Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School

Readers, something you should know about me, I'm white - like ghost white. I share this because a struggle I always have with helping marginalized groups, is that I'm trying to do the good work without having it appear as charity. So the musings below have to do with some of the work, I'm starting - educating myself through literature by experts in their fields.  This may read as very scattered, there is so much to think about and I am overwhelmed as I write this. Please read and engage in dialogue, we can learn from each other.

Monique W Morris @MoniqueWMorris is the author of the book, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. Throughout the book is I went through a number of emotions: grief, anger (at the system), hopeful, driven, and many more. Morris gave her readers a glimpse of what it means to be a Black girl in many different contexts, especially girls that understand education is powerful tool to help them break through the glass ceiling.

At one point in my read through, Morris brings up the thought, that instead of a regular glass ceiling that many White women experience, Black girls experience a stained glass ceiling. Meaning that that they can see what's beyond, but it's distorted. To that, I make another step, what if the stained glass ceiling has been busted through, things are going well, and we regress, we rebuild the ceiling on top of them? What if this ceiling is not only distorted, but had once been experienced?

I continued to ponder these thoughts and further as I read... How are these happening/why are they happening?

The deck is stacked against our Black girls, even more than their male counterparts. Many classrooms, especially in urban settings are filled with a diverse students and a Caucasian teacher. I know that's not always the case, and for those of you that are reading this and are of Color, thank you. I appreciate your existence and you are a powerful asset to our students. These teachers aren't used to what Morris points out as the Black girl "attitude". What I've learned here is that Black girls can be strong, independent women, and will do whatever they can to advocate for themselves, in particular their education. If a Black girl were to ask multiple questions and begin to raise the tensions, they are not intentionally trying to undermine your authority, or prevent you from teaching them, but rather seek further explanation.

This is something that I actually recently experienced, with a Black male student, but I found it to be a reflective moment after I read this book. My student was asking a question, and would not stop, I was beyond the point of frustration, but then something in me clicked and I began to think, "Have I not answered his question?" After my other students were working on an activity, I went up to him and asked how I could help? It was eye opening! The student just said, "Like, I don't understand. I'm just asking a question." Whoa. Mind blown. We continued our conversation and it provided a teachable moment, I was able to answer the question and then explain why I didn't get to it right away. Then we had more dialogue about how we could improve our communication in the future. I strengthened our relationship. It was so powerful. He smiled and told me "Thank You".

These escalated events don't always happen like mine did. Instead, they push Black girls out of classrooms, into the office, or out the door. Many institutions have a zero tolerance policy on discipline, meaning 1 and done - you're out. This is such a disservice to our students, especially Black girls, because the consequences for being outside of school are far greater than her being a thorn in your side.

"Did they choose to grow up in poverty? Did they choose sexual abuse? Did they choose to get raped, some of them before they could walk? Did they choose to grow up in a world where women and girls are not safe?" (Morris, 2016)

Black girls, live a life I could never imagine. Black girls are targeted for human trafficking. Some live in a world of scarcity, meaning that they don't know when their next meal is coming. This puts them in a place that they need to find someone that can provide. Do you know who can provide? An older "boyfriend", which can become a pimp or a john. These individuals will support the girls for certain favors, but for a price. Typically that price prevents them from going to school, and leads them to selling their bodies, lives of addiction, and juvenile detention centers.

These detention centers are a new home to Black girls that know education is necessary. They find they need to get through their stint and move on, but what systems are in place to help rehabilitate their charges? In the book, Morris interviews many girls and discovers that many things are not in place, one of them being credit recovery. If Black girls leave in the middle of a school year for detention and don't get out until the next year, they may be behind. What? Yes, you read that correctly, they may not be up to standard by the time they return to the general education setting. Other concerns were brought up in the text, those questions related to grade/age-level appropriate curriculum, and what specifically the worth of a credit is. Another situation that can arise, according to the text relates to these girls still living with a zero tolerance discipline plan. This means that regardless behavior, the student may be forced to leave, allowing them to be further behind.

