Transcript Slide 1

Professor Greg Michie
Concordia University
Guest Speaker Today
author of“Holler if you hear me”
Professor Greg Michie
Concordia University
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University of North Carolina
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University of Illinois at Chicago
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1985 B.A. in mass communication
1992 Masters in education
2003 Ph. D. in education
1996 Golden Apple Foundation Award for
Excellence in Teaching
Holler If You Hear Me: The Education of a
Teacher and His Students (1999,2009) Teachers
College Press.
See You When We Get There: Teaching for Change
in Urban Schools (2005) Teachers College Press.
Why was the Library of Congress
classification of Holler if you hear me a
shock to the author Greg Michie?
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First edition-- Socially handicapped children
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Second edition-- Children with social disabilities
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Michie comments that is harkens back to “cultural
deprivation” theories of the 1960s
Their disadvantages arise not from within, but from a society not
willing to invest in their schools and communities (xxvii).
Holler if you hear me
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Michie concludes that good teachers are
crucial, and can make a difference in lives of
students.
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But larger social problems—poverty, lack of
opportunity, discrimination, violence—can’t be
solved by good teaching alone (xxiv).
The book has received praise for its honest
reflections about the challenges and
rewards of teaching in an urban school.
Michie aims:
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To show the goodness and possibility that reside in all children—sees
his students as resilient, courageous, and creative.
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To contradict cultural deficit thinking about urban students and to
document conditions (parents care, kids care but can be discouraged).
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To show the need for greater investment in education of all children—
all students need best teachers and best teaching approaches, support
services, and resources.
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To highlight the voices of urban students.
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Michie rejects the reading of his story as the urban
teacher-hero. Because he:
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Learned from students
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Is not a hero—that is he did not sacrifice everything
for his students, he made mistakes, did not work
miracles.
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Is not a lone hero--gained from collaboration and
support from other teachers.
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Michie applies ideas and teaching approaches contained in
critical theory (Tozer, Chapter 13).
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Cultural subordination (Michie pays attention to the impact
of uneven power relations, structured inequality in their
lives, and their inferior status in society).
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Cultural difference (Michie is a culturally relevant teacher).
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Resistance theory (Michie understands why students resist,
acknowledges inequities, works to engage students in studies
that are relevant and challenging).
Holler if you hear me
Dear Mr. Michie,
Don’t take it personal but your class is very boring
that is the reason why I don’t participate or at least
your subject is boring. What I think you should do is
do fun stuff and fun projects as well. Before your
class was fun but now it is more like a chore.
Thank you
Anonymous (119)
Holler highlights how schools,
combined with political, economic,
and ideological forces of society
impact the lives of students--
VOCIE OF STUDENTS to express their views about:
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Challenges presented by urban conditions
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Police don’t want to come into their neighborhoods (146)
Gang activity limits their mobility (181)
Consequences of concentrated poverty
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Cultural difference
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School policies and teachers that are hostile and antagonistic
toward students (causes resistance and apathy)
Critique or just complaints?
“See if I care”
Samuel and Ruby both advise teachers
about making learning fun…
In her 7 page letter, Ruby advises:
 Show patience
 Don’t make kids feel bad
 Students need to act better as well
Michie is a Culturally Relevant Teacher
He holds these views about culture and identity,
relationships, and knowledge:
(Tozer, on Ladson-Billings, 430)
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Conceptions of themselves and others.
 Recognize that culture impacts everyone’s learning.
Caution about cultural generalizations that would
erase individuality (experiences, gender, class, family, etc.)
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Conceptions of social relations.
 Social relations impact motivation, why we learn,
interpretations, how the community views the school.
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Conceptions of knowledge.
 Knowledge is constructed, useful, changing, linked to
experiences.
Michie Applies a Culturally Relevant Teaching
Approach -- “connect with the kids’ culture”
Key chapters are (found also in other chapters): “Look at Your
Hands”, “Story of Their Lives” and “Nancy”
“Look at your hands” Students studied:
 Mexican heritage
 Mexican-American identity
 Faced some of their own biases
 Human Differences (Gender, World Cultures)
“Story of their lives” Project to tape a book:
 Lessons from House on Mango Street reading
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What teaching is about: to explore with students, connect and build
Most reading materials did not reflect students’ identity and experiences
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xP11RgMlMU&feature=related
Youtube see: bestofssn
Seward School, Chicago
Student from Michie’s Media Class 1990s
The cultural identity of students is important.
What is a Mexican?
“Look at your hands” Michie’s students are: children
of immigrants, from a working class neighborhood,
living in the Southside of Chicago, in a climate of
fear of immigrants, and more.
Michie Applies Goals of
Culturally Relevant Teaching
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Academic achievement
 To promote academic success for all.
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Maintaining and supporting cultural competence.
 Cultural Difference Theory--Different cultures are
respected, all cultures seen as having ASSETS, minority
cultures are not viewed negatively.
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Fostering a sense of sociopolitical critique in students.
