Be a Teacher Leader: Tips for Leading as You Teach

By Stephanie Williams-Britton

Scenario: You are a beginning second-grade teacher who learns about the poor performance of third-graders in writing a text-dependent analysis (TDA). While in college, you were on the debating team and recognized how the club contributed to your writing skills, especially with TDAs. You want to focus on the development of the students in your homeroom and not take on the hassle of extra work; however, you are aware of effective strategies that may help the third-graders. What do you do with the experience you have? Can you find ways to share this knowledge with colleagues?

Generally, new teachers enter their classrooms with zeal and excitement, ready to cater to students’ needs. New teachers have good intentions to transfer knowledge into the development of homeroom students. Catering to your homeroom students’ needs is fantastic, but you also may consider extending educational boundaries beyond the homeroom and become a teacher leader who drives positive change among peers. Spreading your skills within your school can be rewarding as you demonstrate leadership qualities. A teacher leader offers considerate concepts and proposals on issues faced by schools and school districts. Teacher leaders let their voices be heard in diverse situations and develop new and innovative programs or structures while collaborating with colleagues (Crippen & Willows, 2019).

Sharing your knowledge with colleagues in a new building may improve your teaching capabilities and confidence in teaching. Beginning teachers should demonstrate their strengths and use them to improve schools and school districts where necessary. Cosenza (2015) stated, “Teachers are beginning to view themselves as professionals who have a voice in their own vocation.” Here are some tips for becoming a teacher leader:

1. Support professional learning communities (PLC). Professional learning communities promote the sharing and seeking of learning, and aid in demonstrating acts of the learning. Teacher leaders are bold and willing to support colleagues by cooperating to improve weak areas. Teacher leaders therefore (a) listen to teachers’ struggles, (b) share experience/expertise in the area, and (c) work as a team with teachers to formulate best practices for improving or strengthening the issue.
2. Stimulate others with expertise. Teachers are always open to new ideas, especially if they’ve been proven to work. Teacher leaders use creative ways to capture teachers’ attention and gain buy-in on shared strategies. Use clear examples, conduct research to show teachers the benefits of the approach, and be ready to respond to questions. Some teachers will take longer to buy in to a concept, but don’t give up—continue to be optimistic and positive.
3. Show a passion for growth. Displaying your passion for the topic or areais one way to show colleagues that the strategy works. Many preservice teachers are natural leaders. Exercising your influence while working as a teacher may provide the opportunity to practice your passion and improve the school community. Growth is inevitable when everyone is working for the common good. 
4. Identify problems, weaknesses, and opportunities. Take every opportunity to improve your school. Be proactive and work collaboratively with colleagues. Research has shown that, regardless of years of experience, teacher leadership ideas are reaching all teachers (Cosenza, 2015). Identify problems and weaknesses in your school community, gain support from administrators, and use the chance to share your expertise and improve the school.

Concluding Thoughts

As a preservice, 21st-century teacher, you have already acquired much relevant knowledge. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinions, collaborate with colleagues, and communicate with administrators. Listen and share your expertise to promote the development of your school. Being a teacher leader comes with real benefits. Some of them include teacher retention, improved school culture, and, more importantly, enhanced educational growth for your students. Be the best teacher you can be!

What is teacher leadership?

Dr. Williams-Britton has been an educator for over twenty years. Britton is Jamaican- born and is currently an elementary/early childhood certified educator in the United States of America. Her intention is to train student teachers and share her expertise in the teaching profession. Britton’s current project entails the initiation of a non-profit organization (Aid for International Teachers) to provide assistance for international teachers as they transition in their new school districts.

References

Cosenza, M. N. (2015). Defining teacher leadership: Affirming the teacher leader model standards. Issues in Teacher Education, 24(2), 79–99.

Crippen, C., & Willows, J. (2019). Connecting teacher leadership and servant leadership: A synergistic partnership. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(2), 171–178. https://doi.org/10.12806/V18/I2/T4

Lead to Teach: 4 Ways to Build a Positive Learning Environment

By Karyn Miller

“What if my students won’t listen to me? What if they won’t follow my rules?”

These and other classroom management concerns are often a source of anxiety for new teachers. In fact, roughly 50% of teachers recently surveyed worldwide report that they do not feel well prepared to tackle issues of student behavior and management as novice teachers (OECD, 2019). Whether you are a new teacher, or someone who has been in the classroom for years, the reality is that creating an environment for learning is hard work.

Classroom management strategies, such as establishing rules and procedures or identifying appropriate consequences, are necessary for a new teacher’s toolkit. However, efforts to be a good classroom manager may lead to tunnel vision. Research suggests that, when describing their classrooms, new teachers focus on student (mis)behavior and disciplinary efforts, whereas expert teachers focus on student learning (Wolff et al., 2015). To stay focused on the ultimate prize—student success—effective teachers cannot simply be classroom managers. They must be classroom leaders who deliberately create an environment conducive to teaching and learning.

Try the following four practices to build a positive learning environment and lead your students to success:

1. Set goals. Establish a vision for yourself and your students at the beginning of the school year. A vision points to a desired outcome: Open your students’ eyes to a future they may not be able to see or imagine for themselves. Visions are inspirational; goals are measurable. Break your vision into three or four achievable year-end goals, tell students how you will measure whether the goals are met, and share a roadmap to getting there. Plan to measure success along the way, not just at the end. Depending on your style and preference, involve students in all or parts of the process.

