First Weeks of School - Class Context of New Mexico

Part 1 – Demographics of students in NM

Historical Background of New Mexican Demographics

It is important to not only acknowledge the Indigenous peoples and nations of this region, but to also continually grapple with the reality that every state in the United States is built upon the violence of settler colonialism and chattel slavery. Yes, even New Mexico, which did not become a state until 1912, bares the burden of confronting this history. The indigenous peoples of the Southwest have lived across this land for thousands of years, bringing with them an array of knowledge and practices. Stating that so called Albuquerque is built upon Southern Tiwa territory is one tangible way to speak to the complex and often uncomfortable weight of history. The three major nations that originally call this place home are the Pueblo, Diné, and Apache peoples. An excellent resource to use for personal reflection and in the classroom is the website https://native-land.ca/.

Land acknowledgements have become a more widespread practice, but the work to truly honor indigenous peoples requires much than acknowledgement in an academic sense. Each educator, regardless of their cultural backgrounds, has an obligation to continually grow their awareness and challenge their cultural assumptions about the places we live. When considering the cultural and linguistic background of our students, it is crucial that we work to ground ourselves in the ethos of social and economic justice, the logos of repatriation and reparation, and the pathos of right relation and generational trauma.

Furthermore, when we begin to look at the modern demographics of New Mexico, it is deeply important to recognize that New Mexico is one of the four “majority-minority” states in the US (the three others being California, Hawaii, Texas). This means that the majority of New Mexico’s population (about 62%) are people of color, with non-Hispanic whites making up only 38% of the state’s population. Numbers and categories aside, the added layer of the population being mostly Latinx or Hispanic means that the identities that people hold in this state are situated in an intertwining, international story that spans at least five centuries and three colonial powers (Spain, Mexico, and United States).

As educators, we are uniquely positioned to process this information and internalize it into our practice, in and out of the classroom. Being culturally and linguistically responsive is being open-minded and willing to challenge our deeply held assumptions about the world. The context of our classroom is informed by the demographics of our students and the history of our state and country. This brief background has only begun to scratch the surface of the intersecting cultures and identities that exist in our classrooms. In an effort to summarize, here are some additional topics to consider in Classroom Context:

· History of Indian Boarding Schools –

When thinking about education in New Mexico, we cannot ignore the history of boarding schools. Boarding schools have historically been places of extreme abuse and trauma for Native American families in the 19th and 20th centuries, along with Spanish speaking families in the 20th century. The living memory of this history still affects how many Native Americans and Hispanos view and trust traditional education systems. Not to mention the school-to-prison pipeline continuing to disproportionately affect communities of color.

· International borders and bordertowns –

Many of our students and their families have recently migrated to the country. These families come from countries all over the world, not just Latin America, but the majority (70%) have come to New Mexico from Mexico. Families often hold unofficial citizenship status and face legal and linguistic barriers. Many of these students make up the total population of English learners in NM (about 13%). This is something every teacher has to be aware of in an effort to recognize the myriad of barriers that many of our students face in and outside of the classroom. Further, indigenous struggles for liberation urges us to recognize the ongoing violence associated with “bordertowns” throughout New Mexico and the greater Southwest. Bordertowns are any city or town that is located in or around federal Indian reservations. This essentially refers to every town in New Mexico.

· The Yazzie/Martinez vs. State of NM

The Yazzie Martinez case has identified 4 student populations that are particularly marginalized in the NM education system: Native American students (10.6%), students with disabilities (14.8%), English learning students (14.4%), and low-income students (71%). This is definitely one of the statewide impetuses to center cultural and linguistic responsiveness as a guiding tenet of educational priority.

Nittle, Nadra Kareem. “Which 4 States Have People Of Color As Their Majority Population?” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/states-with-majority-minority-populations-2834515.

“Immigrants in New Mexico.” American Immigration Council, 7 Aug. 2020, www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/immigrants-in-new-mexico.

“State of Education in New Mexico 2018.” New Mexico Kids Can, 2018. https://nmkidscan.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2017/09/SoE-NM-WEB.pdf

Student Demographics Data of New Mexico

The following information is gathered from the “State of Education in New Mexico 2018” resource. According to the 2018 report by New Mexico Kids Can, there are about 340,000 students in New Mexico’s public school system (2016-17).

Nearly half of them are enrolled in five school districts:

1. Albuquerque

2. Las Cruces

3. Rio Rancho

4. Gadsden and

5. Santa Fe

Enrollment by race, ethnicity, and gender (NMPED Data Warehouse Manager Richard Trujillo):

· 51% male, 49% female

· 61% Hispanic

· 25% White

· 11% Native American

· 2% Black

· 1% Asian

· <1% Pacific Islander

Each percentage is going to vary at depending on the school, district, municipality, and/or county, but this gives a clear outline of what to expect in a typical student population in New Mexico.

Percentage Special Education, English Language Learners, and Free and Reduced Lunch:

· 15% SPED

· 13% ELL

· 71% Free and Reduced Lunch

Teacher Demographics of New Mexico

According to the same report, there are over 22,000 teachers in New Mexico.

