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Case Studies for Creating Cultural Responsiveness

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Case Studies for Creating Cultural Responsiveness

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By Kimberly McLeod, Ed.D.

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case studies for creating cultural responsiveness

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Case Studies for Creating Cultural Responsiveness

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Case Studies for Creating Cultural Responsiveness [Ed.D. Kimberly McLeod] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.

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*Support new teachers to give them confidence to do their job effectively
*Give experienced teachers the opportunity to grow by sharing their knowledge (One of the best ways to learn something is to teach.)
*Help the retention of teachers in a district
*Give students the effective teachers they deserve

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... know how to support them and have a heart for seeing them succeed. We need to create a supporting community where we all are invested in the success of each member. (S, T, P, C).

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New teachers need a constant support from someone who will not judge or ridicule them when they have questions.
New teachers also need someone who will guide them in creating their own lessons to effectively reach all students in his/her classroom.
New teachers need a mentor who can train them on school policies, grade books, as well as effective parent communication.

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Teacher retention

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“I am a stickler for good manners, and I believe that treating other people well is a lost art. In the workplace, at the dinner table, and walking down the street--we are confronted with choices on how to treat people nearly every waking moment. Over time these choices define who we are and whether we have a lot of friends and allies or none.”
― Tim Gunn, Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work

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*Reflective
*Understanding
*Experienced
*Creative
*Non-judgmental
*Love of learning

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The first step of mentoring is to understand "where" the new teacher is. What are his/her feelings and anxieties? What is her knowledge level regarding classroom management, content? 

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The first step of mentoring is to understand "where" the new teacher is. What are his/her feelings and anxieties? What is her knowledge level regarding classroom management, content? 

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Don't wait for the new teacher to ask questions, because sometimes the new teacher just feels overwhelmed, and doesn't even know what to ask.

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Don't wait for the new teacher to ask questions, because sometimes the new teacher just feels overwhelmed, and doesn't even know what to ask.

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Don't just hand over a bunch of information or materials all at once.  Provide the information and guidance "Just In Time" as it is needed (and as it is wanted, and realized that it is needed).

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Don't just hand over a bunch of information or materials all at once.  Provide the information and guidance "Just In Time" as it is needed (and as it is wanted, and realized that it is needed).

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*We all have cultural norms - in our communities, families, schools
*Everyone has their own perception of reality.
*Don't place your assumptions on someone else.

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As a mentor we must be confident in what we say and do to help our new teachers gain the confidence to be successful.
New teachers need to be able to trust that their mentor won't judge them because of what they DON'T know, but instead, willing to teach them and guide them in those areas where they lack confidence.

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*Trust is so important for building relationships.
*You have to be competent enough to live up to your own promises.

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Proactive teaching to me is planning with the end in mind and being ready for all types of learners.  

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Proactive teaching to me is planning with the end in mind and being ready for all types of learners.  

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Being proactive entails a conscientious effort on the part of teachers to provide a classroom environment that allows students to be themselves, take risks, learn from mistakes, and understand how to take responsibility for their actions and feelings. Actively monitoring students in this setting can be challenging but leads to progress and growth.

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Being proactive entails a conscientious effort on the part of teachers to provide a classroom environment that allows students to be themselves, take risks, learn from mistakes, and understand how to take responsibility for their actions and feelings. Actively monitoring students in this setting can be challenging but leads to progress and growth.

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To me, proactive teaching is being aware of students needs, comfort  levels, and ability to reach your end goal of the lesson.

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Master, Understanding, Self-Expressive, Interpersonal
(Great planning for a variety of learners! I can see this for not only new teachers and mentors but as a common language/planning method for all in our district.)

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I will use the template with mentors and new teachers so that we are all entering the classroom with a plan. I would like a full day workshop on this for new and struggling teachers. The acronym will help teachers remember the steps to take during a stressful moment. Both will help de-escalate the situation!

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This is the same language special education uses to identify behaviors and help serve students. The article shared is very helpful to all teachers in this area.

