Careworkers

At the Wisconsin State Reading Association conference last week, Dr. David Kirkland addressed the audience from the perspective of a student who experienced traumas and inequities, but also successes and connections. He framed a view of the current experiences of students in our educational “ecosystem” as incredibly complex, not influenced by any one singular factor alone.  He stated, “It is not about the fish, but instead, it’s about the water.”

One fish dead on the beach means that we can infer something is wrong with the fish.

Many fish dead on the beach means that we can infer something is wrong with the water.

As educators, he asked us to consider the work we do not just as an educator,

but as a careworker, caring for the whole student, not just treating a singular symptom within the larger ecosystem.

Carework says:

• We don’t only check our biases; we fight to disrupt all bias.
• We don’t only raise and maintain high expectations; we do what’s necessary to help students reach them.
• We don’t just teach what our students find meaningful; we learn from what they find meaningful.
• We don’t just connect literacy to our students’ lives; we connect literacy to their hopes. (Kirkland, 2019)

I would like to highlight Dr. Kirkland’s second statement and connect it to opportunities we have right now, with students that are in front of us everyday.

One way to raise expectations, and help students to reach them is to intentionally plan for supports and scaffolds for our students. Planning for appropriate supports can create a buoy to help students navigate the choppy or toxic waters around them. What I mean to say is that we can protect and nurture all of our fish by scaffolding and planning for their success across content areas!

During a visit to a middle school science classroom the year, I was reminded of the benefits of tactile sensory scaffolds for all students as incremental pieces of the larger pie of an entire concept. Students created a visual representation that predicted the amount of consumable water on earth, contrasting saltwater and freshwater. The tactile support matched the purpose of the activity: contextualizing an abstract idea using a model. Later, students calculated the actual percentages and updated their visual models using the new data that the class synthesized in a shared data table, and discussed the scarcity of consumable water on earth. Following this discussion, students wrote about their findings.

Work sample key- Agua dulce-freshwater, Resto del agua/agua salada- salt water. Tierra- earth

This classroom activity is one example of a teacher planning for students to access the grade level curriculum by using sensory scaffolds at the middle school level. Students are never too old for visual scaffolds, in fact they need them to access curriculum in meaningful and equitable ways.

What scaffolds might you include in upcoming lessons to ensure access for all students? How will you change the water that students swim in each day?

Credit for scaffold visual: Tan Huynh, @ EmpoweringELLS.com/blog Link to a blog post about scaffolds