Comments on: Aligning the Cultures of Teaching and Learning Science in Urban High Schools http://blogs.springer.com/csse/articles-forums/aligning-the-cultures-of-teaching-and-learning-science-in-urban-high-schools/ The official blog of CSSE. Moderated by Editors in Chief Wolff-Michael Roth and Kenneth Tobin Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:21:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: DorotaKoczewska http://blogs.springer.com/csse/articles-forums/aligning-the-cultures-of-teaching-and-learning-science-in-urban-high-schools/comment-page-1/#comment-55 DorotaKoczewska Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:31:54 +0000 http://blogs.springer.com/csse/?p=14#comment-55 Transformation of Positive Energy, Sense of Belonging and Commitment in a Classroom Reading the article Aligning the Cultures of Teacher and Learning Science in Urban Schools by Kenneth Tobin (2006), inspired me to reflect on the students, teachers, and schools I visit every day. As a special education district Math coach, I have the opportunity to work with teachers, students, and principals of many self contained special education schools through out the five borrows of New York City. The majority of the students in these schools are African American, raised in low-income homes, and classified as emotionally disturbed with special needs such as learning, behavior or emotional distress. The teachers I work with vary in years of teaching experience, age, and race. As a math coach, I coteach, observe, and assist teachers during lessons to enhance and support their teaching and professional development. Coteaching affords me the opportunity to interact with the students and observe the unfolding of social life in the classroom. The diversity of teachers and students is broad, though they share common characteristic; they are frequently out of synchrony in terms of cultural background, verbal and non-verbal actions, and emotions. Tobin refers to the need for synchrony in a classroom as “the necessity for the teachers and students to learn how to interact successfully in ways that produce positive emotional energy, a sense of belonging to the class, and a commitment to shared responsibility for one another’s participation” (p.219). I see the importance of producing positive energy, a sense of belonging, and commitment to share responsibility in the classroom as key elements for producing successful synchrony, and teaching and learning. As Tobin states teachers tend to be rated based on the control of students and the noise level in their classroom. The noise level and movement in the classrooms I have visited varied based on the assignment, students’ engagement, teachers’ classroom management skills, and knowledge on teaching. The rating officers such as principals or city/state visitors evaluate teachers based on what is happening in the classroom in the particular moment of their visit. From the constructivist point of view on learning, noise and students’ interactions are welcomed in the classroom. Students should negotiate their learning, interact with each other, and incorporate their knowledge in further learning. The teacher’s role is to acknowledge and enhance students’ knowledge through instruction and provide feedback on the students’ sufficiency in learning. This theoretical framework requires teachers and students active participation during lessons creating noise and movement in the classroom. Very often the rating officers do not see these “noisy” classrooms as a learning environment. On the other hand, quiet classrooms receive positive ratings. In those classrooms the teacher holds the power and structures the classroom assignments for students so there is no movement and discussion causing noise. Those classrooms are often evaluated as classrooms where learning takes place. One of the schools I visit is a self-contained special education school, located in a low-income part of the Bronx, New York. All of the students are classified as emotionally disturbed and some in addition with learning disabilities. The academic level of the students is two to three grades beloved their chronological age due to many factors such as dyslexia, academic neglect, inexperienced teachers or high level of teacher rotation. The teacher I work with is a young African American female living in the same neighborhood as the students. In informal conversation she told me that she was raised in this neighborhood and knows how it is to be African American living in a low-income family. The teacher shares similar cultural capital with the students through the ethnicity, expressive language, and social interactions. During the conversation the teacher reviled that she always wanted to be a teacher to pay back to the society. She has been teaching at this school for six years enacting strong behavior management skills in the classroom. The students in her class respond to her control by keeping noise level low, raising hands in verbal response, and showing ‘respect’ to the teacher and classmates. When I observed this class for the first time, the class looked perfect. Students raised their hands when called, sat in their seats, and never disturbed the teacher. I was looking for a more lively class where teaching would be interactive with the students and students would have more control in their learning. I took under the consideration the fact that, the teacher and the students were aware of my presence and they had to behave at their best. I did not see many students answering questions, or actively participating. Only the same few students were called on and engaged in the lesson. In many occasions the teacher, as well the students quickly forgot that a stranger was in the room. They become more relaxed in their behavior and interaction in the lesson. Looking at the classroom the teacher