# data[].attributes.body
Great infographics for getting the conversation started with your staff.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
6 Steps to Consider When Supporting ELs in Accessing Complex Texts
Making text accessible to our ELs can be quite the challenge, and finding a starting point can be even more difficult. Are you leveraging strategies and resources to maximize support and provide your ELs an equitable education experience? This sketch note share six steps to consider when supporting ELs in accessing complex, grade level text. Click here to read our corresponding blog post that details each step and explores specific examples to help support your ELs in accessing the texts you choose.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
6 Steps to Consider When Supporting ELs in Accessing Complex Texts Making text accessible to our ELs can be quite the challenge, and finding a starting point can be even more difficult. Are you leveraging strategies and resources to maximize support and provide your ELs an equitable education experience?

# data[].attributes.body
A copy of the slides used for the presentation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fostering a Sense of Belonging for Multilingual Learners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Most people would argue that the toughest part about growing up as a first generation American, from a migrant family household, is the turbulence you encounter when our cultures from home clash with the ones we come across.

We deal with racism, prejudice, and discrimination from people that don't understand our cultures, customs, or lifestyles. We are confronted with a constant underestimation of our abilities, misunderstanding and ignorance on a daily basis. Whether it be blatantly flung at us like salt on an open wound or thinly veiled behind the intricacies of social politics that, if fought back, may hold you liable to be labeled by insidious names or attitudes falsely attached to your race, religion, or color.

In this way, to a first generation American, our country becomes no longer our home, but rather our battlefield to which we must suffer the tension that comes from not being a part of one nation.

What people don't seem to realize is that not only is there a tension accompanied by being both American and of another national identity, but one that resides in our homes, and even within ourselves. There is a constant battle to remain loyal to your race, country, or culture, but also to be a part of this great nation we call the United States of America. Not only are we being chastised for being a part of a culture or race that is dissociated by what it means to be an American, but for not being wholly devoted to your parents' culture associated with the country they call home.

Coming from a household that migrated to America from an economically challenged country, my parents uprooted their entire lives in order to provide a better future for their children, and in turn, their children's children. Although this is one of the most selfless acts, it is also an unspoken contract between parent and offspring, to remain subscribed to your family's ideals, beliefs and culture. Even if it may conflict with the inevitable assimilation to the country you're being raised in, this is the source of an issue that may cause one to struggle with their cultural identity. The issue tends to plague a large amount of first generation American citizens.

Seemingly, the worst part about being a first generation American is not dealing with the outside world, but disappointing your parents for assimilating to the country they raised you in, which is inevitable and impossible to prevent.

We are asked not to adapt American morals, values, or ways of living. We are asked not to stray within the outside world that doesn't understand our culture, language, or religion. We are asked to stay true to who we were back "home" and to not, under any circumstances, pave a way for ourselves in this country if it contradicts who are parents are, or where they come from. We are asked to feel guilty about being ourselves at home and then feel marginalized outside of home for not being the same as everybody else. We are asked to live in the in-between where we are constantly clipping parts of ourselves and our personalities for the benefit of others and neither party is ever satisfied with either version of our identity. We are asked to live in America but not be an American. Although this hostility towards American culture at home stems from a yearning to remain faithful to your primary culture, these insinuations sting.

Even though tensions in identity appear to create dissonance and clash against one another, they blend together like a harmonious symphony to create a myriad of unique perspectives for the person privileged enough to have inhabited two different cultures.

The differences in identity then, don't seem to diametrically oppose one another but rather compliment one another in new and profound ways.

With these dual identities, first generation Americans gain understanding, empathy, compassion, insight, and the ability to adapt to our environment in chameleon-esque ways that make us flexible in attitude and in tolerance. Not only are we surviving in our environments but rather thriving in it through our diverse perspectives and insights. We are advancing the way in which we react to the world in complex ways, not attuned to a person who has not experienced culture clashes like we have.

In this way being a part of many different cultures becomes a strength, not a weakness.

We are able to take from each culture, and embrace its flaws and benefits with equal and enthusiastic appreciation. We understand that neither one is better or worse than the other. We are a unique entity that has the opportunity to customize their way of life through the experiences gained from either culture, and in that way we are able to enhance our way of living through our open mindedness.

We are neither one or the other but are both. We have countless identities. We are able to enrich ourselves with the diversity of the world by being a living example of what the United States of America was founded upon: a country of immigrants.

