Educating the African American and Latino Male Childby Jawanza KunjufuAaron ShelbyDescatur PotierDanny LoraRebecca Johnson

Tufts Colleagues with Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu

ProfessionsDoctors, Dentists,

Engineers or Teachers

AfricanAmericans

Other

NFL

African American

Other

NBA

African American

Other

1%

67%

84%

NBA: What are the odds?

1,000,000 boys and girls wish to be in the NBA

400,000 make their high school basketball team

4,000 play in college 35 make it to the NBA ONLY 7 starters Average NBA career is 4

years

What’s your back up plan?

What’s your back up career?

African American Males in Penal System

100,000

1,500,000

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

1600000

1980 Today 70% drug related

Difference in spending United States

$28,000 annually per prisoner with 85% recidivism

Europe

$6,000 on drug treatment programs with 66% efficacy

What’s the cost?

In Maryland…

Mentoring one youth in a one-to-one program for $1000-$1500 per year

Vs. Spending up to $80,000 a year to house one

youth in a correctional or rehabilitation facility.

Raising expectations for every student

Curriculum

Create culturally relevant curriculum for all students in the classroom.

Use current trends and ideologies to your advantage in terms of lesson plans.

Have students play an active role in creating curriculum.

How should you create your lessons? Tailor your lessons to the characteristics

and needs of the young, Black male children: High activity Hands-on learning Non-verbal and verbal communication, Colorful language Link it to social context

What else should be in your lessons? Character education must be included in

the curriculum

Teachers must know the students are intelligent

Avoiding Special Education Assessing for right brain learners and plan a

proportional amount of lessons them If 50% are right-brain learners then 50% of lessons should

be right brain lessons

Non-traditional forms of assessment Oral presentation of knowledge for projects rather than

written testing of knowledge

Teach how to study in groups Looping Teachers Incorporate Multicultural Curriculum

Application in School

Multi-cultural history courses as electives Incorporate multicultural perspectives into

lessons when missing from current curriculum.Help plan and teach a non “white man’s

history” course. Focuses on the contributions of African, African American, and Latin societies.

Application in School

Cut achievement or curriculum gap?Replace questions with predetermined

answers with open ended questions in all classes, not just the honors and AP classes

Multicultural friendly atmosphere in school office makes parents more receptive to involvement.

What is the schools’ job?

PSAT/NMSQT in the10th and 11th grades Assure curriculum back mapping from

high school to middle school instructional supports first time AP

students professional development for middle

and high school teachers

Exposure to positive male role models

Mentoring Programs

Be developmental in nature Provide for the presence of competent adult

Black males (mentors) Capitalize on the strengths of African

American families Incorporate African/African American culture Include a Celebratory/"Rites-of-Passage"

experience

What should be in the Rites of Passage Program? Culturally relevant curriculum that empowers

students Teachers must re-teach what it means to be a

man Developmentally appropriate Responsive to cultural diversity Provided by high-quality teachers Nurtures social-emotional competence

Nguzo Saba

Unity Self Determination Collective Work and Responsibility Cooperative Economics Purpose Creativity Faith

Results of Mentoring Program

Better attendance Improved academic performance, Positive relationships with peers and

adults Reduced criminal acts, substance abuse,

and suspensions from schools for youth who participated in mentor programs

How to support mentoring programs? Become an ambassador for mentoring Create a mentoring program through a club,

association, fraternity/sorority, Faith-based institution or place of employment

Hold National Mentoring Month events on campus

Hold a Job/University Shadowing Day Consider supporting mentoring programs with

financial or in-kind resources

Mentorship Call Me Mister Program

The Call Me MISTER program is an effort to address the critical shortage of African American male teachers particularly among the State's lowest performing schools. Program participants are selected from among under-served, socio-economically disadvantaged and educationally at-risk communities. The project provides:

Tuition assistance for admitted students pursuing approved programs of study at participating colleges.

An academic support system to help assure their success. A cohort system for social and cultural support.

