Who's In My Classroom?. Tim Fredrick
overused the school printer or accidentally took the school's art brushes home without writing my name on the list. I stepped forward.
“Go to the guidance counselor, and pick up a pair of gym shorts,” she commanded.
She stood up and walked through the double doors into the guidance office. I followed her but my mind was elsewhere. I was getting in trouble for wearing leggings?
In my school, getting “gym-shorted” or “gym-shirted” is a punishment imposed on students who disobey the dress code, although I have only seen it imposed on girls.
The Department of Education dress code lists specific types of clothing that are prohibited, like extremely brief or see-through garments. But leggings or spandex are not on the list. I still had to pay $5 for a pair of shorts and experience a day of humiliation.
Although the dress code applies to both boys and girls, it seems to be mostly targeted to girls, which is sexist. Only a few rules actually impact boys, like the “no hats” rule, while the vast majority of rules are clearly intended to police girls’ wardrobes only. How is it fair that boys are allowed to wear muscle tanks that reveal their broad shoulders, while women are restricted from wearing halter tops and tops with spaghetti straps?
Aniqa Tasmin, 17, attended another school in the same district and noticed the same discrepancies.
It seems like it is mostly girls who are called out. I've seen boys wearing offensive shirts that contain explicit sexual language that is demeaning to women and naked photos of women. They often wear muscle shirts to gym class that expose their chests. Yet I haven't known any boys to be “dress-coded.” I have also observed that curvier women of color seem to be penalized for defying the dress code more often than skinny, White females are.
2. Enhance your knowledge of how your students develop and learn.
This chapter has focused on the importance of having a better understanding of our students so that we can better support them in school. One key component of understanding who they are is understanding how they develop. A wonderful resource for learning more about child development is Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child (https://www.developingchild.harvard.edu/). There, you'll find a resource library that includes current research in the field of child and adolescent development and specific tools and guides for supporting students’ developmental needs. Another important and related resource is the Yale Child Study Center (https://www.medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/). Their Center on Social and Emotional Learning has been a leader in developing evidence-based practices to support the social and emotional needs of youth and adults.
To better understand how students learn and to better support the learning needs of atypical learners, I often rely on the work of Understood.org (www.understood.org). This site provides a detailed approach to identifying and supporting students’ learning needs.
Special education teacher Ms. Ackert was able to provide high-quality support to Irving Torres, 18, in part because her school implemented a structure that helped teachers get to know students better. He writes:
Ms. Ackert ended up being my teacher for three years, through 8th grade. I learned more in those three years than I thought possible. I attribute that to Ms. Ackert's skill as a teacher, but also the fact that I was fortunate to have a continuing relationship with one teacher who really knew me. This process of a teacher working with students for multiple years is called “looping.”
Looping is a great way to make students more interested in school. [In 7th grade], since Ms. Ackert and I had known each other for over a year, every time she spoke to me during class or asked me a question, she geared the question or assignment specifically to me, which made the work way more interesting.
To gain a better understanding of how students learn, I also ask them specific questions, including: (1) What are things that teachers do that help you to learn?; (2) What are some things that make it more difficult for you to learn in school?; and (3) What are the things that you would like to learn more about? Obviously, Irving would reply that a teacher who knew him enough to match schoolwork to his level and interests is an effective teacher. In another story, Irving described how valuable it was for him when Ms. Ackert stepped in to quickly squash stereotyping and bullying of special education students.
3. Enhance your skills in teaching in culturally responsive ways.
Developmentally and culturally responsive teaching is demonstrated through both instructional planning and instructional practice. I've relied on two helpful planning and practice resources in my work with teachers. The first is The Education Alliance at Brown University (https://www.brown.edu/academics/education-alliance/teaching-diverse-learners/strategies-0/culturally-responsive-teaching-0). On this site, you'll find practical and explicit strategies for teaching in culturally responsive ways. To see what developmentally and culturally responsive teaching looks like, I recommend The George Lucas Foundation's Edutopia website (https://www.edutopia.org/topic/culturally-responsive-teaching). The site includes a series of videos demonstrating culturally responsive teaching practices at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.
4. Listen to students’ voices, and respond.
Throughout this chapter, we've demonstrated just how critical it is to value the voices of youth. But it isn't only important that we listen. It's important that we listen with intention and purpose and that we use what we hear to change our teaching practices. So, in addition to relying on the feedback that you might receive from a school administrator or a colleague regarding your teaching, you should also ask yourself questions such as, “What can I learn from my students about how I can better help them to learn?” “What can my students teach me about my current teaching practices?” and “What can I learn from my students that will help me to grow as a teacher?” The Youth Communication website, youthcomm.org, has scores of stories and story-based lessons with a diversity of youth voices.
What Schools Can Do
1. Assess how students’ developmental needs are currently being met.
To measure growth in student learning, all schools gather baseline data about students at the beginning of the school year and compare it with end-of-year data to determine changes in skills and knowledge. In the same way that schools gather baseline data on students, I also recommend that they gather baseline data on the ways the school meets the developmental needs of their students.
As we discussed throughout this chapter, students have critical cognitive, physical, social, and emotional needs that, when supported, lead to better academic performance and other positive outcomes.
Hence, a key question that school personnel should explore and quantify is: “How well are we currently addressing those needs?” To address students’ cognitive needs, schools can look at indicators that address students’ needs to feel competent. For example, how does the school provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their competence beyond grades and test scores?
Irving describes a moment like that:
One year, I found a writing program I wanted to join, but because I was in special ed I didn't meet the academic requirements. When Ms. Ackert found out, she was red with rage.
She told me to make a poster board that displayed all my writing. She wanted me to present it to the principal, and to tell him I deserved to join the program. I did, and in the