Intersectionality

This idea of intersectionality is a living breathing concept that grows and evolves as one’s understanding and the many shades of meaning expressed as individualistic as each person.  Kimberlé Crenshaw has coined this term back in 1989 to envelop the multiple identities that intersect to make us who we are socially, economically and politically in which systems of oppression and privilege overlap and reinforce each other.   An example of intersectionality in my life would be that I am Black, Latina, woman, educated, bilingual, working professional and able-bodied.  Even though I enjoy privileges of being educated, bilingual, and able-bodied there are traits of being Black and Latina, a minority within the minority are challenges I am faced with daily.  It is an oppressive trait I experience among other Latinos who are colorist, and it is a challenge I am confronted with as people see my race which is visible and not my other positive traits which are invisible.  It is hard to get to know some one’s invisible identities unless you take the time to get to know that person.  
As an educator how does this play out in the classroom? What biases, stereotypes or assumptions do I make about my students if I do not take the time to get to know them individually outside from school to understand how their personal lives may inadvertently affect them academically?  For instance, I have two students in class who tend to demand one on one teacher attention more so than most of the class.  These two students share a commonality at home.  Even though one has a stay at home mom and the other has a working parent, both have a baby sibling who has ‘dethroned’ them.  My role in the classroom as an educator, tends to take the back seat to attending to their social emotional needs first.  At times I find myself in a crossroad where my biases cloud their struggles and oppressions.  In one case, a student has chronic absences.  I have reached out to the attendance team to meet with the parents to understand the home situation.  I have spoken with previous teacher to gain an understanding as well.  But I have yet to sit down and have a one on one talk with the student to remove any biases and get to the root of her problem.   I am not aware of her invisible oppressive traits that I am contributing to instead of helping her find a resolve.  

Attached is a cute video with kids explaining their thoughts on intersectionality. 

https://youtu.be/WzbADY-CmTs

In the Shadow of Brown Special Education and Overrepresentation of Students of Color written by Beth A. Ferri and David J. Connor  assert key points in the after math of the court decisions.  Sixty-four years later, after the decision  that segregation is to be deemed as harmful, schools remain to be as segregated as they ever were.  These are the unfulfilled promises of both landmark cases.  In Spanish we have a saying that describes this well, “el que hace la ley, hace la trampa.” 
The article continues to purport the problem of overrepresentation of minority students in special education classes.  The authors draw attention to the inappropriate placement and labeling of racial and linguistic minority students based on their performance on IQ test and other standardized test, criticizing them as biased.  Culturally and linguistic biased, and there fore these test are not valid.  Rather it is seen as a form of institutionalized racism. The report explains how the initial referral process begins with the teacher, who is most public schools are 90% White; whereas, 40% of the student population is of a racial minority.  
The Staff at my school consists of teachers, teacher assistants, principal, vice-principal, school psychologist, speech therapist, secretaries and nurse combined equals 50 people.  There is a fairly equal split of staff regarding teachers of color and White teachers. 
Consequently, because of the problem with overrepresentation of minority students in special education programs, there has been an increased effort not to identify as many students.  The number of students receiving services in the co-teach classrooms has been slowly dwindling over the last few years.  Does this mean students academic performance is increasing? No, our school is still labeled a ‘focus’ school due to low achievement on standardized testing known as PARCC.  This simply means the staff is finding creative ways for  working with the English language learners in program as well as out of program.  Also, there has been an attempt to redesign the standardized test, such as the interim assessment to be less culturally biased.  The characters in the story and the plot mimic some of the struggles students and their families share.  In other words, some students can see themselves reflected in the story line.   However, the wording of the questions are difficult and too ambiguous, so students still have a hard time answering the questions correctly.  
A suggestion the authors make that I find shocking is about the data on Hispanic students.  In the article, the authors impress that the data for Hispanics is complicated because on one hand they are underrepresented in elementary schools, but then overrepresented in high school.  They further suggest that they are more likely to be placed in self-contained, bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) classes and that these classes are overly restrictive and limit a student’s ability to gain access to the general education curriculum or to keep up with their grade-level peers.  First of all I do not agree with this statement.  In my understanding as an educator of Bilingual Education classes and as a former English language learner myself, students whose first language is not English versus their mono-lingual English counterparts is no comparison.  To begin, the bilingual or ESL classroom if properly run, using such techniques as “translanguaging” or allowing students to use their first language to make sense of acquiring the second language creates for a rich language environment full of learning opportunities.  Additionally, students access to knowledge is not being limited to only English.  That is limiting. The goal is to make input comprehensible using  their native language and the target language.  Studies have shown the many benefits to having a bilingual brain that operates with two or more language systems.  Placement in a bilingual or ESL classroom is neither overly restrictive or limits students.  It serves to enrich students and validate who and what they bring to the classroom.  
The article concluded by saying that we must learn from the history of Brown versus Board of Education and consider how certain practices serve to exclude students and that we should try to create a more inclusive future.  The practices of exclusion is due in part to the student population of Providence School District. For instance, currently, school-wide data taken from infoworks.ride.ri.gov shows a student population for 2016-2017 based on 88% of the students receive subsidized lunch, 43% receive ESL/Bilingual services, 12% receive special education services.  The student characteristics based on racial/ethnic background is as follows: 8% African-American, 1% Asian, 83% Hispanic, 2% Multi-cultural, 1% Native American, and 6% White.  With a combined population of African-American and Hispanic at 91% it is safe to assume that the majority of the students receiving special education services at the school are minority children.  Looking at the city-wide data it shows a student population of: 17% African-American, 5% Asian, 64% Hispanic, 4% Multiracial 1% Native American, and 9% White.  The state-wide data shows a student population of: 8% African-American, 3% Asian, 25% Hispanic. 4% multiracial, 1% Native American, and 59% White.  In my findings, the data shows that the majority of African-American and Hispanic students are highly concentrated in the Providence School District.  So unless there is going to be busing of students across city-limits, I do not see desegregation of Providence Schools as is stated in the Brown vs Board of Education.  https://youtu.be/nRz-l5nInvs