had control over the teaching and “learning” was taking place. The relationship established between the teacher and the students was based on an authoritarian teaching style. The teacher had agency to enact the control in the classroom by changing the structure of the classroom. For example, setting rules and consequences, deciding who answered questions, when to schedule breaks, and what was instructed. This teaching style did not enhance students’ learning, production of positive and constructive energy in the classroom, students’ sense of belonging, and commitment to appropriate students’ positive behavior, and culture from field outside the classroom into classroom. At one moment the teacher received a phone call and the dynamic changed. The students started moving around, talking to each other and even coursing. When the teacher returned her attention to the students, they went back to their “good student” behavior. I wondered how would these students behave if I would teach the class for one period. Would these students transfer and use their culture of a “good student behavior” to enact with me when I would be teaching? I asked the teacher for the permission to teach the students how to use the TI-34 II scientific calculator that the students are expected to use the calculator as a part of the NYS Math exam. I prepared a lesson on the use of the calculator TI-34 II geared toward sixth and seventh grade students that I previously observed. I asked the teacher to be in the classroom and observe her students. After the lesson we planned to meet to debrief. When I entered the classroom the students knew what was expected of them to do. All sixteen students were sitting at their desks waiting for me. The noise level was minimal. I moved the overhead projector in the middle of the class and placed the over-head calculator on the projector so all the students would see me modeling the functions of the calculator. Before I began, the teacher gave the students directions to behave well and listen to me. The lesson started well. The students answered the questions sometimes by raising their hands and sometimes in choral response. The teacher corrected the students’ behavior by giving them silent signs or by stopping the lesson and redirecting the unwanted behavior such as talking. I got involved with the lesson and students’ participation. Suddenly the noise level increased. At this point not all of the students were paying attention. I looked around, and did not see the teacher in the classroom. Even though I did not change my teaching style while she was gone, some of the students changed their behavior and started talking not on the lesson topic. When the teacher came back to the room the students who were talking suddenly quiet down. This happened three times over the period of teaching. I noticed that when the teacher was in the classroom it was easier to teach because all the students were quiet, but I did not feel the positive energy of learning. I wanted the students to explore the calculators by pressing any key and sharing what they discovered. I wanted to include all the students in learning even those who seemed to be less involved. I looked around the classroom and saw one student not exploring the calculator. When I asked this male student for his observation, another student jumped in with explanation that, “He does not participate in lesson because he is ‘bad’”. From the student’s response I concluded that the culture of this classroom was based on if you were “bad” you did not have to participate in the lesson and learn. Being labeled “bad” excluded and shot down the student participation and motivation in learning. There was thirty minutes left in the period and I wanted to take this remaining time to see if this “bad” student was a part of the classroom culture. I encouraged the students to talk one to another to find an answer to an assigned problem. If they or their partners could not solve it, I encouraged them to call me over. In many cases the students did not need my assistance. The labeled “bad” student did not socialize and participate in this activity. He was just seating quietly. The noise level was high and filled with students’ conversations on solving the problem. Each time the teacher came back to the classroom the students quiet down. The lesson took longer than I anticipated and the students were getting anxious. I closed the lesson by asking the students what they remembered form the lesson. They retained important facts to them. Looking at the emotions in the class, I felt as the studnets were scared and terrorized by the teacher's set of rules and consequences. In the context of emotions, Turner’s (2002) first-order elaboration of primary emotions states that combining fear with anger “produces emotions like revulsed, repulsed, antagonism, dislike, envy (p.73)”. On the other hand combining happiness with anger generate emotions as: “appeased, calmed, and soothed can be used to accept apologies for transgressions: bemused sustains a sense of quiet attachment to a situation (p.75)”. The students in this class presented emotions of fear of the teacher, lack belonging to the class as a whole, disharmony, and lack of commitment in their learning. I noticed the students’ change of emotions through their change of voice, expressive language, or physical movement. The short description of the lesson shows how students respond to other teacher teaching with and with out the assistance of their classroom teacher. The classroom teacher established control and relationship with the students over time. She does not experience chaos, disobedience, and disrespect by the students. I was told and experienced myself that the same group of students does not transfer the behaviors into other fields such as classrooms. On the other hand, I had “control” of the