Booker T. Dubois Role Model Program Schools can provide a time and space for Black and Latino

males from a variety of professions to speak to and mentor students.

Identify outside organizations and businesses to work with the schools in regards to a mentor/tutor program.

Understand your students

CultureLearning Strategies

Is this the Ideal student?

Quiet Can sit still for a long period of time Works independently Long attention span Likes ditto sheets Left- brain learner Passive Teacher pleaser Mastered reading before second grade Neat Well developed fine motor skills Well organized Likes multiple choice exams Mature White Female Middle-class Two parent home Mother works at home

Post- Traumatic Slavery Disorder:

Is there a correlation between internalized racism (self hate) and black on black violence?

If so, how are schools as institutions perpetuating a “white is right” and or white is the norm culture?

Hip Hop VOCAB: Can you identify at least five of these words? Bling Bling Audi 1812 Benjamins Buggin’ Crew Five finger discount Jack Juice Wack

Glory Jimmy Hat Of the hook Crash Dog Frontin Ill or illin’ Forc’in Step off Up North

Hip Hop: Rank’in or the Dozens

Yo mama so fat when she has wants someone to shake her hand, she has to give directions! Oh ok…

Yo mama so fat she got to iron her pants on the driveway

Yo mama so stupid that she tried to put M&M's in alphabetical order!

Hip Hop: N…word

Latin word for “Black.” Used during slavery and Jim Crow by

whites to insult African Americans. Adults have not properly taught history so

that is why HIP HOP artists use the word. Hip Hop has tried to embrace the word as

a term of endearment.

Hip Hop: N…word

You know enough about the word to stop those outside of the race from using it!

You use it to refer to people you don’t like, which is the same way white people used it 200 years ago.

Questions: When people outside of

the black race use the word, why do they feel comfortable enough to use it?

Do you think you have the right to use it?

Should you use the word in front of your elders?

... in Special Education

African American

Youth

Other

... in Gifted and Talented

African American

Youth

Other

African Americans in School

African American

Youth

Other

Program Breakdown in Schools

17%

41%

3%

Staff Training

Role Play Exercises Black Intelligence Tests/Teacher Opinion Survey As a staff, discuss and cultivate the strategies of a Master

Teacher Reflect on personal beliefs versus your own practices Books to read: Black Students Middle Class Teachers and

Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys (Vols. I-IV) Characteristics of at Risk Schools Develop a Fourth Grade Intervention Team Discuss solutions

What is a Master Teacher?

Knowledgeable about subject matter Provides congruent lessons plans between pedagogy and

learning styles using written, oral, pictures, artifacts, and fine arts

Bonds, motivates, enhances self-esteem, listens to students and is in close proximity to all students

Décor of classroom is inspirational and culturally reinforcing. High level of self-respect; therefore, students are not

distracting or sleeping. High expectations transcending race, income, gender, and

appearance. Equitable response opportunities for all students.

What is a Master Teacher

Maximizes time on task Assertive, consistent, complimentary and clearly

established rules and consequences. Provides cooperative learning experiences. Attempts to make curriculum relevant, provides practical

experiences, field trips and role models. Students ask more questions than the teacher. Develops critical thinking skills by asking open-ended

questions.

Characteristics of At-Risk Schools Ineffective administrators Low expectations Incongruence between pedagogy and learning styles Irrelevant and inaccurate curriculum Tracking Lack of parental involvement and support Low student self-esteem and motivation Negative peer pressure Lack of African-American male teachers and role models Lack of safety

“Judge the success of your schools based on the success of your African American and Hispanic male students.”- Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu

The Mis-education of the Negro

“If you can control a mans thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”

Dr. Carter G. Woodson

Critical Points

Understand your students CultureLearning styles

Raising expectations for every studentAll students graduate at college entry level

Exposure to positive male role models

Resources

https://www.education.umd.edu/institutesandcenters/MIMAUE/

Hip Hop Street – Curriculum: Author Dr. Juwanza Kunjufu