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<h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">4.4.1 Introduction to Layers</h2>
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<p style="padding-left: 270px;">In this next practice space, <span style="color: #008080;"><strong><em>Layers</em></strong></span>, you will have the chance to alter your practice as you are given more information about your students’ lived experiences outside of school. </p>
<p style="padding-left: 270px;"><a href="https://teachermoments.mit.edu/run/58b27c7e34/slide/0?instance_id=etpo_oll&user_id=%%USER_ID%%" target="_blank"><span style="color: #008080;"><span><strong><span style="color: #008080;">CLICK HERE TO PLAY</span></strong><span><b> </b>LAYERS</span></span><em><strong><span><span> </span></span></strong></em><strong><span><span>IN A NEW TAB IN YOUR BROWSER</span></span></strong></span></a></p>
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<h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">4.4.2 Layers Debrief</h2>
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<p style="font-size: 16px;"><span>We facilitated <em>Layers </em>with educators from the Boston area in Massachusetts. Consider how they think about the role of students' lived experiences outside of school in their approach to updating their lessons. After you watch the video, you'll have a chance to share your reflections on the practice space.</span></p>
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<h3 class="hd hd-2">Layers Debrief</h3>
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<h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">Layers Debrief Continued</h2>
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<p><iframe title="Layers" src="https://mit.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4HDIEW6H4pMhjEh?instance_id=etpo_oll&user_id=%%USER_ID%%" height="1200" width="100%"></iframe></p>
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<h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">4.4.4 Our Final Thoughts on Applying Context-Centered and Context-Neutral Mindsets in Context</h2>
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<p>In the previous practice spaces, we focused on interactions that take place between educator and students inside school. We examined different levels where equity-based decisions can arise: in scheduling decisions, testing students, and approaches to motivating students that look beyond disciplinary action. In the <em>Layers </em>practice space, we address how students' lived experience outside of the classroom intersect with their learning. </p>
<p>Practice spaces are places to imagine a range of responses to situations. While it is not always possible to know all of your students’ home and community experiences outside of school, we hope that educators will gain confidence in building meaningful connections between students’ lives and class assignments and activities. </p>
<p>With the students in the <em>Layers</em> practice space, we discover that each of them contains multiple significant aspects of identity - from the behaviors and demeanors they express on the surface (Layer 1), to their personal passions, strengths and areas for growth (Layer 2), to their home and community lives (Layer 3). The home and community backgrounds we see in Layer 3 can often be invisible on the surface, and can seem more distant from the school environment. Still, these layers of identity ultimately influence students' behaviors, decisions, and relationships in the classroom. </p>
<p>Educators hold a unique power to shape the way their students relate to the classroom and course content. When teachers take into account the many layers students carry in their instructional planning, students' school experiences become much more positive - with higher academic achievement and stronger interpersonal relationships.</p>
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<h3><strong><span style="color: #008080;">Context-Neutral reasoning: </span></strong></h3>
<p>A Context-Neutral mindset favors the idea that interactions students have outside of school are inconsequential for teaching and learning. This view limits the classroom to a closed system, ignoring the influence of student home environments and community exposures. Without recognizing this connection between outside influences, educators often miss out on opportunities to make students’ educational experiences interesting, relevant, and meaningful. </p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><strong><span style="color: #008080;">Context-Neutral mindset: </span></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="color: #008080;">“The first layer had everything I needed to know. I think the third layer about home lives actually had the least effect on the lesson plan - I think designing for the second layer was less important too - layer three just told me WHY they acted that way or valued that thing which doesn’t matter much to me.” </span></p>
