Books

Culturally Responsive Practices

Browse the books below for knowledge around culturally responsive practices and cultural competence. 

Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain

In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes:
  • Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships
  • Ten "key moves" to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners
  • prompts for action and valuable self-reflection

The Pedagogy of Confidence

In her new book, Yvette Jackson shows educators how to focus on students’ strengths to inspire learning and high intellectual performance. Jackson asserts that the myth that the route to increasing achievement by focusing on weaknesses (promoted by policies such as NCLB) has blinded us to the strengths and intellectual potential of urban students―devaluing the motivation, initiative, and confidence of dedicated educators to search for and optimize this potential. The Pedagogy of Confidence dispels this myth and provides practical approaches for rekindling educators’ belief in their ability to inspire the vast capacity of their urban students. 

Coaching for Equity

Coaching for Equity is packed with the resources necessary to implement Transformational Coaching in any organization. In addition to an updated coaching framework and corresponding rubrics, a comprehensive set of coaching tools puts success in every coach’s hands. Extensive personal narratives demonstrate what coacing for equity looks like and help us see how we can make every conversation count towards building a more just and equitable world. Perfect for teachers, teacher leaders, coaches and administrators, Coaching for Equity offers extensive strategies for talking about race, power, and systems of oppression. In framing the rationale for transformational conversations, Coaching for Equity gives us the context we need to enter into this work. In laying out the strategies, tools and models for critical conversations, it gives us the way forward.

Bright Ribbons

Weave culturally responsive teaching into every lesson and activity with an array of practical tips, model lessons, and resources, this book will inspire you to weave a holistic tapestry of teaching and learning that lets every child shine. You’ll learn:
  • How to use culturally responsive teaching (CRT) not as an add-on, but as a philosophy that infuses every aspect of the school day
  • Simple strategies for weaving the seven principles of Culturually Responsive Teaching into all lessons and activities, including morning greetings, transition times, and group work
  • How to be more self-reflective to better appreciate and unlock students’ unique gifts

Closing the Attitude Gap

(available in the Virtual Library)

In this inspiring and thought-provoking follow-up to his 2009 best-seller Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life, Baruti Kafele makes the case that the "attitude gap" that often affects underperforming students can only be closed if educators first help students develop the will to strive for excellence. According to Kafele, educators can achieve remarkable results by focusing on five key areas:
* The teacher's attitude toward students
* The teacher's relationship with students
* The teacher's compassion for students
* The learning environment
* The cultural relevance of instructionReplete with practical strategies and illustrative anecdotes drawn from the author's 20-plus years as a teacher and principal in inner-city schools, Closing the Attitude Gap offers a wealth of lessons and valuable insights that educators at all levels can use to fire up their students' passion to learn.

High Expectations Teaching

In drill-down detail, Saphier provides an instructional playbook for increasing student confidence and agency in the daily flow of classroom life:Powerful  strategies for attribution retraining, organized around 50 Ways to Get Students to Believe in Themselves  Concrete examples, scripts, and classroom structures and routines for empowering student agency and choiceDozens of accompanying videos showing high-expectations strategies in action

The Listening Leader

The Listening Leader is a practical guide that will inspire school, district, and teacher leaders to make substantive change and increase equitable student outcomes. Rooted in the values of equity, relationships, and listening, this luminous book helps reimagine what is possible in education today. Drawing from more than twenty years of experience in public schools, Shane Safir incorporates hands-on strategies and powerful stories to show us how to leverage one of the most vital tools of leadership: listening. 

Excellence Through Equity

Excellence Through Equity is an inspiring look at how real-world educators are creating schools where all students are able to thrive. In these schools, educators understand that equity is not about treating all children the same. They are deeply committed to ensuring that each student receives what he or she individually needs to develop their full potential and succeed. 

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?: And Others Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum: Conversation StartersEducator, Author, and Psychologist Dr. Beverly Tatum's book entitled Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race talks about how different races cope when mixed with other races in a public setting. She talks about why most kids in school, especially in America, group themselves with people who have the same race as them. Tatum also encourages the readers to use their voices and speak out on the racism they encounter themselves or to anyone they know.  

Culture of Love

While primarily focused on education, I write this book for all who desire to cultivate a positive culture in any organization. Anyone striving to be a great leader can benefit from the culture development process described in this book. Along with garnering a better understanding of organizational change, those reading will gain insight on shifting personal behaviors as well. A leader is not predicated on a title, but instead on a way of thinking, working, and living. Organizations need innovative and committed leaders as technological advances, political, and social changes alter our global community and economy. Those reading this book must feel a sense of urgency in meeting the needs of young people and others they are serving. 

Culturally Proficient Coaching

To arm educators with the tools necessary to close the achievement gap, this straightforward guide blends the Five Essential Elements of Cultural Proficiency with the Five States of Mind of Cognitive CoachingSM. It offers a practical strategy for being mindfully attuned to―and leveraging―cultural diversity to optimize student learning. Boosting educators’ cultural confidence and consciousness while honing their coaching skills.

How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You

This practical workbook provides strategies, proven activities, reflective questions, staff development activities, and facilitator′s guide that will teach how to effectively reach culturally and ethnically diverse students.