2. Invest in your students. Leaders are defined by the presence of followers. How will you get your students to buy in and join you on the journey? Build relationships and establish a culture of care (Noddings, 2005). Greet students by name at the door to your classroom every single time they enter. Send positive notes or phone calls home. Follow up on personal issues your students are facing. Take 10 seconds to acknowledge when a student does a kind deed. Pay attention to their individual needs. Be relentless in the pursuit of your goals and theirs. If students trust that you care for them individually and collectively, what matters to you will matter to them.

3. Model excellence. Students pay attention to every move you make and are quick to identify contradictions between what you say and what you do. Rather than constantly telling students how to speak and act in your class, show them through your own consistent example. Consistency is not easy and requires self-awareness and self-control, which are important social–emotional skills that you implicitly teach as you model excellence in this area. Take time at the end of the day to reflect on your own state of mind, how you responded to the day’s challenges, and areas for personal growth and improvement. Classroom leaders are not afraid to ask themselves, “are my words and actions consistent with my expectations for my students?” When the answer is “no,” make a change. Students will notice.

4. Prove yourself capable. Students will follow when you prove that you are capable and worthy of being followed. The three practices described above will build and begin to demonstrate your capability. As you become more confident you can increase your involvement in broader school improvement efforts. Show your students your leadership skills outside of the classroom, and get them involved, too. If you have built strong relationships with your students, your success outside of the classroom will be theirs as well.

Concluding Thoughts

Achieving an effectively run, positive classroom environment that fosters student learning does not have to be a chore, source of anxiety, or never-ending frustration. Rather, through leveraging these leadership practices, you can create an environment that teems with high expectations and excellence. As you follow your vision’s roadmap, celebrate with your students as you meet each one of your goals, big and small.  

Dr. Miller is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas A&M University–Commerce. She teaches practice and research methods courses at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels. Dr. Miller is engaged in research related to school culture, parental and community engagement, teacher preparation and identity, education policy, and gender in education and research.Dr. Miller was formerly an eighth-grade public school teacher in the South Bronx.

References

Noddings, N. (2005). The challenge to care in schools (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.

OECD. (2019). A teacher’s guide to TALIS 2018 (Vol. 1). https://www.oecd.org/education/talis/TALIS-Teachers-Guide-to-TALIS-2018-Vol-I_ENG.pdf

Wolff, C. E., van den Bogert, N., Jarodzka, H., & Boshuizen, H. P. (2015). Keeping an eye on learning: Differences between expert and novice teachers’ representations of classroom management events. Journal of Teacher Education, 66(1), 68–85.

School Climate and Culture: The Importance of Positivity

By Nancy K. Harrison

The terms climate and culture are often used interchangeably, but their meanings hold differences that drive our intentionality (Gruenert, 2008). The climate of a school is the overall attitude of the people within. It is defined by the atmosphere felt when walking through the doors and interacting with the members. The climate is the energy behind the culture of a school. The culture, on the other hand, is more about the ideologies and beliefs that make the school an effective learning institution.

Climate

What creates the climate in a school? Climate is determined by the reactions to events and the surroundings of the school. We might consider it the personality of the school. It changes according to the factors to which we respond. The building itself helps shape the climate. The surroundings of our environment make us feel a certain way. Colors of walls, textiles throughout the building, choices of lighting, and furniture style are just a few of the factors to which we subconsciously respond. Outside factors are also inadvertently brought into the schools, and they change the climate.

The energy of the students, faculty, and staff all help create the climate of the school. Students who come to school clean, well-rested, and well-fed are ready to learn, and they add to a positive climate. Conversely, students who are overly tired and hungry are easily agitated and are unable to learn. A faculty member who has had a difficult weekend with a family member may bring disappointment, hurt, and fatigue into the classroom. The climate may not change every day, but shifts in the climate of a school can occur within a short period of time.

Culture

Culture, on the other hand, is the deeper grounding of the school—its character. It refers to choices made in terms of educational paradigms and ideologies. The culture of a school is created by the beliefs of the faculty as a whole. To what kind of education does the school subscribe? Is the instruction more teacher-directed or is it student-directed? Is there more lecture or more self-discovery in instruction? Is the educational mindset that of perfection, or do the students feel safe to make mistakes? Is the teacher teaching a curriculum or teaching students? Is the chosen curriculum being taught with fidelity? A consistent methodology within any given school building sets the culture.

Various educational elements contribute to both climate and culture. Discipline is one such element. Students and teachers can feel freedom by the structure of discipline, creating a positive climate. Or, students and teachers can feel oppressed by the structure of discipline, creating a negative climate. In a school where the student body encourages peer positivity, the climate is light and liberating, because they don’t need negative reinforcements. A school in which discipline is lax may have students who are bullying classmates or even teachers. This is not conducive to high educational standards, as too much time is spent managing behaviors. A school that is too heavy handed with discipline feels too militant and creates a culture of fear. High expectations and consistency of those expectations allows for optimal learning under manageable circumstances. A balanced culture, in turn, helps to define a more positive climate.

