Embrace Diverse Schools

It is amazing how our assumptions limit us every day. I went to a great business networking event where individuals have 45 seconds to describe their businesses. One polished professional talked about his business which hauls junk from a site — tripled his business in past few years. I was impressed with his business skills during these tough times.

When we had an opportunity to chat afterwards, I learned that is just part of his story. He started the trash hauling business “to give some young men good jobs.” So he’s a mentor in addition to being an entrepreneur. Then he told me that he and his wife do training on writing clear documents for the Federal government. Then he mentioned that he also has written and published science fiction. Whoa. How much farther from my initial assumptions about his work would he take me — once we spent time learning about each other.

I also talked with a business leader who is a respected trainer. I learned that his father was the youngest of eight and his mother the youngest of 22. Can you imagine his family reunions! That is a piece of his personal culture that you would not know just by looking at him. His lens for viewing the world is very different than someone who was an only child with few relatives. Yet people rarely know that aspect of his personal story. When we talked about the importance of moving beyond assumptions, he said, “You are preaching to the choir. People make lots of assumptions about me based solely on what I look like” — a tall African-American man.

To really understand someone — their experiences, their skills, their perspectives — we need to move beyond snap judgments and assumptions. Otherwise, we lose out on the valuable connections we can make and the wisdom they can share. We learn a fraction of the lessons we could.

Words have power. I see that impact when people tell me they were moved to action by my speech or by a passage in my book. I know how I feel when I hear words that inspire or enrage me.

We don’t know what sparks a disturbed mind to take a particular destructive action. But we do know that what people say and how they say it creates an environment, and that environment impacts what others say and do. We don’t have to get into politics to see that.

A teacher told me that she finds her recent Kindergarten and first grade children more aggressive, more rude than she’s seen in years of teaching. “They are watching the adults around them,” she said. The television is filled with images of angry people yelling at each other. And it’s not just the news. The level of angry yelling on “family” shows is far greater than it used to be. Just turn on the old reruns on TVLand and it becomes crystal clear.

But our children don’t need to turn to TV, movies, or even video games to get a taste of adults out of control. The teacher described a father at a school basketball game yelling at the referee over a particular call. “If the children see the adults yelling at an authority figure, then they think that’s appropriate,”

Another teacher told me about a 4^th grade student who had an “assassination list.” Did he know what that meant? Absolutely. He had pictures of knives and guns on his paper. And why were they on his list? Because, “They told me I wasn’t the line leader and I needed to go back. I wasn’t the line leader, but I still didn’t like it.” The message adults today send: You don’t like a message, threaten the messenger.

A few years ago, I was part of an Interfaith dialogue of Muslims and Jews, organized by a Muslim friend and my husband and me. Over the months, the 15 of us grew to become friends. We learned how many ways we are similar, both historically and as members of the same community. But after about a year, we began talking about world events and the dialogue broke down. Feelings became raw over statements made by one side or the other, often taken out of context. In talking about it with my Muslim friend, we both realized what had happened. There were people in the group who had joined solely to convince others that they were right, that their stories were more valid. At that moment I realized that dialogue only works if both sides come to learn, not teach.

We all need to take responsibility for our actions, including the words we use. If we create a hostile environment where no one with a different perspective feels comfortable speaking, then we all lose, whether in our homes, our schools, or our workplaces. We become closed-down and one-dimensional. And we model for children that there is only one “right way” and that’s my way. And that is a disservice to our children and our future.

Engaging parents in their children’s education is a critical piece of education reform. Yet too many parents remain disconnected from schools. Typically the parents who are involved are those who understand how school works, feel valued, and feel empowered to be there. Traditional ways of involving parents, such as Back-to-School Nights or tightly scheduled day-time parent/teacher conferences are often intimidating or challenging to many parents.

There are ways to connect with the absent parents, and they are essential if we are serious about education reform. Parents of every background have dreams for their child and want that child to succeed in school. Sometimes they never have a chance to voice those dreams, with the constant stream of information from school telling them what to do.

