Every Student, Every Day - Kristyn Klei Borrero

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about working-class communities of color and their academic achievement in the United States. However, after years of implementing this work in traditionally disenfranchised communities, it is clear that the work of No-Nonsense Nurturers is effective and beneficial for all students and teachers. An equitable education system gives all students opportunities to build meaningful relationships with their teachers. It is my hope that this work will support teachers and students in all communities, beyond the urban and rural settings we originally studied. Thank you for trusting me on your journey to become the educator you are meant to be.

      The reflection activities on pages 13–16 are designed to help you reflect on your current professional practice and support your journey to becoming a No-Nonsense Nurturer. You may choose to complete them individually or in teams.

      The following questions will help you preassess your current relationship-building paradigms. Read each sentence stem, silently reflect for ten to fifteen seconds, and finish it as honestly as you can. Consider coming back to these sentence stems at the end of chapter 2 after reviewing the relationship-building paradigms—unintended enablers, negative controllers, and No-Nonsense Nurturers.

      One of the ways you’ll track your progress to becoming a No-Nonsense Nurturer is to periodically answer the questions and plot your answers on the following continuums. You will return to these continuums after reading chapters 2 and 6.

      Place an X on each continuum in the following chart to show where you are today. Use a different-color pen each time you come back to this activity and record the date. Note the evidence (for example, classroom actions, how you think about your relationships with students, and so on) for why you answered the questions the way you did. If you struggle to provide evidence, it is likely you are weaker in this area. Decide on a way to track your progress to ensure your move along the continuum.

      Next, place a star at the spot on each continuum to represent where you would like to be by the end of this book—a reasonable and achievable goal.

      Based on the concepts presented so far, identify two or three learning goals for this book and write them in the chart below.

      PART 1

      Examining Relationship-Building

      Paradigms of Effective and

      Ineffective Classroom Managers

      CHAPTER 1

      Ineffective Classroom Management: Unintended Enablers and Negative Controllers

      Given the amount of time teachers and students spend together over the course of a year, relationships will form and evolve. It is inevitable. How productive these relationships are for both teachers and students, however, is left to question.

      This chapter examines two ineffective relationship-building paradigms teachers tend to develop because they may lack training, support, or self-awareness—(1) unintended enablers, teachers who lead with their feelings and are often uncomfortable taking a firm stand in their classrooms, thereby unintentionally allowing students to be off task; and (2) negative controllers, teachers who tend to be overly strict, unpredictable, and often put their needs before their students’ in order to keep controlled, disruption-free classrooms. Teachers who embrace these paradigms struggle with classroom management and classroom culture. This chapter will help educators recognize any tendencies in their own practices and support them to diminish or hopefully eliminate them.

      The paradigms of unintended enablers and negative controllers are sweeping generalizations and are not prescriptive, nor are they completely comprehensive descriptions. In fact, the descriptions on the following pages are extreme examples of these types of relationship-building paradigms. At best, the practices of unintended enablers and negative controllers can work in supporting the achievement of some students in their classrooms. At worst, however, these two relationship paradigms can have detrimental, sometimes damaging and devaluing repercussions for teacher-student relationships and achievement.

      You may discover that some of your relationship-building strategies align with those of unintended enablers, while others align more with negative controllers. You may also find that you already build relationships using strategies that resemble those of No-Nonsense Nurturers, the third paradigm (see chapter 2, page 35). Understanding all three relationship-building paradigms (unintended enablers, negative controllers, and No-Nonsense Nurturers) will help you become more aware of your developing relationships and classroom culture. Be reflective as you read about the attributes, motivations, impact, and mindsets of these relationship-building paradigms throughout this book, but don’t be hard on yourself if you find some unintended enabling or negative controlling tendencies resonating with you. Bring your humility to the table, set new goals, and decide on some new ways to build relationships with students.

      The following sections review some of the common attributes, motivations, and mindsets of unintended enablers and negative controllers, including possible outcomes for students as a result of interacting with teachers with these characteristics.

      Some teachers lead with their hearts. Those who lead with their feelings, making excuses for students, are often uncomfortable taking a firm stand in their classrooms or holding students accountable for their learning, thereby unintentionally allowing students to be off task and disconnect from learning opportunities—these are the unintended enablers.

      Teachers with these tendencies unintentionally enable their students. They keep students from reaching or exceeding their potential by lowering expectations because they feel sorry for them, feel bad about the circumstances in which they live, or fear the repercussions of holding them accountable. While a sense of empathy for students is necessary for all teachers, unintended enablers often amass a series of excuses for why students cannot rise to high academic standards. These lowered expectations and excuses quickly catch up to students and ultimately harm their ability to succeed in school and in society.

      Early in my career, I shared many of my middle school students with Ms. Emerling. Ms. Emerling was a bit older than me, skilled in her craft in many ways, but distracted by the complications some of our students faced. Her skillful teaching was often replaced by engaging with a single student in need of support instead of engaging with all students. In short, she often lowered her standards for the students we shared because she felt sorry for them.

      To be fair, Ms. Emerling had an amazing heart and work ethic. She worked tirelessly to make sure her students had the clothes they needed, food in their bellies, and field trips to new places. She spent much of her free time fundraising and collecting recycled clothes and school

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