Be the Change

Does your school need a shift in culture or climate? The change in culture can begin with just one person. It can be as simple as sharing a box of donuts with coworkers. How about sending notes of encouragement to struggling students? Maybe you could create a bright and cheerful bulletin board with names of good citizens. Offering positive words to a coworker or a student in the hallway can brighten someone’s day. Opening the blinds or even a window in your classroom to let in sunlight and fresh air can brighten the climate of the day. Do you have a flower garden at home? Sharing a small arrangement of flowers with the administrative assistant can brighten her day as well as anyone who walks by.

Cultural change is more complicated and time consuming than climate change. However, if you want to change the culture in your corner of the school, do so by being more assertive in your professional development and implementing the changes you can. You cannot be responsible for changing the culture of the entire school, but imagine what could happen if you create a spark that will ignite that kind of cultural shift. Teachers can be more innovative, students can be more motivated, and parents can revel in their children’s thirst for education.

No school, no day, no teacher, no student, no administrator is perfect. But each of us can look within and plan for better climate and culture. Where will you start?

Ms. Harrison served for five years as the Assistant Head of School for a small, private school in central Virginia that serves students with learning, attention, and emotional differences. Currently, she is teaching special education in a public elementary school. She holds a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction and a master’s in Special Education, both from the University of Lynchburg, where she is currently enrolled in the master’s in Education in PK-12 Administration and Supervision. 

Reference

Gruenert, S. (2008). School culture, school climate: They are not the same thing. Principal, 87(4), 56–59.

Igniting a Path Towards Justice: Systemically Trauma-Informed Practice

By Addison Duane, Simona Goldin, and Debi Khasnabis

The authors contributed the article “Interrupting the Weaponization of Trauma-Informed Practice: ‘…who were you really doing the “saving” for?’” to the Jan-Mar 2022 edition of KDP’s Educational Forum, which you can access free for the month of January 2022.

Addison Duane, MA, is an elementary teacher turned Educational Psychology doctoral candidate at Wayne State University studying middle childhood development and school-based trauma. Her research centers children and communities and investigates education as liberation.

Simona Goldin is a Research Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina. Her research is on training beginning teachers to teach in more racially just and equitable ways, looking at how innovations are weaponized against communities they are meant to support.

Debi Khasnabis is a Clinical Associate Professor of Education and the Chair of Elementary Teacher Education at the University of Michigan. She teaches multicultural and multilingual education and her research supports culturally responsive teaching and understanding inequality in schools.

The superhero. The savior. The painting on the school cafeteria wall that reads, “Even on your worst day, you are still a child’s best hope.” The insistence that teachers are in the business of “saving lives.”

These narratives, and our nation’s continued denial of systemic racism, infiltrate our schools. At the same time, trauma-informed educational practices continue to gain in popularity across the U.S. and globe. This is not surprising, as we enter the third year of a global pandemic where more than 140,000 children (and counting) have lost a caregiver to this deadly virus (National Institutes of Health, 2021). We raise serious concerns about this proliferation, given that most popularized versions of trauma-informed practice fail to center race and racism (Goldin & Khasnabis, 2020; Khasnabis & Goldin, 2020).

In our article, we analyzed educators’ tweets authored during the early months of COVID-19 school closures. We unearthed an insidious, common stance within many educator ideologies around trauma and trauma-informed practice: White saviorism.

A form of White supremacy, White saviorism in education is predicated on the belief that White teachers can and should “save” youth of color and those living in poverty. This stereotypical hero–teacher narrative permeates popular media as well as everyday life. We sought to uncover the ways these discourses pervade educator thinking and interaction by looking carefully at nearly 3,000 educators’ tweets. Our analyses revealed that educators regularly reproduced the savior narrative, with implied racial messaging, through the following themes:

• Assuming school is a/the safe space
• Blaming children and their communities for trauma and systemically constructed injustices
• Deficit-framing children and their communities
• Performatively virtue signaling
• Using trauma to deny access to ambitious academic content

For example, one educator tweeted, “Pray for the kids who are unable to self-distance from individuals in their homes who [sic] unsafe & toxic … Many of those young people use schools & community centers as a safe place…”

As we wrote in our piece, herein lies the danger:

“[E]mploying trauma-informed practice absent a focus on race and racism enables White saviorism to fester and guide the enactment of trauma-informed practice.”

It doesn’t have to be this way.

In our analysis, we also uncovered moments where educators speak back tothese problematic saviorist distortions. These interventions, modeled by educators on Twitter, provide clarity and inspiration for how we, as a field, can steer away from racist interpretations of trauma and instead toward liberatory realizations. Using what we call “systemically trauma-informed practice” (SysTIP) exemplar tweets as illustrations, we have developed two necessary moves for thinking critically and pushing back against racism: identifying and interrupting.

Identifying includes critically examining our own assumptions and frames, inviting a different lens, and naming what is happening. Interrupting is the process of speaking back to problematic distortions while dislodging racism. In our article, we elaborate the specific moves that educators can take to do this critical work of SysTIP.

Dena Simmons writes “we cannot tweet away racism” (2020). Nor can we tweet away the harm Whiteness causes every day in schools. But we can recognize and interrupt White saviorism, especially as it is embedded in statements about trauma-informed practice, children, and their communities. We can also see and understand how the system of schooling itself perpetuates racism and trauma.

We charge educators looking to be more “trauma-informed” to join us in the critically important work of illuminating and interrupting systemic injustice. Together, may we ignite a path towards justice for students in classrooms around the country.

References

Goldin, S., & Khasnabis, D. (2020). Trauma-informed practice is a powerful tool. But it’s also incomplete. Education Week.