 Cultural Subordination--Acknowledges injustices,
discrimination, institutional racism, the need for
structural changes in school, the neighborhood and the
larger community.
Connect Michie’s Teaching
Approaches with
Freire’s View of Knowledge
Friere’s View of knowledge
 Teachers and students learn together. INQUIRY &
DIALOGUE, ACTION & REFLECTION
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Non-authoritarian relationships.
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Values all kinds of knowledge.
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Seeks to connect knowledge with the reality of students’ lives.
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Teach students how to transform their own lives.
MEDIA STUDIES CLASS
Michie advocates critical literacy
“No Zombies Allowed” Chapter 6
To engage students in critique.
Inspired by the movie “Night of the Living Dead”
Michie- Teaching CRITICAL LITERACY
“No Zombies Allowed” Through media literacy class kids
expressed their ideas and creativity through film, poetry,
writing. Michie respects the students as social critics.
Michie includes study of issues important to their lives such
as cultural difference, poverty, safety, gangs, how their
neighborhood relates to Chicago politics, and their
relationship with police in the neighborhood.
MEDIA STUDIES CLASS
Michie advocates critical literacy
“No Zombies Allowed” Chapter 6
To engage students in critique.
Analysis of messages in:
TV programs
Talk shows
How are youth portrayed in the media?
How is Mexican culture portrayed?
Michie is worried about basic skills and critical thinking.
Explain what kind of education Delpit is advocating for minority
students.
What educational outcomes is Delpit seeking for minority students?
In what ways does Delpit reveal her alliance with a critical theory
perspective?
Let there be no doubt: a “skilled” minority person who is not
also capable of critical analysis becomes the trainable, lowlevel functionary of the dominant society, simply the grease
that keeps the institutions which orchestrate his or her
oppression running smoothly.
On the other hand, a critical thinker who lacks the “skills”
demanded by employers and institutions of higher learning
can aspire to financial and social status only within the
disenfranchised underworld.
Lisa Delpit, Other People’s Children
Through Holler if you hear me
we learn about some of the experiences
Mexican-American youth.
Latino Youth 19% of school
students, are the fastest
growing minority in US.
And they have the highest
dropout rates, and lowest
college attendance rates.
Many of Michie’s former students
did dropout of the Chicago Public
School System (196)
Why should society be concerned
about students who dropout?
In Illinois, over
22,000 students
dropout each year.
Every 26 seconds, a student drops
out of high school in America.
That adds up to more than
1.1 million students per year.
Why might citizens be
concerned about the
economic cost of dropouts?
Every high school dropout requires approximately
$__________ in additional public expenditures
over the course of his or her lifetime, meaning
that the students who are projected to drop out in
the next decade will cost the country
approximately $____ trillion.
Economic Costs of
Dropouts
Every high school dropout
requires approximately
$260,000 in additional public
expenditure over the course
of his or her lifetime,
meaning that the students
who are projected to drop out
in the next decade will cost
the country approximately
$ 3 trillion.
One argument for good public schools
Economic Value of Schooling
in 21st Century
On average, a high school dropout earns
23% less income than a high school graduate,
39% less than a holder of an associates degree,
55% less than a holder of a bachelor’s degree,
62% to 79% less than holders of advanced
degrees.
MC versus OPC
Are dropouts targeted
as a priority in our
nation’s schools?
Do we know how to
reduce the number
of dropouts?
Latino Dropouts ”Breaking the Pattern” 4-26-05
Listed on Reading Table for this week.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/jan-june05/dropouts_4-26.html
“Poverty doesn’t cause dropouts.”
“Schools don’t inspire Hispanic students.”
 These students usually get the:
 Least qualified teachers
 Least enriched curriculum
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We already know a lot about how to create successful
intervention programs, like AVID, BRIDGE, THE
FOUNDARY.
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These special programs are being cut as schools experience
economic problems and pressures to focus on high stakes
testing
Reasons students say they drop out…
How do structures & quality influence completion?
STUDENTS SAY:
 Were not motivated or inspired to work (69%)
 Found classes uninteresting (47%)
 Were failing in school (35%)
 Starting high school poorly prepared (35%)
 Would have to repeat a grade to graduate
(32%)
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Had to work (32%)
Became a parent (26%)
Had to care for a family member (22%)
Culturally Relevant
Teaching in Michie efforts
Knowledge & relationships
ALL ARE INTERRELATED
ALL ARE ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS
1. Believe in the intellectual capacity of all students. Hold beliefs
about minority students that all can learn (and hold them to
high expectations).
2. See themselves as part of the community in which the students
live.
3. Assist students in making connections between their local,
national, racial, global identities.
4. Establish relationships with students that are fluid, equitable,
and extend beyond the classroom.
Culturally Relevant
Teaching in Michie efforts
Knowledge & relationships
5. Demonstrate connectedness with all of their students.
6. Encourage students to learn collaboratively.
7. Believe that knowledge is re-created, recycled, and
shared by students and teachers. Use inquiry-based
learning.
8. View the curriculum critically.
9. Committed to providing readiness and support
necessary for learning.