We have become the glue that has connected this country back to its roots and for that I am proud to have come from two different cultures. At times these identities do brawl with one another, but I would not give up either for the sake of the other.

I am proud of both, and I am proud to be both, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Most people would argue that the toughest part about growing up as a first generation American, from a migrant family household, is the turbulence you encounter when our cultures from home clash with the ones we come across. We deal with racism, prejudice, and discrimination from people that don't understand our cultures, customs, or lifestyles.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"I'd like you each to tell me where you are from and one thing about your home country," Wanjiru Kamau said quietly, glancing around the classroom at two dozen middle schoolers. The students were reluctantly attending a lunchtime meeting at Argyle Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland, to discuss a new student club.

Some of the students laughed nervously; several rolled their eyes or tried to appear disinterested.

"I'll start," one girl finally said. She explained how she was frightened and missed friendly people in her home country, the taste of native foods and the warm weather of home-but that she "loves the television here."

With her comments, everything changed. The room was filled with smiles, laughter and supportive, excited conversation. Soon all the students-all immigrants from several different African countries-were taking their turns and speaking proudly about their experiences.

Kamau is the founder and executive director of the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation (AIRF), an organization in the Washington, D.C., area. In posing questions to the student group about their home countries, she was demonstrating an integrative approach that researchers believe helps immigrant students in multiple ways, keeping students actively connected to their lives prior to arriving in the United States.

"No one should forget where they come from," says Ennie Okusanya, a teacher who supervises the student group at Argyle and who is, herself, an immigrant from Nigeria. "It is the foundation of who they are. They have the opportunity to create their American story."

Beyond Assimilation

Many anti-bias educators know intuitively that they should help students adjust to and succeed in their new culture, a process often referred to as acculturation. From a youth development standpoint, acculturation is far more beneficial to immigrant students than the outdated expectation of assimilation, a process during which immigrants fully adopt their new cultures and shed the old.

Elena Makarova, a scholar who studies cultural identity development, recommends that educators support what some experts call additive or bicultural acculturation, a process that allows new immigrants to adjust to their new culture while still maintaining pride in and substantive connections to their heritage and their country of origin. Makarova notes that this approach helps immigrant students lead healthier and more successful lives at school.

"In order for them to develop appropriate psychological and social outcomes, they need to keep the bilingual and bicultural heritage," she says.

AIRF's practice of encouraging students to talk about and stay connected with their positive memories of their home country is an example of additive acculturation.

How We Got Here

Striving for additive acculturation is a critical goal for educators who work with immigrant students, but it requires working against a difficult institutional history. In the United States, the immigrant student experience has traditionally been narrated in terms of successful or unsuccessful acquisition of English and adaptation to social norms. The narrative often overlooks students' ties to their cultural heritage and the complexity of their lives. Assimilation is expected, at least in part, because some educators see immigrant students as "fortunate" to be here.

"A lot of their support is through their status as English language learners and that becomes the focus rather than understanding the range of issues for a child who has been through an immigration process," says Rebecca Lowenhaupt, a researcher studying the issue at Boston College. "Sometimes that can lead to a deficit in our perspective."

Such myopia on the part of educators can have a devastating psychological effect, says Makarova. "If they think of themselves as lost from their heritage culture, there may be a lot of maladaptive psychological and social outcomes," she observes.

Young immigrants may have endured difficult journeys out of violence or deprivation into a shockingly different, confusing and stressful culture. Many cope with competing pressures to conform to the adopted culture and to live according to their heritage. They face social and institutional racism and hear threatening xenophobic language every day. Even the simplest interactions may be confusing or fraught with tension.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"I'd like you each to tell me where you are from and one thing about your home country," Wanjiru Kamau said quietly, glancing around the classroom at two dozen middle schoolers. The students were reluctantly attending a lunchtime meeting at Argyle Middle School in Silver Spring, Maryland, to discuss a new student club.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Acculturation is a process through which a person or group from one culture comes to adopt the practices and values of another culture, while still retaining their own distinct culture. This process is most commonly discussed regarding a minority culture adopting elements of the majority culture, as is typically the case with immigrant groups that are culturally or ethnically distinct from the majority in the place to which they have immigrated.