classroom only when the teacher was in the room, but when she was gone the students behaved differently. I tried to build respect wiht the studnets by allowing them to take some controle of therih learning. Tobin describes effective teaching urban youth as a “process of teachers earning the respect of students. Teachers can show their respect for students by showing an interest in what they do, listening to and commenting on what they say, and assisting them to be successful (pp.220)". Through the observation and teaching experience in this classroom, I concluded that the studnets were not prepared to transform the positive beahvior into other fields. “Teaching is something that is done.” (Tobin, 2006) and the action of teaching can be positive or negative experience. This class created a positive sense of belonging only with the teacher but lacked commitment and transformation of positive energy form field to field would enable students to learn. Reference: Tobin, K.: 2006, ‘Aligning the Cultures of Teaching and Learning Science in Urban High Schools’, Cultural Studies of Science Education 1. 219-252. Tobin, K. and Roth, W.-M.: 2006, Teaching to Learn: A View from the Field, Rottendam: Sense Publishing. Tobin, K.: 2000, Constructivism in science education: Moving on…In D.C. Phillips Constructivism in education, (NSSE Yearbook, pp.227-253). Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press. Turner, J.-H.: 2002, Face to Face: California: Stanford University Press. I experienced difficulty in building respectful relationship with the students. Taking the fact that it was only one period of teaching, I also came from different cultural background than their teacher. Tobin states that, “when teachers and students are form different race and class background there is a potential difficulty for each to make sense of the other’s practices and intentions. Opportunities arise for misunderstanding of cultural practices and interactions to be regarded as disrespectful ” (p.219). The students were not familiar with my teaching practices yet they tried to make sense of my intentions in teaching by testing the boundaries when I was in “charge” of teaching the class. For instance, talking of the topic, arguing with others, being of task. I was consciously using synchrony to “addressing the alignment of successive interactions” (p.224) with the students by eye contact, head movement, body orientations and physical distance, gestures, and positive verbal utterance. The students showed not a drastic change of their behavior towards me but responded well to my successive synchrony as production of positive interactions between me, the teacher and students producing respect and positive learning environment. Transformation of Positive Energy, Sense of Belonging and Commitment
in a Classroom
Reading the article Aligning the Cultures of Teacher and Learning Science in Urban Schools by Kenneth Tobin (2006), inspired me to reflect on the students, teachers, and schools I visit every day. As a special education district Math coach, I have the opportunity to work with teachers, students, and principals of many self contained special education schools through out the five borrows of New York City. The majority of the students in these schools are African American, raised in low-income homes, and classified as emotionally disturbed with special needs such as learning, behavior or emotional distress.
The teachers I work with vary in years of teaching experience, age, and race. As a math coach, I coteach, observe, and assist teachers during lessons to enhance and support their teaching and professional development. Coteaching affords me the opportunity to interact with the students and observe the unfolding of social life in the classroom. The diversity of teachers and students is broad, though they share common characteristic; they are frequently out of synchrony in terms of cultural background, verbal and non-verbal actions, and emotions. Tobin refers to the need for synchrony in a classroom as “the necessity for the teachers and students to learn how to interact successfully in ways that produce positive emotional energy, a sense of belonging to the class, and a commitment to shared responsibility for one another’s participation” (p.219). I see the importance of producing positive energy, a sense of belonging, and commitment to share responsibility in the classroom as key elements for producing successful synchrony, and teaching and learning.
As Tobin states teachers tend to be rated based on the control of students and the noise level in their classroom. The noise level and movement in the classrooms I have visited varied based on the assignment, students’ engagement, teachers’ classroom management skills, and knowledge on teaching. The rating officers such as principals or city/state visitors evaluate teachers based on what is happening in the classroom in the particular moment of their visit. From the constructivist point of view on learning, noise and students’ interactions are welcomed in the classroom. Students should negotiate their learning, interact with each other, and incorporate their knowledge in further learning. The teacher’s role is to acknowledge and enhance students’ knowledge through instruction and provide feedback on the students’ sufficiency in learning. This theoretical framework requires teachers and students active participation during lessons creating noise and movement in the classroom. Very often the rating officers do not see these “noisy” classrooms as a learning environment. On the other hand, quiet classrooms receive positive ratings. In those classrooms the teacher holds the power and structures the classroom assignments for students so there is no movement and discussion causing noise. Those classrooms are often evaluated as classrooms where learning takes place.
