Case Study: Redefine Success

Miguel Rodriguez proves success is for everyone

Success

Introduction

People have very diverse definitions of success and it can only truly be measured by yourself for yourself. People can view you as successful when you don't feel successful at all because of your different definitions and perspectives. My definition of success is feeling accomplished and at peace with where you are and what you are doing. You don't have to have money or fame to show you are successful; only a sense of fulfillment and pride in how you live your life. Life is a process and we may never feel like we reach our goals, but we find success in the journey if we can look at the big picture, fill our lives with meaningful service, and look for small accomplishments.

Experiences

Our definitions of success are greatly influenced by your priorities, self-image, and culture. As stated before, there is no one correct form of success. In the Ensign article, baskets and bottles they make an analogy to different ways to store fruit. It explains,” The basket and the bottle are different containers, but the content is the same: fruit for a family. Is the bottle right and the basket wrong? No, they are both right. They are containers appropriate to the culture and the needs of the people. And they are both appropriate for the content they carry, which is the fruit (Okazaki, 1996, par. 9).” This analogy can be interpreted to show that there are many ways to define and practice success, but none of them must be wrong; they are just different, and both can be appreciated. Even though wealth and fame are popularly associated with success I do not include it in my definition because of my culture. Being raised in the church my parents did not place a lot of pressure on material wealth but more on spiritual growth and self-accomplishment. I was also taught about my divine self-worth and because of that being accepted by the world has never been my priority.

Educators

Educators need to understand the various facets of success so they can best help their students. Our students come from very different backgrounds and have different goals and ideas of success, and that's not wrong. There is no one form of success, were not trying to fit our students into the same mold of accomplishment. However, we have a lot of influence on our students and we must understand these different facets so we can truly teach our students how to form their own beliefs of success and healthy ways to achieve success. We must understand these various facets because finding success in any form is very important to our students. If a student feels like a failure than it becomes a “sink or swim” mentality and it will negatively affect their confidence, classwork, and motivation. We need to know how to help a student feel success and importance in their work and lives.

This concept is reinforced with Nieto's definition of multicultural education in her book Affirming Diversity, which reads,

Multicultural education is a process of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students. It challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms the pluralism that students, their communities, and teachers reflect. Multicultural education permeates the school's curriculum and instructional strategies as well as their interactions among teachers, students, and families and the very way that schools conceptualize the nature of teaching and learning. Because it uses critical pedagogy as its underlying philosophy and focuses on knowledge, reflection, and action as the basis for social change, multicultural education promotes democratic principles of social justice (Nieto, 2018, p.32).

Educators need to give students a multicultural education, and because they reflect pluralism, students and teachers will have varying, yet all acceptable, definitions of success. Instructors need to be able to teach students how to be successful in many ways based on their needs. Their goal is not to lecture all students on what the educators' definition of success is, but instead, create critical thoughts, meaningful reflection, and discussion as they help students realize what's important to them and how to work towards those goals.

In her book, Nieto also lists three primary goals of multicultural education, " Tackling inequalities and promoting access to equal education. Raising the achievement of all students through meaningful learning that provides them with an equitable and high-quality education. Providing students with an apprenticeship in the opportunity to become critical and productive members of a democratic society (Nieto, 2018, p.6).” This shows that the basic goals of education should be refining education to be equitable to all students while being able to translate this education into being meaningful members of society. These goals reflect the definition of multicultural education as they enforce teaching to the students' needs and promote democratic principles of social justice. This is meaningful as it shows the underlying basis of success for a student in multicultural education.

Commentary

There are many threats to this multicultural success that I would like to help with. In an NPR interview they discuss the concept of stereotype threat, they explain,” [We] have evidence there that having the stereotype in your mind makes you anxious in some way, affects your performance. And this is the key, again and again, people who are reminded of a stereotype about themselves end up behaving in ways that conform to the stereotype (Vedantam, 2016, par.17).” This goes against everything we have learned about multicultural education and is harmful because there are stereotypes in what success looks like and what type of people can be most successful. In my classes, I want to conquer this social threat by celebrating diversity and showing my students different perspectives and forms of success that every person can achieve. I will put this into practice by having the students set short term goals they can work to achieve so they can each experience forms of success for themselves.

