{"id":1373,"date":"2018-02-14T12:07:09","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T17:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teachersfirst.com\/blog\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2018-02-13T15:10:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T20:10:09","slug":"reflections-on-becoming-a-culturally-responsive-educator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/2018\/02\/reflections-on-becoming-a-culturally-responsive-educator\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on Becoming a Culturally Responsive Educator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Several years ago, I attended a county training that dealt with recognizing implicit bias and strategies for becoming a more culturally responsive educator.\u00a0 As I walked in the room and thought about my long laundry list of items I needed to complete before the day\u2019s end,<\/p>\n

I thought \u201chere we go, another typical training\u201d, but boy was I wrong!\u00a0 It was one the most honest and engaging trainings I\u2019d been to in a long time.\u00a0 It got me thinking about the true importance of working hard to be a culturally responsive educator.\u00a0 We owe it to our students.\u00a0 We owe it to our society.\u00a0 And we owe it to our world.\u00a0 As a world languages teacher, I always took interest in this topic, but as my progression into administration I was able to step back and look at this issue from a more holistic approach and broader lens.\u00a0 Culture is essential to learning.\u00a0 As educators, we need to recognize the importance of students\u2019 cultural references with respect to all aspects of the learning progression.<\/p>\n

Now, by no means do I claim to be an expert in this area, but I thinks it\u2019s worthwhile for me to share my major take-aways from this valuable professional development experience:<\/p>\n

Educate yourself.\u00a0 Reflect upon your own experiences, culture, upbringing, and biases.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Research the topic, join a chat, have the conversation.\u00a0 One thing I learned was that you may have to \u201cgo there\u201d with some of the questions and answers\u2026 and that\u2019s ok.\u00a0 The reality of your experiences and perceptions may be uncomfortable to talk about, but the truth will guide you toward becoming more culturally responsive in your classroom.\u00a0 I believe that it is important to recognize your implicit biases and reflect on how they influence your teaching expectations and interactions with your students.<\/p>\n

Build relationships with your students.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Perhaps I should have led with this.\u00a0 I know you\u2019ve probably heard the quote that goes something along the lines of, \u201cNo one will remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel\u201d.\u00a0 Wow, it\u2019s so true, isn\u2019t it?!\u00a0 Take time to see what interests your students and the experiences they\u2019ve had.\u00a0 You can do this through conversation, writing, activities, clubs\u2026 just to name a few!\u00a0 Keep this at the forefront of your mind each day\u2026 the little efforts to do this will go a long way in becoming more culturally responsive.<\/p>\n

Build a classroom culture of risk-taking and care.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Have it your goal to listen to each student\u2019s voice\u2026 I guess we should first say to work toward ensuring each student has a voice, right? Create lessons that allow for students to share in different ways and at different times.\u00a0 Create a no judgement zone\u2014for students and for teachers!\u00a0 Have high expectations that are clear and communicated well.\u00a0 And last, but not least, use equitable (not equal) practice, be honest, and be vulnerable.<\/p>\n

I will leave you with a quote from Pedro Noguera: \u201cWe must teach the way students learn, rather than expecting them to learn the way we teach\u201d.\u00a0 Powerful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several years ago, I attended a county training that dealt with recognizing implicit bias and strategies for becoming a more culturally responsive educator.\u00a0 As I walked in the room and thought about my long laundry list of items I needed to complete before the day\u2019s end, I thought \u201chere we go, another typical training\u201d, but … read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[98,99,91],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classroom-application","tag-culturally-responsive","tag-inclusion","tag-inclusive-practices"],"modified_by":"Ruth Okoye","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachersfirst.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}