Strategic tips to engage disconnected parents:

• Assume every parent cares about their child’s education.Schools should not make assumptions about parents just because they aren’t visible. Many families believe it is their job to support education at home, but the teacher’s job at school. They show respect by not interfering with the teacher’s work. Sometimes parents are intimidated to talk to a teacher they didn’t have a good education themselves or they found school a place of negative experiences. For immigrants, expectations of American schools can be confusing. Many immigrants are shocked to learn that American schools expect them to be involved!
• Respect the strengths of family members and engage them as partners. The goal of engaging families is to build a partnership to support the students and the school itself. Families of diverse backgrounds bring many strengths that are often overlooked. Think of the organization and resiliency of an immigrant family who made the challenging journey to the United States… or the perseverance of a parent who could not attend college but works long hours to assure his child will have that chance… or the commitment of a grandmother who is determined that her grandchildren will understand the value of hard work by doing chores at home. When you learn about and respect these strengths, you understand that communication with diverse families should be two-way, as family members have many lessons to teach as well as learn.
• Go beyond traditional programs for family involvement Back-to-school nights and parent meetings work for some families, but others find them overwhelming or intimidating. Schools should look for non-threatening ways to encourage parent involvement: a classroom celebration of children’s writing where family members accompany their child to class; a breakfast with their child before work; a chance to meet with other families from their culture. Invitations sent out in multiple ways is critical, including personal notes home with the child and follow-up phone calls – the more personal, the better. A community leader who is known and respected by school families can be a great ally in connecting with diverse families.
• Get out of the school Some families find it intimidating to just walk through the school doors. To connect with families in a more comfortable setting, schools can hold meetings in community rooms, libraries, or religious institutions in the neighborhood.Sometimes a lunchroom in a local factory is a great place to connect with parents who can’t leave work.
• Support families so they can support their students Parents play a vital role as mentors, teachers, supporters, encouragers for their children. Schools can support families in these roles by providing training on parenting issues (e.g., workshops on child behavior or disciplining adolescents), as well as education issues (family literacy or math nights where parents and children learn together). Leadership development training targeted to those parents who are not yet empowered to be involved can create a new generation of diverse parent leaders.

• Collaborate with involved families As schools look for innovative ways to reach families, success can’t be judged by the number of families who initially respond. Build on the outreach by collaborating with new families who do bcome involved. Give them the opportunity to do substantive work alongside long-active parents. When family leaders in the school represent the diversity of the community, family engagement across the board will snowball.

Many parents remain disconnected from schools because they don’t feel welcome or valued at school. When schools look for innovative ways to help families understand their role at school and build true two-way partnerships, authentic education reform takes place.

The current dialogue on education reform is looking at critical issues such as hiring and retaining good teachers and innovative classroom instruction. But there is one critical piece of education reform that isn’t getting much attention. It’s particularly significant in diverse multicultural schools. And it doesn’t cost a lot to implement.

Research shows that academic achievement increases when students and their families feel connected to school. At the foundation of this reform is creating an atmosphere where every student feels valued.

The key is to recognize the culture of each student. Everyone has a culture – where we were born, where we grew up, who raised us, our ethnic background, our religion, our home language, our family structure, and more. Students feel connected to the school when they can be authentic and they don’t have to hide their culture to fit in.

Strategic tips for educators:

• Learn to pronounce all student’s names. What’s in a name? A person’s history and identity. Schools shouldn’t hand out nicknames just because the name is hard to pronounce. And no more,”Call me Mrs. K.” Teachers should model the behavior by expecting students to learn their names, as well.
• Rejoice in different accents.It’s not just about accents from other countries. Reports show a disturbing lack of respect for any accent that is”different,” like reports of a child from Boston being ridiculed for his pronunciation in a class in Ohio or the southern drawl of a child from Alabama laughed at – by the teacher – in a Maryland school.
• Let students see themselves in the classroom. A photo of each child should be posted around the room with the student’s personal writing. The students can draw pictures of themselves, encouraged to express their own individuality. Multicultural literature around the room should reflect the many faces in the broader community. Through class assignments, students can write autobiographies that include interviewing relatives and family friends. The assignments can be more sophisticated as students get older, using poetry or drama as vehicles for bringing their lives into the classroom.
• Create an opportunity for students to share what is important to them. Daily classroom meetings, where students share their ideas, thoughts, and experiences in a safe place, can build a true community. With guidance from the teacher, students learn the important skills of active listening and problem-solving together.