Case Study

Miguel Rodriguez

Introduction

Miguel Rodriguez would seem like a regular high school sophomore. Leaving Mexico when he was four, his family settled in the small town of Othello, Washington. With a population just shy of 8,000, Othello’s Community is 89% Hispanic and almost a fourth of the total population consists of undocumented aliens. Miguel and his parents fall into that category of not being legal U.S citizens. Othello is an agriculturally based community This is the part of the evergreen state where you won't see any green. Although you won’t see many trees in the Othello community is full of trailer parks, churches, and farming fields. This desert little town is known to have two types of people; Mexicans and Mormons. In Othello, there was a large McCain’s potato plant where many adults work, if not you either owned a farm or worked on a farm.

Miguel attends the only High School in Othello which has 1,000 students and a 79% graduation rate, which is affected by Othello’s county having the highest teen pregnancy in Washington state. Othello also has four elementary schools, one junior high, one other alternative high school with 74 students. Othello high school offer two language classes; Spanish and French, and many other extracurricular activities sports. Miguel is doing well in his sophomore year and participates in every season of sports.

Miguel lives with only his mother and four younger siblings, two brothers and two sisters. His mother works in the fields, as most of their neighborhood, and in a processing plant in the off seasons. Miguel’s parents are not split by choice; Miguel’s father was deported back to Mexico two years ago, and now Miguel and his mother are in hot water themselves. Both Miguel and his mother have been working through court and the option of being deported is still on the table. Miguel Rodriguez is not a regular high school sophomore and yet still finds himself successful. Miguel’s success can be attributed to three themes: Family, the support he gets from his friends and sports, and his goals to have a brighter future than his past.

Family

My family is split right now, but not by choice. I live with my mom, two brothers, and two sisters. I also have an aunt and two uncles living in Washington, expect one uncle is being detained and will probably be deported. My dad was also deported to Mexico two years ago and my mom’s parents live in Mexico still. When my dad left it was hard for me and my brothers because he wasn’t around. I overcame it by just getting used to it, it felt normal after a while. I love my family, I always want to live close to my mom, even when I am grown up and settled down. I don’t really like Othello, because it brings back bad memories. And like a future goal of mine is to leave and buy my own land and house. But my mom really likes Othello, so if she gets to stay here then I’ll probably stay close so I can see her and all my family.

This immigration thing is scary because my mom and my little siblings are here, and I don’t want to have to leave them. The whole situation is just stressful. The only thing getting me through this is my family. They give me the support I need. Like when my mom was in a car accident, she went to court but she said immigration caught her. While she was being detained in jail for six months me and my siblings had an uncle who lived close by that we stayed with. I don’t know what we would have done without him. Mom tried to get a visa but was denied, but the whole process takes a long time so she’s staying for now because her next court day is in 2-3 years, so that’s good.

My mom is also a big support through my court process. My court day is this November and I don’t really know what I’m doing or what’s going to happen; but my mom hired a lawyer and I met with him, and he said all I have to do is show up and he’s going to ask for more time, so yeah that’s easy. My family also motivates me because I want a better future for them too. My dad went to high school in Mexico, but mom didn’t go to school. Even though my mom didn’t know how to read or write, we still have some books for my little siblings around the house. My mom really wants me in school so I can have a better job than her someday.

Support from friends and sports

Sports are a big part of my life and I’m successful in them. I do Cross-Country, soccer, wrestling. I consider the Cross-Country team good friends because they're always there for me. Bus rides are pretty fun and I’m going to regionals this year for Cross-Country which is cool. But I’m really excited for wrestling to start.

My favorite sport is wrestling because it keeps me in shape. And in my opinion, it’s harder than any sport because you really have to put the work in to win. My team is really supportive and we're always just playing around so I really like those guys. All the sports are just fun to play and practice with my friends and they keep me out of trouble. Last year I had some friends who were into smoking and asked me, but I said no because I was in sports. I’m always in sports so I have to hold my act together and keep my grades up.

I have a lot of friends and that really helps me be successful in school. Like I don’t get bullied and we all get along well and how people view me doesn’t really affect me. I’m pretty comfortable in my classes, which is really important because I feel like communicating with my peers and teachers and getting help when I need it makes me successful. In middle school, I was shy so that was hard, but I have nice teachers and a lot of friends now. All my teammates are my friends and I live out of town but in a very close neighborhood, so I have a couple of friends who live here. When it’s not cold we like to play soccer outside together or just play lots of different video games. Sometimes on Saturdays well go to the movies. And now that we're in high school, I can go out to eat for lunch with all my friends and I don’t feel so trapped anymore. I have a couple of people I consider friends who smoke, so I’m around it, but they know I don’t do that so it’s cool. And all my friends are good because we all want each other to succeed so we help each other out with everything.

