EXPANSIVE VIEW “If they fail, I failed.”

Learning Focused: “You can talk as long as it’s about the work!” Academic engagement is prioritized over rule compliance.

In Class Flexibility:

“I can’t go home so you’re not going home either!” Discipline strategies that use multiple in class strategies with opportunities for atonement. Student Centered Discipline Policy: “If they fail, I failed.” Policies that focus on building student capacity to follow them.

BELIEFS INFORMING PRACTICE “Our job is to

override oppression.”

Background Beliefs:

“When I learned about inequity and the achievement gap, I couldn’t ignore race.” Personal experience and understanding of institutional racism and oppression of black male students.

Personal Charge: “I love my students!” Commitment to and love of students and teaching.

Override

Oppression: “And our job is to override oppression.” Conscious effort to address institutional racism toward black males.

EMOTIONAL FLEXIBILITY

“I’m not mad. I’m the adult.”

Emotional Attunement:

“I’m going to give you a little space before you tear up this place.” Responding to emotional behavior of students, not just verbal & physical behavior.

Channel Anger: “If you was poor and black, you’d be angry too!” Accepting and channeling student anger & frustration into effective resistance.

Struggle with Practice:

“They do better when I get better.” Teacher struggles with their own developing practice & experiences negative emotion as a temporary loss of perspective.

Elements of Effective Discipline with Black Male Students

Using the CRT lens to view how teachers effectively address disproportionality of suspension of black males at the classroom level

Elements  of  Effective  Discipline  with  Black  Male  Students  Critical  Race  framing  of  teacher  practice  that  keeps  black  males  in  the  classroom.  

Effective  Element   Description  of  Element  1.  ‘Expansive  View’  discipline  strategy   Equity  for  black  males  in  discipline  as  an  

outcome,  not  a  process  (Crenshaw,  1995).  

2.  Emotional  flexibility   Able  to  respond  to  negative  black  male  student  emotions  without  taking  offense.  

3.  Beliefs  informing  practice     Responding  to  institutional  racism  toward  black  males  at  the  classroom  level.  Social  justice  belief  framework.  

 ‘Expansive  View’  Discipline  Practices:  “If  they  fail,  I  failed”  Equity  for  black  males  in  discipline  as  an  outcome,  not  a  process.  Effective  Practices   Ineffective  Practices  

1.  Learning  Focused:  Academic  engagement  is  prioritized  over  rule  compliance.    

1.  Compliance  Focused:  Following  rules  &  teacher  direction  creates  power  struggles  where  learning  gets  lost.    

2.  In  Class  Flexibility:  Discipline  strategies  that  use  multiple  in  class  strategies  with  opportunities  for  atonement.  

2.  ‘Out  the  door’  Policies:  Discipline  that  relies  heavily  on  threats  and  ‘cumulative  intolerance’  of  ‘frequent  flyers’    

3.  Student  Centered  Discipline  Policy:  Policies  that  focus  on  building  student  capacity  to  follow  them.      

3.  ‘Set  Up  To  Fail’  Discipline  Policy:  Rigid,  one-­‐way  discipline  policies  that  set  students  up  to  fail.  

Emotional  Flexibility  Able  to  respond  to  negative  black  male  student  emotions  without  taking  offense.  

Effective  Practice   Ineffective  Practice  1.  Emotional  Attunement:  Responding  to  emotional  behavior  of  students,  not  just  verbal  &  physical  behavior.  

1.  Emotionally  Tone  Deaf:  Teacher  misreads  or  is  unresponsive  to  student  emotional  cues.    

2.  Channel  Anger:  Accepting  and  channeling  student  anger  &  frustration  into  learning  as  an  effective  form  of  resistance  (Akom).  

2.  Punish  Anger:  Teacher  sees  student  expression  of  anger  &  frustration  as  disrespect  and  punishes  it.  

3.  Emotionally  Struggle  with  Practice:  Teacher  struggles  with  their  own  developing  practice  &  experiences  negative  emotion  as  a  temporary  loss  of  perspective  (“Remember,  it’s  not  about  me.”).  

3.  Blame  Students:  Teacher  sees  student  behavior  patterns  as  the  source  of  their  negative  emotions  and  thus  out  of  their  own  control.  

Beliefs  Informing  Practice  Responding  to  Institutional  Racism  toward  black  male  students  at  the  classroom  level.  

Effective  Practice   Prior  Research  Reference  1.  Background  Beliefs:  Teacher  has  personal  experience  and  understanding  of  institutional  racism  and  oppression  of  black  male  students.  

1.  Addresses  Teacher  Bias:  Teacher  rejects  colorblind  myth  and  accepts  the  reality  of  race  based  inequity  for  black  males  in  education.  

2.  Personal  Charge:  commitment  to  and  love  of  students  and  teaching.    

2.  Addresses  Cultural  Mismatch:  Teacher  loves  and  appreciates  the  cultural  and  racial  identity  of  students  as  important  and  is  personally  committed  to  making  the  educational  setting  culturally  compatible  to  them.  

3.  Override  Oppression:  Explicit  mission  of  addressing  institutional  racism  toward  black  males.  

3.  Addresses  Institutional  Racism:  Teacher  educates  for  a  higher  purpose  of  supporting  black  male  students  to  overcome  institutional  racism.    

The  catch  22  about  referrals   When  you  need  to  send  a  student  out,  it  is  urgent  

and  typically  emotionally  charged.  This  is  not  the  ideal  circumstance  to  write  a  detailed  referral  that  gives  the  principal  adequate  background,  context  and  sequence  of  facts  that  any  reasonable  parent  would  require  the  principal  to  provide  if  called  and  notified  that  their  child  was  coming  home.  

  So  what  usually  happens  is  a  student  is  sent  without  a  referral  but  a  promise  of  one  at  a  later  time  and  the  student  is  expected  to  simply  remain  in  the  office  until  that  time,  creating  a  “cue”  for  the  principal.  

  But  even  if  the  teacher  manages  to  scrawl  some  “highlights”  and  send  the  student,  the  student  is  able  to  “spin”  the  whole  situation.  This  is  where  the  student  can  offer  information  about  the  teachers  chief  weaknesses  that  the  student  may  knowingly  or  unknowingly  feed  into  the  principals  existing  concerns  about  that  teacher,  no  matter  how  small  they  are.