Goldin, S., Khasnabis, D. & Duane, A.. (2022). Interrupting White Saviorism in Trauma-Informed Practice: “… who were you really doing the ‘saving’ for?” The Educational Forum.

Khasnabis, D., & Goldin, S. (2020). Don’t Be Fooled, Trauma Is a Systemic Problem: Trauma as a Case of Weaponized Educational Innovation. Occasional Paper Series, 2020(43), 5.

National Institutes of Health. (2021, October 7). More than 140,000 U.S. children lost a primary or secondary caregiver. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Simmons, D. (2020, June 5). If We Aren’t Addressing Racism, We Aren’t Addressing Trauma. ASCD.

More Than a Checkbox

Today’s blogger is Rebeca Heringer, a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and Sessional Instructor at the University of Winnipeg, as well as author of the article “Inhospitable Education in a (Not So) Welcoming Country,” which appears in the October 2021 issue of the Kappa Delta Pi Record. Get free access to the article through the month of January.

What teacher does not want to be excellent?

In my teaching experience, I often receive teacher candidates who are eager to be educators who make a difference but think the path to excellence can be summarized in a few key points or steps to be followed. Some of them get frustrated with me when I do not give them the answers they were hoping to get. But the truth is that hospitable education has no predetermined shape or aspect.

Just like having a rainbow flag displayed in the classroom does not necessarily make it a safe environment for LGBTQ students, having refugee students enrolled in the school system of a “safe country” does not necessarily mean they feel welcome in their new context. Although every minority and segregated group deserves attention, my particular focus on refugee students stems from a pervasive “helping imperative” (Heron, 2007) among Whites (educators not exempted) when encountering those who are not “as white,” “as wealthy,” “as Western-minded,” “as native English-speaking,” or “as Canadian” as they are.

The pursuit of social justice in the form of hospitable education requires stepping out of one’s comfort zone. And if you think you already have mastered this step, I am sorry to inform you otherwise: Hospitable education means that this box will never be checked—at least, not by you, the teacher. Simple catchphrases such as “celebrate diversity” or holding a “multicultural potluck” do no service to racially diverse students such as Black refugees if they find themselves confined in White structures.

There is no easy way around. Hospitable education requires ongoing tact, sensitivity, and reflexivity from the teacher. It requires the constant deconstructing of our own choices. What are we explicitly teaching? What are we implicitly teaching? What are we not teaching? What knowledge is considered valid and valuable? Whose knowledge is invalidated? There is no neutrality in education. The answers to these questions reveal our choices, which will inevitably have consequences for the students we receive.

As Maslow’s hierarchy of needs illustrates, shelter and food are certainly some of the basic human needs. However, belonginess, feelings of accomplishment, and self-actualization require more than being physically present in a classroom without the wars or natural disasters that the student might once have experienced.

One may argue that a teacher can do only so much while having to fulfill national and provincial (White) mandates and expectations, but I argue that the role played by the teacher is of utmost importance. Regardless of the subject taught, every teacher–student encounter is an opportunity to foster students’ subjectification (Biesta, 2009), an opportunity to respond to the uniqueness of the Other and to make room for the whole student to flourish.

References

Biesta, G. (2009). Good education in an age of measurement: On the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 33–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-008-9064-9

Heron, B. (2007). Desire for development: Whiteness, gender, and the helping imperative. Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Helping Students Learn From Their Mistakes

By Zachary Cohen

The tight schedule of the school day might be controversial, but its unraveling in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic left students around the world scrambling to schedule their own time. Students who were used to being told when to eat, when to use the restroom, and when it’s appropriate to socialize had to establish their own routines in the wake of a sudden and unexpected increase in autonomy.

Learning from home also put additional pressure on these so-called “digital natives” to overcome novel hurdles to access learning in the first place. Students had to work through issues with Internet connectivity, the unfamiliarity of asynchronous learning platforms, and delays in the feedback loop, since questions were often being answered by teachers via email rather than face-to-face.

In short, students tried to replicate the entire school experience from their homes and, understandably, it wasn’t always a smooth transition for many.

On a Zoom session with my seventh-grade advisory, one student raised her hand and shared what many students were feeling: “I really am trying my best, but I just keep messing up. I miss deadlines, forget to read instructions, and don’t know where to submit my work. I try to fix it myself, but I don’t know where to start.” Since students have become responsible for so much more of their learning, there is simply more opportunity for error.

In an age widely defined by change, disruption, and uncertainty, one thing is for sure: Students will make mistakes. What is uncertain is whether, and how much, students will learn from them. As common as mistake-making is, learning from mistakes is not common at all. “Mistakes are the most undermined, undervalued way for learning to occur” (The Learning Network, 2019, para. 8). And yet, students need to possess the confidence, independence, and skill to both navigate and learn from their mistakes. In short, our students need to become mistake literate.

To be mistake literate, one must have an eye toward optimizing one’s learning by recognizing, reacting to, and repairing the mistake. The importance of such a mindset is echoed widely across academic literature and across the globe. Studies from the Philippines, Germany, and Hong Kong find a strong correlation between mistake-making and learning, and one study from the United States even concluded that “an unwarranted reluctance to engage with errors may have held back American education” (Metcalfe, 2017, p.12).

Now, more than ever before, mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process. So, how can teachers put students in a position to feel comfortable and confident engaging with their mistakes, rather than turning away from them?

