Week Three #cyberPD: Taking Care of Each Other

"Kids bring an incredible sense of empathy and justice to this world.  They understand fairness at an early age, and are often the members of our society who feel and show an organic wonder and compassion for others (p. 119),"  - Sara K. Ahmed

Wow, how did we get to the final week so fast???  Following you'll find my reflections of chapters five and six.  Please take a minute to stop by the #cyberPD community to see all that is being shared.  On Wednesday, we will have our final conversation on Twitter.  Join us to discuss Being the Change by Sara K. Ahmed.

Taking Care of Each Other
In my last school, our building team simplified our community conversations to:

1. We take care of ourselves.
2. We take care of each other.
3. We take care of this place.  

As I read Sara's last chapters, I thought about how much these three simple statements work in moving conversations from identity to understanding to obligation.  It is the first statement that allows children the opportunity to learn about their own identity and understand how their identity might impact the messages they send and receive.  It is the second statement that begins to move toward the idea of learning to see things from another perspective and working to understand our universe of obligation.  How do we take care of one another?  

Three Take-Aways  

• There is a difference between intent and impact.  "The work of social comprehension requires us to be mindful not only of what we mean to say, but how we say it, and how the messages we send (intentional or not) impact others (p. 131)," Sara reminds.  I can think of many instances of working to mediate a disagreement between peers when one student has difficulty understanding the impact of their words on another.  Having these conversations around characters and situations that are distanced from a heated moment might help students take a step back and hear the way their words have impacted another.  
• We need to understand our obligation to others.  The idea of intent vs. impact has its greatest benefit when we can step back before something is said or done because we begin to understand the power of words and the way the identity of others can filter those.  These conversations begin in our classrooms, extend to our school communities, and then reach out into the world.  
• Find ways to move beyond a single story.  The first time I heard Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Danger of a Single Story I knew I had been forever changed.  If our experience is limited, we become even more vulnerable to making assumptions and creating single stories.  Conversations, social media, literature, and news all can help to move us past single stories.  In today's world, we have to work to see things from multiple points of view.  Sara's last chapter gave many suggestions for becoming "more compassionate observers of the world (p. 140)" and moving past this idea of a single story including being mindful of the identities of others, getting closer to the human story, being an authentic listener, moving beyond your community, and staying open to a stance of learning.  

Two Questions

• What are some possible news stories that learners at a variety of ages might be able to view from multiple sides (like her Cleveland example)?  As I read I wondered what might be some examples for younger learners, and what other possibilities might open these conversations for older students.  While I believe literature would also help students to look at both sides of a situation, I liked the way the news stepped students into the world and pushes thinking toward our obligation beyond our community.
• How do these conversations evolve in our K-5 communities?  

One Important Next Step

• Thinking through different lessons that might accomplish these same objectives.  Sara has shared smart examples of getting started in growing these conversations.  It seems it would be helpful to think through layers of possibility for growing social comprehension in our students.  

Week 2 #cyberPD: Creating Space for "Their News"

It's the second week for #cyberPD.  Our community is reflecting on chapters 3 and 4 of Sara K. Ahmed's, Being the Change.  You can stop by our #cyberPD Google Community to read reflections from other members.  Believe me, it's worth a click.  You can also follow the conversation on Twitter:  #cyberPD.

First of all, I have to say that I'm still working my way through posts from all of you.  Each stop, each new perspective, gives me more to think about.  This is a timely topic.  I suppose, in a sense, we are practicing what Sara talks about in her book as we read through each chapter using our identities as educators to synthesize information.  Where we are, the students we learn beside, the news that comes into our classroom, impacts our thinking as we read.  Here is our schedule:

Being the Change
For me, chapter 3 and 4 brought to mind the difference between my time alongside sixth graders and my time alongside first graders.  I appreciated the way chapter three addressed identifying our own biases and how the biases of others may impact us, and then chapter four moved into thinking through "news."  When I taught sixth grade, the news walked into our room every day.  Students were paying attention to what was happening in the world and beginning to shape their opinions.  The combination of my content, language arts and social studies, certainly kept the conversation flowing.  As a first grade teacher, the news that came into the room was often about the students.  "I lost my tooth last night."  "My grandma is coming."  "My friend is coming over today after school."  That's why I appreciated Sara's distinction of "their news" and "the news."  Even when my sixth graders walked into the classroom with "the news" it was always their version.

