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Culturally responsive teaching is one of the most important attributes that an effective educator possesses. The first step to achieving culturally responsive teaching is expanding my intellectual capacity through self-work. In the context of my own CRT exploration, self-work consists of strengthening my self-awareness with a self-assessment, a cultural self-study, and an implicit bias test. This self-work helps me to identify my own cultural lens and lived experiences. From there, the next step to becoming culturally responsive is building authentic relationships with students. This step involves getting to know students' differences - their lived experiences, family traditions, and cultural lenses - and creating a sense of belonging in the classroom. Next, culturally responsive educators must integrate student differences into intentional classroom planning and instruction that aims to expand their intellectual capacities and show care for them as unique individuals. Lastly, becoming a culturally responsive educator requires ongoing reflection and commitment, as well as an understanding that this work is never complete; there is always room for improvement.
Self-Work
Self-Work
In my journey to becoming a culturally responsive educator, I have learned the importance of increasing my self-awareness. Thanks to JHU, I have been tasked with confronting my own biases and unpacking my own cultural lenses in several assignments linked below: CRT Self-Assessment, Cultural Self-Study, and an Implicit Bias Test. These tasks have all increased my self-awareness in different ways and have been an important first step in becoming the culturally responsive educator I strive to be.
Cultural Self-Study
Copy of CulturalSelfStudy_RosadinoJonathan.pdfThe cultural self-study was the first assessment I took to examine my own cultural identity.
Harvard Implicit Bias Test
Here is an image of my Harvard Implicit Bias Test Results.
As a part of my Effective Practices: Part II coursework, I was tasked with completing a cultural self-study. In this assignment, I was asked to recognize my own cultural identity and reflect on the impact that my cultural identity has on my teaching. Although the assignment was difficult since I hadn't ever considered the implications of my cultural identity before, it forced me to undistort my own truths of race, gender, and sexual orientation (the salient dimensions I chose to analyze for myself). I realized that although my experience in public school growing up was always a place where I found comfort and confidence - since everyone around me looked like me and grew up in similar neighborhoods like mine - that is not the reality for many students.
I walked away from the assignment with a new perspective on the importance of conversation and self-exploration as it pertains to cultural differences. It helped inform me that more open conversations needed to take place between the students in my class on topics of identity differences. The self-study showed me that I have to commit to ongoing personal reflection in order to make my classroom a safe and effective learning environment for all students.
The next step I took to uncovering my own attitudes and biases was taking the Harvard Implicit Bias Test. The results to the left show that I have a moderate automatic preference for White people over Black people. Although the results surprised me, they motivated me to be more vocal about racial injustices that I recognize in my local community as well the United States as a whole. I understand now that increasing my intellectual capacity as an educator involves ongoing personal reflection and commitment to identifying and changing our subconscious attitudes/beliefs.
In this video, Zaretta Hammond explains what it means to be a culturally responsive educator. The video expanded my thinking on how to be culturally responsive.
Copy of Rosadino, Jonathan_CRT Self-Assessment.docxCRT Self-Assessment
Another assignment from my JHU coursework that helped me conduct self-work was my CRT Self-Assessment. In this assignment, I reflected on the teaching strategies I utilize in my classroom and whether or not they are inclusive to all students, elevating all student voices, and valuing their different perspectives. My major takeaway from the assignment was that I needed to do a better job tailoring my lesson plans to fit the unique learning styles of my diverse group of learners. The question I asked myself is "How can I be more culturally responsive and student-centered in my instructional approach?"
Building Relationships
Building Relationships
The second step to becoming culturally responsive is building authentic relationships with students. Over the course of the year, I have planned several activities that enable students to get to know each other and embrace their differences in engaging ways. I will explain several examples of relationship-building in my classroom below.
This Superhero Wall in my classroom symbolizes our acceptance of diversity. This wall reminds students that although we are all unique and different, we have something positive to contribute to the class and we all belong to the space.
