(Name-mce) ListServ Cameras roll on diversity training for teachers

[Villanueva Anselmo]

Cameras roll on diversity training for teachers

By Anne Williams

The Register-Guard  Eugene OR

Published: Saturday, May 13, 2006

 

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/05/13/d1.cr.neafilm.0513.p1.php?s
ection=cityregion

The Eugene Education Association found itself in the spotlight this week
with a visit by a film crew from its parent organization to highlight
the teachers union's fledgling diversity training program. 

The EEA's commitment to "Education for All," a six-hour program designed
to help all school employees better understand and respond to issues
related to diversity, equity and social justice, recently earned the
group a civil rights award from the National Education Association. 

President Paul Duchin and Vice President Merri Steele will accept the
Rosena J. Willis Memorial Award at the NEA convention in Florida next
month. That's where the local footage shot this week will air. 

The EEA is one of just two local affiliates in the country that's
offering the program, which was developed by the NEA and requires a
weeklong preliminary training for a cadre of local teachers, who then
become trainers for their colleagues. 

Becki Fujii, a teacher at Howard Elementary School, is one of nine
Eugene School District teachers who were trained in August. On Friday,
she helped lead a daylong session at the Education Center for employees
at her school, including the principal and the custodian. 

"I volunteered to be part of the cadre because I see it as important
work towards building the self-esteem of students," she said. "We are
provided staff development in various curriculum areas, but if we don't
attempt to address the area of cultural competency, then we're missing a
part of meeting students' needs and understanding the issues they bring
with them to school." 

The training consists of four modules, the first dealing with
understanding diversity, the second with developing cultural identity,
the third with reacting to differences and the fourth with valuing
diversity. The sessions are highly interactive and probing, and the
response has been enthusiastic, she said. 

"It isn't always comfortable to talk about these kinds of things," Fujii
said. "People are having to kind of dig deep. I think people have found
it really useful." 

Duchin and Steele, who are also trainers, submitted a request for formal
training to the NEA after attending a session offered by the Oregon
Education Association. The NEA sent a team, at no cost to the EEA. 

Duchin said union leaders had come to believe such training was crucial,
given the district's growing minority and special education population,
a flurry of racial incidents in the schools, concerns about diversity in
the schools of education at both the University of Oregon and Northwest
Christian College and other factors. 

Of the district's approximately 18,000 students, 17.3 percent are
minorities, 14 percent are on special education plans and 31.7 percent
qualify for subsidized meals, according to 2004-05 data. While
enrollment is declining, all those percentages are growing. 

The other trainers are Hazel Jones, a special education teacher at
Edgewood Elementary; Linda Stork, a teacher at Twin Oaks Elementary;
Lisa Vreim, a teacher at Howard; Crista Lawson, a teacher at Awbrey Park
Elementary; Linda Smart, a teacher at Hillside Alternative Elementary;
Karen Lacey, a speech specialist; and Jennifer Scurlock, a teacher at
Kennedy Middle School. 

Scurlock also helped lead Friday's session, part of which involved a
discussion about feeling like an "insider" or an "outsider" in various
arenas, such as race, culture, age, sexual orientation and physical
ability. 

Scurlock described her own childhood growing up as an African-American
in predominantly white Eugene. Her father told her, "You're going to
have to do double of all your friends." 

She heeded his advice, pushing herself hard in academics, theater and
other endeavors. 

"I remember the weight being put on my shoulders because I realized at
that point that I was often the only African-American in the class," she
said, recalling how any time a subject came up involving
African-Americans - civil rights, for example - eyes turned on her. 

Duchin had heard Scurlock tell that story when the two trained together,
and it was a revelation. She was one of his students when he taught math
at Monroe Middle School, and it never occurred to him at the time that
she might feel that degree of pressure. 

"It had a huge impact on me," he said. 

"It made me think: How many other students did I have in class who felt
that way?" 

The training and discussion that flows from it tend to spur similar
"Aha!" moments among participants, he noted. 

So far, just three schools - Howard, Adams and Hillside elementary
schools- have done schoolwide training, but Steele said several others
have made requests. The training works best in a single session, with
all employees, and it's difficult for schools to schedule enough time
for it. 

Superintendent George Russell, who was interviewed by the NEA film crew,
applauds the EEA for taking on the program, and hopes to see more
schools take advantage of it. 

"The NEA for years has been on the forefront of equity and social
justice issues and issues around closing the achievement gap," he said. 

Russell sat in on some of the training sessions for the cadre. 

"The approach is one that empowers the teachers and the trainers, and is
one that recognizes some of the concerns and issues that teachers have
with both time and resources in trying to address multiple ability
levels and circumstances kids bring to their classrooms and so forth,"
he said. 

Russell said he's quite sure administrators at other buildings recognize
how valuable the training would be, and will make an effort to schedule
it. 

"I think the message is getting out pretty clearly that it's one of
those pieces that contributes to trying to address the achievement gap,"
he said.