Goals to have a brighter future than his past

For the past three summers, I’ve worked in the fields and my parents let me keep what I make. It’s nice to have my own money because I try to save it to help buy my school supplies and stuff without asking my mom. But I’m also super motivated because I don’t want to work in the fields my whole life. I mean, you have to wake up every day like three or four in the morning and then you come home all dirty, yeah, I don’t want to do that forever. Most adults in my town do end up working in the fields but I have better plans.

Yeah so, my future goals are to graduate high school, and then going to college to be an architect or something like that. I don’t know what school I would go to yet but I’m looking into some, and I know I want to go. Then, someday I want to settle down, get married, and really just be financially stable. I want a house to call my own, land, a car, and all my family with me. It would be really cool if I could help my mom to buy a nice house close to me. A role model to me is Arnold Schwarzenegger because he’s also not from the U.S. and I like his story because he moved here to achieve his goals.

Going to school and learning is a big factor in my goals and I think I am on the right track to accomplishing them. I have all A’s and B’s except for the one D in Mr. Noels physical science class. That class is just boring, and I don’t understand. We have a suspension bridge we're supposed to be making but I haven’t started yet, and the due date is on my court day so I’m going to miss it. My favorite class is Mrs. Ruby’s English class because it’s interesting and I found out I’m actually good at writing essays. There’s a lot of other Hispanics in my school so most of the activities are geared towards Hispanics, which makes me feel more comfortable. Overall, I am happy with my education because it is helping me reach my goals. I feel successful because I’m doing good in school and sports, and I’ve set goals, which is better than I’ve done in the past.

Theory

Introduction

The role of theories is trying to explain why children succeed or fail in school. Countless theories focus on many different factors. Many different theories can influence you because theories are like the intersectionality of an individual’s culture; nobody fits just one mold. Depending on your focus different theories will affect you, but there is only one inherently wrong theory.

Deficit Theory

Deficit theory is the belief that students don’t succeed because they are inferior to other children based on their genetics, cultural, or experiential differences. Deficit theory is not true and needs to be rejected. Deficit theories are detrimental because this places the blame on someone else, nobody feels responsible for the student’s education. There is an example of this in the book titled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success where Dweck (2006) tells the story of Marva Collins, who is a teacher in Chicago. Her students had been judged and thrown out of many schools. They were expected to fail but Collins was able to push them and lead them to success. The book states,” these students had not learned much in school, but everyone knew it was their own fault. Everyone but Collins” (Dweck, 2006, p.194).

The deficit theory would claim that these troublemakers could never succeed in school because of who they are and how they were raised. However, Collins proved this theory is false by adopting the mindset that school had failed the students, not the other way around. As teachers, we must be able to look past a student’s background as see that they are a child of God with divine potential. If we believe in the deficit theory, then it will become a self-fulfilled prophecy and the students will fail.

In an article we went over in class called The Pygmalion Effect: Proving Them Right, explains the Pygmalion effect. This is the belief that the expectations of those around us influence our own thoughts, actions, and achievements. Even if our expectations are biased or based on irrational thinking, they still have the power to affect us. The article continues by stating, “When we expect someone to perform well in any capacity, we treat them in a different way. Teachers tend to show more positive body language towards students they expect to be gifted. They may teach them more challenging material, offer more chances to ask questions, and provide personalized feedback (Parrish, 2018, par.26).” Knowingly or not, we treat our students differently based on how we see them. We push the ones we think are gifted but really this is how we should be treating all our students. how you see students, is how we treat them, and how we treat them is what they become. I can combat this as a teacher by pushing myself to see all my students as gifted, intelligent, capable, and children of God with divine potential. I can also create a contract with my students that if they are willing to give their best effort, I will help them successfully learn. Because they all have the ability, but success does not come to them. This will help change my view, and my students' view of themselves and their roles so we can reach their highest potential.