Not only should teachers recognize the culture of their students, they need to understand their own culture and how this impacts the way they interact with students and families. Did the teacher come from a family where children were supposed to be soft-spoken and only answer when spoken to? Then the creative boy who was encouraged to voice his new ideas at the family dinner table might appear to be disrepectful to the teacher. Does the teacher believe that every student should look her in the eye when she’s talking. Then she may misunderstand a student who was taught to look down as a way to show respect to an adult.

Education reform includes creating schools where every student believes he or she is an valued part of that school. To value the student, teachers need to understand culture — their own and their students — and make sure each culture is valued.

     When I was young, I rarely went to a library. My family didn’t go to the town library very much and my school didn’t have a library.  My family did value books and there were always books around for my brother and me to read. But I don’t remember visiting a library more than once or twice.

            That changed as a young adult. The first time I stepped into a large public library – I know it is trite – but I absolutely felt like a kid in a candy store.  And truthfully, I still feel that way. I LOVE libraries. I still look around and think, “Really? I can pick from anything here, and it’s all free!”

            Perhaps that’s why I am so thrilled – not happy, not excited, but thrilled – to be creating a library for students at A.V. Bukani Primary School in Addo, South Africa. My husband and I, with lots of help, just sent a shipment of 25,000 donated books to support the education of the wonderful students at the school.  We are about to make our third volunteer trip to work with the dedicated teachers there, sharing research-based strategies to increase literacy. We’ve also been working with the families, an integral part of education.

            On our first trip to this township school in August 2008, we were shaken by the lack of materials – from students writing with pencil stubs to inadequate workbooks that were basically the only books the students had. My husband used some quality picture books we had brought with us to demonstrate read-alouds. After seeing the students’ eyes light up when he read “Swimmy” by Leo Lionni, one of the teachers grabbed his arm and asked, “Are there more books like this?!”  We knew we had to return one day with many, many more books.

            The following year as we finished our second visit, Principal Thambo said it is time to build a library. We agreed. Although shipping is expensive, we had been in touch with an old high school friend who said he could help us with discounted shipping.  We knew with our many contacts back in the DC area that we could collect hundreds of books for this school. We also knew that, to be used effectively, these books could not just be boxed and shipped. They had to be sorted and labeled. Thus began our journey this year of collecting, organizing and labeling, not hundreds of books, but 25,000 quality children’s books. It was a labor of love for us and the many, many volunteers who worked with us, as well as the donors who helped with shipping expenses.  In mid-July, the books began their journey in a shipping container that will be fitted with doors and windows and will become the library itself.

            And so my love of libraries has come full circle. In early August, I will watch the shipping container filled with books we packed be trucked into the township and placed on the foundation built by the community.  I will watch as community volunteers help unload and open the boxes and boxes of books.  And I will watch as the students get to not only look at these wonderful books, but choose books and take them home. And the next day, they can choose another one. Does life get any better than that!

            I truly feel like Willy Wonka opening up the candy store to the 1,000 children of this school. They’ll discover Ezra Jack Keats, Eric Carle, Beverly Cleary, Dr. Seuss, and many other wonderful authors and illustrators. And once they taste this delicious stuff, I know they’ll be back for more. In my heart I know these books will change lives for decades to come, and I am so honored to play a part in this. More on our South African blog www.KuglersinSouthAfrica.blogspot.com

I went to Philadelphia for a conference recently. Staying with a friend in the suburbs, I took the commuter train to the meeting. I went into a small train station filled with regulars and asked the agent for a ticket “downtown” for the “rush hour” fare. As soon as I said it, I realized that’s lingo used in my home area of DC. I should have said I was going to “center city” during “peak” time. I was immediately spotted as someone not from here—an outsider. It is amazing how quickly you can feel uncomfortable when you are different.

Made me think about how many times people feel uncomfortable, feel like outsiders, because they don’t have the right words or act the right way. Sometimes they don’t know what is expected of them. Sometimes they act they way they were taught assuming that is appropriate. But the big question is who decides what is right?