Three Take-Aways

• Growing an awareness of personal bias can help us to think more about our words and actions.  "It is often the hidden, unintentional forms of bias that are really damaging to marginalized individuals (p. 74)," Sara Ahmed.  This statement is one that will stay with me.  Across my career, I've worked to understand the perspectives of others and be aware of my own bias, but I also know we don't always know what we don't know.  I think about the impact of reading blogs, news, nonfiction and fiction in helping me to understand different perspectives.  The same is true for our students (chapter 4 really speaks to these possibilities).  
• This work is important in "making the implicit explicit (p.79)."  As a primary teacher, I learned a lot about making thinking more concrete for students.  These opportunities Sara shares across chapters allow students to make their thinking more concrete.  I've been thinking about the ways these opportunities might look different across grade levels.
• There's power in conversations about "their news."  When I think about primary students especially, I think about how some students will hear more news than others.  By allowing students to work through "their news," it keeps the conversation about how it impacts them and allows them to determine the action they plan to take.  In classrooms with older students, this can help ease difficult conversations as students consider news from different perspectives.  Sara illustrates how, through listening, we can open doors for students to work through their news and come to their own conclusions (keeping our "personal crusader capes at the door [p. 109]").  At any level, I appreciate the reminder of the power of a pause.  

Two Questions

• What literature might illustrate the way a character is impacted by "news" and takes some kind of action?  
• How might this work look across grade levels?

One Important Next Step

• I'm headed back to Opening Minds by Peter Johnston.  Every chapter I read reminds me so much of the #cyberPD conversations we had with his work in 2012.  After rereading my posts from that year, I realize what a great companion these two texts are in growing the social comprehension of our students.  
• Opening Minds #cyberPD Begins Today
• Changing My Frame:  Opening Minds #cyberPD (Part 2)
• Building a Community of Learners:  #cyberPD (Part 3)
• Listening - Really Listening #cyberPD Final Thoughts

Week One #cyberPD: Creating Spaces for Safe Conversations

"We will give ourselves permission to create learning conditions where kids can ask questions they want to ask, muddle through how to say the things they are thinking, and have tough conversations (p. 23)."    - Sara K. Ahmed 

This is always the time of the year that I'm shifting my thinking to the new school year.  Each new year brings an opportunity for a fresh start with a new community.  This week's #cyberPD reading of Being the Change by Sara Ahmed, is perfect for thinking through those first six weeks as we shape our learning community together.

Her first two chapters, Exploring Our Identities and Listening with Love, help set the tone for the way a community will listen and take care of one another across the year.  In the first chapter, Exploring Our Identities, Sara shares ways students can get to know themselves better.  Of course, as students share about their identities it creates an opportunity for community members to learn about one another as well.  It is in understanding the stories of their friends that they will build the foundation for learning to listen with love.  The first weeks of school are the perfect time to, not only get to know one another but also, learn the strategies for discourse in the classroom.  These first careful steps can help to make our learning communities safe places for difficult conversation.

Three Take-Aways

• Developing social comprehension helps us to move past the idea of a single story.  
• It's important to be intentional about maintaining a stance of curiosity and open-mindedness. 
• "We can develop skills and habits to help us comprehend social issues and participate in relevant, transparent conversations (p. 25)."  

Two Questions

• In learning communities where students are of similar culture and background, what are some ways we can grow the understanding of those beyond our classroom? 
• How does the thinking around social comprehension (Ahmed) align with our previous #cyberPD conversation of social imagery shared in Opening Minds by Peter Johnston?  (I want to go back and look at my old notes to think more about this.)

One Important Next Step

• Grow my library of pictures books for building identity. 

More About #cyberPD

Want to know more about #cyberPD?  Stop by my previous post:  Are You Ready for #cyberPD?  

Drumroll Please: The July #cyberPD Professional Read Is....

Today's the big reveal.

Honestly, I'm surprised Michelle and I were able to select a book from everyone's stack as quickly as we did.  Afterall, there are so many amazing professional books out right now.  My summer stack is tall and, by the look of everyone else's stacks, many #cyberPD community members have some tall stacks too.  Interestingly, there was one book that showed up often.  One book that seemed to stand out as a good match for the current times.  When Michelle said to me, "I think it's the book that will really stretch us."  I knew she was right.

As we talked, we felt this book was also a good match for educators across grade levels and content areas.  As we talked, we reflected on the books that have seemed to have had the greatest impact on our community; it seems it has always been the books that take us a bit out of our comfort zone.  With the world being the tricky place that it is right now, we hope our community members will agree that this is the right time for this book.

So...you're asking...what's the book?

You're thinking....get on with it already!

You're right.  I'm taking much too long to share the good news with you.  For this year's #cyberPD community booktalk, we'll be reading Being the Change:  Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara K. Ahmed.

If you've joined us before, you know you have a bit of time to purchase your book.  The book, as always, is divided into three parts for our reading, reflection, and conversation.  If you haven't joined us before, we hope you will.  Stop by our Google Community to be a part of this summer learning experience.

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to Michelle Nero (@litlearningzone) or me (@cathymere).  We're happy to answer any questions you may have.

Looking forward to our July conversation.