“How Students learn, How Teachers Teach, and
How Administrators serve as Literacy Leaders:
An Extreme Makeover for Preparing Minority
Students for the 21st Century. ”
Presented by:
Yoany Beldarrain, Instructional Leader
Tammy Hinson, English Instructor
Florida Virtual School
2007 FASCD Conference
Orlando, Florida
Introduction
If students were distributed evenly across the nations’
classrooms, every class of 30 students would include about
10 students from ethnic or racial minority groups. Of these
10, about 6 would be from language minority families (homes
in which languages other than English are spoken); 2-4 of
these students would have limited English proficiency (LEP),
of whom 2 would be from immigrant families. Of the 6
language minority students in the class, 4 would speak
Spanish as their native language, and 1 would speak an
Asian language. The other language minority student would
speak any one of more than a hundred languages.
Of the 30 students in this hypothetical class, 10 (including
nearly all of the language minority students) would be
poor. The neighborhoods where poor children live are
likely to be beset with multiple problems--inadequate
health, social, and cultural services; insufficient
employment opportunities; crime, drugs, and gang activity.
Their families are likely to suffer the emotional stresses
associated with poverty, and parents are likely to worry
about their children's safety in a dangerous environment
and about their future with few positive prospects.
Overview- The Extreme
Makeover…
This presentation will provide a
framework for providing reading
instruction to minority students.
Furthermore, it will provide
strategies for teachers to use that
will help these students think
critically and function socially as
they come of age and define their
place in the 21st Century.
In addition, participants will engage in
hands-on activities that will help them
to become more culturally responsive
to the literacy needs of minority
students and to help foster those
academic and social identities that
will allow them to develop a
symphony of skills for living in the
21st Century.
Objectives:
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Understand why we need to give special
attention to the literacy of minority students.
Use strategies for increasing the standardized
test scores of minorities.
Select text materials that empower and engage
minorities.
Understand what it means to be a “culturally
responsive” teacher.
Implement research-based literacy strategies
that work with minorities.
“Teacher InquIry”
Culture Counts…
Id, Ego, and Superego
i am overwhelmed with inadequacies
And i
Fear inadequacy
And i
Suffer from the reality of inadequacy
While i
Deny inadequacy.
Then i
Cry inadequacy
But i
Buy inadequacy
As it is pedaled by the meritocracy
Who tell me i am inadequate,
Poem taken from…
And i believe.
www.edchange.org/multicultural
voices/p_2007id.html
Culture Counts…
REFLECTIONS…
Using the poem as a guide, discuss these questions
with the person sitting next to you…
Is there a divide between in-school and out-of-school
literacies of minority students? How early in life do you
think minority students conclude that “traditional
American education” is indifferent to their existence?
VIDEO CLIP- Freedom Writers
How does the clip from the movie reflect the meaning of the poem
Id, Ego, and Superego?
Culture Counts….
Alfred Tatum’s 4 C’s for creating a
curriculum that fosters multiculturalism:

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
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Compassion
Competence
Commitment
Cultural Responsiveness
CAN YOUR CLASSROOM, YOUR SCHOOL, or YOUR
DISTRICT EQUIP MINORITY STUDENTS FOR THE
21st CENTURY IN THE FACE OF NATIONAL
LEGISLATION?
The 4 C’s
Brainstorm:
 Create
a partnership with someone from another
school or district and discuss with this person
strategies that a teacher and an administrator
could use to model culturally responsive
pedagogy?
 Can
your classroom, your school, or your district
equip minority students for the 21st century in the
face of national legislation?
How Administrators serve as
Literacy Leaders
A newly defined role:
1. Instructional leadership
2. Coaching
3. Professional Development
The Culture of Florida Virtual
School: A Symphony of Skills
Bringing out-of-school literacies in the
classroom for students.
 Going beyond Skill and Strategy
Instruction.
 Strengthening Concepts of Reading
 Teaching Students Responsibility

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Setting high expectations and supporting
these expectations in a nurturing
environment.
Ongoing professional Development for
Administrators, Teachers, and Staff
Use of Cutting Edge Technology to prepare
students and teachers for 21rst Century
Learning
Culturally Responsive
Teachers…
Know their students & the subject
matter they teach.
 Place learning in a meaningful context.
 Help students understand more about
themselves and about the world.
 Use literacy that is culturally relevant
and speaks to their students’
experiences.