As I look through the Central Iowa Juvenile Detention Center website, I see little about education, but I cannot speak for sure - this requires further investigation.

I feel it's time to close this post. This post was in fact scattered, but some gems may be shared from Morris' work.

A big take away may seem harsh, but ultimately it's beneficial... Teachers, it is all about relationships. We need to get over ourselves, let our students help us create the culture and climate of our classroom.

Yes, I'm guilty of this... every single day, but ultimately, I have found reflection keeps me honest. When it comes to Black girls specifically, we need to be diligent to meet them halfway, we need to try to understand and engage in the dialogue that allows for them to be heard. These voices are too often stifled because they have two points of oppression against them 1. They are Black, 2. They are women. Two strikes in a world that allows them to fail in comparison to their White counterparts. Hold the standard high, force them to keep moving forward, but you better be walking beside them. They need an advocate. In this world of resegregation, we need to ally ourselves with our Black sisters and raise the bar for society. We will, as a mass, break through that ceiling and it will never be rebuilt, and if it does - our work is not done. Push yourself to support these Black girls and understand that they are not your White norm.

With that I leave you with this - What choices will you make to help your students, even the pains in the rear, succeed? Will you strive for excellence, or allow them to fail, without trying again? The ball is in your court, better get moving.

TGZ

For Monique W. Morris' book - https://www.moniquewmorris.me

Monique - you have opened my eyes and for that I am grateful. The pasty, White guy, is going to continue doing the work to benefit our marginalized groups. Thank you.

Morris, M. W. (2015). Pushout The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. New York: New Press.

Inspired to Write - Waterloo Writing Project

This evening I had the opportunity to attend a performance at Sidecar Coffee, a small coffee shop on "The Hill" in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Below are some of my thoughts, not shared as eloquently as WWP, but rather musings from this white guy, that believes in student voice, sharing your world, and recognizing that whatever your feelings are, put the human race first and listen.

Tonight I heard student voice, and through that voice:
I heard - joy, sadness, passion, beauty, feelings of being marginalized.

I heard that a student is an imposter in some of their settings of learning.

I heard love from a sister to another as she was introduced.

I heard that being a woman can be rough.

I heard that the color of skin means a lot, to every side of this messed up equation.

To that I say:
Students you are important, you are valued, you are necessary, YOUR VOICE NEEDS TO BE HEARD. You are talented. You are__________________. And your job is to fill in that blank with whatever you want to be and however you wish to express yourself.

We are Waterloo
We are the Cedar Valley
We are Black Hawk County
We are the state of Iowa
We are the Midwest
We are the USA
We are the World

We are different
We are the same
We are every adjective you can think of, good, bad, on our best and worst days
We are motivated
We are striving for a greater world

I sing because you sing
I play because you play
I write because you have written

Your story needs to be continued to be told
You need to continue pushing boundaries to improve the world
You need to be present
You need to be unique
You need to hold on

Not everyone is what they seem
Not everyone wishes to be unkind
Not everyone is going to understand the first time, be kind in turn, and lead by a strong example

All need to listen
All need to listen
Listen so hard that even the silence speaks, because it does, even louder, through actions and deeds
All need to speak for groups that aren't represented, for groups that aren't heard

To these students again,
Strive to rise above oppression - we are here for you - The glory is us, united as one, fighting as one...

This is nowhere as great as WWP, but I offer you their words, their mission, please seek out this project, and help individuals continue to write.

http://www.waterloowritingproject.com

Sorry again that this is disjunct and perhaps hard to digest. I was so moved and could not find a way to articulate the powerful messages I heard tonight. Reach out, help, and share.