· 75% female, 25% male

· 60% White

· 34% Hispanic

· 3% Native American

· 2% Asian

· 1% Black

· <1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander

· <1% Multiracial

Student PARCC Performance on ELA and Math

Since the 2014-15 school year, NM public school students grades 3-11 have been tested on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) to measure their proficiency levels in math and ELA. The data shows a large disparity in proficiency levels according to student race, socioeconomic status, (dis)ability, and linguistic background. The images below reflect the report’s findings on ELA and math proficiency across New Mexico:

Students test scores compared nationally

When compared to other states’ proficiency levels, it is clear that New Mexico has some academic achievement gaps. This is a glaring example of why EACH student in New Mexico deserves highly qualified and determined educational professionals to supporting them. The way tests are drafted and administered often creates a narrow way to measure anyone's performance, and standardized tests are not exempt from that argument. Nevertheless, what the data below does illustrate is that there are significant challenges and achievable goals ahead of every educator in New Mexico.

Part 2 – Methods and tools to collect student information

1. Student profile/interest survey

Using google forms or a similar platform, I will develop a survey to administer to students. I will also plan for hard copies and then inputting the data into online grade platform (Power School, Synergy, etc..). The survey will have to be available in Spanish (at least) and other languages depending on my student population. The following links gave me a lot of great ideas about what to ask my students and how to structure it.

· 15 Questions to Deepen your students surveys http://www.mrsgeology.com/student-survey-questions/

· 16 questions to enhance student feedback https://www.questionpro.com/blog/student-survey/

· Math class survey https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qlmuoDk5sjOcwi15SOzX-aIbpGf04_Ggc5EPMa7KKK8/edit?pli=1

· Tell Us About You https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VZoxvw50wTT9wooJB3BdQxOuN_ct3HOtM58R40JwWM8/edit

2. IEPs and 504 Plans

Individual Education Plans and 504 plans to remove barriers and support students with disabilities are excellent sources of information on our students. It’s important that when using this information we continually monitor where our students show growth and/or struggles and have regular check-ins with the special education and other education support staff at our respective schools. Having private conversations with students and their parents about the student’s educational program is also a method to gain further insight about our students in an effort to support their learning.

3. MAPS, PARCC, or other test scores

Sometimes seeing our students test scores can be overwhelming and discouraging. Luckily in my second year of teaching I had the privilege of working with two teachers who led an excellent PD on accessing and responding to student data on MAPS tests. Ever since that PD I have begun to broaden my perspective on how tests can be helpful tools for teaching and learning. However, I am still reluctant to fully accept student performance on these tests as entirely valid primarily because the assessments are often intrusive, unbearable, and narrowly focused. Another method/tool I can use is to develop my own tests, with colleagues or by myself, that are standards based and designed to test relevant knowledge and assess a variety of skills.

4. Letters, emails, and phone calls to parents

The art of conversation is the best informal way to collect information about students and families. Letters home about class topics, field trips, or other things are an opportunity for parents to get in contact with me and begin a relationship. Sending emails and making phone calls if the parent has provided that info is a great way to gauge parent involvement/availability in regard to their students education.

Other methods and tools I plan to use are:

· Response to intervention plans with social workers, counselors, administrators, or anyone who has the capacity to assist in that process

· Music and entertainment preferences of students

· Information shared by other teachers

· Hobbies and extracurricular activities the student participates in

· ELL supports such as surveys that seek to gather specific data about a student’s language learning journey (“What Do I Know About My EL” from Unlocking English Learners Potential)

· I Am From Poems and Unit 1 on Identity and Intersectionality

· Conferences with student

· Self-assessment and proficiency level trackers

· Spread sheets that document student behavior, family outreach, and other relevant information

Ongoing Documentation to Build Student Profiles

Besides giving surveys at the start of the year, every method I identified above is an ongoing process of collecting and responding to student generated data. In the final part of this paper, I will discuss some strategies and activities I plan to use that will build upon my methods and tools for gathering information on my students.

Part 3 – Community building strategies and activities to conduct in the first weeks

Activity #1

Five Foundational Positive Behavior Expectations Setting class norms and positive behavior expectations (PBEs) is crucial for any teacher who intends to effectively manage their classroom. Keep Calm and Teach provides guidelines that help any teacher include their students in norm making process. The activity has multiple dimensions and can be rolled out over the course of the first week. Each step can be structured as group work, partnered work, or individual work, but it includes every student in the process.

· Step 1 involves identifying the 5 most foundational behaviors.

· Step 2 is identifying the 3-5 steps necessary to be successful at these behaviors.

· Step 3 is identifying the rationale for doing the PBEs

· Step 4 is combining all of these activities into a culminating activity where the students create posters that outline the positive behavior, the steps to achieve them, and the rationale for the PBEs

· The last step involves reinforcing the PBES by doing Checks for Understanding and Role-play skits that showcase how positive and negative behaviors look.

Activity #2

Vocabulary lessons on social identities

Last semester I developed a vocabulary lesson that around the topic of social identities. The lesson starts by us first watching a video on power and then unpacking the information presented. Then we move to the vocabulary activity in which students choose three words to define using a Frayer model or Word Map. The full lesson is here.

Activity #3

I Am From Poems

Building off the lesson on social identity, I then move into a lesson all about writing a I Am From poem. There are many ways to do this activity, but I like to start with having the students respond to and create a large list of responses to questions such as what is a family trait? Or an everyday item in your house. These responses help the students fill out their poem template. The final plan of this activity is to have students share their poems in small groups and eventually they will have the option to share it with the class. The full lesson is here.

Strategy #1

Opening unit on intersectionality and identity

When I took EDUC 2285, I came to the realization that I wanted to offer my students a lot of knowledge and skills that are heavily informed by the scholarship of intersectionality and critical race theory. After two years of teaching without much knowledge of how to craft cohesive units of instruction, I am excited to have this unit planned '

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse

Get in touch with me at adam.gutierrez@aps.edu

Or by Google Voice or phone by request