<p>Educators with a Context-Neutral mindset find it unnecessary to take into account impactful dynamics students deal with at home when planning assignments and activities. A common Context-Neutral rationale for not altering a lesson plan is that a teacher should draw a line between the classroom and the rest of the student's world. In some cases, a Context-Neutral mindset is willing to include aspects of students' interests and skills into a lesson plan, but not their unique family or community experiences. For example, assigning a paper where students research a specific cultural practice, but not allowing lived experience as a credible source of evidence. </p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="color: #008080;"><strong>Context-Neutral mindset:</strong> </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span color="#008080" style="color: #008080;">“I don’t think I would [adjust my lesson]. I would just encourage them to think about how the 4th graders like to learn, and also think about how they would enjoy teaching, and ask the 4th graders if they would like that. Cooking and poetry are both great ways to teach about a culture.”</span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #008080;"><strong>Context-Centered reasoning: </strong></span></h3>
<p>A Context-Centered mindset approaches schoolwork with an appreciation for ways outside of school realities impact student learning and performance. This mindset is about acknowledging that a student’s behavior, interests, and effort are not arbitrary but instead are influenced by their interactions unfolding elsewhere (e.g., familial responsibilities, law enforcement in their community, immigration status, etc.). A Context-Centered rationale doesn’t just recognize what students experience, but accommodates and tailors their curriculum to these students to create a safe and responsive learning space. </p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><strong><span style="color: #008080;">Context-Centered mindset: </span></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span color="#008080" style="color: #008080;"> “Important information to know about your students: Prior educational experiences (both in terms of prerequisite knowledge, their prior engagement and achievement in related classes, and whether they’ve had a positive or negative experience with the topic). It’s also useful to know some basic facts about the students’ lives outside of the classroom in order to create lessons that connect to those experiences.”</span></p>
<p>This mindset emphasizes that what happens daily outside of schools is directly linked to the learning experience inside. <span style="color: #000000;"></span></p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #008080;">Final thoughts: Shifting towards a Context-Centered mindset</span></strong></h3>
<p>Like the Aware and Avoidant mindsets, we encourage you to test the hypothesis that Context-Centered and Context-Neutral mindsets are out of balance in schools. There is too much emphasis on expecting all students to step in the classroom totally ready to learn and value a subject on their own - and not enough realizing that a student’s academic achievement is the result of myriad interactions over time with adults inside and outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>There is an important balance to using a Context-Centered mindset. Of course, it’s possible to go overboard. Accounting for students’ home and community experiences shouldn’t excuse them from completing their work or being challenged. Furthermore, when educators are given background information on their students, it is essential to not use that information to judge or place a student into a category that will be detrimental to their academic success. </p>
<p>While many teachers might emphasize the benefits of protecting class time for class-related content only, the impact can be missed opportunities to show students that they are seen and heard. </p>
<p>Moving forward we encourage you to:</p>
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<li><strong><span style="color: #008080;">Notice opportunities to learn about your students' home lives to see if your interactions with them are positively influenced, and how your perspective changes.</span></strong></li>
<li><span color="#008080"><b><span color="#008080" style="color: #008080;">See your students as <span style="caret-color: #008080;">complex</span> individuals whose home life influences their own in-school experience and interactions. </span></b></span></li>
<li><span color="#008080"><b><span color="#008080" style="color: #008080;">Find ways to connect knowledge about your students with your curriculum and classroom culture to encourage their success. </span></b></span></li>
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<h2 class="hd hd-2 unit-title">4.4.5 Reflection: Layers Debrief</h2>
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<p style="font-size: 16px;"><span color="#313131" face="Open Sans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #313131; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">We invite you to draw connections between the layers for the students you got to know during this practice space. Share your reflections in your journal or with your trusted colleagues. </span></p>
<p style="font-size: 16px;"><span color="#313131" face="Open Sans, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #313131; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Think about your own students: Has there been a moment where learning about a student’s experience outside of school helped you to improve your teaching and connection with them? How did you deepen their classroom engagement? </span></p>
<p style="font-size: 16px;">Currently, is there a place in your current practice (perhaps a lesson) that you could adapt to deepen engagement in response to students’ experiences outside of school?</p>
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