Like them on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/WWP319/

Peace my friends,
TGZ

Programs for Social Justice

Readers,
It has been some time since I last posted and I have a heavy topic to discuss. Social justice is a topic that many throw around to discuss the inequities of our society. Typically those are talked through issues or race, ethnic background, religion, poverty, lifestyle, and a slew of other topics. I recently attended the American Choral Director's Association National Conference and was given the pleasure of attending a session entitled, "A Voice of Reason: Social Justice, the Greater Good, and Why We Sing". This was presented by Dr. Kristina Caswell MacMullen, with the Ohio State University.

Before we get into a thought about religious groups and the negative ideals associated with social justice, we need to first recognize that social justice was originally an effort of the church. The thought of life and dignity for all was important, and the poor and vulnerable were the focus of these groups.

Dr. MacMullen introduced the session to a number of contemporary choruses and their social justice iterations. The two that I will discuss in this post are related to those with a mission related to social justice.

The first that I want to discuss is "The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed" by Joel Thompson. The University of Michigan Men's Glee Club, under the direction of Dr. Eugene Rogers, performed this very powerful work. There are seven specific movements, dedicated to men of color, black men, that had encountered with police and were shot at, or were racially identified. This is truly powerful, because some things that are said, are not what you would expect. One that strikes out to me is, "Mom, I'm going to college." Amadou Diallo, age 23, said those words. This movement opens with a solo, sung by an African American student, with the most simple piano and strings accompaniment. There is no malice. Beautifully sung, the image of peace is present, but clearly is not, was not, in that circumstance.

I have been listening to this on repeat because I think there are a few things that are crucial to society moving on - people make mistakes on either side of race. If you're reading this right now, I need to tell you, I am not well versed on these cases, so cannot speak to them specifically, but can speak to the music performed. Another thing to share is that this is not a cause for a blanket statement that all police men and women are evil, or do not do their jobs, because they do. The idea is to address what police brutality may be out there, or is out there.

The second social justice program, we were introduced to, was the Ohio State University Women's Glee Club. Their program dealt with another hefty issue, one that addresses human trafficking and its implications. When discussing this, I never realized what an issue this actually is. This program was based on a book entitle Girls Like Us by Rachel Lloyd. The concert was entitled "Concert: Freedom". The program was comprised of different pieces to depict the life of an individual that was trafficked, that struggle they endure, and eventually the freedom that can come through perseverance and assistance. Ultimately, the Women's Glee Club raised money through this performance to help remove the brands from women, breaking the shackles of their pimp. This process would allow the individual that was trafficked to go to a tattoo artist and have their brand morphed into a sign of freedom.

Well, there it is. I am daring to venture out, and I'm not entirely prepared for the criticism, but we need to have conversations. Do not assume anything, unless you are assuming the best intention. I want to move forward from here thinking that we instead of dividing, are growing stronger. This forces us to get over ourselves, look past our political affiliations, our racial biases (PS. Everyone has them, even if you don't want to admit it), and do what's best for marginalized groups. If you have privilege, you better use it... because if you don't, the tables may turn and you may be in need of assistance.

Thank you for reading this emotionally charged smattering of words. Be kind, friends.

TGZ

Community, Family, and Life Updates

Hello readers,
Let me set the scene for you - I am currently with my mother, a woman that has been dealt a rough hand, not always been able to play to her strengths, in the hospital. The post surgery recovery has been rough and she has been up here in Mason City for about 24 hours now. I am in scrubs and gloves to protect me from the contagious bacteria that could be in my mothers system.

I set that stage for you because I'm learning a lot about this thing we call being an adult. A couple of weeks ago, I had a fantastic opportunity to attend 7 Habits of Highly Effective People training, offered through the Leader Valley Program. I need to tell all of you, how truly beneficial and life changing that training was. Some of you may know that Stephen Covey researched and pooled resources, creating the 7 habits. These habits are extremely beneficial and the first three - Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, and Put First Things First, put things into perspective for me.

As an educator, I typically put my students, my family, my job, and everything else before me, but that shouldn't be the case. Think to yourself, be brutally honest, how much of what you do is for you? How much of what happens in life, do you have control over. That is the most freeing, yet terrifying prospect we have...