Culturally Responsive
Teachers…
Help students understand society’s
perception of who they are while
helping students define who they want
to become.
 Establish trusting relationships and
feelings of kinship.
 Understand the lived experiences of
their students and how their students
respond to these experiences.

Culturally Responsive
Teachers…
Connect, as best as they can, students’
in-school lives with their out-of-school
lives.
 Understand their role as being broader
than just helping students do well on
tests.
 Understand cultural specific behaviors.

Culturally Responsive
Teachers…
Plan instruction and assessment with a
rich audit of who students are.
 Focus instruction on helping students
develop strategies and hope for
overcoming academic and societal
barriers.

Culturally Responsive
Teachers…
Culturally Responsive Teachers:
Know their students and the subject matter they teach.
Place Learning In a Meaningful Context.
Help students understand more about themselves and
more about the world.
Use literature that is culturally relevant and that speaks
to their students’ experiences.
Help students understand society’s perception of who
they are while helping students t define who they want
to become.
Establish trusting relationships and feelings of kinship.
Understand the lived experiences of their students and
how their students respond to these experiences.
Connect, as best as they can, students’ in –school lives
with their out-of-school lives.
Understand their role as being broader than just helping
students do well on tests.
Understand cultural specific behaviors.
Plan instruction and assessment with a rich audit of
who the students are.
Focus instruction on helping students develop strategies
and hope for overcoming academic and societal barriers
Always
Sometimes
Never
Changing Expectations
Shifting from remedial education to high
standards and expectations for all….
Video Clip-Mona Lisa Smiles
Discussion Topic:
How does the teacher in this video clip change
expectations and motivate her students to become more
that what was expected of them?
A Shift in Pedagogy…
Video Clip
“Akeelah & the Bee”
A Shift in Pedagogy
How did the teacher in this film change the
traditional approach of instruction to help
Akeelah define meaning for herself? How
did Dr. Larabee build on and support
Akeelah’s desire for success?
Changing your Pedagogy…
Teacher: How does my literacy
instruction affect minority students in
my class whose out-of-school literacies
over power their in-school-literacies?
Administrator: How do I support my
teachers to ensure that they are placing
learning in a meaningful context for all
students?
A Shift in Pedagogy
FLVS NEHS hosts an
online African
American Read-In…
Sponsors:
D. Hernandez & M. Keller
Guest readers and speakers from the
business and academic communities
over the USA share with students their
favorite African American Writings and
authors. Time periods covered range
from Early Slavery to Modern Day.
Meeting the Literacy Needs
of Minority Students…
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Establish a broader definition of literacy
instruction that guides the selection of course
material.
Discuss texts and topics in culturally responsive
ways.
Identify texts that balance the out-of-school
literacy overload.
Examine your disposition toward using
multicultural texts and content with minority
students.
(Tatum, 2005)
~activity~
Tapping Into Students’
Funds of Knowledge
Literacy must focus on skill and strategy knowledge,
content knowledge, and identity development.
(McGowan, 2005)
A Model Lesson for Culturally Responsive
Teaching…
Learning is a social process, influenced by
culture…
Funds of Knowledge…
“Students benefit when they can extend
the ideas contained in texts into their
own lives”
(Tatum, 2005).
Activity:
Luther and
“MY Man Blue”
Funds of Knowledge
After viewing Luther’s video “Dance
with my Father” and listening to “My
Man Blue”, how does Damon’s
relationship with Blue differ from those
relationships portrayed in Luther’s
video? How is it the same?
 Compare and contrast your relationship
with your father to that of either Damon
& Blue or those portrayed in the
video…or both.