1. Be funny!

Research has found that humor can have a positive influence on learning from mistakes. “Humor has a much more disarming, leveling, humbling, and most importantly, comforting effect than many might admit. . .[A] professional playfulness can relax tensions and create a more collegial atmosphere for content exploration” (DeBrincat, 2015, p.20). This can be especially effective if a teacher uses mistakes as learning opportunities and explores the unintended issues that arise. If handled properly, humorous moments can offer springboards for inquiry.

A study done by The Learning Network provides anecdotal evidence to suggest that students agree with this sentiment: “The classes in which I succeed most are the ones where the teachers are very funny [when we make mistakes]” (Rickabaugh, 2019, para. 4). Ultimately, teachers set the tone for learning, so teachers approaching mistakes with a sense of humor can lead to students doing the same.

2. Be patient.

When it comes to mistake-making, students need to know they’re not alone, which can only happen in a classroom guided by a teacher who exhibits practicality and patience. “I can just remind [students] that imperfection is a part of life and a part of study, and that they should not paralyze themselves in pursuit of perfection. Instead, [students] should incorporate this reality in such a way that is beneficial to their learning experience” (DeBrincat, 2015, p.18). In short, a teacher who accepts the unavoidable reality of mistake-making is likely to give their students permission to do the same.

3. Be collaborative.

Finally, an appetite for peer collaboration is essential. To support students in learning from their mistakes, teachers cannot operate in a silo; students need to experience it across all their classes. Learning from errors requires strong teacher teamwork in terms of planning and implementation. “Teachers’ sense of shared responsibility and efficacy related to student learning typifies strong personalized learning environments [and is] associated with increased student engagement” (Impact of Student Choice and Personalized Learning, 2014, p.8).

Mr. Cohen is an educator, consultant, and blogger, specializing in personalized learning, school leadership, and Mistake Literacy. He is the Middle School Director at St. Francis School in Louisville, Kentucky, with more than a decade of teaching experience in independent and international schools in the United States, China, and South Africa. He was named an ASCD Emerging Leader in 2020, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Education Leadership and Management at Drexel University. You can follow Zak on Twitter at @cohen_zak.

Bibliography

DeBrincat, D. (2015). Yes, no, wait, what? The benefits of student mistakes in the classroom. The History Teacher, 49(1), 9–34.

Metcalfe, J. (2017). Learning from errors. Annual Review of Psychology, 68(1), 465–489. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044022

Pane, J. F., Steiner, E. D., Baird, M. D., & Hamilton, L. S. (2015). Continued Progress: Promising Evidence on Personalized Learning. The Learning Network. (2020). What students are saying about how to improve American education. The New York Times.

Getting Comfortable With the Uncomfortable: 4 Tips for Developing Your Skills as a Culturally Relevant Educator

By Elizabeth Chase, Nicole Lawrence, Nicole Rodriguez, and Tatyana Williamson

About to start teaching? If you’re entering a classroom in the United States, your students will most likely bring a wide array of experiences and differences with them. Your students will have numerous home languages, they will have a variety of family structures, they will span a range of socio-economic circumstances, and they will identify with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. As a teacher in such a dynamic classroom environment, you have the opportunity to shine your light on diversity and model inclusivity. Whether you’re looking to create an equitable classroom or broaden your notions of diversity, these four activities will expand your repertoire.

1. Read Dreamkeepers.

Read Ladson-Billings’ (2009) foundational text on culturally relevant teaching: Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children. Ladson-Billings writes about educators who are models of culturally relevant teaching practices. She illustrates how the foundation of exemplary teaching for diverse students is working with the unique traits that each student brings to any classroom. Although originally published in 1997, the latest edition of Dreamkeepers was released in 2009, and the tenets she establishes in this text have never been more relevant or more needed than in today’s classrooms. Be sure to annotate as you read, as this resource is a valuable asset in building a culturally relevant classroom. You’ll find yourself referring to it frequently.

2. Watch America to Me.

An unscripted documentary series, America to Me (James, 2018) highlights the racial, class, and economic issues in the American education system and shows viewers real accounts of students facing these struggles. The stories show how the education system favors certain groups over others, and they reveal the realities of being a student in such a system.

Both Dreamkeepers and America to Me illustrate the importance of and need for socially just classrooms in ways that are accessible for teachers who are new to the classroom. Taken together, they offer timely and current ways of seeing how the concepts that Ladson-Billings advanced in 1997 translate to modern classrooms.

3. Practice self-reflection.

Start the process of self-reflection using the chart that Milner (2003) provides in his article titled “Reflection, racial competence, and critical pedagogy: How do we prepare preservice teachers to pose tough questions?” Milner offers a set of questions that prompt consideration about how race and teaching are intertwined. For example, he suggests the following self-reflexive questions:

How will my race influence my work as a teacher with students of color?

and

What is the impact of race on my beliefs?

It may seem difficult initially, but the process of responding to the questions in Milner’s Critically Reflective Chart About Race (see Milner, 2003) allows teachers to think about the intersections of race and educational experience in the classroom.

In response to these questions, Nicole R. (one of the co-authors), reflected on some important aspects of her teaching, given that she identifies as a White woman. First, she noted that her race would have various impacts (both predictable and unforeseen) on her ability to connect with her students of color. Second, she reflected on the fact that certain aspects of her privilege would be hidden in the classroom while other aspects would be evident. Third, she identified the need to develop her own competencies in understanding race and bias by identifying continued readings and research. These kinds of reflections create a foundation for a teaching practice that is open, receptive, and culturally relevant.