Habits 4-6, relate to our interactions with our colleagues, our families, our friends, and everyone else. They are "Think Win-Win", "Seek 1st to understand, then be understood", and "Synergize". How often when we are working in a collaborative setting do you think about what allows all parties to win? This is definitely not compromise, but rather, it's consensus to a degree. The next habit is very tricky for me... My class sizes are anywhere from 30 to 7- students in a period and it can be hard to take time to truly listen. Active listening is a skill that is necessary for us to get the whole picture and not just snippets. There can be a better chance to students or other adults understanding your side if you listen without planning what your "comeback" or "last word" will be. Synergy is putting things together in a collaborative way. In my classes, we have to work together, otherwise, we cannot make the choral sound we desire/need.

Habit 7, is another struggle for me. Sharpening the saw relates to health, spiritual, mental, physical, and more. This means to not do things in excess, instead budget daily time to take a walk, read a book, meditate, and whatever makes you happy and renews your energy. Dear teachers... the struggle is real... we are at the driver's seat of that struggle bus and we can't get off sometimes... Get an accountability partner, do something! I took the time to leave my house this past weekend, which is rare. I felt so extremely refreshed!

I left that 2 day training, exhausted, mentally and emotionally. It was worth every minute though. I loved it. I have been working on a specific habit as I can to ensure balance within me and my life. Take the time - it is self help, but it is even more related to your lifestyle. Pick up the Seven Habits book that fits you and take some time to make you better.

Thanks for reading my musings... More to come after this hospital visit is over.

TGZ

How to "Close Read" in Chorus

Hello friends!

In the Waterloo Schools, we are fortunate enough to have the accessibility to technology when we need it, and we have recently begun a 1:1 device program with our 6th grade students.

As a Leader in Me Lighthouse School, students lead a lot of their learning and their communications of their learning. Students are expected to run their own conferences. This is done through a binder that has an artifact of learning from their courses, and a reflection of their work in the course so far. They are also expected to meet during Lead Time (homeroom) to discuss the 7 Habits that go with Leader in Me, work to build their binder, and to goal set/check on the progress of those goals.

In an attempt to save paper and costs (music teachers pay out of their budgets for concert programs), I decided I needed to become creative. Instead of having students in 8th grade fill out a formal reflection sheet and have a worksheet to demonstrate their learning/progress, I have decided that students in chorus need to be singing and can record themselves individually singing within a group. On Monday and Tuesday this week, I had students either bring their device to chorus, or use my phone to record them individually singing the Star-Spangled Banner. I wanted to have them sing together as a group, but be able to pick up their specific voice for the recording. After they completed the recording they emailed those to me, I added them to Google Drive, and I shared them with the students.

Today was our day to perform some close reading. After having some MISIC training and working on ways to authentically integrate literacy into the music classroom I think I found a way for it to work. Students were given a set of questions to ask, but had to listen to their own recording 3 specific times. We went to our computer lab and students listened and responded to their recordings. To access that specific assignment, you may view a copy here. As I was instructed by Nancy Lockett, text can be anything and in this case it's a recording that students have to close "read" or rather listen to.

The reactions of students were priceless - many students were ashamed of their recordings, or happy with them, or freaked out saying, "You're not going to like, make us have our parents listen to this, right?" To put their minds at ease, I said, "It's up to you if you want to share that. Is it your best product?" The instant growth mindset moment was awesome! Students are begging to re-record, but that's my goal... To build a sound profile for the students and show the growth with instruction. The more we can help students realize that literacy in a meaningful way is everyone's job. I want to make sure that students become reflective, can articulate effectively, and begin to think critically about performance.

I cannot take the full credit for this... Lauren Fladland from College Community Schools suggested using student devices to record students individually while they sing in a group setting. Kayla Becker, our literacy coach, helped me frame the close reading. James Healy provided the arrangement of the banner. Nancy Lockett and all of the MISIC training team, for pushing me to improve my instruction.

