is motivated to learn through inspiration. 

The mediocre teacher tells. 

The good teacher explains. 

The superior teacher demonstrates. 

The great teacher inspires.

Chapter 3 - African American Teachers

Summary

• Many African-American teachers suffer from racism, too.
• African-American teachers are sometimes torn between the way they grew up and the situations they are placed in as educators.

Commentary

I can see that it must be very difficult to be an African American educator in schools that have a predominately white faculty. However, I can see that it must also be difficult to be a white educator in a school with a predominately black faculty. This is because many of us do not practice what we preach in regards to diversity. I have learned so much from African American coworkers - the ability to laugh at insane situations, take comments with a grain of salt, and when/how to stand my ground. I would not trade those qualities I have thanks to my African American friends and colleagues for anything.

Chapter 2 - White Female Teachers

Summary

• Most teachers in America are white.
• Most teachers in elementary schools are white females.
• Code switching is the ability to translate informal dialect/communication into a more formal way. This is seen in students that speak Ebonics. If a student can be taught to code switch, communication can be more effective. For example, treating African American students are bilingual rather than degrading Ebonics and shadowing it in negative light.
• Although many educational institutions value diversity in the teachers, the color of the teacher does not impact the student as much as the expectations of the teacher.

Commentary

I feel that I should be more open to Ebonics. I can identify it as an area where that I should become more understanding. I do not allow the students to use informal communication addressing me. I could possibly treat the students as bilingual rather than treating the informal style as negative. It seems logical that some students will use Ebonics with or without my "openness" to it. If I can teach the students to code-switch between formal and informal versions of English, I can help prepare them for real world experiences. I will work on addressing that differently in the future. Additionally, I completely agree that the color of the teacher does not matter as much as the expectations of the teacher.

Chapter 1 - Middle-Class Schools

Summary

• Although most African American families are above the poverty line, most of the African American students are below the poverty line. This is due to the number of children in the families. The average African American family below the poverty line has more children than the average African American family above the poverty line.
• Very few African American families are middle class (income above $50,000 per year).
• In many African American families, the father is not present.
• Poverty-level and working-class families do not have resources that middle class families have - transportation, books, technology, education, etc.
• The poverty-level and working-class adults suffer from lower levels of education. Giving homework that requires parental involvement could be difficult for these families. Additionally, the IEP meeting is intimidating for those with low amounts of education.
• Delaying gratification is a skill that many poverty-level and working class students do not have. This affects going to school for 13 years to receive a high school diploma, going to college for a bachelor's degree, and attending graduate school for a master's level degree.

Commentary

I feel that poverty-level and working-class families are very different from the teachers and school administrators that serve them. Many middle-class teachers might not make consider the ways that homework is perceived and resolved in various types of homes. Additionally, the general perception of the school will be unintentionally affected by these social differences. It is our jobs as educators to teach all students regardless of level of income. To become better, effective educators, we must begin to practice reflection and observation of the effects that socioeconomic status and/or race play on cognition.