Win-Win

I've been reading the September 2011 edition of Educational Leadership. The theme for this edition is "Promoting Respectful Schools." One article I particularly enjoyed was "What's So Hard About Win-Win?" by Jane Bluestein. Not only does a win-win environment protects everyone's need for dignity, belonging, and respect but it also fosters academic success.

Although some feel that creating a win-win environment is permissiveness and dumbing down the curriculum, it is actually contrary to that. Teachers work hard to challenge all students appropriately. Failings are seen as opportunities to build responsibility and teach positive behaviors so that students can learn self-management and self-control.

It's important to remember that win-win thinking happens slowly and quietly. The following are some ways to start creating a win-win environment:

• Offer choices--when, where, social preference, and/or medium of presentation
• Focus on positive consequences-- as negative consequences, even if they are logical and reasonable, have punitive energy
• Communicate details as clearly and specifically as possible
• Respond to conflict nonreactively--don't take confrontations personally
• Build relationships with parents--contact them regularly about positive behavior or progress and when contacting them about something negative when possible only let them know what is going on and how it is being handled
• Follow-through

Creating a win-win environment complements the Glasser quality school we want as a foundation for Esperanza.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo All Year Long

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Although we plan to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at Esperanza Elementary it is important to remember that one day celebrations are not sufficient if we desire to provide a multicultural education for our students.

Therefore, the following are some of our goals:

• Half of the books in our school library will be in Spanish or be bilingual, the majority of which will be written by Hispanic authors. We will also have a multicultural section in the library with books about other cultures.


• History will be viewed from different perspectives.


• The contributions of Hispanics--and other cultures--in the areas of art, music, science, government, literature, etc. will be celebrated.


• Students will be taught and given opportunities to be involved in making a difference in the community.


• The way things are done in other cultures will be recognized. For instance, the way division is taught, the number of continents, which day is considered the first day of the week, learning styles, grammar rules, etc.


• We will involve Hispanic parents in ways that are comfortable to them rather than demanding they participate in ways prescribed by the white, middle class. To help us achieve this, the Funds of Knowledge" concept developed by Dr. Luis Moll and Dr. Norma González will be incorporated.


• Labels and signs in the school building as well as all communications will be in both English and Spanish.

While doing all these things we will avoid stereotyping. Although we will do our best to better understand and respond to the Hispanic culture, we will also recognize that each family has its own unique culture. For this reason we will make a commitment to become acquainted with each family on an individual basis.

Celebrations such as Cinco de Mayo are fun but they will be even more fun when they are "icing on the cake" rather than the cake itself.