One of the schools I visit is a self-contained special education school, located in a low-income part of the Bronx, New York. All of the students are classified as emotionally disturbed and some in addition with learning disabilities. The academic level of the students is two to three grades beloved their chronological age due to many factors such as dyslexia, academic neglect, inexperienced teachers or high level of teacher rotation.
The teacher I work with is a young African American female living in the same neighborhood as the students. In informal conversation she told me that she was raised in this neighborhood and knows how it is to be African American living in a low-income family. The teacher shares similar cultural capital with the students through the ethnicity, expressive language, and social interactions. During the conversation the teacher reviled that she always wanted to be a teacher to pay back to the society. She has been teaching at this school for six years enacting strong behavior management skills in the classroom. The students in her class respond to her control by keeping noise level low, raising hands in verbal response, and showing ‘respect’ to the teacher and classmates.
When I observed this class for the first time, the class looked perfect. Students raised their hands when called, sat in their seats, and never disturbed the teacher. I was looking for a more lively class where teaching would be interactive with the students and students would have more control in their learning. I took under the consideration the fact that, the teacher and the students were aware of my presence and they had to behave at their best. I did not see many students answering questions, or actively participating. Only the same few students were called on and engaged in the lesson. In many occasions the teacher, as well the students quickly forgot that a stranger was in the room. They become more relaxed in their behavior and interaction in the lesson.
Looking at the classroom the teacher had control over the teaching and “learning” was taking place. The relationship established between the teacher and the students was based on an authoritarian teaching style. The teacher had agency to enact the control in the classroom by changing the structure of the classroom. For example, setting rules and consequences, deciding who answered questions, when to schedule breaks, and what was instructed. This teaching style did not enhance students’ learning, production of positive and constructive energy in the classroom, students’ sense of belonging, and commitment to appropriate students’ positive behavior, and culture from field outside the classroom into classroom.
At one moment the teacher received a phone call and the dynamic changed. The students started moving around, talking to each other and even coursing. When the teacher returned her attention to the students, they went back to their “good student” behavior. I wondered how would these students behave if I would teach the class for one period. Would these students transfer and use their culture of a “good student behavior” to enact with me when I would be teaching?
I asked the teacher for the permission to teach the students how to use the TI-34 II scientific calculator that the students are expected to use the calculator as a part of the NYS Math exam. I prepared a lesson on the use of the calculator TI-34 II geared toward sixth and seventh grade students that I previously observed. I asked the teacher to be in the classroom and observe her students. After the lesson we planned to meet to debrief.
When I entered the classroom the students knew what was expected of them to do. All sixteen students were sitting at their desks waiting for me. The noise level was minimal. I moved the overhead projector in the middle of the class and placed the over-head calculator on the projector so all the students would see me modeling the functions of the calculator. Before I began, the teacher gave the students directions to behave well and listen to me.
The lesson started well. The students answered the questions sometimes by raising their hands and sometimes in choral response. The teacher corrected the students’ behavior by giving them silent signs or by stopping the lesson and redirecting the unwanted behavior such as talking. I got involved with the lesson and students’ participation. Suddenly the noise level increased. At this point not all of the students were paying attention. I looked around, and did not see the teacher in the classroom. Even though I did not change my teaching style while she was gone, some of the students changed their behavior and started talking not on the lesson topic. When the teacher came back to the room the students who were talking suddenly quiet down. This happened three times over the period of teaching. I noticed that when the teacher was in the classroom it was easier to teach because all the students were quiet, but I did not feel the positive energy of learning. I wanted the students to explore the calculators by pressing any key and sharing what they discovered. I wanted to include all the students in learning even those who seemed to be less involved. I looked around the classroom and saw one student not exploring the calculator. When I asked this male student for his observation, another student jumped in with explanation that, “He does not participate in lesson because he is ‘bad’”. From the student’s response I concluded that the culture of this classroom was based on if you were “bad” you did not have to participate in the lesson and learn. Being labeled “bad” excluded and shot down the student participation and motivation in learning.
