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On page 59, Ladson-Billings notes the typical classroom is an unusual social construct in that students sit next to each other, but are discouraged from having conversations. The teacher, usually, is the wise sage and is all-knowing; students are encouraged to outdo each other rather than cooperate. Some teachers do not want students to talk to each other in the classroom.  Cooperation has to be taught.  While it is not listed in the Standard Course of Study, it is a needed soft skill all students should have.

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p. 73 – the 8th grade Social Studies students described why they enjoyed the class even though the topics didn’t sound too exciting.  They all said it was because of “The Teacher!”.   A teacher can make the class enjoyable or interesting even if the curriculum isn’t.  Social Studies was never one of my favorite subjects; however, one year I had a teacher that made it really interesting and I enjoyed going to that class.

The students responded that they like the teacher because she listens to them, respects them, lets them express their opinions, smiles, makes eye contact and speaks to them outside the classroom.  “Simple acts of human kindness.”  When students are treated with dignity and respect (and not “lose face”), then they will want to learn.

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One of Maslow's basics needs is the need to feel safe and have stability. Creating a safe classroom where students can express themselves and feel they are safe will assist students who may not have this need met in their home. The next level of need is that of love and belonging. Again the family classroom environment will help students meet that need so they can move to the next level. Having a sense of belonging and safety will allow students to achieve great things in the classroom and will teach them ways to interact with each other not only in a classroom setting but out in the "real world" as well. Capturing Kids Hearts focuses on the family approach with the social contract and the way teachers interact with students when CKH is implemented to fidelity.

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As Ladson-Billings points out on Page 72, "Teachers with culturally  relevant practices are careful to demonstrate a connectednesss with each of their students." While working in a high school in a former school district, I have worked with a culturally relevant teacher who always instilled a sense of family in her classes. I only learned the true power of this approach when one of my own children took some of her classes. Since I was working at the school, and since my child was the same age, I knew many of the students on a personal level. Over time, students, who did not formerly get along, began to refer to each other as family. These students began to get the "family" together for movie nights and then for study groups. They helped each other, and the teacher was always available for online help, as well. Her approach is an example of what Ladson-Billings states on Page 76, "Culturally Relevant Teaching encourages students to learn collaboratively and expects them to teach each other and take responsibility for each other."

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The scenario where the student is placed in the wrong, non-college prep class, caught my attention. The comment that she was returned to her "rightful place" is disturbing. More alarming was the comment from the teacher that the highest grade a student could make in that class was a C. We need to be sure we raise our expectations for all students.

We are in the registration season and will soon be working on a master schedule. As I learn more about who is sitting in which classes at HHS, I am more convinced that we must do more to ensure access and equity. Many savvy parents will override the honors registration paper and insist that their child sit in an H course depsite their prior performance. I have been having this conversation with many teachers and counselors and we are thinking about ways to reduce the divides that exist between the CP and Honors classes.

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P. 76 Ladson-Billings contends:
"Despite the plethora of programs and activities that have adopted aspects of cooperative learning as instructional strategies, very little real cooperation is taught or required in the classroom.  Students may have opportunities for group work, but what teachers deem cooperative behavior more accurately falls under the category of compliance and conformity.  Culturally relevant teaching advocates the kind of cooperation that leads students to believe they cannot be successful without getting help from others or without being helpful to others."  This is a critical concept and mirrors the 21st century skills covered in the North Carolina Teacher Evaluation.

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LOVE the effort put forth to establish a sense of Family with the students. Pg 67 when Patricia Hillard defines her relationship with the students as that of an extended family is an example of how a little effort initiated from the teacher can cultivate a culture of "togetherness"...."caring"...and "clear expectations" which will result in ALL students putting forth their best effort.

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This chapter was very interesting. I loved the stories of the teachers that made an extra effort to get to know the students. It seems like all we hear about is testing all the time, teachers and students do not have time to get to know each other. I love the idea on page 71 where the teachers talk about the “lunch bunch.” Taking the time to sit down with students and have a time to get to know them without talking about school the entire time.

When I worked in Catawba County, I had a Nutrition Advisory Council that was made up of students that were selected by teachers. Sometimes we met during the day and then other times after school. This gave the students something to be proud of and involved in a school activity. In order to stay in the group, they had to keep their grades up and not have any discipline issues. Although these students may have had issues in the past, they strived to do better. Our accomplishments as a team and “family” gave them something to be proud of. Taking the time to talk with each of them helped me understand them more and their backgrounds.

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Pg. 67- the story about, "What happens in your house, when you do something good?"  Again, coming back down to basic respect, trust (general relationship building).  When a student feels you believe in them, having their best interests at heart, they are far more likely to respond, positively.

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Pg. 67- the story about, "What happens in your house, when you do something good?"  Again, coming back down to basic respect, trust (general relationship building).  When a student feels you believe in them, having their best interests at heart, they are far more likely to respond, positively.

