Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
2022-2023
This Year’s Book Study:
“More than a motivational tool, culturally responsive teaching is a serious and powerful tool for accelerating students learning… that’s what this book is about:
the connection between brain-based learning and rigorous culturally responsive teaching.” (pg. 3)
Ideas
4
Culturally responsive teaching isn't the same as multicultural education or social justice education.
Too often we use the terms culturally responsive teaching and multicultural education interchangeably, when they're different things.
They are related, but only culturally responsive teaching focuses on building students' learning power.
It's important to remember that culturally responsive teaching isn't about diversity training, but about helping students reach deeper levels of understanding.
1
Culturally responsive teaching builds students' brain power by improving information processing skills using cultural learning tools.
This isn't an aspect of culturally responsive teaching we talk about a lot. Instead, educators like to focus on the affective elements.
Keep in mind one way that the achievement gap manifests itself is by creating dependent learners who find it hard to do critical thinking or independent learning.
When we focus on using culture as a cognitive scaffold, then we're able to leverage students' neural pathways that make learning easier.
2
Culturally responsive teaching is grounded in social and cognitive neuroscience.
Neuroscience is giving us new findings every day that support why culturally responsive practices work.
For example, social neuroscience reminds us that relationships are the on-ramp to learning, meaning if a student doesn't feel heard or seen, then it leads to increased stress. Stress hormones like cortisol impair the brain's executive function.
So in order to create a learning environment conducive to all students learning, we need to lower stress hormones by building those relationships.
3
Culturally responsive teaching requires teachers to recognize the cultural orientation we call "collectivism."
Teachers are often confused about how culture plays a role in culturally responsive teaching. They think they have to mention race, ethnicity, or cultural artifacts like ethnic food, music, or literature all the time for every different group.
Instead, a key starting point to making cultural responsiveness manageable is to organize instructional activities around collectivist cultural principles - group harmony and interdependence.
Vygotsky talks about this as "socio-cultural learning" and highlights that it is necessary to move students into their zone of proximal development.
4
Chapter 1: Climbing Out of the Gap
“The chronic achievement gap on most American schools has created an epidemic of dependent learners unprepared to do higher order thinking, creative problem solving, and analytical reading and writing called for in the new Common Core State Standards.” (pg. 12)
The four core areas are interdependent and connected through the principles of brain-based learning.
Chapter 2: What’s Culture Got to Do with It?�
3 Levels of Culture | |
Surface | Observable, and concrete elements. (food, dress, holidays, music) |
Shallow | Unspoken rules are everyday social interactions and norms. (attitudes towards elders, personal space, etc.) |
Deep | Tacit knowledge, unconscious assumptions. One’s deep culture roots, is how the brain makes sense of the world and helps us function in our environment. Challenges at this level often trigger ”flight or fight” response. |
Two Cultural Archetypes teachers should know…
Chapter 3: This is Your Brain on Culture
Culturally Responsive Brain Rules
Rule #1:
The brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with others in community.
Rule #2:
Positive relationships keep our safety-threat detection system in check.
Rule #3:
Culture guides how we process information.
Rule #4:
Attention drives learning.
Rule #5:
All new information must be coupled with existing funds of knowledge in order to be learned.
Rule #6:
The brain physically grows through challenge and stretch, expanding its ability to do more complex thinking and learning.
How do these “rules” look in the classroom?
How can these rules shape lessons/lesson planning?
“If we want to use culturally responsive teaching to support the cognitive development of dependent leaners, we have to know how the brain uses culture to make sense of the world.” (Pg. 36)
“We can not downplay students’ need to feel safe and valued in the classroom.” (pg. 47)
“To make learning stick, we have to determine what students already know and understand how they organized it into their schema.” (pg. 49)
“Just turning up the rigor of instruction or increasing the complexity of content will not stimulate brain growth. Instead, challenge and stretch come with learning the moves to do more strategic thinking and information processing.” (pg. 49)
Chapter 4: Preparing to Be a Culturally Responsive Practitioner
Four Dimensions of Diversity
Personality
Internal Dimensions
External Dimensions
Organizational Dominions
Discuss your four dimensions of diversity and how they influence your daily life.