However, acculturation is a two-way process, so those within the majority culture often adopt elements of minority cultures with which they come into contact. The process plays out between groups where neither is necessarily a majority or a minority. It can happen at both group and individual levels and can occur as a result of in-person contact or contact through art, literature, or media.

Acculturation is not the same as the process of assimilation, though some people use the words interchangeably. Assimilation can be an eventual outcome of the acculturation process, but the process can have other outcomes as well, including rejection, integration, marginalization, and transmutation.

Acculturation Defined

Acculturation is a process of cultural contact and exchange through which a person or group comes to adopt certain values and practices of a culture that is not originally their own, to a greater or lesser extent. The result is that the original culture of the person or group remains, but it is changed by this process.

When the process is at its most extreme, assimilation occurs wherein the original culture is wholly abandoned and the new culture adopted in its place. However, other outcomes can also occur that fall along a spectrum from minor change to total change, and these include separation, integration, marginalization, and transmutation.

The first known use of the term "acculturation" within the social sciences was by John Wesley Powell in a report for the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology in 1880. Powell later defined the term as the psychological changes that occur within a person due to cultural exchange that occurs as a result of extended contact between different cultures. Powell observed that, while they exchange cultural elements, each retains its own unique culture.

Later, in the early 20th century, acculturation became a focus of American sociologists who used ethnography to study the lives of immigrants and the extent to which they integrated into U.S. society. W.I Thomas and Florian Znaniecki examined this process with Polish immigrants in Chicago in their 1918 study "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America." Others, including Robert E. Park and Ernest W. Burgess, focused their research and theories on the outcome of this process known as assimilation.

While these early sociologists focused on the process of acculturation experienced by immigrants, and also by Black Americans within predominantly White society, sociologists today are more attuned to the two-way nature of cultural exchange and adoption that happens through the process of acculturation.

Acculturation at Group and Individual Levels

At the group level, acculturation entails the widespread adoption of the values, practices, forms of art, and technologies of another culture. These can range from the adoption of ideas, beliefs, and ideology to the large-scale inclusion of foods and styles of cuisines from other cultures. For example, the embrace of Mexican, Chinese, and Indian cuisines within the U.S. This includes the simultaneous adoption of mainstream American foods and meals by immigrant populations. Acculturation at the group level can also entail the cultural exchange of clothing and fashions, and of language. This happens when immigrant groups learn and adopt the language of their new home, or when certain phrases and words from a foreign language make their way into common usage. Sometimes, leaders within a culture make a conscious decision to adopt the technologies or practices of another for reasons associated with efficiency and progress.

At the individual level, acculturation may involve all the same things that occur at the group level, but the motives and circumstances may differ. For example, people who travel to foreign lands where the culture differs from their own, and who spend extended periods of time there, are likely to engage in the process of acculturation, whether intentionally or not, in order to learn and experience new things, enjoy their stay, and reduce the social friction that can arise from cultural differences.

Similarly, first-generation immigrants often consciously engage in the process of acculturation as they settle into their new community in order to succeed socially and economically. In fact, immigrants are often compelled by law to acculturate in many places, with requirements to learn the language and the laws of society, and in some cases, with new laws that govern dress and covering of the body. People who move between social classes and the separate and different spaces they inhabit also often experience acculturation on both voluntary and required basis. This is the case for many first-generation college students who suddenly find themselves among peers who have been socialized already to understand the norms and culture of higher education, or for students from poor and working-class families who find themselves surrounded by wealthy peers at well-funded private colleges and universities.

How Acculturation Differs from Assimilation

Though they are often used interchangeably, acculturation and assimilation are two different things. Assimilation can be an eventual outcome of acculturation, but it doesn't have to be. Also, assimilation is often a largely one-way process, rather than the two-way process of cultural exchange that is acculturation.

Assimilation is the process by which a person or group adopts a new culture that virtually replaces their original culture, leaving only trace elements behind, at most. The word means to make similar, and at the end of the process, the person or group will be culturally indistinguishable from those culturally native to the society into which it has assimilated.

Assimilation, as a process and an outcome, is common among immigrant populations that seek to blend in with the existing fabric of society. The process can be quick or gradual, unfolding over the years, depending on the context and circumstances. Consider, for example, how a third-generation Vietnamese American who grew up in Chicago differs culturally from a Vietnamese person living in rural Vietnam.