We each have a culture, a combination of our family’s history and traditions, the place we grew up, our religion, our family structure, our gender, and everything else that impacts who we are. In a classroom, if a student does something that might be appropriate for her culture, but isn’t what the teacher thinks is right based on her own culture, the student may be branded as an outsider – someone who doesn’t fit in. Maybe the student stands a little too close to the teacher whose own comfort zone requires people to keep their distance. “I’m not a ‘touch-er’,” a colleague recently said to me. I wondered if I had broken her cultural rules without thinking since I come from a family of huggers and hand-grabbers.

Maybe a parent has been at a school meeting and loudly asserted her point. Other parents whisper behind her back, “She doesn’t need to yell.” The mom is branded as an outsider, someone who doesn’t follow the rules. Yet in her culture, if you are engaged, you raise your voice and stand your ground. To her, yelling is something completely different.

One of the challenges of good communication is understanding that your own way of communicating – your words, your voice, your body language – is not necessarily the right way. There are other ways of communicating which may also be appropriate, even if they aren’t your way. Is a parent not paying attention because she doesn’t become part of a conversation, or was she taught to listen to everyone else first? Is a child being rude by not looking the teacher in the eye, or do his cultural rules dictate that you show respect to adults by looking down?

Back in Philly, when I asked for a ticket downtown for a rush hour fare, the ticket agent still understood me. He politely handed me my ticket with a warm smile. Yes, there is more than one right way to get your point across. And the response of the other person can mean the difference between feeling welcome or uncomfortable.

Everyone loves a snow day. Not so much the 6th or 7th in a row as we’ve had in some mid-Atlantic states. And some students, more than others, feel the negative impact on education.

Unfortunately, the snow days just increase the educational inequalities between the haves and have-nots. Many teachers in my local school district in Northern Virginia are posting assignments online via Blackboard. That’s terrific — unless the student’s only access to the Internet is through the school or public library.

Many middle-class parents find some educational activity to do with their children or they talk about school projects together while they are home together for hours on end. What about the parents who didn’t have a good education themselves and don’t know how to create a learning experience at home? Where are the resources for school projects if there are few books and no computer at home?

For many students, school lunch and breakfast are essential meals of the day. That is the way our society has chosen to feed children in the interest of both their health and their education. The impact of losing out on those meals is magnified for kids when the entire family is stuck at home. Very often, their parents are paid hourly for their work, and when snow prevents the parents from getting to work, the refrigerators are sparser than usual.

As we think about ways to keep learning going during unanticipated breaks -– from snow, or illness like H1N1, or even some type of terrorist attack -– we need to think beyond just making lessons available electronically. Maybe we have school assignments available via phone links as well as Internet. Maybe we establish mentors/teachers in communities who can be called upon for assistance. Maybe we set up a resource room in low-income apartment buildings. We need to remember “it takes a village,” particularly on a snow day.

“We do have hopes and dreams for our children. But no one ever asked us about them and we did not know how to help our children.” Those were the words of a grandmother raising her grandchildren in a rural Black township in South Africa. The group of some 50 family members came to be part of a parent engagement project I had the great fortune to lead. They made a quilt for the school, with each family creating a square about their hopes for their child. As they came together, they learned about ways to support and advocate for their children.

   The teachers in the school, while dedicated to educating the children, had little expectations for the families. After all, they are poor and largely illiterate. Yet when I asked the families about their dreams, there were many.

   Unfortunately, that’s the way it is in too many schools around the globe, including the United States. Hard-working teachers feel parents don’t care if they don’t show up for parent meetings. Yet parents without formal education, or immigrants who don’t know how to traverse the complex U.S. school system, often keep their distance from their children’s school as a sign of respect. They trust their children’s education to the teachers and show their respect by not becoming involved. Parents aren’t valued for what they do know — insights on their children, a lifetime of experiences.

   As was clear with these parents in South Africa, they do care, and they care intently. Once given the opportunity to become a part of school in a project that valued them, they could see that they do have a role in school. Based on a model called Tellin’ Stories from Teaching for Change, the quilt project creates a non-threatening place for parents to gather in the school. While they are sewing, they learn about school expectations and resources both in school and in the community.