4. Dialogue with others.

Get together with a critical friend who is willing to reflect on Milner’s critical questions with you. Sharing your lived experiences with race affords you the opportunity to give other people insight into your thinking as well as to receive more immediate feedback on your ideas and perspectives. For example, as a research team, we engaged in the process of answering these questions and sharing our responses in our critical inquiry group. Nicole L. (one of the co-authors) shared that as a woman of color, she felt that her experiences in life would reflect or connect to the shared experiences of her students of color. By contrast, Nicole R. shared that, as a White woman, she anticipated a certain amount of disconnect between herself and her students of color.

Surfacing these reflections can be uncomfortable at times, but they create room for discussion and understanding that is not present without candid responses. Engaging in these types of conversations is important for all teachers, especially those who are just about to enter the classroom. Over time, and through repeated exposure, the uncomfortable conversations around race and privilege become a little more comfortable, allowing all of us to grow and develop as culturally relevant teachers.

Elizabeth (Liz) Chase is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at St. John’s University. Her research and teaching interests include teaching for social justice, gender and youth studies in education, and content knowledge within teacher education.

Nicole Lawrence received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s University and her master’s degree from New York University’s Steinhardt Teacher Residency program. She currently teaches high school English in New York City. Her research interests include trauma-informed pedagogy and urban education.

Nicole Rodriguez received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s University and is studying for her master’s degree in special education, also at St. John’s University. She currently teaches third grade in New York City. Her research interests include social justice in education and real-world contexts for teaching literacy.

Tatyana Williamson received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s University and her master’s degree from Canisius College. She is a ninth-grade special education teacher in Philadelphia. Her research interests include preservice teacher education and teaching for social justice.

References

James, S. (Director). (2018). America to Me. Kartemquin Films & Participant Media. https://www.starz.com/us/en/series/america-to-me/38818

Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. John Wiley & Sons.

Milner, H. R. (2003). Reflection, racial competence, and critical pedagogy: How do we prepare pre-service teachers to pose tough questions? Race, Ethnicity and Education, 6(2), 193–208.

3 Strategies for Embedding Social–Emotional Learning (SEL) in Your Classroom

By Robin Magruder and Valerie Flanagan

Teachers across the nation continue to feel the impact of the pandemic within their classrooms in a variety of ways. Regardless of how learning will look moving forward, educators should ensure they’re using Social–Emotional Learning (SEL) as the thread binding classroom culture and academic learning together across all disciplines and grade levels.

SEL focuses on exploring self-awareness topics that help students learn to interact with others. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2020), the five areas of competence are self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, social awareness, and relationship skills.

The skills associated with SEL are more critical now than ever. Teachers need practical strategies to embed these competencies into their classrooms. We encourage teachers to use cooperative structures that involve students sharing responsibility in tasks and discussions. Additionally, teachers should co-develop shared agreements with students that maintain and support classroom culture and learning. Here, we’ll explain three practical SEL strategies: Classroom Mission Statement, Collaborative Norms, and Accountability Talk.

Classroom Mission Statement

At the beginning of the school year, teachers and students should develop a classroom mission statement. The goal is to build a classroom community and allow students to share their beliefs about what constitutes a safe and inviting classroom. As a statement they create together, it is a self-reflection tool that teachers can refer to frequently.

As they develop the mission, teachers should avoid assumptions about expectations. They should value all voices and encourage students to do the same. As students work to develop the mission statement, you may provide ideas to help students clarify their thinking and allow students to role-play scenarios related to the mission. This helps to model the process for co-developing additional classroom expectations. Creating the classroom mission together allows students to develop the SEL competencies of self-awareness, social development, and relationship skills. Here’s an example of the classroom norms and values that a shared mission statement can express:

Our Mission
Our class pledges to be respectful to each other at all times, fair in our ways, to complete tasks on time, and do the best we can on all our assignments. We will encourage each other, be at the correct voice level, and be honest at all times. We will give 100% effort while staying with our group. We will strive to do our best and carry out our mission every day.
Sixth period rules!

Collaborative Norms

After you develop a mission and general classroom expectations, teachers should spend time teaching students how to work collaboratively (Prego, n.d.). Oftentimes, teachers skip this critical step because either they assume students already know how to work collaboratively, or they don’t think they have enough time to invest. However, if you invest time at the beginning of the school year teaching students how to work collaboratively, the rest of the school year will flow more smoothly and efficiently.

As you develop the group norms, teachers should refer to the classroom mission statement. Allow students to co-create these group norms by discussing characteristics of good and poor group effort. A list of positive group norms could include sharing responsibilities, staying on task, and agreeing with one another respectfully, while a discussion of poor teamwork may involve students being distracted, talking out of turn, and not sharing tasks. Throughout the year, as you assign new groups, review the group norms and allow small groups to complete brief, non-academic tasks to get to know one another. These could be with team-building tasks, such as naming their group and giving it a motto or developing a coat of arms. Establishing group norms develops the SEL skills related to responsible decision making, social awareness, and relationship skills.