Influential Theories

The theories that have influenced my thinking are the cultural-ecological theory and care theory. The cultural-ecological theory is the belief that with immigration, how the country views you will determine your success. This theory has a great influence on me because my hometown, Othello Washington, is 89 % Hispanic and many of them have immigration/ deportation issues. They feel like their country thinks they are just another Mexican trying to get in here, a leech on society with nothing to offer. Othello county has the state's highest teen pregnancy rate and around a 79 percent graduation rate. At the beginning of the video, What Immigrants Can Teach the Rest of America, they explain that Hispanics in the U.S are worse off than their white neighbors as they have higher poverty rates, higher dropout rates, and less access to healthcare (NewsHour, 2013). These statistics could make you question if they are just inferior but because they are God's children, we know they can be successful, and that the deficit theory is wrong. There are a lot of factors at play, but the country's view of them creates a self-fulfilled prophecy. This theory may seem like the power is out of my hands, I cannot change a country's view on immigrants. However, there are simply things that I can do as a teacher to help my students succeed, which includes finding role models for the students and teaching them about successful individuals from similar backgrounds as them, so they know success is possible.

The care theory is exactly what it sounds like, and reflects that students succeed when they feel they are cared for. This is shown through being available and supporting the student, showing personal interest in the student’s success outside the classroom and kindness in actions within relationships with other students and the teacher. In a diverse classroom, it can be hard to understand and care for students in the best way when they have a different background than you or their peers. This was highlighted in the letter we read titled An Indian Father's Plea. In this the father explains that his son “is not culturally ‘disadvantaged,’ but he is culturally ‘different’ (Lake, 2019, par.11).” I can implement this as a teacher by connecting with students and their parents to understand where they are coming from. I can also have students begin class by introducing themselves and having them discuss their differences with each other. I can also provide encourage met in their assignment and out of class activities, so they know I care about their success.

Mindset Theory

Although there are many theories, none of them can fully explain why some students fail and others succeed. I relate to the Cultural ecological and caring theories, but both are incomplete and not completely accurate. With the example of Othello, we know that some Hispanics do succeed, even though the country does not view them as successful. From reading the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, I have formed her beliefs into a new theory called the Mindset theory. This theory explains that some children succeed while others fail in school because of their fixed or growth mindset. A fixed mindset is one that accepts the idea of predetermined abilities, aptitudes, and talents that can only be proven or not. This would be like deficit theory or the self-fulfilled prophecy I have mentioned before. A growth mindset is one that believes that traits like these are not fixed, but can be cultivated, learned, and changed. One way I can combat a fixed mindset as a teacher is to continually praise. I can make calls home to explain how the student is improving, instead of just to report bad behavior. This will show the student that growth is not only possible but happening. Once they see that they can improve, it will also change their perception of themselves and based on the Pygmalion effect explained earlier, this will increase their expectations and success.

Application

My mindset theory will be manifested in every aspect of my multicultural teaching. I allow my students to redo work and meet with me individual because with a growth mindset they will be able to learn and increase their abilities with effort. In the textbook, Nieto (2018) defines Multicultural Education as important, pervasive, antiracist education, basic education, education for social justice, a process, and including critical pedagogy (p. 32). This is a very lengthy definition but breaks it down into very basic concepts. I can focus my theory on my critical pedagogy. I cannot look at my students with a fixed mindset and lower their standards to their current abilities. Dweck outlines this in her book by stating, “Lowering standards just leads to poorly educated students who feel entitled to easy work and lavish praise. Simply raising standards in our school, without giving students the means of reaching them, is a recipe for disaster. It just pushes the poorly prepared or poorly motivated students into failure and out of school” (Dweck, 2006, p.193-194). While maintaining my standards I must create an Equitable multicultural environment to foster success.

Nieto (2018) also explains that the goals of multicultural education is, “tackling inequality and promoting access to an equal education, raising the achievement of all students through meaningful learning that provides them with an equitable and high-quality education, providing students with an apprenticeship in the opportunity to become critical and productive members of a democratic society” (p.6). I addressed tackling inequalities and raising achievement with maintaining high standards with equitable education, but the goals from the textbook also bring forward the idea of what we want after the students leave the classroom. We want to give students the opportunities to build meaningful and successful skills that they can apply to their lives, not just as students, but as successful human beings. An example of this was shown in an NPR interview titled, Periods! Why These 8th-Graders Aren't Afraid to Talk About Them. These eight girls were challenged by their teachers to create a podcast over something they were passionate about (Nadworny & Lombardo, 2019). This allowed them to share their voice and work past the insecurities of middle school, which will help them in every aspect of their life. As a teacher, I can make the classroom more of a society than a prison pipeline by having debates, creative work, relating work to life, and make it more meaningful work and less busywork. This can help students feel their importance and develop interests in the material which will heighten their success. Helping them build that confidence and interest can help them develop a growth mindset. My mindset theory can also clearly apply to my case study and I will use my mindset theory to analyze my informant’s, Miguel’s, themes.

