Teaching Practices for Identity Safe Classrooms

-- Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas, Not In Our School Director

As many of you are gearing up for the new school year, we are highlighting an introduction to creating identity safe classrooms, important teaching practices for valuing diversity and creating inclusive classrooms for immigrant students and all students. This is Part 1 of the 5-part Identity Safety Blog Series, a partnership project of Not In Our Town and the Center for the Collaborative Classroom (CCC). Watch the companion webinar to this collaborative series and read the whole series here.  Later this week we will feature what it means to cultivate diversity as a resource.

The goal of most American teachers is to successfully educate all students, but too many black and Latino students underperform academically and fail to meet their potential. Educating all students well is not only important for the students themselves, but for our nation as a whole. We cannot have a just and democratic society without fully educated citizens.

Among the many remedies for student underperformance, we find didactic teaching aimed at skill remediation and zero-tolerance policies. These remedies have not worked. Disproportionate numbers of low-income students and students of color are pushed out of school and fail to graduate. Our work on identity safe teaching shifts our focus from the deficits of students to an examination of what we do in classrooms that helps them succeed socially and academically.

Identity safe classrooms are those in which teachers strive to ensure that students feel that their social identity is an asset rather than a barrier to success in the classroom, and that they are welcomed, supported, and valued whatever their background.

A Research-Based Approach to Identity Safety

Our work evolved from the body of research on “stereotype threat” done by Claude Steele and colleagues. They wanted to understand why black college students had lower grade point averages than white students with the same ACT scores—at every level. Stereotype threat theory states that people from negatively stereotyped groups may fear, in situations that are relevant to them, that they might “be judged or treated in terms of the stereotype or that [they] might do something that would inadvertently confirm it” (Steele, Spencer & Aronson 2002, p. 389).

Literally hundreds of studies have demonstrated the power of stereotypes to depress human performance. For example, black students performed less well than white students on an intelligence test when it was described as a test of ability. But when the same test was called a game, they did as well as the white students. Studies of women taking math tests had similar results.

In another set of studies, white athletes did better than their black teammates when the task was described as one based on “sports intelligence.” By contrast, the black students performed better than the white athletes when it was described as a “test of natural athletic ability.” (See reducingstereotypethreat.org.)

Our research, the “Stanford Integrated Schools Project” on identity safe teaching practices, explores how to lift the threat to improve success in elementary classrooms. How can teachers reduce the sense of stereotype threat for students whose social identities (race, gender, ethnicity) link them to low school outcomes? Our question: Are there ways to incorporate social and academic practices so students from all backgrounds feel a sense of belonging and purpose in the classroom, so they can fully engage in learning?

What Identity Safe Teaching Looks Like

Our researchers observed in 84 classrooms to document the arrangement of students and materials, the nature of their relationships, the types of questions directed toward students, the presence or absence of cooperative learning activities, the level of student autonomy, and the teachers’ approaches to dealing with misbehavior. We looked for evidence of the use of diverse materials and activities as a resource for teaching, rather than a more color-blind approach that ignores student differences. We discovered a link between identity safe teaching and enhanced student performance. We found:

• Students in higher identity safe classrooms had higher scores on standardized tests than students in lower identity safe classrooms.

• The Student Questionnaire revealed that students from higher identity safe classrooms had an increased liking for school and motivation to learn, liked challenging work, and felt a sense of belonging compared to students from less identity safe classrooms.

This approach is based on the assumption that teaching and learning are social processes that depend on building trusting, positive relationships between teachers and students and among the students—no matter what their social identities.

Social identities are attributes in each of us—whether we are white or black, young or old, rich or poor, gay or straight, Methodist or Muslim, etc. Everyone has multiple social identities. Sometimes, because of our racialized American history, some social identities are linked to school success and others are not. In identity safe classrooms, student diversity becomes a resource for learning.

Identity safe teaching is in stark contrast to schools whose curriculum is high on remediation and low on inspiration, and whose discipline is punitive and based on heavy-handed control that does not promote compassion, responsibility, and problem-solving.