Five Different Strategies and Outcomes of Acculturation

Acculturation can take different forms and have different outcomes, depending on the strategy adopted by the people or groups involved in the exchange of culture. The strategy used will be determined by whether the person or group believes it is important to maintain their original culture, and how important it is to them to establish and maintain relationships with the greater community and society whose culture differs from their own. The four different combinations of answers to these questions lead to five different strategies and outcomes of acculturation.

1. Assimilation. This strategy is used when little to no importance is placed on maintaining the original culture, and great importance is put on fitting in and developing relationships with the new culture. The outcome is that the person or group is, eventually, culturally indistinguishable from the culture into which they have assimilated. This type of acculturation is likely to occur in societies that are considered "melting pots" into which new members are absorbed.

2. Separation. This strategy is used when little to no importance is placed on embracing the new culture, and high importance is placed on maintaining the original culture. The outcome is that the original culture is maintained while the new culture is rejected. This type of acculturation is likely to occur in culturally or racially segregated societies.

3. Integration. This strategy is used when both maintaining the original culture and adapting to the new one are considered important. This is a common strategy of acculturation and can be observed among many immigrant communities and those with a high proportion of ethnic or racial minorities. Those who use this strategy might be thought of as bicultural and may be known to code-switch when moving between different cultural groups. This is the norm in what are considered multicultural societies.

4. Marginalization. This strategy is used by those who place no importance on either maintaining their original culture or adopting the new one. The result is that the person or group is marginalized - pushed aside, overlooked, and forgotten by the rest of society. This can occur in societies where cultural exclusion is practiced, thus making it difficult or unappealing for a culturally different person to integrate.

5. Transmutation. This strategy is used by those who place importance on both maintaining their original culture and on adopting the new culture - but rather than integrating two different cultures into their daily lives, those who do this create a third culture (a blend of the old and the new).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Do You Know What Acculturation Is and What Causes It to Happen?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Acculturation is a process of cultural exchange wherein a person or group adopts elements of another culture while maintaining their original culture.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Accepting The Need to Belong
Last fall, we heard about highly charged situations arising across countless college campuses.Some people reacted strongly by name-calling and spreading accusations of "bad parenting" or "lack of discipline" to explain these students' actions.As a student of education and psychology, I asked myself:

What are these students really asking for? Why are they protesting?

Of course, I'm not the first person to examine these questions. Annie Murphy Paul, a psychology journalist, answered these questions in her recent article in Time Magazine.What these students really want, she concludes, is a "sense of belonging."

Over the years, students have repeatedly asserted their desire to belong. Two years ago at Harvard, for example, students of color started the "I too am Harvard" movement to increase representation of marginalized communities on campus. Again, they are sending the same message: I am here, and I want to feel that I belong here too.

What does it mean to "belong?" And what impact might it have on students' academic achievement and motivation? After spending four years of their lives on a campus, what factors help students to reach a level of ease and comfort, where they can feel as much at home as their peers? What factors prevent them from feeling comfortable?

Perhaps it's easier to start with what doesn't make students feel like they belong. It may be a lack of teachers from minority groups. It might also be a lack of representation of students' minority group in the books they read and the movies they watch in class. It may be that there are few role models for them to follow. It may be the normalization of the majority culture in education while marginalized communities subject areas are referred to as "ethnic studies". It may be the exclusion of minority students in student government or groups. The list goes on and on.

Students are speaking up because they seem to feel that they are stuck in the "out-group", and politics aside, from a psychological perspective, I hope we can all agree that's not how our campuses should be making any student feel.
The Science of Belonging
When we find ourselves in situations where we are the "out- group" or in an environment in which we feel like an outsider, we use our mental energy to monitor for threats, leaving fewer resources for higher cognitive processes. When students feel as if they don't belong in a school setting, the cognitive energy that should be used on social engagement and learning is being used to scan for group barriers, discrimination and stereotypes.

As adults, we rarely acknowledge the importance of fun. Being part of a social group in school encourages us and motivates us to go to class. As Lev Vygotsky put it, we are "social learners." School is a time when you are finding your sense of identity, and this is largely determined through who we hang out with. It is important that students' conceptions of their identities allow them to believe that academic work holds value for them. If they believe that speakers of their language and members of their gender, racial, and ethnic groups do not have the ability to attain certain academic standards, they will act according to that belief. This belief can sometimes lead to what Claude Steele refers to as "stereotype threat." Stereotype threat is feeling "at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype" about their race, gender, ethnicity etc.

