By ACT CEO Janet Godwin, featuring quotes from Domingo Montenegro and Grecia Martinez
Are you ready for the understatement of the year? 2020 has
been tough, especially for teachers.
It’s hard juggling the demands of teaching in a “normal” school year, with near-constant
shifts in curriculum, accountability measures, and limitations on school funding
for necessary resources. But this year, as COVID-19 rages on around us, teachers
have reached a new level of tired. That’s why I’m especially grateful and thoroughly
impressed by teachers’ continued passion and dedication to helping their students
succeed this year, despite the chaos.
To all the weary educators out there, please know I am with
you. You are doing amazing things for your students and should be proud of your
work to keep students engaged and inspired. Your work is critical to the social,
economic, and political wellbeing of our world. You are changing students’
lives, for the better. ACT’s commitment to being a resource for teachers and providing
a platform for teachers’ voices has never been stronger.
Last week, I
spoke with two educators who are doing amazing work in their communities,
and we discussed the “promising
practices ”
they are championing at their schools. I was so inspired and energized by this powerful
webinar discussion, I wanted to share it with you.
Below is a snapshot of what I learned from them. I hope their
words warm your heart and offer you hope (like they did for me) as we head into
the holiday season.
Access is Not Enough
For years, ACT has demonstrated that access to high quality,
rigorous curriculum and coursework is critical to the academic success of
students. However, Grecia Martinez, lead secondary interventionist at Williams
Preparatory School in Dallas, Texas, reminded me that access is not enough.
Grecia’s school serves a majority Hispanic and first-generation population. “Low
socioeconomic students should not be provided lower coursework—that’s an equity
issue,” Grecia told me. And she’s right. When we set the bar high for students,
they exceed our expectations.
In addition to helping students who’ve fallen behind get on
grade-level and encouraging high-performing students to compete at national
levels, Grecia’s school provides students critical context on the social
systems and theories that determine quality of life, and teaches students how
these structures inform their experiences. They do this to teach students the
skills to choose their path post-high school, whatever that unique journey may
be.
“Being first-generation is an asset,” she told me. “We’re able to use cultural
experience and cultural wealth to keep students motivated in the curriculum.”
It’s like the adage that you can’t “be” what you don’t
“see.” More glass ceilings must be shattered.
Domingo Montenegro, language arts department chair at Doral
Academy Charter School in Doral, Florida, put it equally as eloquently: “The ability
to express yourself opens doors… When you’re able to participate in written and
spoken language and understand all of the beautiful things that have been
written, it opens up your world.”
Teachers like Domingo model the importance of continuous learning to keep
students climbing towards their goals. It takes grit to keep going, and there
is no shortcut to success. Rather it’s a steady grind, doing a little every day
to work towards your goals and dreams.
It’s All About Engagement
Domingo, in his 22nd year of teaching, said that non-stop
collaboration, between groups of students; students and teachers; and students,
teachers, and parents, is critical for moving the achievement needle.
All of my fellow parents out there know that raising
children does indeed “take a village.” Strong support systems ensure the work
of teaching and guiding isn’t placed on one individual.
Domingo also discussed the culture of collaboration and
shared resources between teachers, and the opportunity and time for teacher
professional development he felt accelerated his school’s success. Grecia
agreed, noting how the stakes are a lot higher for the first-generation
students they serve, which is why families and communities rally behind these
students.
After all, the success of the student is the success of the
family and the community when students reach great heights.
Setting high expectations and having support from family,
teachers, and the community helps continue motivation and activates engagement and
accountability from all stakeholders. We all play a role in educating our
future leaders.
Data Drives Learning
I was encouraged to hear that both Domingo and Grecia emphasize
the importance of data in developing a baseline, setting (and resetting) goals,
and encouraging student growth.
“We constantly teach and assess, teach and assess, teach and
assess,” Domingo told me. And it’s not just the teacher providing feedback and
data to the student. A student’s ownership of their data is critical to their
growth!
Grecia’s school creates three different tracks for their
students, based on test scores, GPA, and their post-high school goals. Early
conversations and mentoring guide that goal setting for students and families, and
where they go is ultimately their decision.
It’s not a one-and-done, though. There is a constant
re-assessment of growth and goals to guide the student along, and form new
plans, if necessary.
As a firm believer in the power of Lean-Agile methodology, I
love this iterative and bite-sized approach to learning and navigation,
empowering the student to take ownership of their future.
“The students who are most successful are students who have teachers they can trust with their education, to create and share plans,” Grecia told me. “They know that there's a purpose, and it's to help them grow.”
Learning Takes Many Forms
Throughout our conversation, Domingo and Grecia shared many strategies around
the student experience that are making a difference in students’ lives during
this challenging time of blended and remote learning. Both of them told me that
a focus on foundational skills, wellness check-ins, and student engagement in
the community are important to the success of students today.
“Active involvement in the community and clubs…is essential for the survival of democracy and the improvement of quality of life for years to come, given economic, environmental, and political challenges,” said Domingo. “There are convulsions. How do we deal with that? In a high school, a lot can be done to engage students, to put them at ease and to say, this too shall pass.”
From my own conversations with school leaders, I know that now
more than ever, teachers are worried about learning loss and student engagement
during the pandemic. They are finding creative ways to make learning come to
life for students by giving them a student experience that will keep them
engaged and inspired through tough times.
It’s a difficult and daunting task, but we have to make
learning “real” for students by going beyond academics. More than a hub for
learning, schools are also community centers to learn about and practice civic
engagement. Students must see how they fit into the system and how they can
apply what they learn in school to other areas of their lives, to be successful
in all facets of life, including economically, politically, and socially and emotionally.
Learning never stops.
Dive Deeper
If you’d like to learn more from and be inspired by these
brilliant educators, watch
the webinar recording, and read
this brief that highlights promising practices shared by some class of 2020
exemplary high schools that other schools and districts may wish to adopt. Interested
in diving deeper? Take a listen to this
podcast regarding the brief and our 2020 graduating class data.
And to all the teachers out there, weathering the storm,
thank you for your service.