By contrast, identity safe teaching focuses on how what we do affects students’ experience in the classroom. From our research, we learned there is a constellation of things teachers can do that change life in the classroom so that students achieve at higher levels and improve their liking for school, their willingness to work hard, and their feeling of belonging in school. The components of identity safety fall into four major categories: child-centered teaching, cultivating diversity as a resource, classroom relationships, and caring environments. Read how to put the components in practice here and next week we will feature “cultivating diversity as a resource” on our blog.

The components of identity safety are:

1. Child-centered teaching: promotes autonomy, cooperation, and student voice.
2. Cultivating diversity as a resource: teachers provide challenging curriculum and high expectations for all students in the context of the regular and authentic use of diverse materials, ideas, and teaching activities.
3. Classroom relationships: relationships are based on trusting, positive interactions with the teacher and among the students.
4. Caring classroom environments: social skills are taught and practiced to help students care for one another in an emotionally and physically safe classroom.

This blog was co-authored by Dorothy M. Steele, ED.D. Dorothy is co-author of the new book, Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn, and former Executive Director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. She is an early childhood educator who is interested in public schools including teaching practices that are effective for diverse classrooms, alternative assessment processes that inform teaching and learning, and strategies that build inclusive communities of learners in schools. Her work with the Stanford Integrated Schools Project was an attempt to look at these various aspects of schooling in a large urban school district.

Becki Cohn-Vargas, EdD is currently the director of Not In Our School (NIOS), designing curriculum, coaching schools, and producing films and digital media on models for creating safe and inclusive schools that are free of bullying and intolerance at national nonprofit the Working Group. She also teaches online courses on bullying prevention for the University of San Diego. Becki worked in educational settings for over 35 years as a teacher and administrator. She co-authored the book Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn with Dr. Dorothy Steele. The book was published by Corwin Press.

Recommended Lesson Plan:  Educate, Celebrate and Empower:  This one-week immigration community outreach project and lesson plan meets three objectives: 1) to educate students on the experiences of the immigrant population; 2) to celebrate and welcome immigrant students; and 3) to empower all students to implement a social justice project.

We encourage you to take a pledge to stand up to hate, bigotry, and bullying. The American Immigration Council offers free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to #teachimmigration. We also welcome student reviews and contributions to our blog. Email us at teacher@immcouncil.org and follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration.

Start Immigrant Stories with Yourself

We are sharing this article with you and readers of all ages as a starting point for reflecting on one’s own immigrant heritage, no matter how recent or distant. This activity can enrich  classroom and dinner table conversations about immigrants and immigration while deepening understanding and context.

-- Contributed by Michael D’Innocenzo

If you want to appreciate what our new generations of immigrants will contribute to our nation, consider doing a check of your own family “roots.”

All of us in the United States are descended from immigrants. The only questions we need to ask ourselves are:

1. How long ago?

2. What awareness do we have of the journeys of our ancestors?

As a youngster, I thought, for a while, that anyone who had a name that ended in a vowel shared my Italian heritage. But then I learned that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of our early multi-ethnics, combining Dutch ancestry with the “de la noes” of French Huguenot background.

That both a Republican and a Democrat Roosevelt (with Dutch/Huguenot backgrounds) rose to the American presidency (in a still-prevalent “Anglo” society) should receive more emphasis than has been accorded.

FDR (like his 5th cousin Theodore Roosevelt) knew his ancestors arrived in the 1600s, even before New Netherland became New York State.

He also knew that his female ancestors could claim membership not only in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), but also in The Colonial Dames of America.

At a time when the DAR resisted newcomers, describing their ancestors as “colonists” and all others as “immigrants,” FDR offered a striking response:

“Remember, remember always, ladies that all of us, and you and I, especially, are descended from immigrants – and revolutionists!”

John Kennedy’s father did not like to be called “Irish-American;” he asked what it took to be regarded as “American.”

