By Pat Norman, Associate Professor, Trinity University & Chair, SRI Board & Victoria Martinez, 5th grade teacher, Lamar Elementary School
Victoria Martinez found herself working in a new school context last fall when she was hired to teach fifth grade at Lamar Elementary School, a Title I campus serving 360 Pre-K – 6th grade students just north of downtown San Antonio. Because Lamar administrators and teachers routinely use SRI tools and practices to support teacher and student learning at the school, she was quickly introduced to SRI protocols during professional development sessions.
When Victoria attended SRI’s Fall Meeting in Atlanta last November, she deeply appreciated the push to address equity issues and the opportunity to increase her familiarity with additional SRI protocols. She returned to San Antonio excited to engage her students in directly examining social justice issues.
In order to find out what her 5th graders already understood about equity concerns, she turned to the Chalk Talk, asking students to explore the question, “What social issues concern you?”
She was surprised that her students were easily able to identify the following issues, including:
- racism
- gender inequities
- sexism
- poverty
- homelessness
- gun violence
- legalizing marijuana for medical use
- bullying, including cyber-bullying
- abduction
- drug abuse
- teen suicide
- depression
Once she realized the prior knowledge students already possessed, Victoria encouraged each student to select and study the issue with which they were most passionate. In addition to students identifying resources to study on their own, Victoria also located potential resources to support their investigation of their chosen issues. She quickly realized, however, that studying their issue in isolation wasn’t promoting peer interaction. To increase collaboration, she placed students into small groups of four or five. A couple of times a week, she first selected and gave the groups a developmentally-appropriate article that related to one of the group member’s social justice issues. Students were expected to read the article on their own then gather to discuss its contents.
Having already introduced her students to text-based protocols, two of them suggested that they use SRI protocols during these small group conversations. Victoria asked the pair to read through and select several protocols. The two students chose The Final Word and The Wagon Wheel Adapted for Texts.
Victoria invited Pat Norman, Lamar’s Professional Development School coordinator, to facilitate the Final Word protocol the first time that the fifth graders used it during their small group discussions. When debriefing the protocol with the students, Pat asked three questions:
- On a fist to five, how well did the protocol help you better understand the article you first read on your own then discussed in your group? Almost all students showed four or five fingers.
- What did you like about the protocol? They named taking turns and making sure everyone had a chance to speak. In addition, they appreciated that everyone is heard.
- What could we do to make the protocol work even better next time? They had two very specific ideas. First, they wanted to have a “lightning” round where the entire group could respond to the passage/discussion after the person had the final word. They then wanted to give a final “final word” to the person who was studying that social justice issue in order to hear from that student what they learned about their topic.
When Victoria then facilitated a second round of the Final Word with small groups who were exploring a different peer’s issue, she modified the PowerPoint slides that Pat had made initially to include the students’ request for the “lightning round” and the final “final word.” In the video of that session, you’ll see that the students are exploring their peer’s social justice issue – racism. The students in his group had all read an article entitled “How Racism Affects Black and Brown Students in Public Schools” (Nittle, 2018) before they engaged in the Final Word protocol. Victoria videotaped them as they discussed the article. Although the students appear a bit hesitant at first, they find their voices. For example, a student directly addresses a racial stereotype that one of his classmates shared during his turn.
When debriefing the Final Word, the students again proposed modifying the protocol to better fit their needs. First, they suggested shrinking the presenting student’s time to share the article passage and explain why s/he selected it from three minutes to two and increasing the “lightning round” time where all students discuss the passage/comments from one minute to two.
Students’ individual study of their chosen social justice issue and their joint discussion of those issues using protocols led the students to identify three issues they feel most strongly about – racism, gun control and abortion. Victoria gave them the choice to continue their independent investigation or to work in a team. Both individual students and teams are now in the process of organizing their thinking into four sections:
- a summary of the selected issue;
- their argument for or against the issue;
- the counter argument; and
- a response to the counter argument.
Victoria has noticed that by writing together as a group, students are strengthening their understanding not only of the writing process but also of their social justice issue. Talking to each other has created an important scaffold for their writing. This project is also helping her students better understand what it means to research an issue. Where initially many students felt confident simply stating their stance on an issue without having information to back it up, they now more fully understand different perspectives on a given issue and believe that their opinions must be supported with research and informed reasoning.
The fifth graders are deeply invested in this multi-month project. Victoria reports that students routinely ask to come back up to their classroom to continue project work during lunch. It is not uncommon to hear groups of fifth graders passionately debating their chosen topics which has been gratifying for Victoria to witness.
After writing about their issue, groups will then develop a presentation to share not only with families but with community stakeholders who are connected to their issue and who students personally invite. Victoria will encourage groups to select a format for their presentation that best serves their message – a newscast, a parody, a play, etc.
Victoria’s success in using SRI tools to help her students examine social justice issues is impacting more than just her fifth graders. When 2nd grade teacher, Priscilla O’Connor, recently learned of what’s happening in Victoria’s classroom, she asked for Victoria’s help to explore how her 2nd graders might explore a social justice issue. The two colleagues are currently developing a plan that includes asking the fifth graders to participate with the second graders as they use a text-based protocol to examine an article focused on the selected social justice issue.
Nittle, N.K. (2018). How racism affects black and brown students in public schools. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/how-racism-affects-public-school-minorities-4025361
I grew immensely at this conference. The strategies taught have been an incredible tool with in my classroom. I look forward to learning more so that I may continue to share and grow with my students. Thank you SRI for opening my eyes to a world that I thought was history.