Culturally Responsive Education...

Culturally Responsive Teaching is a way of engaging learners from a multifaceted approach. It engages them on multiple levels – social, intellectual, emotional, physical, cultural, linguistic, and more. My own approach to Culturally Responsive Teaching centralizes teacher as facilitator of learning rather than arbitrator of grading. When I am genuinely concerned with how my students can become curious, compassionate, and reflective learners instead of compliant testers, I create not only educational opportunity, but a “safe space” for growth. 

I cannot assess a student’s demonstration of learning if I have not witnessed them authentically, sitting with them in the material and giving ample opportunity for them to explore the material on their own terms. Because each student has a different onramp to learning, this process of witnessing each student’s unique gifts and offerings by being with them allows me as an educator deeper insight into them not only as learners, but also as complete human beings. 

When I married in my mid-20s, I took my husband’s surname. For years afterwards, people would often call me by my maiden name. I didn’t take offense, just gently corrected them each and every time. After a while it became frustrating, but I dealt with it. When my child turned 8, they asked to use they/them pronouns. I said, “That’s great, hon, can you share with me what you’re thinking? Do you still feel like a girl?” They informed me that they were tired of people making assumptions because of their pronouns and that they wanted people to be curious about them rather than just thinking they like pink and princesses because they are a girl. In the years since, I’ve realized that keeping people’s names safe in my mouth is about more than knowing their names – which is critical – but also about understanding how to keep their identity safe in your relationship. I take time to learn students’ proper pronunciations, and during the first week of class, ask students to share with me their chosen name. I use the simple survey that many of you may have seen online which offers an opportunity for students to provide details as well as information about whether or not that information is safe when speaking with others or guardians. I don’t want to give nicknames or fudge a pronunciation – because that reflects my privilege and is disrespectful. If people can call me Katie when my given name is Katherine, and can pronounce it correctly, then I can take the time to learn the nuance of a different culture’s names.

I am aware of my students and their relationships within the school with other educators, other students, administrators, and the wider school body. I provide regular opportunities for one-to-one and group work to engage different students and provide new opportunities for relationships to develop. We have weekly celebrations of one another and celebrate our classmates’ achievements.

I practice non-violent communication, and practice conscious discipling methods rather than traditional “discipline as punishment” models.

I am strengths-oriented and use students’ strengths, skills, and interests to find access points for learning targets based on our state’s Common Core State Standards (CCSS). I am aware of students’ IEPs and accommodations and help them advocate for their lesson modifications. I integrate student voice and choice in selecting texts and resources for learning. I look at metacognition and consider Bloom’s Taxonomy to deepen student’s intellectual engagement with their learning.

I am continually aware of students’ emotional states, and use multiple methods to get a “temperature gauge” of their status at the beginning of each period. I regularly integrate Washington State’s the 6 social emotional targets into everyday lessons, and I recognize that emotional and mental health are every bit as critical to a student’s success as physical health. I pay attention to body language and any visible emotional processing in my students. I provide regular opportunities for students to self-reflect and practice mindfulness. I use trauma-informed practices and engage students with a trauma-informed care approach.

I pay attention to body language, to symptoms of physical distress, to lighting levels, to visual engagement. I consider accommodations for varying levels of physical need – fine motor or gross motor skills – and I also am aware of how physical limitations can affect my students’ learning styles. I incorporate movement and physical activities into my lesson plans and integrate kinesthetic targets.

I also am aware that basic needs like sleep, food, shelter, health care and more all affect a student’s ability to learn, and make efforts to level the playing field when I can.

I listen to underlying messages when students use behavior to communicate, and always respond from a place of self-regulation first, followed by co-regulation.

I am CPI trained in Right Response, but always defer to Least Restrictive Environment. My core values in response are safety, liberty, and responsibility.

Acknowledging those who have suffered and been enslaved by the colonizers of our land, I am continually re-examining my own white supremacist tendency – including my own “Karen” behaviors, my privilege as a cis-het presenting white woman, and the ability I have to dominate any conversation with “white woman tears.” I prefer to relinquish the floor to those from marginalized communities and allow them space to share their authentic stories and wisdom from a place of authority in my classroom.

Whenever possible I will select authors and texts from communities of color or indigenous communities. With an integrated social justice lens, I reject Christian Nationalism and White Supremacy in the United States and commit to dismantling systems of chronic and invasive oppression and discrimination. I protect vulnerable students and offer opportunities to examine underlying beliefs and values. I work with students to understand the difference between intention and impact.

Words create worlds. And when translation is involved, often many things get lost in translation. Much of my postgraduate studies involved translation of ancient texts, and analysis of other people’s translations of the same. Hermeneutics – or the study of what any reader brings to the “text” – provides a helpful lens for understanding how human beings interpret the language of their embedded and native cultures. I also acknowledge that texts are not necessarily in written form – sometimes they are the three minute story we tell our friends in an elevator, and sometimes they are long liturgical passages typically sung and heard, not read. Because of this, I am hyper-aware of the way that language and translation present barriers to understanding.

When possible, I provide translation for important terms in subject matter – or allow the use of software translators. I allow students to “read” audio books – as long as they are actively engaged with the text. I encourage students to not only watch the movies based on novels, but also to use subtitles and tell me the differences after they’ve read the source text. I structure my syllabus and targets such that any student can re-write the Learning Target to demonstrate their understanding of the material or the Common Core State Standards. I provide clarification and linguistic alternatives as needed. I work with students with communication challenges and integrate visual, ASL and other modalities of communication to ensure that students feel heard and understood.

I recognize that language and culture are inextricably intertwined. When studying in Dublin, Ireland, I traveled extensively in countries where English was neither an official nor well-known language. I realized the power of learning simple phrases in other languages in order to show respect to the other culture as well as to allow others to know my own language limitation. My favorite phrase most often was, “Hello, I only know a few words in <this language>, do you speak English?” By not assuming someone speaks English, it honored the roots of their own language and culture. Asking someone to engage with me in a different language – instead of just bulling my way through speaking English loudly and slowly – gives them dignity and the ability to say “no.” I always try to learn at least a few phrases in my students’ varying languages spoken at home. Even if it’s just to say “hello!” I know how powerful it can be to have a moment in which I’m not struggling just to remember a word in a strange language. 

Students spend most of their lives without any autonomy. Their schedules are dictated by others. Their classes, their earning, their plans for the future? All of those are dependent on adults in their lives. 

Often, those adults are not trustworthy, and there are many instances where these adults spend 18 years training these students to submit, to betray their own selves, just in order to keep the peace.

In my classroom, I model authentic consent. I do not FORCE any student to complete any assignment. I allow students to say “NO” to me at any point in time. I do require that they do it respectfully and make up the time with me, but students are allowed to say “no” without condition.

Building an authentic “yes” inside students for their dreams, their passions, and their hopes requires them learning how to say “no” to the things that drain them, harm them, or suck the life out of them.