MS108 was a positive outlier for cultural awareness on our Fall 2021 Panorama student survey. We decided to visit and interview the principal and teachers leading this amazing work and share our findings with the network.
Watch our interview with Principal William Gladstone as our Network Leader Jacobē Bell asks him about his school’s cultural awareness practices and their special change idea. Building off of their cultural awareness work, the 108 team is now testing a change idea that focuses on literacy skills.
Chapters
- 1:19 About Crew
- 3:23 The hidden curriculum
- 4:47 The NSI work at MS 108
- 7:52 Cultivating Genius Protocol
The Data Story
92% of its students responded positively to questions like:
- How often does this teacher encourage you to learn about people from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?
- When there are major news events related to race, how often does this teacher talk about them with students?
- How fairly does this teacher treat people from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?
Many students also filled out the open responses questions (which tend to get skipped over). Here’s how many responded to the question: “What is one thing that your teacher does that makes you feel like they understand you?” Here’s what we saw:
- Some version of “they listen to me” or “they talk to me” came up more than 50% of the over 100 answers
- Uses my proper pronouns
- Makes eye contact with me
- Knows what music I like
Here’s what the ELA teachers had to say about it when we asked what they were doing.
All the books we choose are ones that touch on different cultures, different issues in society that students are dealing with, but also ones that they might not know about to open up their eyes a bit.
—Jennifer LaValle
We’re having open discussions and letting students’ voices be heard. Let them say what they want to say.
—Alyssa Somoano
We leave our judgment at the door, and I think that kids know that.
—Michelle Velazquez
What’s Next For MS 108?
- 108 is scaling the ELA identity work to social studies and science teachers. They are exploring their own identities as teachers as well as those of their students.
- They are continuing to refine the Cultivating Genius protocol with ELA teachers.
Dive Deeper
Crew refers to a class that meets twice a day for all students. The morning session lasts for 25 minutes and focuses on community and team building and life skills. For 30 minutes in the afternoon, students participate in a book club around a culturally responsive text. Classes are small with about 10 to 12 students per class. Learn more on EL Education’s website.
Principal Gladstone also referred to the team’s current change idea – Cultivating Genius Protocol, which develops students’ speaking, listening, reading and writing skills simultaneously.
See the protocol in detail in their coach Dan Vazquez‘s post below.