Accountable Talk

Communication is key in any classroom. Teachers can implement strategies to encourage positive communication and move learning forward (The Editorial Team, 2021). Classroom conversations between teacher and students can be strengthened if the teacher has conversation starters prepared in advance. See below for some discussion starters to implement in almost any classroom.

Conversations between students can also benefit from conversation starters. Whereas conversation starters between teacher and students focus on student thinking and evidence, conversation starters between students focus on sharing ideas, revoicing, and critique. Providing structure with the conversation starters holds students accountable, gives them a place to start, and encourages all students to participate in discussions. Accountable talk allows students to develop decision making, social awareness, and relationship skills.

Classroom Conversation Starters

In conclusion, teachers should be aware of the trauma and isolation that students have experienced in their lives, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. They need to be sensitive to the SEL needs of all students. When possible, schoolwide implementation of these norms is best so that students experience the same expectations and support in all classrooms.

Classroom Norms
SEL Resource
SEL Distance Learning Resources

Dr. Robin Magruder is an Associate Professor and Chair of the undergraduate program of the School of Education at Campbellsville University. She teaches elementary subject methods courses. Her research interests include teaching elementary math and science. Please communicate comments to rlmagruder@campbellsville.edu.

Dr. Valerie Flanagan is an Associate Professor and Chair of graduate programs of the School of Education at Campbellsville University. She teaches and researches in the areas of school improvement and teacher leadership. Please communicate questions or comments to vpflanagan@campbellsville.edu.

References

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2020). CASEL’S SEL framework: What are the core competence areas and where are they promoted? https://casel.org/casel-sel-framework-11-2020

Prego, M. (n.d.). A how to guide for co-creating a class mission statement. TeacherVision. https://www.teachervision.com/blog/morning-announcements/a-how-to-guide-for-co-creating-a-class-mission-statement The Editorial Team. (2021). Doing accountable talk in the classroom.Resilient Educator. https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/accountable-talk-classroom

Responding to Parents’ Voices About Math

By Regina M. Mistretta

Parents matter! They are powerful levers for children’s success in school. However, home circumstances can hinder parents’ efforts to collaborate with their children on daily math homework or projects. For example, “My child resists my help, saying, ‘We did it differently in class’,” and “When I arrive home from work, I don’t have enough time to go over homework in a way I would like to,” are voices this math educator often hears during conversations with parents.

Therefore, teachers can utilize responsive strategies concerning two challenges parents face: 1) unfamiliarity with current math learning environments, and 2) time constraints. The voices shared are representative statements stemming from conversations with 225 families from public and nonpublic elementary, middle, and high school settings (Mistretta, 2017).

Unfamiliarity

We don’t know how to help our children anymore. The way I was taught to approach certain problems is not how kids are taught to approach them today. The way kids are taught today is more conceptual and inquiry-based, whereas we [parents] learned in a more direct way, sort of “here’s how you solve this problem, now do it.”

When parents’ engagement in school isn’t evident, it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t want to be involved. Parents do care; however, a lack of familiarity with current curriculum materials and methodology can limit how they support their children with math and suppress the knowledge and talents they can share. If left unaddressed, parents’ unfamiliarity can cause them to either disengage from assisting their children or contradict current classroom practices by assisting in ways that mirror their own learning of math rather than that of their child (Reimillard & Jackson, 2006).

To Support Parents

1. Host “Family Engagement Nights,” where parents and children engage in doing math together. At these events, convey how sharing different ways of solving math problems deepens everyone’s understanding of the math involved (Boaler, 2014). This can help alleviate those times children view parents’ differing approaches as inferior or irrelevant—circumstances conducive to children shutting parents out of their mathematical learning. Sharing different approaches and solutions can stimulate positive lessons rather than stressful conversations about math at home.
2. Assign homework examples to do with parents that involve multiple solutions and/or methods of solution. Children can share their method/solution with parents, listen to parents’ method/solution, and subsequently share their home conversations during related classroom discussions. In turn, children can look for connections among differing methods/solutions to deepen their understanding.
3. Provide vetted online resources. A vast amount of resources is available online. Provide parents with those determined by math experts as offering quality guidance with math content, tips for supporting math learning, and engaging games and tasks such as:

https://www.youcubed.org/parents

https://figurethis.nctm.org/fc/family_corner.htm

https://www.todos-math.org/parent-and-family-resources

Time Constraints

I know about my child’s progress in math only through the school’s online student assessment reports. I don’t have time before or after school to discuss with teachers the questions I have about my child’s report.

Finding time to interact with teachers and collaborate with their children can be challenging for parents, especially if they hold one or more jobs. However, communication with parents is critical for developing trusting home–school partnerships (Redding et al., 2011). Researchers encourage two-way communication for cultivating home–school paradigms that both provide information to parents and accept information from them so as to acquire awareness of both specific challenges and talents surrounding the home.

To Support Parents

1. Email and/or call parents with limited availability to attend traditional school events. Phone conversations made to parents’ workplaces during convenient times, although brief, can give you enough time to share how children are progressing, as well as how children can improve.
2. Create online interactive newsletters that keep parents in the loop about classroom learning, as well as offer parents opportunities to provide perspectives, ask questions, and offer expertise.
3. Help them create conditions to work on projects together with enough time for meaningful and productive collaboration.
4. Listen to parents to be informed of how to respond to circumstances surrounding the home. How and where one listens to parents will vary depending on individual settings; however, what is good for all is that listening begins. Otherwise, teachers aren’t positioned to be in-the-know about parents and math and therefore may not be able to provide support for all parents.

