Last week, I posted the Standards and Promising Practices for Schools Educating Boys of Color Tool developed by The Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC).  Below is an interview from Teacher Magazine conducted with the executive director of COSEBOC, Ron Walker. Well worth the read.

Why did you and your organization decide to write this report?

If you notice how it's titled, it says "Standards for Schools Educating Boys of Color." Because of the great disparity, relative to the achievement gap, the intention of our organization is to develop means, strategies, and tools that will help contribute to eliminating the gap.

This document is meant to complement, not to replace the existing. It's meant to really fill the spaces in areas that may not be touched upon in the general approaches to teaching kids every day. It speaks to certain dimensions such as culturally relevant pedagogy, culturally relevant practice—things that bring children of color in greater touch with their culture. That requirement is so they really have the opportunity to understand their identity, their roots, and so forth. It also presents a great opportunity for the instructor and the school to have a full appreciation for the many cultures that represent the school.

How can teachers shape their curricula to better fit the needs of students of color?

You've got to know who's in front of you. It's a conscious act to get to know kids. Every kid has a story—I bet when you went to school, you had a story. And I'd bet that the teachers you either gravitated towards or got the best out of you knew something about you, which speaks to the power of relationships. One of my mentors, Ted Sizer, used to say, "You can't teach somebody you don't know." How true, how true.

Being a former teacher and former principal, I'm fully aware that today is even more challenging than ever before. But, I think that step of getting to know these kids, building a relationship is critical. And let me also suggest,—because teachers have stories, too—that they have to get to know themselves, as well.

Also as a former teacher, I know there were some things that I didn't want to do or I didn't really do well. But I had to know that about myself and I had to acknowledge that.

The willingness of teachers to be reflective professionals helps because you start to see your weaknesses or what bothers you. You're more likely to either find ways to adjust or adapt, or to share that responsibility with someone else on your team who can do it a little bit better.

Here are some GREAT suggestions for how to stay passionate about teaching:

Teaching Secrets: Hang on to the Magic

Here are my favorite two suggestions of the eight offered:

Don't take it personally. This lesson is especially important for high school teachers. When we pour our time, energy, and hearts into planning lessons for students, and then they grouse and complain and aren't engaged, we get our feelings hurt. Let go of that. The students' lack of interest and snarky attitudes are not about you as a person. The flip side of this, of course, is to spend the time and energy to create the most engaging lessons possible, but we have to understand that we can't reach every kid every day.

Be in balance. Remember that your job is not your life. Your life is your life. When you leave the building, leave everything in it: the kids you can't reach, the kids who are hurting, the Eeyorish colleagues, the insane demands, all the negative stuff. Do not burden your spirit with it. After all, it will all still be there when you come back. Work out, be quiet, worship, sleep, read, laugh. You'll be suicidal by Thanksgiving if you don't.

You can read all eight of the suggestions by clicking here.

The Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC) in partnership with the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education has developed the Standards and Promising Practices for Schools Educating Boys of Color Tool as a set of guidelines to assist school districts and educational leaders that seek to develop and enhance schools and programs serving boys of color.

Listed below are some of the guidelines as they relate to curriculum and instruction.  See the entire document here.

Curriculum & Instruction includes:

1. Culturally Relevant Instruction that:
a) Relates to the cultures, lives, and/or
experiences of boys of color, allowing them
to “see themselves” reflected in curricular
materials2
b) Is made “practical” – pertinent to the current
lives and futures of boys of color, especially
as they might relate to their socio-economic
backgrounds
c) Challenges “traditional” curricula that
excludes the contributions and perspectives
of racial/ethnic minority groups (in other
words, does not limit the boys’ learning to
the contributions of dominant, White, or
European groups)
d) Does not make assumptions about students
because of their races or ethnicities, accounts
for multiple perspectives on what is or is not
“relevant” to them as boys of color

2. Teachers should be careful not to make assumptions about the ways in which students from select groups will or will not “see themselves” reflected. Children should
be guided to critique and interrogate images selected to represent them and their racial/ethnic groups, as well as be encouraged to “see themselves” in materials that do
not match their experiences exactly (i.e. in literature representing characters/figures in other countries who have had similar life experiences).