   In South Africa, I was honored to work with these incredible families in the school where my husband and I have volunteered the past two years. Over the course of the family meetings, the families learned how to support their children’s learning at home. And they became empowered to advocate for the children at school, just as many of them had fought so hard against apartheid years earlier. “We need to give you  name in Xhosa,”  said one of the parents. So I was called Nosango, or “gate” in their mother tongue. �”You have opened the gates of freedom, the gates of learning to us,”  said the parent. Certainly a moment I will never forget.

   How many families in our schools have dreams no one is asking about? How many are eager to help their children reach those dreams, but they don’t know what to do? We need family engagement outreach strategies that respect their personal experiences, their culture, their knowledge. Then we can build true partnerships with families that help out students be successful and our schools thrive.

For more about the Parent Engagement project in South Africa, please see article in Port Elizabeth Herald or www.KuglersinSouthAfrica.blogspot.com

Eileen with Principal Z.A. Thambo

Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice because she is just what we need on the court – a smart, thoughtful, and experienced juror. It’s unfortunate, however, that she had to defend her impartiality as a judge by pulling back from her comments that a wise Latina woman would make good decisions. Of course our life experiences impact the prism through which we would view “facts” of a case. Otherwise there would be no need for more than one Supreme Court Justice – everyone would see a case the same way.  Clarence Thomas’ life experiences lead him to view cases before him a certain way, as do Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s and John Roberts’.  To inspire discussions among the justices that are deep and thoughtful, we need jurists with diverse backgrounds.  And that certainly includes a wise Latina woman, who should not have to make excuses for asserting that her experiences will enhance the court.  Research shows that diverse groups reach better decisions.  Case closed.

(From Author Interviews on ASK WENDY blog Author Interview)

Interview with Award-winning Author Eileen Gale Kugler 

I speak and write about the unique benefits that diversity brings schools and communities, which is a topic that nearly everyone is (finally) paying attention to. I help break through society’s “myth-perceptions” about race and culture, urging people to go beyond celebrating to advocating for diversity  urging people to go beyond celebrating to advocating for diversity.  In addition to my book, I’ve written commentaries for pubs ranging from USA Today and The Washington Post to Educational Leadership and The National School Boards Journal.  I come to this work as a parent and communications consultant, inspired by the education of my kids at one of the nation’s most diverse high schools, in a Washington, D.C. suburb, where I volunteered for more than a decade. Publishing the book was a watershed point for me, giving me the credibility I needed to speak and consult nationally.  

In addition to speaking around the country, I also travel internationally to increase my own understanding of different cultures.  Last summer, my husband, adult daughter and spent 3 weeks working with teachers in a rural South African School.  We learned unforgettable lessons – from never give up to always be open to new ideas. We’re going back this summer.

1. Tell us about your latest book. 

In a recent discussion on Twitter Moms, mothers debated whether to send their kids to a challenging school or a diverse one.  I replied that is a false choice, and that’s what my book, Debunking the Middle-class Myth: Why diverse schools are good for all kids,  is all about.  We need to go beyond society’s definition of a “good school” – largely middle-class white in a suburban enclave – and realize that diverse schools are enriched academically as well as socially.  Students who sit in class alongside peers from different races, ethnicities, and socio-economic groups are challenged with different perspectives. They all learn to think more deeply, to question more, to respect differences of all types.  You can’t buy that kind of learning.

I’m thrilled to say that my book won national Book of the Year awards from both the National Association for Multicultural Education and the Delta Kappa Gamma International Women Educators Honor Society.  It is required reading in universities around the country and is inspiring honest dialogue in school improvement teams, PTAs, and community book discussions. 

Booksigning at Busboys and Poets, D.C.

2. How did you get started as a writer?

My training and early career is as a journalist and I have always considered that to be my profession.  In later years I worked as head of communications for a government agency and then a non-profit.  Opened my own communications consulting firm, Kugler Communications,  in the Washington, DC, area in 1992.   I always wrote in my professional life. but never felt I was a writer – until the book came out.  It literally changed my identity.  Most of my professional life these days is speaking and consulting, but I do a lot of commentary and article writing.