Chapters 5 & 6:�Building the Foundation of Learning Partnerships�Establishing Alliance in the Learning Partnership�
The Power of Relationships in Schools�
Fostering Positive Relationships
“…all human beings are hardwired for relationships after living in communal, cooperative settings for millions of years.”(pg. 73)
“Too often, teachers try to figure out a student’s learning process based on test scores or other types of assessments, but these tools don’t offer holistic insight into the student’s learning moves. Getting dependent learners to be open and vulnerable enough to show you heir learning moves begins with rapport.” (pg. 75)
“Being seen as trustworthy be another stimulates the brain for connection… building rapport focuses on establishing an emotional connection and building trust…” (pgs. 74-75)
Discuss the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and HOW of building trust & rapport with students successfully.
6 Ways to Get to Know Your Students and Build a Classroom Community
Teachers can build rapport with students by starting the year with activities that encourage sharing of interests, and by connecting those interests to curriculum. (article)
Building Classroom Community Through Daily Dedications
When students share stories about those who have inspired and impacted them, the whole classroom feels more connected. (video)
Social Contracts Foster Community in the Classroom
When students and teachers collaborate to create shared behavior expectations, the whole class is invested in the norms. (video)
Relationship Building From Day 1
Strategies for fostering relationships with middle and high school students starting on the first day of the school year and then growing them all year long. (article)
Building Students’ Interdependence
“…we have a particular duty to help dependent learners build their intellective capacity so that they are able to do more independent learning and higher order thinking…” (pg. 89)
3 parts of the Learning Partnership Alliance
Creating the Pact
Becoming a �Warm Demander
What is your inclination as teacher?
Warm Demander: a high-premium relationship
Students Driving Their Own Learning
What tools does the student need to be independent?
WHAT ELSE????
THINK of student you could establish a learning pact with.
What would be the focus of the pact?
What tools would the student need to be successful?
Chapter 7: Shifting Academic Mindset in the Learning Partnership
“…we can give our students all the right kinds of feedback and create processes to help them reflect on it, but, if we can not get them to take it to heart, nothing will change. To get dependent learners to act on feedback or be strategic, they have to first believe in themselves as learners.” (pg. 108)
“What (students) believe about belonging, effort, and value of the task leads to engagement and motivation.” (pg. 110)
Mindset Matters!
“Schools do a lot more to influence a negative academic mindset then we’d like to admit.” (pg. 112)
How can we help to foster a GROWTH mindset in school?
A good read!
Guiding Students to Sustain Effort in School
Secondary students can learn to manage assignments and achieve learning goals with teacher support and tools that promote success.
Consider reviewing your class roster marking F or G next to student names indicating your perception on their mindset.
Use this as additional information when comparing student data. (How many proficient/advanced students have a G vs an F? How many lower performing students??
How can you (or do you) incorporate Growth Mindset into your classroom/lessons?
Chapter 8: Information Processing to Build Collective Capacity
“ Our ultimate goal as Culturally Responsive Teachers is to help dependent learners learn how to learn.” (pg. 122)
Once the environment/conditions necessary for ”building dependent student’s cognitive horsepower” are in place we need processing.
Three Parts to Processing
Input:
the brain decides what information it should pay attention to.
Elaboration:
the brain seeks to understand the information it paid attention to and looks to make the information memorable.
Application:
the brain applies the new information through deliberate practice and real life application.
Input, Elaboration, Application
Ignite, Chunk, Chew, Review
What do these look like in your classroom?
�
Where do you see opportunity for incorporating more information processing activities in your instruction?
“Keep in mind that culturally responsive information processing doesn’t have to be race-specific. It does have to be grounded in the context of students’ lives. Our task is to find ways to access their funds of knowledge and understand their home-based ways of learning as starting points for designing more authentic learning experiences.” (pg. 140)
Chapter 9: Creating a Culturally Responsive Community of Learning
(adapted from the chapter summary on page 151)
What different talk structures are in your classroom/school?
Which ones would you like to include in the future?
What routines and rituals are in operation? Why? What do they accomplish?
How would you describe the ethos (aka the culture) in your room/school?
In this video series, we explore how educators can guide all students, regardless of their developmental starting points, to become productive and engaged learners.
How Can We Do This?