Understanding culture: cultural responsibility

Zion (2005) quotes Delpit (1995) "As Lisa Delpit has said, our schools are teaching “other people’s children” and they are unprepared for the complexities of the task" (p.2). 
This is an a-ha moment for me.  Yes, we are teaching 'other people's children' and we are totally unprepared.  I had a meeting with a young teacher yesterday who is struggling with one of her NE students.  I have had an email from her principal and have had further contact with her as the teacher left the meeting feeling really overwhelmed and maybe a bit 'got at'.  This is really good learning for me as I didn't fully appreciate just how bad the teacher was feeling.  The principal suggested that I ascertain how she felt towards the end of the meeting.  This is a good point and I will endeavour to do that.  Here is what I am reflecting on:
  1. My lack of experience with 5 year olds,
  2. My lack of experience of knowing how severe is severe behaviour,
  3. Forgetting how it is to be a young teacher feeling overwhelmed (she has said in the referral that she feels anxious and she did break down at our meeting),
  4. The school is putting some awhi around this teacher,
  5. We said we could provide half an hour's TA time per day but the principal queried where we came up with that figure and that the plan was really loose.  This is true, we haven't had the planning meeting and it is loose.  This is why we follow the practice sequence and the meeting we had strayed loosely into the planning phase.  I did query this with a colleague who did join our meeting.
Where to next?  Have a meeting with the practice leader around whether this is case for severe behaviour and accelerate it to that level.  Get her to help me draft some really tight goals to help this teacher.  Can we put more time into this classroom to support the teacher?  Ask the teacher for feedback on the meeting and her suggestions for me.

 How does this link back to the initial quote?
As an RTLB, we are working with the people who are teaching other people's children and I have been reminded of how complex the task is and how unprepared I am for the complexities of this task.  A really good reminder for me about keeping my feet on the ground and the teachers in the forefront.  As another aside, I spent a lot of time in supervision in my last job unpacking me and my reactions to things.  The me prior to this would have beaten myself up over this but I have my mantra: 'I know what I am doing and I am good at my job' and I recognise this as an opportunity to not beat myself up but to use it to grow my practise.
References:

Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children. New York: The New Press. 
Zion, S. (2005). Understanding culture: On Point 1. Arizona: National Institute for Urban School Improvement, Arizona University.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Medical vs social model of disability

Medical model: From Independent Living and the Medical Model of Disability by Simon Brisenden (1986) disabled people's opinions not generally considered as valid as the opinion of medical 'experts' have to get to the real person inside the disability, not the disabled, but disabled people or people with disabilities, using the term 'the disabled' depersonalises and denies their right to be seen as unique, the terms 'the disabled',  'spina bifida', 'tetraplegic', 'muscular dystrophy', - terminology that throws away all the important things about disabled people (p2), mistaken belief that by asking questions about the nature of a person's disability then you can learn about their life - this assumes that the person is defined by their disability.  In reality, this way of educating med students helps to foster an image which is negative and disabling in itself, and all under the guise of an objective scientific enquiry. (p 3)...
Read more

Interprofessional Practice

From: Mentis, M., Kearney, A., & Bevan-Brown, J. (2012). Interprofessional learning and its contribution to inclusive education.  Teaching in inclusive school communities , 295-311. Interprofessional Practice (IPP) involves professionals learning with, from and about each other in order to generate a shared understanding that allows for collaboration. Fits in with NZ Disability Strategy  NZ Disability where it  discusses making sure there is the right evidence at the right time to inform decisions.  In fact, it says this is critical.  Discussing, planning, problem-solving, debating, sharing and inquiring are the same skills that are needed when practicing together. Definitions: IPL - Interprofessional Learning - overarching term' includes IPE (Interprofessional Education) and IPP (Interprofessional Practice). IPE - Professionals from two or more areas work together.  Learn with (same learning environment, curriculum and content), from (interacting...
Read more

The Hikairo Rationale

Image
bicultural approach to working with students who present with challenging behaviour, incorporates Māori and Western concepts and values, core concept is is aroha in all its aspects (compassion, empathy, responsiveness and concern), This is a table I made of the 7 domains (sorry it is hard to read!). I am going to use this as a basis for a checklist type resource to use with a teacher for a case I am working. References: Macfarlane, A., Glynn, T., Cavanagh, T., & Bateman, S. (2007). Creating culturally-safe schools for Māori students. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , 36 (1), 65-76.
Read more