Getting to Know You
Rosadino - Get to Know Me!.pdfThese slides show an example of a beginning of the year lesson that I did with students. The goal of the lesson was to create a comfortable space for students to engage with one another and learn about each other.
Identity Assessment
Rosadino HR Personalities.pdfAnother day in class I assigned students identity assessments. These tests assigned students to different identity types with a detailed description of their learning preferences, character traits, learning styles, etc. Students then filled out this document with the results from the test.
BOY Survey
BOY Survey.doc.pdfThis is a template of a survey I had students fill out at the beginning of the year. The results to this survey helped inform me of students' range of preferences and values.
Student Information Survey
At the beginning of the year, my school sends out a survey to families to gather more information about students. The results from the survey provide me with valuable information about each of my students such as their learning styles, learning support strategies used at home, different learning needs, and behavior management strategies that have worked well in the past. In addition, the survey results have helped guide my instructional strategies during the year. I have included three survey response examples that have guided my instructional strategies this year.
Q: Tell us about your student, their learning needs, etc...
Survey Response #1
This survey response informed me that removing distractions can help keep this student on task as well as providing additional check-ins for understanding. It also informed me that this student could be utilized as a class reader. This would boost his confidence and make him comfortable since he loves to read.
Survey Response #2
This survey response informed me that entry lessons that provide review for students are beneficial as well as consistency in approach.
Survey Response #3
This survey response informed me that utilizing a timer for students to complete certain tasks can result in deeper engagement and accomplishment, especially for students like this that have trouble focusing.
In conclusion, I have realized that some of the strategies I use to help my most struggling students beneficial for all students.
Student Profiles
As a result of my findings from the survey, JHU asked me to develop student profiles to summarize my findings for different students while tying in the insights I gained from my cultural self-study. This assignment provided me the space to start talking through the plans and implementations I had in mind for my instructional approach after integrating what I learned about my different students. My biggest takeaway from the assignment was that I needed to take a strengths-based teaching approach - a method of praising student strengths and utilizing students in their areas of strength - in order to build the strongest, most authentic relationship with students. I discussed with my colleagues that this approach helps build confidence and trust between students and teachers.
In this video I talk in-depth about the three student profiles I developed and how the different student profiles have guided my instructional approach and relationship-building approach.
Student Profiles.mp4These are the notes I followed as I created the video of me discussing the student profiles in depth.
StudentProfiles_RosadinoJonathan.pdfConducting Home Visits to Get to Know Students
Copy of IndividualStudentStudy_HomeAndCulturalnfluences_RosadinoJonathan.docxI have learned over the course of my masters at JHU that sometimes it takes going the extra mile to get to know a student. Last spring, JHU had us conduct home visits for our most confusing and struggling students in class. While it was difficult at first to even arrange a meeting with my student's parents, eventually we secured a time, and held the meeting. The meeting provided me with some valuable reflections.
My virtual home visit with my student and his parents helped me realize my student cares really deeply about history. After watching Rebecca Coven talk about her 10th grade English classroom on Learning For Justice for one of our JHU assignments, the idea that teachers need to help students translate passions into class activities was reinforced as a strategy used to reduce student misbehavior and increase engagement. That is why we collaborated to create a goal for the student during the virtual home visit. The goal was to have the student bring stories about race that he is passionate about to share with the class.
The home visit illuminated the strategies within my control in my classroom to reduce misbehavior and increase participation for my most difficult students.
Explicitly Planning for a CRT Classroom
Explicitly Planning for a CRT Classroom
After I had built strong relationships with my students and their families, I was ready to center my instructional planning around the knowledge I had of my students (their backgrounds, interests, linguistic identities, etc.). My first step to intentional classroom planning came in the form of my CRT Classroom Plan, which I submitted as Assessment C in Effective Practices: Part II. In this plan, I explicitly identified characteristics of my students' cultural identities that I could implement into valuable instructional strategies for them and their peers. I also identified certain cultural elements as challenges, such as the dynamic nature of military school culture. I realized I needed to vary my instructional approach more to create an academically rigorous environment for my students.