Claude Steele, a social psychologist, posits that when a group's stereotypes are emphasized, their academic performance tends to deteriorate. In one experiment, when Black college students' race was emphasized, they performed worse on standardized tests than their White counterparts. When race was not mentioned, they performed on par and sometimes better than the White students. These results, along with others focusing on stereotypes pertaining to other groups, such as his experiments on female mathematicians, showed the harmful effects of being aware that you are being viewed through the lens of a stereotype.Several factors seem to cause this decrease in academic performance triggered by stereotype threat: anxiety, physiological stress, and reduced capacity of our working memory.

For a person facing a stereotype threat, the process of thinking through the possibility of confirming a stereotype by performing badly on a test causes a great deal of anxiety. In turn, this anxiety places a drain on a student's energy and cognitive resources. As a result, the capacity of working memory is diminished, and performance is impaired.

Working memory is the ability we have to mentally manipulate information over short periods of time. Working memory can be thought of as your scratch pad, or your personal search engine, or as a mental workspace that we can use to store important information in the course of our mental activities. You can see how having an impaired working memory could affect your ability to mentally search through vast quantities of information. Even if you did manage to remember the necessary information, your mental workspace may still be in disarray.

Stereotype threat has physiological, as well as cognitive, effects. Social threat or disconnection seems to be processed in the brain in the same way as the threat of physical harm. When the threat is detected, a range of neurophysiological processes are set in motion. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) goes into overdrive, releasing a hormone called cortisol. Not surprisingly, cortisol is often called the stress hormone. High levels of cortisol seem to decrease neural connections the hippocampus, part of the brain associated with learning and memory and stress control. Cortisol can negatively impact the prefrontal cortex, an area associated with high-order cognitive abilities.

For more details watch this short clip from TEDEd on How Stress Affects the Brain.

As educators, we need to make it a priority to create an environment where our students strive and can learn to their full potential.
Why Belonging Matters in the Classroom
Research has also shown that academic outcomes, such as motivation, dropout rates and academic performance, were correlated with feelings of belonging. A study demonstrated that college students' self-reported of level of school belonging in high school positively corresponded with academic achievement in college.

Walton and Cohen studied what happened when minority students and white students were made aware of the percentage of people in their chosen field of study who belonged to their ethnic or racial group. They compared how this knowledge affected minority and white students' performance in their chosen field. An intervention that mitigated any doubts of belonging in a specific field had a positive effect on academic achievement.

This finding is consistent with Ladson-Billing's research, which found that having role models to look up to, whether through literature or a teacher, has an impact on students and how they define what is attainable.

In this country there is a very clear image of what success looks like. These ideals of success apply to all domains of life, not just the academic aspects. If we are in the majority culture, then it may appear that the system works well - but that's not always the case for marginalized students.

Often, it is not only in school that minority students do not feel they belong - it is in every facet of society. The problems faced in schools is the effect of bias in society at large. However, the school is one place where we should be able to completely control whether students' voices can be heard and their opinions can be of value. The classroom has the unique opportunity to provide equal support and equitable opportunities to all students.

Will our students end up feeling the same when they reach college? What are we doing in our classrooms, in our cafeterias, on our playgrounds, to ensure that our students, staff and leadership feel as if they belong. Are we being intentional about how we structure our classrooms to encourage a sense of belonging?

Like earlier research, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also found that students who had a greater sense of belonging were more inclined to have a higher level of engagement in class and tended to have high levels of academic performance. The report posits that student engagement has "more to do with the culture of the school, and teachers and principals can play a strong role in creating a positive culture."

Other studies underscore the importance of the role of teachers and administrators, who have the power to enforce policies and practices that promote social inclusion for the enhancement of students' engagement and overall academic performance. ¹⁶
Moving Forward with Intention
Research has shown that having academic material mirror student's' home life and culture helps them relate to the curriculum and take ownership in learning, improving academic achievement in a significant way. Culturally Responsive Teaching(CRT) aims to address these challenges. It makes an effort to legitimize all cultures. It gives students the space to take ownership of their cultural heritage. It shows them the value of maintaining this heritage and to do so with pride. There is an effort to create an environment where there are no subtle or overt pressures for students to disavow their own culture and assimilate to the majority culture.