Crippling School Curricula

• In the article Cripping School Curricula the author David Connor states that a child with a disability who is mainstreamed in the least restrictive environment, that the disability is associated with shame and stigmatized by a model casting the disability as a deficit in need of examination, diagnosis and treatment.  In recent years, I have taught in an inclusion then a co-teach model where students with varying degrees of learning disability were mainstreamed with regular students who were not identified.  In both types of programs, inclusion and co-teach the treatment of the students was basically the same.  I, the regular education teacher would be responsible for teaching the whole class, and planning the lessons.  The inclusion or co-teach would pull a small group and give modifications or make accommodations based on their disability, or as otherwise stated in the individual education plans.  This model is known as alternative teaching where one teacher takes responsibility for the larger group while the others work with a smaller group.  In these smaller groups the inclusion or co-teach teacher uses remediation.  With the support of the administrator, he instated common planning time for all of the co-teach teachers to be able to plan lessons together.  The initiative for this was to afford time to plan a lesson that met the needs of the students, but most importantly to try a different co-teaching approach. 
• This was helpful because it opened up lines of communication between my co-teach teacher and I to be on the same page.  I was able to use the time productively to express how the students should be supported and what that should look like.  We were able to reach an understanding and compromise a little.  I offered to open up and allow her the space to teach in the way she was most comfortable with and I in turn could feel supported in the classroom.  Co-teaching is challenging for several reasons.  As a generalist, I do not have the special training to work with the students individual needs.  I felt overwhelmed to make accommodations for such a wide range of abilities with the limited supports of only having the co-teach teacher for a fraction of the day, and with little time to plan made it a daunting task.  After the administrator had left, the new administrator did not see the benefit for common planning time for co-teach classrooms, and it was removed.  This luxury of common planning was short lived and only lasted about two semesters.  
• The other types of co-teaching approaches are one teach, one observe, station teaching, parallel teaching, teaming and one teach, one assist. In the one teach, one observe just as it sounds one teacher teaches while the other observes with a specific purpose that is decided on by both teachers.  Then together the data from the observation is analyzed and used to inform instruction.  The teachers take turn with the different roles of teaching and data gathering. In the station teaching both teachers divide the classroom evenly to teach the content to one group and subsequently repeat the instruction for the other group.  The teachers could be creative here adding a third station for independent work.  The parallel teaching model is where both teachers are teaching the same content simultaneously at different levels. Teaming is when both teachers share delivery of the same instruction to a whole group. Finally, one teach and one assist is when one teacher has the primary responsibility for teaching while the other professional circulated through the room providing unobtrusive assistance to students as needed. 
• Some of the co-teaching approaches mentioned above can lend itself to create more labels in the classroom when certain students are pulled away from the whole group to be given special instruction.  I can see how this type of treatment can stigmatize a child and give a sense of shame.  What type of model is conducive to the teaching and learning environment of students with a disability?