My Classroom Plan
EPII_CRT_AssessmentC_Classroom Plan_Rosadino_Jonathan.pdfMy Top 10 CRT Strategies: Planning For & Use
In order to further demonstrate how I plan for and use CRT strategies in my classroom, I have included a checklist I use when I plan my lessons (see the document to the left). Each strategy listed has an intended academic outcome. I have learned several of these strategies and outcomes throughout my master's coursework for JHU; some I have learned in my classroom. In the upcoming lesson plans, I utilize several of these strategies to help my students gain deeper content knowledge. Another strategy not listed in this document that I utilize often is a 1-on-1 conversation with a student about their academic progress. For example, I meet often with my English Language Learners (students with English as a secondary language) to discuss their comprehension of math vocabulary and my delivery.
In this video, I converse with one of my English Language Learners about his understanding of math vocabulary. In the conversation, we discuss linguistic skills to use to remember certain math vocabulary terms.
Culturally Responsive Lessons
I have designed several lessons that encourage my students' different learning styles, interests, and cultural backgrounds.
Example #1 shows a lesson I gave during our advisory period called "Number Talk". At Wheeler Middle School, we had a school-wide intervention where we were told our students were struggling with computational fluency in mathematics. Therefore, I saw a number talk to be a culturally relevant lesson that students would be challenged by. When I planned the lesson, I wanted to utilize my student-centered strategy because I know that students gain more content knowledge when they create the content. I exhibited culturally responsive teaching because I enabled students to create the content and this allowed students to collaborate and appreciate the differences in their unique learning styles and methods used to solve double-digit arithmetic problems. I also incorporated the use of hand signals in this lesson to account for linguistic differences and make communication easy and accessible for all students.
Example #2 shows a lesson I gave during our math period where students created word problems that I incorporated into our math lesson on proportionality. In addition, I used our science topic (deer populations) to create a problem and demonstrate how to find the constant of proportionality. The CRT strategies I utilized in this lesson were Student-Relevant Questions and Turn N Talk. Students were engaged by questions they were familiar with (either student-created or science-conversation based) but by having them turn and talk to a partner for the independent activity, I noticed a much stronger understanding of content. I have learned that students are more academically driven when they learn with each other in 1-on-1 settings. Collaboration is powerful! Lastly, I added timers for certain activities during the lesson (ie: exit ticket) after discovering that some students learn better with tangible time objectives (timers). The day after, I used another turn and talk CRT strategy for students that was utilized to clear misunderstandings for struggling students (reteach) and enrich understanding for high-performing students (enrich).
Lesson Example #1: Number Talk (Advisory)
The lesson slides provide an overview of the content students viewed throughout the lesson. On slide 7, I planned for linguistic differences in the classroom by providing a chart key with hand signals for students to use to indicate their level of understanding during the lesson. That way, students could communicate to me their level of understanding silently.
CRT Lesson Plan #1.docxThe lesson plan lists out the main activities and objectives of the lesson. I centered the lesson around the two number problems at the end because I wanted to put my student's different learning styles on full display for the entire class to observe and learn from. Below you can view videos of my students' engagement during the lesson.
IMG_0717 2.movThis student shares her approach of finding the sum of the digits in the ten's place first and then the digits in the one's place to get her answer.
This student's notes show the value of the CRT strategy employed in the lesson. This student wrote down both strategies presented by his classmates in his notes and this demonstrates that the student is more computationally fluent because this student learned two completely different methods to use for the same problem.
IMG_0716 2.movThis student shares an alternative approach to solving the same problem. This student solved the problem by rounding 98 up to 100 and adding 32 to get her final answer.
IMG_0718 2.movStudents share their different methods of solving 14 x 11 on the whiteboard together.