Policies, practices of inclusion and CRT are a start, but I think that even before implementing these solutions, the first step needs to be a self- awareness. For our students to be accepting of one another the attitude shift must start at the adult level. If we, as the leadership, staff, or teachers, do not display an attitude of inclusiveness and celebrate differences, how can we expect our students to act any differently?

Change must start with us, the role models that students follow. We must be introspective and honest with ourselves, recognizing our own biases and assumptions. Do we expect less from the Hispanic student than we do from others? Do we quickly punish our black students and take time to listen to others? Can we empathize with our students? Do we want to make an effort to change how to run things in our classrooms?

This article is not intended to provide easy answers. It is merely raising awareness about important issues that are affecting our students right now. When we're ready, we can start looking for some practical answers.

Let's not be one of the teachers and school leaders who tell are students that they are still welcome, even if they "don't fit the mould" of our institution.Let's break that mould. There should be no mould based on race, ethnicity or socio economic status. We all should be welcome with our own individualized moulds. For it is in diversity that we truly flourish.

Belonging is important. Our social interactions greatly impact our ability to learn and excel academically. Our students need to feel they belong. From a young age, they need to feel they belong. I hope that our students won't be fighting this same battle that college students are fighting today.

Let's not put our students in the same place.
References & Further Reading

1. Kennedy, R. (2015). Black Tape at Harvard Law. The New York Times, November 27 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/opinion/black-tape-at-harvard-law.html?_r=0

2. Gebreyes, R. (2015). Yale Student Explains Why Students Were Offended By Halloween Costumes Email. HuffPost College, November 12 2015 Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yale-student-halloween-costumes-christakis_5644baa8e4b045bf3dedfe1e

3. Eligon, J. (2015). At University of Missouri, Black Students See a Campus Riven by Race. The New York Times, November 12 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/us/university-of-missouri-protests.html?_r=0

4. Kimball, R. (2015). Rise of the College Crybullies. The WallStreet Journal, November 13 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rise-of-the-college-crybullies-1447458587

5. Murphy Paul, A. (2015). The Yale Controversy is Really About Belonging. Time Magazine, November 11 2015. Retrieved from: http://time.com/4108632/yale-controversy-belonging/

6. Butler, B. (2014).'I, Too, Am Harvard': Black students show they belong. The Washington Post, March 5 2014. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/03/05/i-too-am-harvard-black-students-show-they-belong/

7. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society:The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

8. Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797-811. doi:10.1037/0022- 3514.69.5.797

9. Schmader, T., Johns, M., & Forbes, C. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological Review, 115, 336-356. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.115.2.336

10. Eisenberger N. & Cole S.W. (2012). Social neuroscience and health: neurophysiological mechanisms linking social ties with physical health. Nature neuroscience, 15 (5), 669-74

11. Osterman, K. F. (2000). Students' need for belonging in the school community. Review of Educational Research, 70, 323-367. doi:10.3102/00346543070003323

12. Pittman, L. D. & Richmond, A. (2007). Academic and psychological functioning in late adolescence: The importance of school belonging. The Journal of Experimental Education, 75, 270-290. doi:10.3200/JEXE.75.4.270-292

13. Walton, G. M. & Cohen, G.L. (2007). A question of belonging: race, social fit, and achievement. J Pers. Soc. Psychol ogy, 92(1), 82-96.

14. Ladson-Billings, G. (1995a). Multicultural teacher education: Research, practice, and policy. In J.A. Banks & C.A.M. Banks (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education(pp. 747-759). New York: Macmillan.

15. Willms J.D. (2000). Student Engagement At School and A Sense of Belonging and Participation. Retrieved from:http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/programmeforinternationalstudentassessmentpisa/33689437.pdf

16. Reichl, C. J. (2000). The principal's role in creating inclusive schools for diverse students: A review of normative, empirical, and critical literature on the practice of educational administration. Review of Educational Research 70 (1): 55-81.

17. Ladson-Billings, G. (1995b). But that's just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy. Theory Into Practice, 34(3), 159-165.