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p. 66 Peggy Valentine reversing her role as a student and her students as teachers seems to be a great tool in gaining participation and greater depth of learning for the students.

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p. 66 Peggy Valentine reversing her role as a student and her students as teachers seems to be a great tool in gaining participation and greater depth of learning for the students.

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The table on page 60 describes the characteristics of culturally relevant vs. assimilationist cultures. While I believe the table clearly shows the differences in the classroom culture, I believe the same can be applied to school culture or the larger organizational culture. As teachers, we want teachers to strive to create a community of learners. As a principal, I also want to create a community of learners. The parallels from the classroom to school culture were striking to me. I made connections to the examples and reflected on the actions I can take as a principal to create the type of connectedness and collaboration described in the classroom examples.

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In chapter 4, Ladson-Billings discusses creating a community of learners that is characterized by teamwork, collaboration, students teaching each other, students helping each other, and the idea of a family.  In order to create a community of learners, the educators have to truly know the students.  They have to know their students’ academic interests, but also their interests and hobbies outside of school.   The students also need to be seen as unique individuals who have gifts and talents to offer the team/class.  The classroom needs to be a place where every student feels and believes that he/she is a part of the team.  Another portion of chapter 4 that really resonated with me were the thoughts expressed by Peggy Valentine about the importance of developing students’ decision making skills.  Valentine stated, “Decision making is one of the most important skills the kids can develop.  They are confronting so many competing interests out there. They have to learn how to work together in the classroom and have a sense of solidarity so that we can accomplish some things, but they can’t have the herd mentality that allows them to just go along with anything the groups says.”  I think that helping our students develop the self-awareness and ability to recognize the herd mentality is one of the most important life skills that we can teach them.
Ryan McCreary

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“Students are expected to teach each other and be responsible for each other.” (p. 60)
The smoothest example in this chapter is Patricia Hilliard and her expectations around the “extended family”.
I see another parallel, though, in the way Peggy Valentine acts out the role of students while she expects students to model the role of teacher. This type of demonstrating/practicing ties back to most (if not all) of the CR components from the Social Relations Table.

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pg 60 - "The role of the teacher in many classrooms is that of leader or authority figure. The teacher is regarded as all-knowing and the students as know-nothings (or at least as know-very-littles)." I think we are starting to see a change with this. I know that by doing small group instruction, students are becoming more responsible for their learning an the learning of the group. The other day I was in a 5th grade class and the teacher had 4 large dry erase boards and she had grouped the students into small groups. There was a student leader that was doing examples in front of their peers and "teaching them the steps" to solve problems. The students were engaged and really enjoyed doing this. That teacher shared in a meeting and more teachers are starting to use this method in their classrooms.

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This chapter was the most relevant of the chapters read so far. The author discussed looking at the classroom as a family and not as individuals. In the real world we have to work as a family no matter our differences and the same goes for the classroom. The author sums it up with the following statement. "Rather than elevate the importance of individual achievement, the teachers encourage their students to work within a collective structure and reward group efforts more often than individual ones (p. 65)."

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Valentine uses activities from a curriculum innovation...Values clarification, based on the premise that all students come to school with values, and that it is the teacher's role to help the students understand or clarify these values.  Rather than attempt to share or indoctrinate the students with a particular set of values, the curriculum serves to help students examine why they believe it. (p. 79)
I think this speaks to the heart of several of the CRP noted by Billings.  Encouraging students to examine and understand their personal views through social stories and real-life scenarios fosters a sense of self-worth for individuals while shaping shared values for a community of learners.  Teaching tolerance is key!

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“Despite the plethora of programs and activities that have adopted aspects of cooperative learning as instructional strategies very little real cooperation is taught or required in the classroom (p.76).”

Often, the classes that need the most opportunities for cooperative learning are the ones get the fewest.  I like Pauline Dupree’s “study buddies” and this aligns with what our teachers learn in Capturing Kids Hearts.  The whole idea behind the signals and contract is that we are not to let each other down in the class and the teacher needs to keep the whole class accountable.

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PP76-78 Gertrude Winston discusses that culturally relevant teaching and collaboration of students within the classroom is compatible with a student's home fulture-siblings taking care of each other and taking responsibility for each other as evidenced when she began teaching Afican American chidren. I see this often when our students will save a breakfast bar or a container of cereal to take home to their little brother or sister. Dupree , also, continued with this idea when she had students pick a study buddy. The buddies were responsible for each other the entire year and helped each other. This is not only a good teaching strategy but a life skill.

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On page 67, Patricia Hilliard discusses the shaping of an "undefined contract". As I read this, it looks very much like our CKH social contracts and the philosophy of the classroom community/family that is at the heart of CKH. I have always believed that this philosophy helps to foster positive student/teacher and student/student relationships within the classroom. I see many family meetings and references to the social contract for redirection.