Conclusion:
In all of the above video examples, students demonstrated high levels of engagement due to their increased sense of ownership over the lesson and appreciation for learner variability in our classroom. By enabling my students to take over the classroom and demonstrate the method they use to solve a math problem, I am being culturally responsive because students are taking on the cognitive load of the lesson, collaborating, and valuing each other's different approaches that source from their unique cultural backgrounds and communication styles.
Lesson Example #2: Proportionality (Math)
The lesson slides provide an overview of the content students viewed throughout the lesson. Student-created word problems were added into the lesson for students to solve as the "Do Now" problem and the independent practice problem. In addition, the guided practice centered around deer population statistics, a topic that we covered in our science unit. Lastly, the exit ticket at the end of the lesson incorporated a timer to account for students that struggle focusing and perform better with tangible time objectives.
Students worked in pairs as they created unit rate word problems and put them into the Google Doc.
This shows a student's work for the independent activity from the lesson. I was impressed with this student's ability to recall the equation y=kx from the video with no problem... this student alone wasn't able to tell me the equation minutes prior. It sometimes requires working with a partner for the academic recall to start clicking.
Rather than putting together a lesson plan to accompany the slides, for this lesson, I had students fill out a Google Doc together. On the doc, each student created an example of a word problem involving unit rates that centered around their lives (cultural backgrounds, family traditions, linguistic backgrounds, etc.). Little did they know that they'd be seeing the problems again in their math lesson the next day!
CRT Strategy .mp4This video explains the peer-teach strategy that I utilized after the lesson was finished. This strategy is culturally responsive because it creates an environment where all students are challenged, all students are differentiated for, and all students are cared for, regardless of their differences.
Conclusion:
The artifacts above demonstrate the multitude of CRT strategies employed throughout the lesson and the resulting engagement as a result of those student-centered CRT strategies. By enabling my students to create the problems we solve, work together to solve problems, and increase rigor by taking student feedback and incorporating timers into lesson activities, I am being culturally responsive because students once again own the cognitive load of the lesson, collaborate with one another, and learn to value each other's differences that source from their unique cultural backgrounds and communication styles.
Ongoing Commitment To Reflection
Ongoing Commitment To Reflection
As a culturally responsive educator, it is critical that I engage in continuous commitment and reflection. It is important that I act as proactively as possible as it pertains to my self-work and continue to improve the CRT strategies I utilize in my classroom so that diversity is seen as strength and all students feel cared for yet challenged academically.
I engage in continuous commitment to culturally responsive teaching in two ways at Wheeler Middle School. First, as grade level chair, I engage in administration meetings once a month to evaluate our school's inequity gaps and equitable practices. Second, I engage in continuous TFA reflection on my cultural identity and its impact on my teaching. I meet with my TFA coach consistently to discuss the CRT that exists in my classroom.
These are my Grade Level Meeting Notes where we list topics of conversation and link resources for our respective grade levels each month. We are continually discussing how to be more culturally responsive as educators and monitor student comfortability in our classrooms as well as inclusion and English Language Learner accommodations so our students all feel up to speed with the rest of class.
Copy of Rosadino, Jonathan_CRT Teacher Reflection.docxI have committed to becoming more culturally responsive as a TFA corps member. I have sought out professional advice from my TFA coach on how to properly incorporate diversity/equity resources (articles, videos, etc.) into my math lessons without them feeling thrown into the math lesson. I have sought out professional advice on how to make the connection smoother for students and how to navigate conversations around cultural differences in my classroom.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This work never ends. This work requires continuous reflection and creative implementation of student-centered instructional strategies that make all students feel valued and respected. Coming up with new ways to bring sociopolitical consciousness to the classroom in a way that expands our students' intellectual capacities and engages them deeply in academic content is imperative. Through student-centered instruction, collaboration in every lesson, and continous adaptation to student input, I believe I have become a culturally responsive educator for my students. However, there is always room for improvement and the work doesn't stop here.
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