18. Zeilinger, J. (2015).These Students Were Told They Don't Fit Their College's Mold But They're Fighting Back. November 13 2015. Retrieved from: http://mic.com/articles/128453/these-students-were-told-they-don-t-fit-their-college-s-mold-but-they-re-fighting-back#.44mUgwf7Q

19. Bidgood, J. (2016). Students Say Racial Hostilities Simmered at Historic Boston Latin School. The New York Times, January 30th 2016. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/education/students-say-racial-hostilities-simmered-at-historic-boston-latin-school.html

Faircloth, B. S., & Hamm, J. V. (2005). Sense of belonging among high school students representing 4 ethnic groups. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34(4), 293-309. 10.1007/s10964-005-5752-7

Schmader, T. (2010). Stereotype threat deconstructed. Cur- rent Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 14-18. doi: 10.1177/0963721409359292

During the course of writing this article news emerged from Boston Latin School of similar issues. Read more here

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Psychology of Belonging (and Why it Matters)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Accepting The Need to Belong Last fall, we heard about highly charged situations arising across countless college campuses.Some people reacted strongly by name-calling and spreading accusations of "bad parenting" or "lack of discipline" to explain these students' actions.As a student of education and psychology, I asked myself: What are these students really asking for?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Culturally Responsive Teaching

Zaretta Hammond shared practical strategies for fostering students' independence and agency while they are learning at home.

Independence is clearly needed for students working at home, so teachers should foster it very intentionally, said Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. "Culturally responsive instruction doesn't mean you're only mentioning issues of race and implicit bias," Hammond said: By seeking to expand learning capacities of historically marginalized students, "you're also focused on building brainpower by helping students leverage and grow their existing funds of knowledge."

"By giving students more agency, the idea is to disrupt old routines around teaching and learning that make the student dependent on the teacher for receiving knowledge," Major writes.

Hammond offered three suggestions for implementing CRT in the current situation:

1. Use students' background knowledge: The knowledge students have from their families, communities, and lived experiences informs the ways they process and retain new information, and Hammond said educators can guide students to connect what they're learning in classes to that background knowledge.

Hammond encouraged teachers to survey students to find out their interests and then use those as the foundation to help them build more knowledge. Students can take a walk with their parents to find "community curiosities" that spark their interest, for example, or create a list of shows or documentaries that focus on their interests.

Guiding students is about more than curating resources, Hammond said. Provide a framework that shows students how to explore a subject. For example, ask "What was your biggest surprise from this book/show?" Hammond suggested. Asking students to reflect on and share what they observed or learned in a video or audio note can reinforce the knowledge gained.

2. Build routines for the brain: Establishing questions for inquiry is "essential to processing and hardwiring information in the brain," Major writes. Using a regular set of prompts in every send-home assignment builds students' capacity to "begin to think that way even when you're not in the classroom to reinforce that way of thinking." Hammond called this being students' "personal trainer of their cognitive development."

Hammond suggested asking questions that encourage students to draw connections between pieces of information and to relate parts to the whole. For example, a basic question such as "What's the relationship or connection between these things?" gives students a consistent lens for examining new information. While the concepts are simple, the repetition of these questions will help students "internalize these prompts until they become almost instinctual."

3. Boost vocabulary: Creating active student engagement in vocabulary building is an important equity strategy, Major writes. By helping "students engage in wordplay, word consciousness, and word knowledge," educators boost students' understanding of words in a way that is more robust and engaging than a worksheet, she says. Word games and searches "are small, familiar but high-leverage activities because they're fun but also require a high cognitive load."

Poetry activities and word scavenger hunts, for example, can be engaging ways to build interest in new words. "Kids have different interests in words, so find out where their energy is," Hammond suggested: "The idea is to get them actively involved in word consciousness."

As students develop these skills-connecting new information to background knowledge, establishing cognitive routines, and improving vocabulary-they become more independent in their learning. And autonomy is a valuable asset not only for distance learning but for becoming more empowered, engaged learners.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Value of Culturally Responsive Teaching in Distance Learning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Culturally Responsive Teaching Zaretta Hammond shared practical strategies for fostering students' independence and agency while they are learning at home. Independence is clearly needed for students working at home, so teachers should foster it very intentionally, said Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is the Hidden Curriculum in Your Classroom?

The written curriculum can actually be quite easy to identify. It's stated in the lesson plans. It's part of our instruction. But what's hiding in the curriculum? What about the messages we send that are not written out explicitly and not spoken directly. The hidden or unwritten curriculum instead is found when we read between the lines. These are the messages we send to students. And often they speak more loudly than the written curriculum.
What is the hidden curriculum in your classroom?
Seating Arrangement
Take for example they way students are seating. If students sit in rows, you may be sending a message that independent work is favored. And that collaboration, teamwork and learning from one another is not. If you want to encourage teamwork and collaborative learning, instead, group students together. Groups of four are ideal. Table groups allow for eye contact, foster collaboration, and help to build community.

