Considered
by many to be the father of the common school movement, Horace Mann believed the
public education system should be “common in the highest sense, as the air and
light were common; because it was not
only the cheapest but the best, not only accessible to all, but as a
general rule, enjoyed by all” (Reese, 2005, p. 11). By satisfying every students’ basic needs an
effective teacher leader addresses the need for intrinsic motivation. Thereafter, the school’s core beliefs and
core values can promote capitalization of interest and relevance, providing
realistic choices among tasks, teaching skills necessary for success, focusing
on mastery, helping students set appropriate goals, providing appropriate
feedback, limiting use of external constraints in teaching, and fostering
relatedness in the classroom.
This
is a perfect rationale for promoting culturally
responsive teaching practices. Teacher leaders need to advocate for the currently unheard
voices of their students. A social justice mindset
recognizes social conditions creating an opportunity gap are leading
indicators in education and must be addressed if we ever want to truly mitigate
the trailing indicator known as the achievement gap. To various extent, teacher
preparation standards
implicitly encourage culturally responsive teaching practices. For instance, a
teacher may be expected to:
·
Connect
disciplinary knowledge to other subject areas and to everyday life;
·
Link
new ideas to familiar ideas: making connections to a student's experiences;
·
Use
a student's thinking and experiences as a resource in planning instructional activities;
·
Understand
how a student's learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, and
prior learning, as well as language, culture, family, and community values;
·
Understand
how to recognize and deal with dehumanizing biases, discrimination, prejudices,
and institutional and personal racism and sexism;
·
Understand
cultural and community diversity, knowing how to learn about and incorporate a
student's experiences, cultures, and community resources into instruction;
·
Know
about community and cultural norms
For
this discussion, it is crucial to recognize
Bloom’s taxonomy (1949) rates
understanding and remembering as lower-order thinking skills (LOTS). It is time for teacher candidates and
practicing teachers to be able to evaluate systemic racism and actively create
lessons that name, claim, and eliminate systemic racism by synthesizing
community dynamics and best practices for promoting social justice. Evaluating, creating, and synthesizing
require higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). To promote high expectations,
develop critical thinking skills, and achieve the learning for all mission,
teachers should plan more HOTS rather than LOTS.
The teaching force in the United
States is mostly white and female. This
is true even in minority-based communities.
Regardless of race or composition of the community, it is time to expect
all teachers to explicitly describe how they plan to bring multiple
perspectives to subject matter discussions, including how they will attend to
diverse student's personal, family, and community experiences and cultural
norms.
Systemic racism impacts
opportunities for inclusive educational practices and the over-representation
of minority-populations endemic in special education. As life-long learners, teachers need to become
competent in developing effective instruction that includes modeling, practice,
feedback, and reinforcement (Joyce & Showers, 2002). In relation to addressing systemic racism,
administrators need to support development of professional
learning communities
(PLC) designed to help teachers transition from providing LOTS to planning for HOTS. Through effective collaboration, the PLC not only can
examine school climate using the Five P structure based on Invitational
Education theory (Schmidt, 2007) but create direct
teaching that will address inequality and systemic racism.
Systemic
inequality based on racism, the original sin
of these United States, will not be adequately addressed by having one-month
a year dedicated to a race’s history. The
240-years old systems of oppression and culture of hate that began with
acceptance or compromise of slavery by many of the Constitution’s Founding
Fathers
needs to be honestly discussed and openly addressed. “The ultimate tragedy is
not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but by the silence over that
by the good people” (M.L. King Jr.,
1963).
Racism
is grounded in hate. Therefore, when a
society fails to address systemic racism it encourages hatred. Where can teachers and ALL stakeholders
begin? Use your voice and advocacy to lead with love!
Accept
the following challenge:
Begin each day by reflecting upon how you will
treat others the way you expect to be treated: With love! Further reflect upon
the tenets of love, for instance as described in 1 COR 13:4-7: Love is patient and kind. Love is NOT prone to jealousy,
pettiness, or anger. Love does NOT enjoy bad things. It does NOT exhibit
rudeness, selfishness, or resentment.
Love seeks the good within people and the truth in things. Love willingly invites forgiveness, trust, hope, and the desire to endure...
Love seeks the good within people and the truth in things. Love willingly invites forgiveness, trust, hope, and the desire to endure...
Then, commit to exhibiting these tenets
throughout the balance of the day. As in
all things, you will not exhibit perfection. However, intentional planning to
exhibit love-based actions today adds a concrete plan to your perfect goal. The result will be YOU being more ready to communicate based on love.
When leading with love we invite others to reach
their human potential. We communicate
the antithesis to hate-based systemic racism. We thereby make better possible.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Be well.
To
cite:
Anderson,
C.J. (May 31, 2020) Leading with love:
Being culturally responsive requires addressing systemic racism.
References:
Joyce,
B.R. & Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement through staff development.
Arlington, VA: ASCD. ISBN: 0871206749
Schmidt, J. J.
(2007). Elements of diversity in invitational practice and research. Journal
of Invitational Theory &
Practice, 13,
16-23. Retrieved from:
