Whistling Vivaldi and a School Like Ours: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What Educational Leader Can Do 89th Annual Virginia Middle and High School Principals Conference & Exposition Principal Leadership – Discover ’17 DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Williamsburg, Virginia Dr. John A. Word & David McBride Kenmore Middle School

Agenda  Welcome and Introductions  Main Ideas from Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi  Questions for Discussion: How and when do you “Whistle Vivaldi”?  Small Group Roundtable Conversation  Closure

Introduction Essential Agreements When Engaging in Courageous Conversations:  Stay engaged  Speak your truth  Experience discomfort  Expect and accept non-closure

Main Ideas from Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi  By changing the way you give critical feedback, you can dramatically improve minority students’ motivation and receptiveness.  By improving a group’s critical mass in a setting, you can improve its members’ trust, comfort, and performance in the setting.  By simply fostering intergroup conversations among students from different backgrounds, you can improve minority students’ comfort and grades in a setting.  By allowing students, especially minority students, to affirm their most valued sense of self, you can improve their grades, even for a long time.  By helping students develop a narrative about the setting that explains their frustrations while projecting positive engagement and success in the setting, you can greatly improve their sense of belonging and achievement—which if done at a critical time could redirect the course of their lives. (Steele, 2010, p. 261)

The Power of the Personal Story — Perspectives from K-12 to Higher Ed The Kenmore Middle School Scholars Project

Opening Question: How and when do you “Whistle Vivaldi?”  I tried to be innocuous but didn’t know how…I began to avoid people…Out of nervousness I began to whistle and discovered that I was good at it…On the street at night I whistled popular tunes from the Beatles and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The tension drained from people’s bodies when they heard me. A few even smiled as they passed me in the dark.  -Brent Staples, Black Men and Public Space. (December 1986) Harper’s Magazine.

Small Group Discussion:  How do we see evidence of segregation-related issues operating in our community? In our school division?  In what way can educational leaders help students, or assist or encourage others in helping students, to understand aspects that make up their own social identity (e.g. race, gender, class, sexual orientation, disability, etc.) as well as that of their peers?  What can you do to support people—students, staff, faculty, parents, community members—who may be under stereotype threat, or not feel a sense of belonging, because aspects of their identity are not part of the dominant culture?  Steele points out, “Black student underperformance is a national phenomenon.” How does that impact your planning and instruction, as well as your interaction with diverse populations in your work setting?  What identity contingencies do you have to deal with on a day-to-day basis in your work environment? How do we have to deal with these contingencies as adults? What affect do identity contingencies have on student achievement?  How does our work in our role in the school division confront stereotype threats and create inclusive experiences where contingencies are not required?

Closure