Laurice Snyder Fond du Lac School District April 25 th 2013

A Call to Action: How to Provide Inspiration, Encouragement & Guidance to our Children and Families who need us the Most Laurice Snyder Fond du Lac School District April 25th 2013

A little about me…………. • 6 years in the Fond du Lac School District • Originally from California but grew up in Green Bay • Oldest in my family; six siblings • Married, no kids • Graduated from Green Bay West High School in 2001 • Worked as a Boys & Girls Club Director, YMCA family camp director and substitute teacher • Earned a Bachelors Degree from UW-Stevens Point in 2005 and a Masters Degree from UW-Milwaukee in 2012

Culture Defined Culture is the learned and shared patterns of beliefs, values, interpretations, customs and behaviors of a group of people in which they understand the world and one another. Culture describes how we live on a daily basis in terms of our language, ancestry, religion, food, dress, music, political and social affiliations, recreation and so on.

A little more about me……. • I am bi-racial and involved in an interracial marriage • My siblings include two “full,” two “half” and three “step” • I have stayed in a domestic abuse shelter more than three times • My family received food stamps, welfare benefits and housing allowance until I was a junior in high school • I was the first in my family to go to college and the first to earn a Bachelor’s Degree • Everyday I walk around feeling isolated in my job, even among my friends, in fear that if I don’t act white, I will lose respect, credibility, and potentially my job

Who is in the Room? Please STAND UP if……..

Terms: Who do I call what? Is African-American the same as Black? What's the difference between Mexican and Latino/a? Hmong, Chinese and Asian...... how do I know the difference? Can I say “people of color” or “colored people” to mean the same thing?

Nationality Defined as: Citizenship, either birth or naturalization, as specified on a government-issued passport. Some terms that are typically used: Canada,United States of America, USA

Culture or Ethnicity Defined as: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts with which the members of society understand their world and one another. Culture and ethnicity includes language, ancestry, religion, food dress, musical tastes, traditions, values, political and social affiliations, recreation and so on. Some terms that are typically used: American, Asian, Chicano/a, Chinese, Hawaiian, Hmong, Indian, Latino/a, Mexican, Native American, Native, etc.

Race Defined as: The color of your skin. Some terms that are typically used: Black, Brown, Red, White, Yellow

More Terms People of Color: Typically used to describe non-white people. The term is meant to be inclusive of all racial backgrounds. It is preferable to the terms like “minority,” “less-fortunate” and “disadvantaged.” Cultural Hybrid: When hyphenated descriptions are use to describe ethnicity (i.e. African-American), hyphen represents the balance between the two cultures or perhaps an emerging third culture or culture hybrid. This can be extremely important as part of one’s identity.

BELIEF Belief is the single most powerful tool educators can use in order to disrupt the cycle of inequity and provide students with the confidence that they can and will succeed.

Dr. James Comer “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship of mutual respect.”

From the On Course Success Principles “Good learners are good learners precisely because they believe and do certain things that less effective learners do not believe and do. And therein lies the key.” ~ Neil Postman & Charles Weingartner

Vision at Fond du Lac High School Every Student, Every Day, Everyone, Every Way.

Five Successful Strategies • Listen, listen, listen! • Allow your students to get to know you…the real you • Call your students by their full name and pronounce it correctly • Take the bus- where do your families live, play, eat, shop? • ASK when you don’t know

Opportunities for Engagement • Soul Food Dinner • Intercultural Dialogue Group • Block parties • New student orientation • Neighborhood cook-outs • P-T conferences in community spaces • Positive Communication Log

Who is in your classroom? Keeping a student in mind, let’s try our icebreaker again…

Final Thoughts “I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.” ~Haim Ginott

Questions? Laurice Snyder Supervisor of Community Education Services Fond du Lac School District snyderL@fonddulac.k12.wi.us (920) 929-2740 ext. 3844

Laurice Snyder Fond du Lac School District April 25 th 2013