C135 (Book Club): Creating an Alliance with our Learners (pg 88 -107)

​Welcome back my friends to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher.  This episode speaks directly to my heart and I hope it will resonate with you too.  Zaretta Hammond focuses on building deep alliances with our learners in chapter 6 of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.  We will uncover some parts, but it’s not possible to unpack all of the ideas.  Have fun reading and finding your own nuggets of wisdom.  

​The chapter begins with a quote by Rita Pierson, “Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be.”   Many of you have probably seen this powerful Ted Talk that was immortalized in 2013, but still resonates with the needs of our learners today.  I had to take some time to rewatch it again, because even we need powerful messages to lift us up.  I’ll post the link in the bio, so you are able to reconnect with this powerful educator. 

To set the stage for this chapter, Hammond purports, “As culturally responsive teachers, we have a particular duty to help dependent learners build their intellective capacity so that they are able to do more independent learning and higher order thinking.”  When I read this passage, I connected to this past week in the #tccbookclub where we explored the difference between tasks, understanding, and skills.  If we only teach tasks, we create a learning disposition that can only replicate processes as directed by the teacher.  Learners are not able to use the skills on their own, because they don’t understand the underlying purpose of the task.

​Meanwhile, teaching for  conceptual understanding and skill development help learners to make relationships between content and bigger ideas.  Learners are challenged to show the concept in action and give examples from their perspective.  Teaching the purpose of the skills helps learners to understand why they are important, how to use them, and how to self-select them based on the content and context.  Whew, we are going deep already. 

Academic mindset

​Hammond presents two ways of thinking that shape a child’s learning experiences:  academic mindset and learned helplessness.  

“Academic mindset is defined as a student’s attitudes, beliefs, and dispositions about school, learning, and his capacity as a learner that are associated with effort, perseverance, and positive academic achievement.”  I internalize this as a learner recognizing their effort pays off if they have perseverance and a positive mindset.  This is reinforced by a strong school culture that focuses on a growth mindset, rather than solely on academic achievement.  This impacts a learners attitudes, beliefs, and disposition about school and learning.  

Conversely, “learned helplessness is the student’s belief that he has no control over his ability to improve as a learner.  Because he doesn’t believe he has the capacity, he doesn’t exert any effort when faced with a challenging work assignment or a new skill to develop.”  This is reinforced by the relationships that have been created with teachers and peers.  If a child is continuously reminded of their deficits, they will expect to always not measure up to expectation.  
This reminds me of the childhood of Ben Carson.  He grew up with a single mother and his brother in an at-risk community.  His mother worked three jobs, so she was not at home very often.  When she discovered that Ben and his brother were getting into trouble, Ben’s mother demanded that they expand their reading and turn in a book report each week. Ben was challenged to read a wide variety of books and expand his mind.  At school, he was known as the dummy of the class, because he was not a strong student.  Due to the increase in reading, he quickly transitioned from being the lowest to top performing student in the class.  This was all due to his illiterate mother who saw her children headed down a dangerous path and demanded an alternative outcome.  All of the reading developed a love of science and Ben became a prominent surgeon at Johns-Hopkins Hospital and was one of the first neurosurgeons to successfully separate twins that were conjoined at the brain. 

Building Alliances

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​When we examine the difference between academic mindset and learned helplessness, it all leads to alliance.  This is the understanding between a teacher and learner that there is a shared goal to creating successful learning experiences and development.  The learner trusts in their teacher to guide and provoke their thinking to become better.  

​Hammond shares three key components to alliance:

• A shared understanding and agreement to tackle a specific goal
• A shared understanding and agreement about the tasks necessary to reach the goal along with confidence that these activities will lead to progress
• A relational bond based on mutual trust that creates an emotional connection and sense of safety for the client in order to do the hard work necessary to reach the goal.

When I look at this list, I want to know how exactly I’m going to be able to achieve this with every student.  Let’s take a moment to break them down and support them with ideas from the reading. 

​A shared understanding and agreement to tackle a specific goal

The first thing that came to my mind was setting a goal using a success criteria.  As the educator, you know what specific skills learners will need (cognitive, affective, metacognitive) to understand the content they will be exploring.  Choose two skills per each type of skill to put in a success criteria. 

• Ask learners to consider one which is a “glow” that they can do in 3-5 different ways
• Select a skill that is a “grow” that they can do with a small group, but struggle to complete on their own. 
• See how they might develop this skill through (cognitive, affective, metacognitive) lens.  This will allow them to see that learning is a whole and not just understanding the content. 

If this is too much for you, there are some ideas that Hammond shares on pages 95-96. 
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• Ask the student to identify what they think is getting in the way for them around a specific learning target.
• Together select a learning target that is small, specific and significant.

A shared understanding and agreement about the tasks necessary to reach the goal along with confidence that these activities will lead to progress

We can always assess the success criteria and ask learners to assess their goal (WHY).  Ask them (HOW) they will break it down into smaller ideas and connect them together.  Then, consider (WHAT) individual tasks need to be completed first before relationships can be created. 

Another way is by creating a pact.  Hammond outlines some ways to make this happen naturally in your class.  I will only refer to some of them, which can be found on pages 95-96.

• Set a deadline for mastering the learning target.
• Set up benchmarks for check on progress and offer corrective feedback.
• Share what you are willing to do as the student’s ally.  Let them know you are their partner in this process.  Be specific about how you will support them. 
• Be explicit about your belief in their capacity to master this learning target.  Be authentic. 

There are many more suggestions on page 96, but this is the heart of how we can move forward with supporting learner progression. 


A relational bond based on mutual trust that creates an emotional connection and sense of safety for the client in order to do the hard work necessary to reach the goal.

At the heart of this part is authenticity.  You won’t know and connect with every learner.  This is okay.  But, they still need to know that you believe in their capacity to succeed.  This comes in many informal ways. 

Something that I appreciate are some help tips that Hammond provides on pages 100-101.  It begins with using kid-friendly vocabulary to clear processes for reflecting and acting on teacher feedback.  It doesn’t matter how you do this, but be consistent. Our learners crave consistency from the teachers, because it may be the only safe space in their world. 

Feedback to move Forward

​When learners have clarity of how to move forward, they are more easily able to apply it back to their practice.  Hammond provides many different ideas about types of feedback and here are my highlights.

Page 103
Quality Feedback has some distinct characteristics

• It is instructive rather than evaluative: focus on rules missed
• It is specific and in the right dose; 1-2 points
• It is timely
• It is delivered in a low stress, supportive environment

Page 105
For negative feedback, include:

• An explicit holding of high standards:  why is this important
• A personal assurance
• Specific actionable steps

If you want to go even further in this process, consider examining The Asset-Based Feedback Protocol on page 105 that provides step-by-step directions on how to give feedback and check on progress.  It’s amazing. 

I know that there have been so many ideas in this chapter, but it’s all about supporting our learners so they can be successful.  More importantly, so they know that we have their backs and won’t let them fail.  We all make mistakes, but our role as their teacher is to guide them towards independence. 



Reference
Rita Pierson:  Every Child Needs a Champion