Changing Expectations Means
Transforming Schools and
Schooling…
Student-Centered Pedagogy
•The experiences of students must be brought to the
fore in the classroom, making learning more active,
interactive, and engaging.
•Traditional teaching approaches and pedagogical
models must be deconstructed to examine how they are
contributing to and supporting institutional systems of
oppression.
•Known oppressive practices like tracking (even if
informal) must be exposed and critically examined.
Student-Centered Pedagogy
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All aspects of teaching and learning in
schools must be refocused on, and
rededicated to, the students themselves
instead of standardized test scores and
school rankings.
Emphasis should be put on critical and
creative thinking, and deep social
awareness. They must be able to compete in
a global marketplace.
Student-Centered Pedagogy
•
Pedagogy must provide all students
with equal potential to reach their
potential as learners.
•
Pedagogy must be flexible enough to
allow for the diversity of learning styles
present in every classroom.
Changing Expectations Means
Transforming Schools and Schooling…
Multicultural Curriculum
•All curricula must be studied for
accuracy and completeness.
•All subjects must be told from diverse
perspectives -- this is related to accuracy
and completeness.
•"Inclusive curriculum" also means
including the voices of the students in
the classroom.
Multicultural Curriculum
•
•
Concepts such as "the canon" and
"classic literature" must be
reconceptualized, again with the idea of
accuracy and completeness, to debunk
the perception that the only great
literature came from the U.S. and
England.
Curricula should reflect the diversity of
learning styles in every classroom.
Changing Expectations Means
Transforming Schools and
Schooling…
Inclusive Educational Media and Materials
•Educational materials should be inclusive of
diverse voices and perspectives.
•Students must be encouraged to think critically
about materials and media: Whose voice are they
hearing? Whose voice are they not hearing? Why
did that company produce that film? What is the
bias this author may bring to her or his writing?
2000 American Anthropological Association. This information was cited in the December 2000 issue of
Anthropology and Education Quarterly (31:4).
Supportive School and
Classroom Climate
•
Teachers must be better prepared to foster a
positive classroom climate for ALL students.
•
Overall school cultures must be closely
examined to determine how they might be
cycling and supporting oppressive societal
conditions.
Supportive School and
Classroom Climate

Administrative hierarchies in schools
must be examined to assess whether
they produce positive teaching
environments for all teachers.
A Literacy Leader’s Perspective
Supporting Teachers and Minority Students
A Blueprint for Success.
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Establish, implement, and achieve academic standards
that prepare students for the 21st Century.
Be an instructional resource for your staff (get the
curriculum needed to help the teacher reach these
students. Write grants, seek donations from business
partners, host school-wide fundraisers, etc.)
Create a learning-oriented school culture and climate .
Communicate your school’s vision and mission to staff
and students in culturally responsive ways.
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Set high expectations for your staff and yourself.
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Develop teacher leaders (allow teachers to share
their expertise and “what works” with their
colleagues and teammates).
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Develop and maintain positive relationships with
students, staff, and parents- Compassion leads to
the motivation that fosters SUCCESS!
Taken from: Seven Steps to Effective Instructional Leadership by Elaine
K. McEwan
Activity…
Grandfather’s Journey
By Allen Say
Resources

Gay, G. (1995). Bridging multicultural theory and
practice. Multicultural Education, 3(1), 4-9.
Lyons, C., and Pinnell, G.S. 200l. Systems for
Change in Literacy Education: A Guide to
Professional Development. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann.
Tatum, A. W. 2005. Teaching Reading to Black
Adolescent Males: Closing the Achievement Gap.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Parking Lot!
Questions, Answers & Kudos…
Contact Information:
Yoany Beldarrain
YBeldarrain@flvs.net
Tammy Hinson
THinson@flvs.net