3. What does a typical day look like for you?

I’m a night person, so you’ll see that it skews pretty late.  I get up about 8:00 and do some housework upstairs.  Then I have breakfast and read the paper.  I get to my office downstairs at about 10:00.  I often am working on numerous projects at the same time, which suits my personality well.  I’m usually writing at least one article/blog entry/issue paper .  I try to go with the flow – as you’ll see in later responses, I try to tap into my creativity.  I know when something is ready to be written because it writes itself in my head first.  I can see the connections that need to be made.  I’ll often jot down the key points, particularly if is a long article.   After I write something, I let it sit for a few days to get perspective on it.  Of course, sometimes deadlines push me to write something when I’m not quite ready,  but I usually have time to let the creativity percolate (it doesn’t take much time for this to happen).  My workday usually ends about 7, but it is not unusual for me to work until 10 or 11.   I frequently go to networking or volunteer meetings in the evening.  I try to spend weekends with my husband,  grown children and friends.

4. Describe your desk/workspace.

(Do I have to??)  I grew up in a house where my mother (whom I love) kept a rigidly clean house.  She would straighten things behind me.  So now there is a piece of me that craves chaos.  I’m very organized, and I keep great files, but my desk is, shall we say…. messy.  The other factor at work is that my journalistic training was to focus on the deadline at hand and then move on to the next.  Journalists rarely have neat desks because they don’t spend time cleaning up behind them, they just move on.  I love the sign that says, “I’m not messy, I’m just creative!”

5. Favorite books (especially for writers)

Three Cups of Tea – I got to hear Greg Mortensen speak recently.  What an inspiration for life!

Eat, Pray, Love – Examining life and determining what’s important

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides    –  Brilliantly written novel.  Captivating personal story on a current issue, epic family historical fiction, full of symbolism.  Everyone in my family, from my daughter to my mother, could not put it down.

6. Tell us 3 interesting/crazy things about you

1) I married my high school sweetheart.  Since he is an educator, he was the first reader of my book, literally reading it on the floor of my office as the pages came out of the printer.  He was so overwhelmingly positive about the content that I knew I was on to something.

2) My husband, daughter (also a teacher), and I volunteered in a rural school in South Africa for 3 weeks last summer.  We cannot wait to go back next summer.  We were so moved by the community and school that this will be a life-long relationship.  I can’t imagine not returning – it would feel the same as saying I would never see family again.  We have established a fund for the school through South Africa Partners, a U.S. charity. See our blog at http://kuglersinsouthafrica.blogspot.com  and a recent article posted by the National Education Association www.neawww.neamb.com/home/1217_2746.htm

3) I get to work on something that I care passionately about EVERY DAY.  How crazy is that?

7. Favorite quote

The great use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast you – William James

8. Best and worst part of being a writer

Best – Being able to say what I want to say.  Words are powerful and I’m blessed with the ability to put them together with clarity of purpose.

Worst  — I often feel compelled to write.  I’ll be thinking about something and suddenly writing will appear in my head.  I have to stop what I’m doing (even if it means getting out of bed as I’m falling asleep) and write it down.  Otherwise the writing in my head will not let me do anything else.  When I write it down, it’s always incredible.  If I manage to ignore the urge, I do lose the muse –  trying to recreate some of those thoughts the next day just doesn’t work.

9. Advice for other writers

-Listen to your muse! (see 8 ) If your brain is giving you some creative stuff, let it rip.

- “Throw up on the page” in your first draft. Don’t analyze your writing as you go or your left brain will kill your right brain.  Give yourself enough time so you can let the writing sit a few days and then go back and edit it with a fresh eye.

  10. Tell us a story about your writing experience. 

Once I started writing my book, I couldn’t stop.  It was like a faucet had been turned on.  I wrote every day, EVERY DAY, for 10 – 15 hours a day.  Sometimes my brain wanted to keep going, but my eyes or my back or my hands gave out.  I slept well and would get up with new insights (oh, THAT interview goes better in THAT chapter).  When I finished the last chapter, I felt the faucet turn off.  I couldn’t write the next week if you paid me.

Where can people buy your book?

My website, www.EmbraceDiverseSchools.com, highlights the work that I do with schools and communities.  The resources section includes lots of materials that can be used to support diverse schools.  On the website, you can also read excerpts from my book and of course, order it.  It’s available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble online, but the best place to go for multiple copies is the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield Education http://www.rowmaneducation.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0810845113