Bilingual Education

Bilingual Education

New Rules hurt Bilingual students raises the concerns of ‘equitable education,’ because students are being deprived of time in program with a certified ESL teacher. This brings me back to my time in school as a child where the “sink or swim” education did not provide me with certified ESL or Bilingual teachers to assist me with my transition into school.  I received an education where my first language Spanish was sacrificed at the expensive demands of learning a second language English.  The teachers in kindergarten or first grade did not provide language support sensory, graphic or interactive to make input comprehensible.  As a result, I experienced a “silent period’ that lasted all of kindergarten and retention in the first grade.  Without the instructional or procedural supports, I was finally acclimated into the education system. 

Defining student silence in the classroom as an educator and a survivor of a one year silent period within the American education system, I listen to what their silence says about them. I listen to what their silence says in between and beyond words like when Maylin ask, Ms. Nunez can you skip me because I am not sure if I got the answer right.  I hear she does not really want to be skipped, she is asking for help to find the correct answer because she does not feel confident.  This kind of knowing comes from carefully observing students’ behaviors and non-verbal cues. I listen to how and when students choose to remain silent.  For instance, when Joel does not want to share during whole group.  I will often give the option before a lesson, suggesting they discuss with their cooperative which section of writing they will share so that everyone has a chance to speak.  I will even listen to the students who dominate the class and want to take over by giving them an opportunity and reminding them of their limited time to speak as others need to share.  The listening becomes a balancing act of verbal and non-verbal behaviors in class.  In the article, the meaning of silence, the author Schultz suggest that silence is rarely caused by a choice not to speak instead as a signs of engagement, lack of interest, shyness and/or fear.  So whatever the reason there is silence it may be interpreted as refusal to participate in the class.

In understanding the affective filter of language, as an educator in a Developmental Bilingual classroom and a learner of English as a Second Language who has experienced the pendulum swing, this silent period may be due to conditions of language learning not being optimal.  In my classroom I work to make the most of linguistic conditions and embrace both realities, linguistic diversity in the classroom is appreciated through exhibitions of children’s published and non-published work that is displayed around the room on bulletin boards. Also, the labeling of bulletin boards is in English and Spanish so a balance of power between the languages can be seen around the room. 

STAR READING

GRADE	MONOLINGUAL or BILINGUAL	AVERAGE SCALED SCORE GROWTH
2	MONOLINGUAL	+43.5
2	BILINGUAL	+21
3	MONOLINGUAL	+71
3	BILINGUAL	+60.5
4	MONOLINGUAL	+38.7
4	BILINGUAL	+39
5	MONOLINGUAL	+52.7
5	BILINGUAL	+73

In the figure shown above,  we can see the STAR ELA Student Growth Report.  This comparison is between the performance of students in Regular Education and Bilingual Classroom.  Based on the report, in second and third grades the monolingual classes are outperforming the bilingual peers by a margin of 22.5 and 11.5 respectively.  In the fourth and fifth grades the bilingual classroom are outperforming their monolingual counterparts by 0.3 and 20.3 respectively.  I do not have an explanation to support the data, however, it would seem that Bilingual Education is an important means to support student teaching and learning.  There are many great reasons as mentioned above.  I am an advocate of Bilingual Education, as an educator and a child of first generation immigrant parents.

Many of the schools who have low performance have the highest rates of English Language Learners. Is it fair to hold students to the same comparison based on test that are not in their dominant language?

 https://youtu.be/msZpxXk_q7A 

The phrase collective can be used in many different ways.  It can be used as a collective noun, i.e. audience, committee, government, which names a group of individuals or things with a singular form.   For instance, as is declared in the Declaration of Independence, “We Hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…”.  The word “all men” is used as a collective noun to refer to all people.  https://youtu.be/wGgQrxTcBqg

In the same way, Collective Value as one of the guiding principles in the Black Lives Matter Community which means that all Black lives, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigrant status or location, matter.   The collective value is a group of people “the minority within the minority” that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. 

What is the common objective of the collective value?  The objective is to obtain these unalienable rights.  Because these rights are inherently endowed to us by our Creator, people cannot be deprived of the enjoyment of life and liberty. Throughout history we have seen that these inherent unalienable rights have been challenged and not equally enjoyed by all people.   As such, many tools have been used for oppression, and with the wide spread growth of social media, the tools are constantly evolving.  

