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September 5, 2016 U.S.A. THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 13 Teachers tackle racial bias: “We’re tired of waiting” By Paige Cornwell The Seattle Times S ENDANGERED INFANT. Polly, right, a precocious and healthy baby Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo, was born to mother LaRoo, left, and father Yopno (not pictured) on February 11, 2016, at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. “Polly is one of only six Matschie’s Tree Kangaroos born in captivity in the last year in the United States as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s Species Survival Program,” said Dr. Jeremy Goodman, executive director of the zoo. (Photo courtesy of the Roger Williams Park Zoo) Rhode Island zoo announces birth of endangered kangaroo Officials at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, have announced the birth of an endangered kangaroo native to Papua New Guinea earlier this year. Polly, a Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo, was born to mother LaRoo and father Yopno on February 11, 2016. Polly was about one inch when born and took two to three minutes after birth to crawl to her mother’s pouch. Females are pregnant for six weeks, and after birth, the baby — known as a joey — continues its development in the mother’s pouch. The mother cleans her pouch and grooms the infant often during this phase of the offspring’s development. After the joey initially leaves the pouch at about eight months, it continues to return to the pouch to nurse. This “in-and- out” phase lasts for one to two months. During the final phase, the young kangaroo still nurses, but never climbs completely into the pouch. Female joeys stay with their mother for up to three years; males leave after one to two years. Polly is a precocious and healthy baby who is, at seven months, beginning to peek out of the pouch on a frequent basis. “Polly is one of only six Matschie’s Tree Kangaroos born in captivity in the last year in the United States as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s Species Survival Program,” said Dr. Jeremy Goodman, executive director of the zoo. The Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo has the longest gestation period of any marsupial. They sleep about 60 percent of the time, and have a diet of leaves and fruits. They are also noted for their red to mahogany brown color with patches of beige. Matschie’s Tree Kangaroos are generally solitary creatures. They are native to the mountainous rainforest of Huon Peninsula in Papua New Guinea, and the nearby island of Umboi, which has been devastated by an increase in logging as well as oil and mineral exploration and mining in their natural environment. Currently listed as an endangered species, there are fewer than 2,500 Matschie’s Tree Kangaroos in the wild. To learn more, visit <www.rwpzoo. org>. Panda cub’s older sister celebrates third birthday at National Zoo WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — Her brother got the big party, but the National Zoo’s other young giant panda is also celebrating a birthday. Bao Bao turned three on August 23. That means she only has a year left at the National Zoo before she goes to China to enter its panda breeding program. China owns the pandas at the zoo and any cubs born in Washington eventually go back. Bao Bao is the second of three surviving cubs born to Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) during her time at the zoo. She now weighs 180 pounds and is classified as a “sub-adult.” Pandas can begin breeding between the ages of four and six. The zoo celebrated the birthdays of Bao Bao, one-year-old brother Bei Bei, and their father Tian Tian (tyen tyen) on Saturday, August 27. ASTHMA IS ON THE RISE. Help us find a cure. 1-800-LUNG-USA PANDA PARTY. One-year-old giant panda cub Bei Bei takes a peek out of his cage at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The zoo celebrated the birth- days of Bao Bao, Bei Bei, and their father Tian Tian on August 27. (AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz) EATTLE (AP) — Teacher Pam Wilson is often assigned the “hard children” at Frank Wagner Ele- mentary School in Monroe. By that, administrators mean students who are learning English, or qualify for special-education services, or whose families have little money. When she asks why they are placed in her class, she’s told she’s “good with them.” “But everyone should be good with them,” she said during a weeklong training of more than 40 educators, the first of its kind sponsored by the state’s largest teachers union. The program, run in collaboration with the University of Washington and funded with a three-year grant from the National Education Association, is the outgrowth of meetings with parents and a survey of 11,000 Washington teachers and other public-school employees, reported The Seattle Times. In that survey, the teachers and others said their top priority, by an overwhelming margin, was addressing the differences in achievement by students of different races, socio-economic levels, and other demographics. If the effort is successful, Wilson and the other union members will train their peers to build stronger relationships with students, so all students feel welcome in the classroom, regardless of background. The people who want the training “are the ones who know what it is like in the classroom,” Ben Ibale, the union’s human- and civil-rights coordinator, said about teachers across the state. “That’s unique.” A Gallup poll last year found that half the students in grades five through 12 nationwide feel stuck or discouraged about their futures. Slightly more than half agreed that adults at their school cared about them, and one-fourth said they don’t have a single teacher who makes them feel excited about the future. Wilson said schools need to focus first on building better relationships with students. That means teachers need to know more about their students — and look deeply at themselves, participants said. The sessions have ended, but will continue throughout the year. In the future, participants want to continue talking about issues such as student discipline. Black students, for example, are suspended at far greater rates, on average, than white, Asian, or Latino students, according to Office of Superin- tendent of Public Instruction data. One question the training addresses: What role do teachers play in those numbers? Do biases or stereotypes affect who they discipline and how they discipline them? “When they are disciplining a student, are their implicit biases showing?” said Adam Aguilera, a teacher at Heritage High School in Vancouver. “Are they disciplining just the students of color?” During one session, the educators gathered in small groups to discuss what came out of several community meetings held across the state over the past few months. At those meetings, which were organized by the union and local leaders, parents, students, and community members talked about what teachers and ANTI-BIAS TRAINING. Ben Ibale, left, talks with Patricia McDonald during a training program held for Washington educators at the University of Wash- ington. At the meetings, members discussed how teachers can better help students. (Johnny Andrews/ The Seattle Times via AP) schools can do to better serve all students equitably. Though those meetings were held in different parts of the state, the themes were similar: Communities wanted better school-home connections and classrooms where all students feel welcome. At the recent training, the teachers discussed strategies to achieve those goals, such as home visits, finding ways to use students’ home languages in class, and holding weekly student-teacher meetings. Joshua Cushman, a teacher at Tacoma’s Lincoln High School, said some families might not feel comfortable inviting a teacher they don’t know well into their home. He found that writing a letter to families with information about his background, a photo, and an invitation to visit his classroom also worked well. Another participant said using LanguageLine, a phone-translation service, had helped in providing updates to families in multiple languages. All the educators spoke with a sense of urgency and talked about the need for teachers to work together to address the issues themselves, rather than rely on those who aren’t in the classroom. “We’re tired of waiting,” Wilson said. q From Copa to Korea: Winter Games in Pyeongchang next up Continued from page 9 Gunilla Lindberg, the IOC member heading the planning for Pyeongchang, said the sliding center and the International Broadcast Center are “slightly delayed.” Meantime, competition is heating up between South Korea and China over whose Olympic ski venue might ultimately become a destination for Asian tourists. Beijing planners have picked Zhangjiakou as the ski site for the 2022 games. Pyeongchang has some advantages, as it gets more natural snow than Zhangjiakou. “A ski resort built for the Beijing Games is not going to be enough, considering the population of China,” Kim said. “We want to attract Chinese, but also Southeast Asians.” Pyeongchang is in South Korea’s Gangwon province, and the central and provincial governments have been battling over who should pay the Olympic bills as skepticism grows about the long- term economic benefits of mega-sporting events, said Chung, the sports science professor. “Pyeongchang mostly got what it wanted,” Chung said, noting the province has pushed off costs to the central government. “It has no choice. It’s still the Olympics, and you don’t want to look bad hosting it.” Kim contributed from Seoul, South Korea.