Conscientious Ear-hustlers

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2014), Black boys are suspended and expelled from school at higher rates than boys of other ethnicities. The scholarship is also rife with the fact that Black boys are also overrepresented in special education (Bryan & Ford, 2014 and many others). Speaking of special education, one research study suggests that some teachers make judgement calls about special education for Black boys based on how they walk (Neal, McCray, Webb-Johnson, & Bridgest, 2003). Yes, you read that correctly. Walk.

As we embark upon a new school year, let's rethink what we know about teaching and learning as it relates to our young Black male students. While it would be nice to see an increase in the number of Black male educators in our public schools (a notion I embrace, advocate for, and work behind the scenes with brothers on), this as the sole solution to the problem oversimplifies the complex and systemic nature of the problem that exists, that being the other 'r' in our school systems, racism. Sometimes it's subtle and at other times it's right there in our not-so-subtle policies and practices (ahem, Zero Tolerance) in schools. While I am a huge proponent of a diversified workforce, especially when it comes to Black men who will be effective in the profession, we cannot sit and wait. We cannot wait because some of our well-meaning colleagues may feel absolved of their responsibility to even try to work with our young Black brothers if we do so. No ma'am, no sir, no absolution here.

Want to know how Black boys learn best?

Ask. Do not believe for one second that they do not have opinions about how they like to learn. Ask them. Working together? Listening to music in the background? Alone?

Observe. Be conscientious in your ear-hustlin' (eavesdropping) and in your overall observations. You can learn a lot by sitting in the cut, shutting up, and watching. 

Make meaning of what you see and hear. When making that meaning, however, you must converse with your students, with their parents, with other adults who know them and are familiar with the culture and customs of the students with whom you work. Making meaning in a bubble may only solidify incorrect interpretations of what you're observing.

In short, be a student of your students!

Even for me, being a "brotha" and fully invested in this calling, I found myself asking my summer high school students questions about language, music, and ways of thinking. In a subsequent conversation with my sister, who also teaches, we spoke about how I made attempts to incorporate my new found knowledge into the classroom. Because of the nature of the summer work, the conversation with those young men was the way that I incorporated it into the classroom. I was their student for 10 minutes.

We've been rehashing the same trite pedagogy long enough. We've been narrow-minded in our chase of test scores and those ever elusive and mutable levels of proficiency long enough. Let's stop the insanity and learn how our young Black boys learn best and adjust accordingly. Yes, there may be pushback. But if a little pushback is the worst that can happen and we teach using a paradigm and pedagogy that is liberating and relevant for them, let them push! 

References

United States Department of Education. (2014, March). Civil rights data collection: Data snapshot: School discipline (Issue Brief No. 1). Washington, D.C.: Office for Civil Rights.

Bryan, N. & Ford, D. (2014). Recruiting and retaining black male teachers in gifted education. Gifted Child Today 37(3), 156-161. doi:10.1177/107621751453011

Neal, L., McCray, A., Webb-Johnson, G., and Bridgest, S. (2003). The effects of African American movement styles on teachers’ perceptions and reactions. Journal of Special Education, 37(3), 49-57

The Quasi-Corner Store Approach: District and Charter Schools

Growing up in Philly, corner stores are really the corner stones of neighborhoods!! So much so, that as I was looking to relocate to where I'm living now, I drove around the blocks of my new hood in my father's car looking for where the corner stores were because I was "in between cars" at the time. There were NONE to be found and I almost didn't move there because of that. With no car, a corner store was going to be important to my very existence!!!! Ok, a bit hyperbolic, but you get my drift.

Prior to moving, I was used to corner stores being everywhere and wherever I lived in Philly from childhood through adulthood. Two were sometimes on the same corner, with one around the corner, a Chinese store or two down the block, with a 7-Eleven nestled up in there (because Wawa--my fav--refuses to come to the 'hood').

My point is, corner stores were everywhere and if they played their cards right, the majority were and are successful. I go to 'hood' of my youth near 54th and Baltimore and still see some of the same corner stores my siblings and I would stop by on the way home from Harrington Elementary (although that water ice place in/around the old furniture jawn is now a Rite Aid---somebody knows what I'm talking about lol)

Charter schools in Philly seem to take what I'm calling a quasi-corner store approach. They seem to be popping up everywhere, including right across the street in some cases from district schools. "Quasi" because corner stores offer pretty much the same thing and tend to do well even if there are two on same corner. I cannot say that our charter operators are offering the same "thing" or even a better "thing".

In general, charter school operators tend not to serve as many children with special needs, as many children with behavioral difficulties, as many children with academic struggles. I don't have to quote anybody's research, I've seen it in action as a teacher in a public school. I've taught the students who were straight up put out or were "encouraged" (counseled) out. Within minutes I was able to understand why they were now in my class, and that was OK with me in the sense that I welcome a challenge. It wasn't OK with me that the charter miracle workers that so many make them out to be couldn't turn the water into wine or calm the raging sea!! (Many of my colleagues around the district can testify of these truths as well. I hear the stories all the time.)

"Quasi" because while there are those who would look at this post to bolster the whole "choice" argument (since I'm using corner stores as a metaphor), let me remind you, we are dealing with children not chips! If I don't want salt & vinegar chips, I don't pick them up. If I pick them up by accident, I put them back. Hmmmm, now where have I seen such actions before? Children are NOT commodities!

We are and have been dealing with the unfortunate and racist realities of a dreadfully underfunded school district that serves many children in this region with the highest needs. Stepping out of my public school advocacy role for just a QUICK second, even charter operators understand the impact of underfunding; irony personified. So much so, that everyone stopped fighting for a moment and came together to send a letter, petitioning Harrisburg for funds.

With each new corner store opening, that's additional money syphoned away from already underfunded schools. How and why is that fair?

Wait!! I'll ask for you, "well, how is it fair to kids and families that they get stuck in a failing school?"

1.  What exactly is a failing school?
2.  Why is defunding the school the solution to whatever problems you may see?

This post comes on the heels of my learning that the closed Leidy Elementary School on Belmont Ave, here in Philly, will reopen as Inquiry Charter School, right across the street from Discovery Charter School and around the corner from BLAKENBURG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, where Global Leadership Academy moved right across the street. Too much? Yupperz!!

The quasi-corner store approach!