Kono July 19th Facilitation

Ladson-Billings (p. 36) “Teachers who foster cultural competence understand that they must work back and forth between the lives of their students and the life of the school.”

What does mean in terms of our practice, in your opinion? What does it mean to work back and forth between these two aspects of the educational experience? It just seems that we have heard of our responsibility to bridge this gap, but what this means at an explicit and methodical level is still unclear and I wonder where we go and what we do with the theory as we try to “put it into practice.”

Perry (p. 3) “What are the extra psychosocial and cognitive competencies that are required of African Americans, precisely because they are African-American, in order for them to achieve at high levels in school?”

As we read through the narratives that Perry chronicles about the African-American philosophy of education, what experiences do you bring to your teaching that allows, or rather enhances your ability to understand the implications outlined in the quote above? What role does the race of the teacher (you) play in your teaching of students of color in the context of Perry’s writing?

Suarez-Orozco (p. 432) “Latino immigrants…report feeling discriminated against by their teachers, who are placed disproportionately into lower-track and special needs classes, and who cite a sense of rejection by the school as an important reason for dropping out.”

At least two of these things are somewhat controllable by teachers, so what do we do to actively engage these issues at a direct level with our students? As we read the research by Suarez-Orozco, what do you believe are the roles of teachers in our education of Latino students? Also, what effect does the race of the teacher have on pedagogy in our classrooms?