As Obama so clearly states, " that those these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executed." 

“Whiteness” a social construct

• A woman whose mother passed as White on the Today show with Megyn Kelly shares how her mother had a lifelong secret.  In the discussion with Megyn, Gail Lukasik reveals the truth to her mother’s secret past. In search for answers about her mother’s heritage, unbeknown to her father, Gail made a startling unpredictable discovery. The story begins when Gail’s parents who married in 1944 shortly after World War II.  Two years later, her parents had their daughter Gail. Gail remembers how her mother mystified herself.  She never talked about her father, Ozimar Frederick.  So Gail took it upon herself and searched the Louisiana Census.  To her amazement next to his name he was labeled as being Black. Upon further investigation, she found her mother’s birth certificate and requested an official letter which explained the abbreviated COL on her mother’s birth certificate. https://youtu.be/oNiEBnOzgVw
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• In her book, White like Her, the author Gail Lukasik explains race as a social construct. Even though she has a mixed race heritage, she identifies as a White woman because she was socialized as a white woman.  Her mother who is Colored passed for White. 
• In Stephanie’s documentary Light Girls she talks about racial passing.  Unfortunately, in this society, the women of color are well aware of the disadvantages and the advantages associated with race.  Therefore, racial passing for Light Girls is an option they chose like Gail Lukasik’s mother. When racial passing for the White race is an option to light girls, the cost of being your true self is sacrificed.  Consequently, the privileges of Whiteness are far greater and outweigh the cost of not being ones’ true self.  This documentary explores the cost of what passing for “whiteness” privilege means. On the down side, passing meant, separation from family, ultimately negating your blackness. On the positive side, it meant having white privilege “unearned assets” that can be cashed in. https://youtu.be/PDns0nLvHW4
• According to the author, Jacqueline Battalora in her book, Birth of a White Nation, she purports that Whiteness did not exist until the end of the 17th century when laws were designed to keep Blacks and Whites separate. Whiteness grew and has evolved to what it is today.  The author Emily Chiarello suggests, the Physical characteristics we now associate with whiteness have been artificially linked to power and privilege for the purpose of maintaining an unjust social hierarchy
• The built in inherited advantage of White privilege “Whiteness” has been recognized by people of color for generations. As the author suggests, the “Real” work needs to be done by White people first recognizing this privilege and identifying how the multiple systems of oppression work, but most importantly responding to the biases of other whites.  By doing the work to dismantle racist institutions, they are creating equity. 
• The pure denial of the privilege continues to protect the very systems of racial injustice.  

Is the Black lives Matter Movement a fruit of the same tree as the Civil Rights Movement?  

• After reading the article Black Lives Matter, I was prompted into thinking about so many interesting facts, such as similarities and differences between the two movements half a century apart.  I didn’t realize the civil rights movement often silenced its women leaders, like Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height, Diane Nash, Recy Taylor and countless others.  Fast forward to where we have a movement whose cofounders Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi have created a Black-centered political movement that has grown to 40 chapters. Consequently, the movements are driven by the same circumstances of inequality.  BLM was started as a hashtag in response to the high profile murder of young unarmed African-American, and the Civil Rights Movement was popularized as a peaceful non-violent movement in response to Jim Crow Laws. 

• The documentary the 13th by Ava Du Verray points out the illegality of slavery except for criminals.  The film suggest there is a loophole in the law that allowed for Blacks to be freed from slavery into mass incarceration.  The film shows how the system continues to protect and preserve the devaluing of the oppressed through mass incarceration, police brutality, and the war on drugs.  
• The prison system is a redevelopment of the Jim Crow laws which becomes reinstated once some one is labeled a felon. There basic rights to housing, employment and food becomes restricted. 
• Statistics shows that the USA has 5% of the world’s population, 40% of which is in prison and 25% of the prison population is Black.  With such a large disparity, does the prison system solve our problems?  There is no rehabilitation in the prison system. 
• The non-violent peaceful movement known to us as civil rights has resulted in Civil rights Act and Voting Rights Act.  The Black Lives Matter movement will too have positive consequences.  Attention needs to brought to critical issues affecting the lives of many.  As long as we are vigilant to having important conversations where the silenced are heard, change is possible, because Black Lives Should Matter, too.   Black Lives Matter is a call to action to help break the shackles of social injustices, because the Civil Rights Act did not do enough to end racial indifferences.  

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