There was thirty minutes left in the period and I wanted to take this remaining time to see if this “bad” student was a part of the classroom culture. I encouraged the students to talk one to another to find an answer to an assigned problem. If they or their partners could not solve it, I encouraged them to call me over. In many cases the students did not need my assistance. The labeled “bad” student did not socialize and participate in this activity. He was just seating quietly. The noise level was high and filled with students’ conversations on solving the problem. Each time the teacher came back to the classroom the students quiet down. The lesson took longer than I anticipated and the students were getting anxious. I closed the lesson by asking the students what they remembered form the lesson. They retained important facts to them.
Looking at the emotions in the class, I felt as the studnets were scared and terrorized by the teacher’s set of rules and consequences. In the context of emotions, Turner’s (2002) first-order elaboration of primary emotions states that combining fear with anger “produces emotions like revulsed, repulsed, antagonism, dislike, envy (p.73)”. On the other hand combining happiness with anger generate emotions as: “appeased, calmed, and soothed can be used to accept apologies for transgressions: bemused sustains a sense of quiet attachment to a situation (p.75)”. The students in this class presented emotions of fear of the teacher, lack belonging to the class as a whole, disharmony, and lack of commitment in their learning. I noticed the students’ change of emotions through their change of voice, expressive language, or physical movement.
The short description of the lesson shows how students respond to other teacher teaching with and with out the assistance of their classroom teacher. The classroom teacher established control and relationship with the students over time. She does not experience chaos, disobedience, and disrespect by the students. I was told and experienced myself that the same group of students does not transfer the behaviors into other fields such as classrooms. On the other hand, I had “control” of the classroom only when the teacher was in the room, but when she was gone the students behaved differently. I tried to build respect wiht the studnets by allowing them to take some controle of therih learning. Tobin describes effective teaching urban youth as a “process of teachers earning the respect of students. Teachers can show their respect for students by showing an interest in what they do, listening to and commenting on what they say, and assisting them to be successful (pp.220)”. Through the observation and teaching experience in this classroom, I concluded that the studnets were not prepared to transform the positive beahvior into other fields.
“Teaching is something that is done.” (Tobin, 2006) and the action of teaching can be positive or negative experience. This class created a positive sense of belonging only with the teacher but lacked commitment and transformation of positive energy form field to field would enable students to learn.

Reference:
Tobin, K.: 2006, ‘Aligning the Cultures of Teaching and Learning Science in Urban High
Schools’, Cultural Studies of Science Education 1. 219-252.
Tobin, K. and Roth, W.-M.: 2006, Teaching to Learn: A View from the Field, Rottendam:
Sense Publishing.
Tobin, K.: 2000, Constructivism in science education: Moving on…In D.C. Phillips
Constructivism in education, (NSSE Yearbook, pp.227-253). Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press.
Turner, J.-H.: 2002, Face to Face: California: Stanford University Press.

I experienced difficulty in building respectful relationship with the students. Taking the fact that it was only one period of teaching, I also came from different cultural background than their teacher. Tobin states that, “when teachers and students are form different race and class background there is a potential difficulty for each to make sense of the other’s practices and intentions. Opportunities arise for misunderstanding of cultural practices and interactions to be regarded as disrespectful ” (p.219). The students were not familiar with my teaching practices yet they tried to make sense of my intentions in teaching by testing the boundaries when I was in “charge” of teaching the class. For instance, talking of the topic, arguing with others, being of task. I was consciously using synchrony to “addressing the alignment of successive interactions” (p.224) with the students by eye contact, head movement, body orientations and physical distance, gestures, and positive verbal utterance. The students showed not a drastic change of their behavior towards me but responded well to my successive synchrony as production of positive interactions between me, the teacher and students producing respect and positive learning environment.