But when Jack sought the presidency he learned what every ethnic person experiences in our nation: no matter how you define yourself, you need to deal with how others see you.

Jack Kennedy increasingly highlighted the heritage his father sought to transcend. If you have not seen the documentary, “Kennedy in Ireland,” it powerfully demonstrates the enormous pride of people in Ireland for one of “their kind.” On that June 1963 visit, President Kennedy said:

“When my great-grandfather left here to become a cooper in East Boston, he carried nothing with him except a strong religious faith and a strong desire for liberty. If he hadn’t left, I would be working at the Albatross Company across the road.”

As his politics moved beyond Boston, President Kennedy wrote a book, appropriately entitled, “A Nation of Immigrants.” When Robert Kennedy added a new introduction after his brother’s assassination, he emphasized: “Our attitude toward immigration reflects our faith in the American ideal. We have always believed it possible for men and women who start at the bottom to rise as far as their talent and energy allow.

Neither race nor creed nor place of birth should affect their chances.”

Frank Sinatra, bolstering FDR during World War II, was awarded a special Oscar for his film song from “The House I Live In.”

“The faces that I see
All races and religions
That’s America to me.”

As I mentioned earlier, one effective way to relish our immigration heritage of diversity with its quests for progress and inclusion is to do some family history checking.

This is not a new idea; but it could be expanded with beneficial results – because those who seek perspectives on their own families are very likely to appreciate the journeys of those who have more recently arrived.

During the 1970s, I had a fellowship at Chicago’s Newberry Library, which specializes in family history studies. As a result of that experience, I developed a college course that was one of the most satisfying I have ever taught.

I called it: “Roots and Beyond: Family and Community in American Society.” The “Chronicle of Higher Education” gave a report on the experiences of those Hofstra students.

Young undergraduates began by doing a brief autobiography of part of their life (often junior or senior high school), then did a grandparent study, followed by examining changing developments in the community to which their families migrated.

Among the many fine results cited in the CHE report was the building of connections across age divides as college students got to know their grandparents better by interviewing them, while also getting perspectives from their contemporaries and other family members. Unanimously, young people came away from their studies with high appreciations of what their elders had done, a sense of where they began, the obstacles and challenges they faced, and the efforts that were expended in order to advance.

By seeking to place their family in the context of their community they also became aware of its demographics and the nature of suburban bonding experiences.

Those young people in that first course in the 1970s achieved much of what the American Historical Association recently said is still lacking in our history classes (and in our society): 1) an ability to foster informed, critical thinking, and 2) to nurture empathetic citizenship.

Every individual and every family can be enriched by doing their own “Roots and Beyond” study. From that is bound to come a deeper appreciation of what fellow citizens have experienced and are newly experiencing as today’s immigrants.

All a teacher needs to do is assemble the stories ready to be written in their classrooms.

This is the final post of a five part series written by esteemed historian, professor, and activist Michael D’Innocenzo and published by Long Island Wins. You can read the entire series here. 

Additional Resources:

• Interested in planning a classroom family heritage and digital storytelling project for the upcoming school year? This lesson plan for K-12 teachers uses digital storytelling to capture immigration stories and family heritage of students.  Digital storytelling on immigration is a powerful way for teachers to create opportunities for “empathetic moments” among students and shape classroom environments while building literacy and writing skills. 

• Want a summer reading guide to the many stories that comprise our American immigrant identity?  Peruse our book reviews for great reads on the immigrant experience.  We welcome guest contributor book reviews.  Please contact us for submission details.  Additionally, consider joining our virtual summer book club on Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream.  We provide the books and the forum FREE for a limited numbers of participants. Sign up today by clicking on the link provided in this interactive flyer.

We offer free lesson plans, resources, book/film reviews, and grants to #teachimmigration. Stay connected! Follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration.

Our Teacher and Community Grants Recipients Inspire Us

The American Immigration Council is pleased to present the outcomes of our 2014-2015 Teacher and Community Grants. The grant program is an initiative to provide educators and community organizers with the resources they need to implement a successful immigration curriculum or an immigration-themed project. Grants are awarded on a bi-annual basis. The deadline for the next grant is June 29, 2015, so it’s not too late to apply by clicking here.

