Civil Rights in the Classroom—Engaging All Learners

Presented by Marni BarronInstructional Coach, D.C. Public Schools

U.S. Department of EducationSummer 2012

Civil Rights and Reluctant Students

• Students who are disengaged are not given the tools necessary to participate in the knowledge-based economy.

• Students must be invited into the learning process for doors to higher education and career paths to open.

• Teachers are responsible for providing academic access and language to ALL students.

Strategies to Engage Resistant and Reluctant Students

• Resistant students are at risk of educational failure (high-needs students).

• Foster mutually respectful relationships with students

• Develop engaging and relevant teaching strategies that facilitate emotionally safe learning environments.

5 Innate Human Needs Must Exist in Classroom Communities

(Sagor, 2002)

• Need to feel competent

• Need to belong• Need to feel useful• Need to feel potent• Need to feel

optimistic

Where to begin?

• Start with yourself.• Look at your own

emotional needs.• Start and commit to a

Daily Excellence Journal (DEJ).

• Are you meeting your personal benchmarks?

Supporting Teachers

• Start by doing what make you feel good!

• Adding music, artwork, games and physical activity to teaching makes the importance of teaching and learning joyous.

Apply What we Know about Emotions to Student Learning

• Our emotions respond to innate general categories of incoming information.

• Emotionally driven fears or behaviors CAN become an environmental factor leading to reading difficulty. (Sylwester,1994)

• Emotion, decoding and comprehension are generated by neural systems in the frontal lobe of the brain. (Sousa, 2005)

The Overarching Goal

“Growing the Group”Developing Perspective

References• Barron, Marni. (2012). The Social Emotional Side of

Education. Soul Tree Agency of Resources. Washington, D.C.

• Brewer, Caroline. (2012). 11 R’s Every Teacher Should Know. Infinity Education Solutions. Washington, D.C.

• Sagor, Richard. (2002). Lessons from Skateboarders. Washington State Univ. Vancouver, WA.

• Sousa, David A. (2005). How the Brain Learns to Read. Corwin Press (A Sage Pub. Co.). Thousand Oaks, CA.

• Sylwester, Robert. (1994). How Emotions Effect Learning. University of Oregon. Eugene, OR.