]]> By: LidiaG http://blogs.springer.com/csse/articles-forums/aligning-the-cultures-of-teaching-and-learning-science-in-urban-high-schools/comment-page-1/#comment-46 LidiaG Thu, 28 Dec 2006 22:38:11 +0000 http://blogs.springer.com/csse/?p=14#comment-46 The article brings to the forefront some important points regarding urban classrooms which as teacher educators we should reflect upon if the education of urban youth is to be successful. One issue of concern, especially with respect to the sciences, is that teachers do not often come from the communities in which their students live. An obvious misalignment exists in this situation as the teacher struggles to understand, and as Tobin explains, earn the respect of his/her students while earning the right to teach them. Martin (2006) in presenting his research and discussing the misalignment of cultures between teachers and students ended each paragraph with the question, “Who should teach urban youth?” The answer is not as simple as it might appear. Simply putting a teacher in the classroom who shares the culture and history of his/her students does not suffice as Tobin explains. Effective teaching, as Tobin explains, necessitates an alignment between teachers and students as well as students and students that values the culture of each. One of the essential points which brought up is the fact that stakeholders in a classroom need to develop shared understanding of what teaching and learning is. Teachers need to learn about their students, their histories, their cultures, their interests and this should drive instruction. Team building activities and shared understandings lead to synchrony in the classroom. Synchrony seems an essential part of effective teaching and learning. These ideas which are fleshed out by the author through examples and theory are essential in terms of solid instruction. Teachers need to develop a “sense of the game” as the author explains. The implications on teacher education are great. The question that repeatedly runs through my mind is how? Can a sense of the game be taught? Can teachers learn how to earn their students’ respect? Can teachers learn to earn the right to teach? It seems to me that the ideas brought up by the author make it clear that synchrony and shared understandings and responsibility for the class are basic necessities of effective instruction. With so many new teacher entering the field (especially in math education and especially though alternative certification), I wonder how we can take the ideas of the article and transfer them into teacher education programs with the result of creating “with it” individuals that can effectively align their culture with their students, their teaching with student learning and can, as a result, begin to effective teach urban youth no matter if their histories differ from their students. I long for examples of teacher ed programs that foster these skills and wonder if it is even possible or if the act of teaching itself coupled with reflection is the only way. Reference: Martin (2006, October). Race, identity and mathematics literacy: African-American counternarratives. Session presented at Mu Seminar Course, CUNY Graduate Center, New York. The article brings to the forefront some important points regarding urban classrooms which as teacher educators we should reflect upon if the education of urban youth is to be successful. One issue of concern, especially with respect to the sciences, is that teachers do not often come from the communities in which their students live. An obvious misalignment exists in this situation as the teacher struggles to understand, and as Tobin explains, earn the respect of his/her students while earning the right to teach them. Martin (2006) in presenting his research and discussing the misalignment of cultures between teachers and students ended each paragraph with the question, “Who should teach urban youth?” The answer is not as simple as it might appear. Simply putting a teacher in the classroom who shares the culture and history of his/her students does not suffice as Tobin explains. Effective teaching, as Tobin explains, necessitates an alignment between teachers and students as well as students and students that values the culture of each.

One of the essential points which brought up is the fact that stakeholders in a classroom need to develop shared understanding of what teaching and learning is. Teachers need to learn about their students, their histories, their cultures, their interests and this should drive instruction. Team building activities and shared understandings lead to synchrony in the classroom. Synchrony seems an essential part of effective teaching and learning.

These ideas which are fleshed out by the author through examples and theory are essential in terms of solid instruction. Teachers need to develop a “sense of the game” as the author explains. The implications on teacher education are great. The question that repeatedly runs through my mind is how? Can a sense of the game be taught? Can teachers learn how to earn their students’ respect? Can teachers learn to earn the right to teach? It seems to me that the ideas brought up by the author make it clear that synchrony and shared understandings and responsibility for the class are basic necessities of effective instruction. With so many new teacher entering the field (especially in math education and especially though alternative certification), I wonder how we can take the ideas of the article and transfer them into teacher education programs with the result of creating “with it” individuals that can effectively align their culture with their students, their teaching with student learning and can, as a result, begin to effective teach urban youth no matter if their histories differ from their students. I long for examples of teacher ed programs that foster these skills and wonder if it is even possible or if the act of teaching itself coupled with reflection is the only way.

Reference:

Martin (2006, October). Race, identity and mathematics literacy: African-American counternarratives. Session presented at Mu Seminar Course, CUNY Graduate Center, New York.

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