This year’s grant recipients epitomize both facets of our program in that they offer an easily reproducible Common Core aligned curriculum for teaching about immigration in the classroom as well as fulfilling a civic need for immigrants in the local community through the completion of a student-driven, student-led service project. The awardees are teachers Kerri Fenton and Debra Moreau from Joseph A. DePaolo Middle School, Southington, CT and Delia Lancaster from Saint Joseph Catholic School, Palm Bay, FL. We want to share their work with you to inspire similarly creative, engaging, and rigorous learning on immigration in your own classrooms and communities.

Educate, Celebrate, and Empower: This one-week immigration community outreach project and lesson plan developed by Kerri Fenton and Debra Moreau meets three objectives: 1) to educate students on the experiences of the immigrant population; 2) to celebrate and welcome immigrant students; and 3) to empower all students to implement a social justice project.   

Through research, interviews, reflection, and project-based learning, students wrestle with these essential questions over the course of the project: How do immigrants contribute to our school community? How can we create a welcoming school climate for individuals and their families of diverse backgrounds? What are commonalities and distinctions of immigration experiences?

One student wrote empathetically in response to what she learned that “the guest speakers [featured in this project] opened my mind to how hard it is for immigrants to come to a new country (learning the language, adapting to new culture and ways of life).”  

To view the lesson plan, please click here. Schools are encouraged throughout the year to discuss the diverse contributions of immigrants within their own communities. Some ideas are provided at the end of the lesson plan. Adaptations and extensions are encouraged.  

To read the students’ book review of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival we published, please click here.

Students creating "Welcoming Brochures" using Google Docs

Health First, Protections for Migrant Workers: This video and service-project created by Delia Lancaster brings awareness and assistance to those persons who perform the “unseen” and risky jobs of bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to our tables. As teacher Delia Lancaster says, “What began as a grant funding a simple video project, turned into a significant fundraising and service project, after our students learned of the extreme conditions faced by farm workers who live and work within twenty miles from our own comfortable homes.”  As the students researched, learned, and questioned the community that served them just 20 miles away, they became more invested and engaged to “do something.”  

Projects like these can happen organically, when students, teachers, and community members recognize an unmet need and feel compelled to act. This is the heart of social justice and service-learning in action. Take a cue from these students, Ms. Lancaster, and the Saint Joseph Catholic School community for a model of an immigrant-based, service-learning project by learning more about what ended up being a year-long project here.

To watch a short video of their first semester where students interviewed community members and created a news broadcast, please click here.

To watch a follow-up video of their second semester where students initiated and completed a fundraising drive for badly-needed toiletry items, please click here. 

As a result of their health care drive, students collected 258 hair care products, 507 dental care products, 475 body care products, 22 bottles of sunscreen 146 sticks of deodorant, 20 wide-brimmed hats, 30 pairs of sunglasses, and an assortment of baby products.

Top Photo Adults Pictured from Left to Right: Delia Lancaster, Art Teacher & Enrichment Facilitator, Saint Joseph Catholic School; Colette Heid, Communications Director, Treasure Coast Community Health; Moses Santos, Outreach Director, Treasure Coast Community Health; Claudia Stokes, Principal, Saint Joseph Catholic School

Treasure Coast Community Health Center is a non-profit organization that provides medical, dental and mental health services for people who could otherwise not afford those services. You can visit their website at www.tcchinc.org

Our lesson, Interpreting the Impact of Cesar Chavez’s Early Years, is primary-source, Common-Core aligned lesson that asks students to analyze how Chavez’s own words and early life experiences led to his later achievements that features the news broadcast produced by Saint Joseph Academy students and is an excellent model for social justice in action today.

We invite book reviews written by teachers or students and we offer free lesson plans, resources, and grants to #teachimmigration. Stay connected! Follow us on twitter @ThnkImmigration