Commentary

Cultural ecological issues are very prominent in this case study. I shared the statistics of Othello's population being 89% Hispanic and a fourth of the population having immigration/ deportation issues. Likewise, Othello county has the state's highest teen pregnancy rate and around a 79% graduation rate ("Othello High School Profile (2019-20): Othello, WA"). This data from public school review may seem obsolete but to compare here is similar data from another high school to compare off the same source. Ellensburg High School is about an hour away from Othello High School. They are in the same league, meaning they are a similar size, and they both have a student to teacher ratio of 22:1. A major difference, however, is that Ellensburg High School's ethnic population is drastically different from Othello’s; with 78% being Caucasian and with only 17% Hispanic. Ellensburg Highschool has an 88% graduation rate, which is drastically higher than Othello’s and has a higher proficiency than Othello in Math and reading based on test scores. The most dramatic difference is Reading / Language Arts Test Scores with Ellensburg being 90-94% proficient and Othello only being 35% proficient (Sarah, 2019). These are major differences in success from very similarly structured schools.

Although Miguel had exposure and understanding of being a minority and the prominence of cultural-ecological issues in his community, he was still able to succeed. Miguel felt like this country saw him as just another Mexican trying to get in here, but he didn't let that affect his educational experience. The fact that he can succeed not only disproves the deficit theory but shows that even the cultural-ecological theory is incomplete. Miguel is able to feel comfortable in school because of much of his school being from a similar background. He is still able to feel included in his family, sports, and community.

With my case study of Miguel, you can also look at his situation with my mindset theory. Those with a fixed mindset will see stereotypes as restraints and will not push themselves past their initial abilities. However, a student like Miguel who has a growth mindset can push themselves past stereotypes and their cultural-ecological situation. As he set goals and continues to be successful, he shows that with a growth mindset you can push through opposition and setbacks. With all his successes, juggling academic achievement with his family situation takes its toll. Although he didn't communicate this directly, at the core, Miguel's Immigration struggles are putting a strain on his education. This is prevalent from Miguel missing important due dates with his court visits and the amount of stress this whole process is putting him through. Miguel did not communicate any of the situations to his teachers which shows that although he feels comfortable with his peers there is still a lack with his instructors. However, Miguel keeps a positive outlook and continues to push towards his goals. His growth mindset helps him be optimistic about the future and look to his role model as an example of success. My theory further discredits the deficit theory and shows why people from every background can be successful. Miguel’s family helps him build this growth mindset as his family, specifically his mother, who knew he could accomplish more and pushed him to do so. My Case study better showed me how diverse and crazy life can be for students. As I focused on this one individual it made me realize how countless students could be in similar situations. As a teacher, I cannot be quick to judge and must approach situations with my students with an open and growth mindset as well. Although every home life is different, I can help foster this growth mindset in my students as I work with parents and create a multicultural classroom.

Applications

Cross-cultural connections

· I can create cross-cultural connections and unify families and school by making neighborhood visits. By making the effort I can make the families and school life less foreign and I can learn more about my student’s cultures and how I can best help the student.

Literacy

· To improve family literacy, I can have my students write and illustrate stories their parents tell them. These stories can be in their native language and even can teach the students more about their family.

Pedagogy and Curriculum

· I can improve teaching and what is taught to help more children succeed by increasing the oral communication of the students. I can restructure and reorganize my classroom and lessons to include more input from the student which will help build language skills and help students connect to school and be more successful. Endless lectures need to be avoided for all children to have more success.

Technology

· I can improve learning and what is taught to help more children by using technology and the different platforms to do assignments. I can provide students with a variety of online resources for assignments and let them submit and create assignments on various social media platforms, which will help more students connect to school and be more successful because technology is the primary way they communicate outside of school.

References

Counselor,

C. N., & Relief Society General Presidency. (n.d.). Baskets and Bottles.

Retrieved from

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1996/05/baskets-and-bottles?lang=eng

Dweck, C. S.

(2016). Mindset: The new

psychology of success. Ballantine

Books.

Lake, R.

(2019, June 07). An Indian Father's Plea. Retrieved from

https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2000/09/01/02indian.02.html