Culturally Responsive Teaching

There are many challenges and rewards when teaching students that do not look like yourself. In order to be a culturally responsive and transformational teacher, one must first get to know her students and families in order to understand their backgrounds, life-experiences and cultural differences that may be present within the classroom. While completing the CRT Plan, I was able to reflect on cultural differences that I was previously unfamiliar with. By reflecting and evaluating my teaching methods and strategies, I helped to bring clarity into my classroom to promote positivity around cultural differences.

Some of the cultural differences that I was able to discover throughout my planning process to become a more cultural responsive and relevant teacher were, retaliation, reservation, attitude towards discipline and attitude towards a white female teacher. Reflecting and responding to these cultural differences was challenging because many of them were rooted in greater systemic issues. For example, many students and families are at first untrusting of a white female teaching their black and brown students. This is something I can never truly understand, but by reflecting on history and the behavior white people, even now, display towards minority groups, has helped shape me into being a transparent, communicative and honest teacher. A teacher can only truly dissolve distrust by putting out love and compassion towards all of her students. After building strong relationships with students and their families, the walls of distrust that they originally had begin to crumble.

Another cultural difference that I am now consciously aware of is the act of retaliation. At first I did not recognize this as a cultural difference, I assumed it was simply a mean act displayed by students who were still learning how to react when treated unkindly or unfairly, but after many altercations where retaliation was displayed I recognized this was something students had been taught in order to protect themselves. This to me the most challenging and sensitive cultural difference to address within my classroom. I immediately recognized the need for increased social emotional learning, especially around bullying and how to react when someone is treating you unkindly. I have incorporated many books into our curriculum that help students discover the most effective ways to respond to a bully without retaliating. The advocacy section of my Capstone project reflects on how I incorporate this into our learning environment.

Although at first I was unsure and hesitant to reflect on cultural differences between myself and my students, it proved to be extremely rewarding and beneficial. I now have a greater understanding for the importance of recognizing differences, not just within the curriculum and standards, but within the student and teaching body. As a facilitator of learning, I must be open to change and open to ways to better my practice. The CRT Plan helped to shape my mindset around cultural differences that are more sensitive and challenging to address in order create an inclusive and safe classroom.

The shift from in-person learning to virtual learning was unexpected and abrupt. There were so many uncertainties, confusion and frustration around virtual learning. The biggest barrier during the initial school closures was the lack of technology that many students faced. Many of my students did not have access to a computer or wi-fi and therefore were unable to partake in the expectations of virtual learning that had been set by our school. I felt it was my responsibility to modify and differentiate the learning in order to reach all students in my classroom and not just the few that had access to technology.

Similarly, parents yearned for a sense of normalcy and constant communication from their child's teacher. I wanted to set the bar high for my students and continue the learning process even amidst the pandemic. I wanted parent voices to be heard and accounted for when modifying what learning should look like during a pandemic. I thought the best approach to convey my expectations was to send a letter to the families of my first-grade students and personal reach out to them, in hopes of continuing the rest of our school year with some normalcy. I value honest and transparent communication and wanted to make that known to parents. The letter below was sent to parents and families of my first grade students after initial check ins had been made to gauge how my class was feeling emotionally and mentally with the shift to virtual learning. This helped to increase engagement and understanding for what the rest of the school year would look like.

The Education Alliance states that in order to be a culturally responsive teacher you must communicate high expectations with students and families as well as reshape the curriculum to best fit your students needs (Ladson-Billings, 1994). This letter helped me articulate both high expectations and modifications for the rest of our academic year.

Below are just a few of the many culturally responsive instructional strategies I consistently use in my classroom. The strategies include a student centered classroom, equity sticks, collaborative work and Black History month lesson plans and student work. These instructional strategies have helped me form strong relationships with my students and have aided in student growth and performance. When students have autonomy in the classroom, they feel more comfortable to voice their opinions. Student feedback is imperative in the work we do as teachers. Ultimately, my goal is to make our first-grade classroom feel warm, welcoming and safe to my students and the best way to do this is to show students our classroom is an ever changing space created and continual improved upon for them to learn and grow.

Research shows it is important to have a classroom that is centered around the students (Scharf, 2018; Davis, 2012). This can be done through implementing student jobs, where students are responsible of taking care of the shared space and environment, displaying student work around the room and in the hallways, so students feel a sense of ownership and responsibility in the learning space, through collaborative work, where students are sharing and supporting each other throughout the learning process. I want the classroom space to be owned by the students as their environment impacts how they learn and grow. Below I demonstrate how I create a student centered environment in our classroom.

Something that I have continual reflected on throughout my practice of being a teacher is how I call on students and who I call on. I tended to notice early in my teaching practice and occasionally now, that I tend to favor students who raise their hand. I quickly recognized this as an inequitable practice that I needed to work on. During my experience as a student, I know I only raised my hand when I had the right answer, or when I was paying attention. I remembered being embarrassed and frustrated when a teacher would cold call on me, so I tend not to cold call as often as calling on students who have a hand raised. By research and reflection about culturally responsive and equitable teaching, I recognized the need to cold call on students more often. Not because I want embarrass or frustrate them, as I was as a student, but rather to offer them an opportunity to use their voice and express their opinions, feelings, beliefs and ideas. I have found the best way to do this is through use of equity sticks. Equity sticks allow all students an equal opportunity of being called on. This ensures all students are paying attention and participating in classroom material and discussion. Students enjoy the mystery of not knowing who will be called on and they enjoy being the equity stick picker as well and calling on their peers. It helps students take ownership over their work and responsibility for their learning while also ensuring all student voices are heard equally.

