Slice of Life Day 22: Reflections on a Conference
Today I had the opportunity to attend a conference on The Implications of Deficit Thinking in Literacy with Curt Dudley-Marling. He shared a lot of information about the negative impact that deficit-based thinking and pedagogies have on students. He also pointed out that many structures in schools are set up as a deficit model. He said many powerful things, but one that really resonated with me was, "a belief that you need to save kids is a presumption that something is wrong with them." If we think that it is our job or the job of school to "fix" a student or their family, we are approaching education wrong.
Mr. Dudley-Marling instead believes that schools should operate from a philosophy of abundance- that ALL students are smart and capable. That the curriculum, the expectations, the facilities, the pedagogy, and the systems should all say, "We RESPECT you" to ALL students and families. We need to focus on the strengths that each and every student brings to school with them.
During the second half of the conference he talked about the benefits of Shared Inquiry and Interpretive Discussions as practices that honor and benefit all students. It was affirming because these practices are very similar to Language Workshop, an instructional practice we use in our district. Language Workshop is a student-centered discussion around complex texts that is facilitated by the teacher. Mr. Dudley-Marling talked about the value of students learning to talk to one another, to disagree respectfully, and to construct meaning together. These are real world skills that will help kids be prepared to participate in democratic society. "Social justice and equity demand these practices in our classrooms" (Dudley-Marling).
Today's learning was powerful because it gave me some new research to look into, added to my thinking, and affirmed one of the practices I've been working hard to develop in our district.
Mr. Dudley-Marling instead believes that schools should operate from a philosophy of abundance- that ALL students are smart and capable. That the curriculum, the expectations, the facilities, the pedagogy, and the systems should all say, "We RESPECT you" to ALL students and families. We need to focus on the strengths that each and every student brings to school with them.
During the second half of the conference he talked about the benefits of Shared Inquiry and Interpretive Discussions as practices that honor and benefit all students. It was affirming because these practices are very similar to Language Workshop, an instructional practice we use in our district. Language Workshop is a student-centered discussion around complex texts that is facilitated by the teacher. Mr. Dudley-Marling talked about the value of students learning to talk to one another, to disagree respectfully, and to construct meaning together. These are real world skills that will help kids be prepared to participate in democratic society. "Social justice and equity demand these practices in our classrooms" (Dudley-Marling).
Today's learning was powerful because it gave me some new research to look into, added to my thinking, and affirmed one of the practices I've been working hard to develop in our district.
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