"I love a quiet classroom." "You all are so quiet, you earned an extra____."
I know, I know. I get it. We all have those days when we just need a little quiet time. But if your classroom is a silent zone most of the time, you may be sending a message that communication is not valued. Perhaps you are communicating that you are the only one who has the privilege to talk in this space. If you want students to feel their voices are honored and valued, instead, try structuring conversation in an effort to get kids communicating about academic topics. Structured conversations help students know the expectations.

Awards for Perfect Attendance
Don't we expect students to attend school every day? So if we award them when they come (as expected) every day, they may get the notion that it really is NOT expected that they come daily. Perhaps they will begin to think that they don't need to come EVERY day. If we want students to have good attendance, instead, simply being happy, smiling, and noticing that kids are present or absent works. With chronic absenteeism, forging relationships with families has been successful too.

Removing Students from Instruction
When students are pulled out of the classroom, what may that communicate to them and to the rest of the class? It may say that you don't belong here. "You aren't able to learn what we're learning." There are various reasons a student may be removed from the classroom; two of the most common are to receive small group instruction in a different location and behavior redirection. Both of these are widely different. But can send the same message: "You don't belong in this learning space." Instead, for small group instruction, consider co-teaching or pushing into classrooms whenever possible. For behavior, try thinking about students who struggle with behaving as those who need our attention and support more than any other student. Build relationships with these kids before things escalate and come up with a plan for when they do. Use classroom removal as a last resort.

In addition to these, there are a number of other ways that we send messages to our students. I urge to examine the current practices in your classroom and think about the messages they send to students. What is hiding in your curriculum?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is the Hidden Curriculum in Your Classroom? The written curriculum can actually be quite easy to identify. It's stated in the lesson plans. It's part of our instruction. But what's hiding in the curriculum? What about the messages we send that are not written out explicitly and not spoken directly.

# data[].attributes.body
A sample Needs Assessment to survey your school/district regarding multilingual learners.

# data[].attributes.body
A document to help plan for fostering acculturative practices in your school.

# data[].attributes.body
A document to help foster conversations to identify areas where equity-informed practices/programs are needed.

# data[].attributes.body
From Andrea Kolb's Presentation on "Desigining Language Rich Classroom Instruction".

# data[].attributes.body
Diversity Video: Clip used is minutes 2:12-4:27.

# data[].attributes.body
Overview of Presentation, and link to this padlet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fostering a Sesnse of Belonging Fact Sheet

# data[].attributes.body
Several slides and document resources come from Cynthia Barnes work. Her padlet is linked below.

# data[].attributes.body
Book and Webinar to jumpstart this work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Publisher's Acknowledgments

A Note About Our Terminology

Chapter 1. Debbie Zacarian and Diane Staehr Fenner: From Deficit-Based to Assets-Based

Chapter 2. Shawn Slakk and Margarita Espino Calderón: From Compliance to Excellence

Chapter 3. Tonya Ward Singer and Diane Staehr Fenner: From Watering Down to Challenging

Chapter 4. Maria G. Dove and Andrea Honigsfeld: From Isolation to Collaboration

Chapter 5. Ivannia Soto and Tonya Ward Singer: From Silence to Conversation

Chapter 6. Margarita Espino Calderón and Shawn Slakk: From Language to Language, Literacy, and Content

Chapter 7. Margo Gottlieb and Andrea Honigsfeld: From Assessment of Learning to Assessment for and as Learning

Chapter 8. Ivannia Soto and Margo Gottlieb: From Monolingualism to Multilingualism

Chapter 9. Debbie Zacarian and Maria G. Dove: From Nobody Cares to Everyone/Every Community Cares

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Publisher's Acknowledgments A Note About Our Terminology Chapter 1. Debbie Zacarian and Diane Staehr Fenner: From Deficit-Based to Assets-Based Chapter 2. Shawn Slakk and Margarita Espino Calderón: From Compliance to Excellence Chapter 3. Tonya Ward Singer and Diane Staehr Fenner: From Watering Down to Challenging Chapter 4. Maria G.