Thanks for reading!
TGZ

Choosing Positive in a Season of Change

Some of my readers may know that I have changed positions. I was teaching 5th and 6th grade band as well as 7th and 8th grade choir at South Tama County Middle School, in Toledo, Iowa. It was a hard choice, but a necessary move to Hoover Middle School in Waterloo, Iowa. I am taking the time to reflect on ways things have changed, what I miss about teaching at STC, and things to be positive about.

The first thing I want to mention is that I am now only vocal music at Hoover Middle School. This has been a welcomed change, as I felt that I was a "jack of all trades and master of none" in my position at STC, but oddly enough... I loved every minute of teaching there. I was able to balance the high school instrumental director, as he was a brass player and a much better percussionist than I would ever be. In that time, we did grow a program, add another grade level to instrumental music, and chose a new book series to use. On the vocal side, I was able to grow the program from 45 to 60/65 strong, that could sing in parts and was willing to sing "serious" repertoire.

I honestly miss working with my direct ELL students, my Native American students, and every other student. I highlight these minority groups, because they offset the majority and I found some interesting questions based on this - why was vocal music primarily a course that Native or Hispanic males elected to be in, but not Caucasian males? In my choir at STC, I only had 1 fully Caucasian student in choir. What does that say about the cultural implications of music? These are questions that I cannot currently answer, as I am no longer there - if anyone else has this issue, please feel free to reach out and share your insight.

Now - the positive changes, the room for growth, and the driving force behind my positivity at Hoover.
- I am the only vocal music teacher in the building, but one of five staff members in the music department, and one of four middle school vocal music teachers in the district. Yes, this is a perk to being part of a larger district, but as a reflective teacher, this allows me the chance to grow as an educator. I receive feedback from our music lead teacher, and I get to work under an administrative team that includes a singer, a former band director (music educator at heart), and, though I haven't quite figured out how to describe him, another grade level administrator that cares that I'm doing well, am respected, and treated as the expert in my field. They have done many a walk through and I'm warming up to having an administrator in my space, holding me accountable, but also driving me to succeed - more importantly, helping me improve my instruction to do what's best for kids.

- In past experiences I have been a skeptic of "Choosing Positive", "Riding the Energy Bus", and other things of that nature, but I am changing. I was once shown the video of a speaker talking about feeding a negative dog, or a positive one... While yes, it is true that we should feed the positive dog, we also need to see what type of food the positive dog is getting. Is the positive dog getting synthetic, artificial food, or organic, homegrown, and well prepared food? We can be positive minded in negative situations, but that means, we have to get our hands dirty, we have to face our problems and come up with solutions. If we don't, then, what's improving? Choose to be positive, but choose to make changes, swallow pride, and realize that the newer teacher may know something beneficial, but also the veteran teacher can speak from experience and work collaboratively to make changes.

- A 10 period day is brutal - this was created to ensure that students can have interventions, band or orchestra, and choir in their daily schedule. My voice is often exhausted, but it's wonderful getting to know all 300 kids I serve and see 3 times a week. My choirs are split by gender 2 days a week and then we come together in a mixed group on Wednesdays. Those days are extremely exhausting, but also, extremely rewarding.

- I am learning to "Keep Calm and Teach Middle School". I am learning that regardless of language spoken, every student can learn. I am reminded that Common Formative Assessments are not the bane of a teacher's existence, but rather a means to identify where the disconnect is between students and their teachers.

- I have different field experience students from the University of Northern Iowa. I am learning that they need to observe, then get their hands dirty. This is what I've wanted for a long time. It allows me to pay back institutions of higher learning, will paying forward to the profession. More to come on this topic.

How is your year going so far? How do you authentically "Choose Positive"? What is one thing you're changing in your teaching this year to do what's best for students?

