HUMS Staff week of June 3, 2019

ITEMS:

1.  HUMS staff meeting Tuesday- Kendra's room 3:00
TOPICS:  Transition planning/Last day planning

2.  Final Week Schedules 

June 11 - 8th Grade Field Trip, 
June 13 - 7th Grade Field Trip,
June 12 - Final Assembly - 8:45 - 9:15 (More on this by Tuesday Staff Meeting)

  

3. Dealing with Classroom Insensitivity by “Calling Students In”

            In this article in Teaching Tolerance, Loretta Ross (Arizona State University) asks what a teacher should do when a student cluelessly says something biased or stereotyping and there’s a ripple of tension in the classroom. Many educators’ impulse is to call out the malefactor, holding him or her accountable for violating classroom norms. “Calling out is intended to shame, encouraging others to exclude the person called out without any discussion of details that may shed light on what the conflict may actually be,” says Ross. “Calling people out shuts down listening and escalates the conflict.” 

She suggests a different strategy: calling the student in. “Calling in is speaking up without tearing down,” says Ross. “A call-in can happen publicly or privately, but its key feature is that it’s done with love. Instead of shaming someone who’s made a mistake, we can patiently ask questions to explore what was going on and why the speaker chose their harmful language.” If handled well, this approach allows all parties to move forward together. Some examples:

-  I need to stop you there because something you just said is not accurate.

-  I’m having a reaction to that comment. Let’s go back for a minute.

-  Do you think you would say that if someone from that group was with us in the room?

-  There’s some history behind the expression you just used that you might not know about.

-  In this class, we hold each other accountable. So we need to talk about why that joke isn’t funny.

-  I don’t think I understand what you’re saying, so can we talk some more?

-  Can we stop and explore what is happening now?

A more detailed scenario: A boy denies that he’s the beneficiary of white privilege, arguing that his parents worked hard. A calling-out approach would brand the student as a member of a privileged class who won’t acknowledge his advantages. A calling-in approach regards him as someone who doesn’t understand, and he’s asked if he’s ever been walking down the street and stopped by the police for no reason. “This question – a form of calling in – encourages the student to rethink his position,” says Ross. “It highlights the experience of the student rather than labeling him with an identity he’s not open to. Most importantly, it helps clarify a key misunderstanding by helping show the student that privilege doesn’t necessarily mean a lavish lifestyle, and that privilege and hard work aren’t mutually exclusive.” 

            Of course it’s possible the boy would have the same reaction to being called in as if he were called out – defensive, upset, ashamed. Calling in takes practice, and Ross suggests using small incidents – or make-believe scenarios – to build a classroom culture where calling in becomes the norm. “Calling in prevents differences in understanding from escalating into conflict,” she says. “It means exploring the underlying issues precipitating a situation.”

“Speaking Up Without Tearing Down” by Loretta Ross in Teaching Tolerance, Spring 2019 (Issue 61), www.tolerance.org/magazine/spring-2019/speaking-up-without-tearing-down,

spotted in Education Digest, May 2019 (Vol. 84, #9); Ross is at lorossta@gmail.com.

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