Dr. Mistretta is a Professor at St. John’s University’s School of Education. She has collaborated with Pre-K–12 school communities encompassing teachers, administrators, school children, and their parents. She also enjoys serving as Counselor of the Kappa Eta Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi.

References

Boaler, J. (2014). The mathematics of hope: Moving from performance to learning in mathematics classrooms. YouCubed. https://www.youcubed.org/resource/short-impact-papers

Mistretta, R. (2017). Conversations with family members about math. School Community Journal, 27(1), 181–200.

Redding, S., Murphy, M., & Sheley, P. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook on family and community engagement. Academic Development Institute. http://www.schoolcommunitynetwork.org/downloads/FACEHandbook.pdf

Reimillard, J. T., & Jackson, K. (2006). Old math, new math: Parents’ experiences with standards-based reform. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 8, 231–259.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy as a Connection to Learning and Life

By Tyrone C. Howard

Dr. Howard is the author of “Culturally Relevant Teaching: A Pivot for Pedagogical Transformation and Racial Reckoning,” published in the current issue of KDP’s Educational Forum. The article is available free for the month of December.

Dr. Howard is professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies’ at UCLA. Dr. Howard is an endowed chair and the inaugural director of the new UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families. Professor Howard’s research examines culture, race, teaching, and learning in urban schools.

As a former elementary school teacher, my goal was always to make learning exciting, interesting, and thought provoking for my students. I wanted my students’ learning to be something that would spark their curiosity and stimulate their creativity. I wanted my students to be problem solvers and strong thinkers. Most importantly, I wanted them to be safe in my classroom: physically safe, psychologically safe, emotionally safe, and culturally safe. I wanted teaching and learning for my students to be an extension of their lives outside of the classroom.

This was important to me because I taught in the same community where I grew up, Compton, California. Though communities and circumstances change over time, I knew that many of my students’ realities were similar to mine as a youth, in that they came from hard working, caring, resilient, and loving families. I recognized that theirs was a world where culture, language, and ethnicity were the fabric of their day-to-day realities. Hence, I wanted them to bring all the cultural tapestry that existed in their homes and communities into the classroom.

Much to my chagrin, I was greeted in my third-grade classroom with textbooks, standards, and scripted curriculum that were not culturally inclusive, linguistically rich, or emotionally affirming. My students were required to learn about realities that did not reflect theirs, and the issues and concepts that they were expected to learn were often socially foreign, and culturally unrecognizable. I found myself frequently modifying content, changing the examples, using analogies from our neighborhood to help them learn about decimals, fractions, and percentages. I often brought in outside reading and learning materials that helped them to learn about Black and Mexican American history. I saw my student’s interests pique when they were able to discuss the conditions that they saw in their neighborhoods, or the family dynamics that brought them so much joy. My students would light up when they were given permission to bring their multilingual skills into my classroom and use various modes of speaking and thinking that were accessible in their homes and their neighborhoods. They also took it seriously when they noticed issues around racial injustice happening.

I would find out several years later that this work that I tried to create in my classroom was the essence of what Gloria Ladson-Billings would term culturally relevant pedagogy. Ladson-Billings’ framework of merging culture and pedagogy spoke to me, because it affirmed that it was okay to allow students to maintain their cultural integrity in their pursuit of academic success. It validated the idea that even 8- and 9-year-old students have already begun to develop a critical consciousness about the circumstances around them, their communities, and the world, and connecting that knowledge to school content was okay. Culturally relevant pedagogy spoke to me, because it gave language, offered a framework, and a theoretical foundation to say that culture mattered. Culturally relevant pedagogy allowed me to discuss music, movies, and other popular cultural realties and topics of the day and helped to connect it to science and social studies content.

Twenty-five years later, far too many students do not have the opportunity to connect their home lives to school content. In many ways, students are asked to check their language, their identities, and their rich ways of knowing, doing, and being at the door before they are asked to learn. This is criminal and is not what teaching and learning should be about. James Banks talks about the importance of personal cultural knowledge that all students possess, and how vital it is to helping students become successful learners. Unfortunately, far too many students of color are not provided the opportunities to engage in the complexities of race and racism; culturally relevant pedagogy when done properly allows that to happen. Some teachers attempt to engage in culturally relevant teaching but do so with a very superficial and often reductionist notion of culture which can border on harmful stereotypes. If culturally relevant pedagogy is to be conducted in a serious and affirming matter, understanding the complexity and nuance or culture is essential. Educators must recognize that culture is dynamic, it is in a constant state of flux, and that there is tremendous cultural variability that exists within and across ethnic and racial groups. Culturally relevant pedagogy cannot be reduced to heroes and holidays, foods and festivals.

Finally, culturally relevant pedagogy is deeply rooted in an ideology, a core set of beliefs about how educators see their students, their families, and the communities in which they live. Do educators believe in students’ potential? Do teachers see their promise? Do they hold the highest expectations for them? Do they affirm students’ multiple identities through what and how they teach? Culturally relevant pedagogy cannot be reduced to a lesson, unit, or assignment. Culturally relevant pedagogy embodies how we think about our own identities, requires cultural humility, is centered on how we build trust, knowledge, and understanding of the students that we enter into a teaching and learning relationship with, and calls us to radically rethink what schools often require of us as educators.