-TGZ

Educating Activist Allies - Musings from the music teacher

Recently, I've been trying to find my place in this world of education, and the world of music education. I have shared that this past year I have been working with our ESL/ELL teacher Jessica St. John to integrate students that have issues with English into the choral music setting. This is a low stress way of helping, in our case, Spanish speaking students acquire language skills through music. This has been instrumental (pun intended) in my research goals and need to seek an equal educational opportunity for all students. But the story didn't just start there...

My district is very close to Grinnell College, where my husband graduated from. I had the fortune of meeting Dr. Cori Jakubiak, a professor of education, there and the connection was instant. Cori is an academic that began in the classroom. After some talking and some need for connections with K-12 schools, she began attending South Tama County Middle School with her field experience students/volunteers. Cori would hang out in my classroom, while her student volunteers help Ms. St. John with ESL instruction and we spoke rhetoric. She then pushed me to consider looking at Iowa State University's Education for Social Justice Certificate and the PhD program in Social Foundations in Education. While looking at the program, I wasn't totally convinced. In Iowa, the typical teacher education college is the University of Northern Iowa, but... ISU has a fantastic faculty, with a very diverse background!

I was given a book from Cori, written by one of the ISU faculty, Katy Swalwell, entitled Educating Activist Allies - Social Justice Pedagogy with the Suburban and Urban Elite. Whew! That is quite the title, but the reading has been riveting. I am a Caucasian male in my twenties and I struggle with the idea of privilege. I was born with privilege and what does that mean, or what does that require me to do on my own and with my students?

Chapter 1 Why the education of privileged children matters

This chapter discusses the following questions - "How should these students be educated? What happens when we try to educate them in those ways? Why are we asking this question now?"

Swalwell seems to have a great perspective - "privilege(d)" those who possess unearned advantages based upon socially constructed categories.

It seems that the first part of this chapter relates to properly defining privilege and what that means for students/schools. Privileged individuals are those that lack their understanding of their own privilege and the benefits that come with it. This is a packaged deal. Superiority is often a word used to describe those with privilege.

I feel there is a specific need to teaching privileged children, but we as educators need to recognize any privilege we have. Conversations have begun and within my district and I am seeing that students are compared typically to standardized tests of Caucasian students, grades in relation to students across the board, and other factors, but what I'm most concerned about is, are we being true to culture/needs. Yes I believe a student should receive high marks in their coursework, but perhaps the instructional and assessment/feedback giving needs to change.

Many of you know that I am an advocate for standards-based grading/assessment and this renders itself nicely to the model. Many of our students are mom, dad, brother, sister, grandparent and the list goes on... they are the primary care giver in a house, but the typical points-based system we use is used more for punishing a student's behavior than sharing academic progress. I cannot begin to wrap my head around this because many of my Hispanic and Native students live within close quarters to their families, the last thing that do is think about their homework, they instead think about which medications to give their siblings, what time they have to be to work, and so much more.

The reason for the slight rant/vent of moving to a SBG system and even mentioning race and ethnicity, is that in talented and gifted programs, students without privilege are unable to be recognized to receive services. They may not receive high marks on the national standardized test, or be able to receive high marks in a class because of factors they cannot control. Is this just an unfortunate system, or is it deep-rooted in something more?

The purpose of this is post was to begin putting my findings/thoughts on "paper". The next chapter of Swalwell's book relates to Social Justice Education. More to come and let's be real... this post may change before then... Thanks for reading!

Cora Jakubiak's Bio - https://www.grinnell.edu/users/jakubiak
Katy Swalwell's Bio - http://www.education.iastate.edu/people/faculty/faculty/katy-swalwell.html
Katy Swalwell's Book - http://www.amazon.com/Educating-Activist-Allies-Pedagogy-Suburban/dp/0415529468ie=UTF8&keywords=katy%20salwell&qid=1464626477&ref_=sr_1_sc_1&sr=8-1-spell