One of the greatest factors about being a teacher, is all of my students are teachers themselves. My students have incredible leadership skills and are some of the greatest instructors, not just for me but also for their peers. I utilize my students leadership skills as much as possible to create a collaborative learning environment. Pictured here are students who were partaking in partner reading. Many of my students who struggle with reading and sounding out words prefer to be paired with another student who is a strong reader, rather than with a teacher. By understanding and observing students preferred learning styles and activities, I chose to create opportunities in our classroom where the students were being the leaders of learning. During this activity, a strong reader is paired with a less confident reader and the two of them work together to read the book and answer the comprehension questions. Not only does this demonstrate collaboration between first-graders, but it also demonstrates students using the habits of mind, persisting, listening to others with understanding and empathy, striving for accuracy and precision, thinking and communicating with clarity and precision, and thinking interdependently (Costa & Kallick, 2009; Heick, 2012).

One of my favorite times of the school year is Black History Month. Every year, I begin to get my students excited for February by having a countdown to Black History Month. I think it is so important that students learn about leaders who have played a role in the civil rights movement and have had an impact on culture. Throughout Black History Month, students are participating in lessons about famous Black leaders, coloring posters that get hung up around the room, and re-enacting scenes from the civil rights movement. I try to incorporate leaders from different mediums, such as writers, politicians, musicians, and athletes. Below are the Black History Month lessons I have created specifically for my class along with worksheets that students complete during February. Lastly, I bring in guest readers to read different books about famous Black leaders to incorporate outside community into our work we do in the classroom.

While researching racism and social injustices within Black communities and throughout history, I came across James Baldwin's speech "A Talk To Teachers", which I found incredibly inspiring as a white teacher in a predominantly Black school. In his speech he states that teachers must continue to educate students that racism is still at large and we must do our part as white educators to inform students of the injustices and inequities within their schools, streets, and communities because it is "criminal" (1963). James Baldwin's words weigh heavily on me, especially during Black History Month. Many of the topics we discuss throughout this unit, such as racism, segregation, and discrimination, are difficult and heavy to discuss, but these topics must be taught in order to end the systemic injustices that are still occurring in our society and schools to this day.

I am mindful of teaching with a growth mindset and consistently incorporating different and innovative teaching strategies in my classroom. Similarly, I strive to cultivate a rigorous classroom environment that requires students to engage in conversation with their peers and work collaboratively and respectfully. With this in mind, my colleagues and I were able to create a plan to incorporate Socratic seminars into our learning environment to enhance students speaking and active listening skills. My ultimate goal in the classroom is to be the facilitator and moderator of learning. By allowing students opportunities to dive into topics on a deeper level, question the learning and thinking process, and synthesize textual information, I am creating a space filled with rigorous and high quality learning. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was unable to implement this plan into my classroom. Initially I was hoping to modify the plan to be conducive in a virtual environment, but I have come across many barriers that have impeded this, such as lack of access to technology and poor connectivity. My goal is to implement Socratic seminars into my classroom when we are able to safely return to in-person learning. Creating a learning environment that includes collaborative thinking and learning, will help prepare students to be college and career ready.

Recently, due to the current racial inequities that still persist in the world today, their has been a greater emphasis placed on equity, inclusion and being cultural responsive. These topics are always at the forefront of my thoughts when planning lessons, organizing my classroom and reflecting on my teaching practices. Because their has been such a heightened awareness for this kind of work, it has been fairly easy to find opportunities to participate in ongoing reflection around culturally responsive teaching. I am fortunate to be a Teach for America alumni, with lots of access opportunities around how to be a better and more culturally aware and responsive teacher. Similarly, Johns Hopkins has provided me with many opportunities to learn more about culturally responsive practices, research and strategies. I continue to partake in independent research and search for opportunities to discuss teaching practices and methods that will help me to be a more culturally aware and responsive teacher. It helps me to have a diverse support system that can challenge my thinking around inequities and create diverse learning opportunities for my students to be leaders in the classroom.

Being a culturally responsive teacher is an on-going process. It does not end after the initial phone call home at the beginning of the year, or after one completes a self-study and reflection. Being culturally responsive means being informed about what is happening within the community where students live and continuously working to continue to maintain and sustain positive and trusting relationships.

I continue to inform my teaching and self-reflecting by improving my knowledge and understanding around culturally responsive teaching. I actively seek out feedback from my fellow colleagues and educators. Additionally, I continue to educate myself through online resources on how I can be the best teacher for my students. One who is a master of the curriculum, but first and foremost one who is culturally responsive and receptive. Being educated about cultures, communities and backgrounds is one my greatest priorities as a teacher. Similarly, my students are better able to connect with me when they know I am still a student like themselves, continuously learning to strengthen my practice.