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To positively reward a student that doesn't require much effort- "punch cards". Make a sheet of cards and punch a hole every time the student does something "good". Once it's filled up, they can save or redeem for some prize. (not all have to be monetary, one idea is lunch with the teacher.)

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When people collaborate, it works on connecting to others.  The mentor and the new teacher can validate each other and they both learn to listen and support each other.
- Erin Jackson, Duncanville HS

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Having a mentor progam enables the teachers to share all they know to help better the campus and thier classroom. The program gives the new teacher someone to always be able to communicate with and provide them with a sounding board.

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In ELAR, provide more student choice in reading. Create "open-ended" types of questions about texts that meek your TEKS where any student could provide examples to show mastery.

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In addition to choice boards, a great way to differentiate is to provide questions that encourage students to use their own learning style to process what they learned that day. A great example is using MUSI type questions. Give choices but limit it to not distract students. I love the four different types of questions you can provide to students and let them choose the one they want to answer. Great reflection will happen with all four.

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For a new teacher it is critical to reach out to experienced teachers of a subject. They can share insight for troublesome content that most classes struggle with. Seasoned teachers need to readily share strategies and ideas for overcoming these challenges. Finally it is worth your time to get to know your students and learn what engages them so that your class connects with them. Teaching is more of a practice than a profession.

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This can be as simple as openly acknowledging students that are meeting your expectations. "Johnny, thank you for working so hard to finish your warm-up quickly."  "This group is doing a great job of staying on topic and discussing the question given."  Students like praise and most, if not all, will fall in line.

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This can be as simple as openly acknowledging students that are meeting your expectations. "Johnny, thank you for working so hard to finish your warm-up quickly."  "This group is doing a great job of staying on topic and discussing the question given."  Students like praise and most, if not all, will fall in line.

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Being a new teacher is scary and hard, and there are many days when you don't feel good at your job. New teachers need someone to be a cheerleader for them, to empathize, to reassure them, to answer the questions (no matter how dumb the teachers thing the questions are), to commiserate with, and to listen...
...without the fear of judgment or consequences.
Mentors can be that safety net.
-Craig McKinney
Plano ISD

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Understanding change should be addressed in any mentoring endeavor.  It is an undeniable, but forgotten aspect of any culture.  

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Understanding change should be addressed in any mentoring endeavor.  It is an undeniable, but forgotten aspect of any culture.  

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It's easier to trust others when you know that they're listening. It was difficult as a new teacher not feeling like I was heard by admin and colleagues. There was a sense that because I was new I didn't know anything. I didn't have a mentor, and so I started searching out like minded people to grow myself. It was exhausting, but I managed to learn to trust my own instincts because I didn't have a choice.

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Welcome to your first year of teaching. This year will test you more intensely than just about anything you've done up to now. It will deplete all your energy, bring you to tears, and make you question every talent or skill you thought you had. But all these tests, if you approach them the right way, will leave you better and stronger than you are today.

Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. Still, with everything you have to do right now, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all. And the fact is, a lot of those tips won't work very well if you fail to follow this one essential rule:

Surround yourself with good people.

By finding the positive, supportive, energetic teachers in your school and sticking close to them, you can improve your job satisfaction more than with any other strategy. And your chances of excelling in this field will skyrocket. Just like a young seedling growing in a garden, thriving in your first year depends largely on who you plant yourself next to.

Many experienced gardeners follow a concept called companion planting: placing certain vegetables and plants near each other to improve growth for one or both plants. For example, rose growers plant garlic near their roses because it repels bugs and prevents fungal diseases. Among companion plants, the marigold is one of the best: It protects a wide variety of plants from pests and harmful weeds. If you plant a marigold beside most any garden vegetable, that vegetable will grow big and strong and healthy, protected and encouraged by its marigold.

Marigolds exist in our schools as well - encouraging, supporting and nurturing growing teachers on their way to maturity. If you can find at least one marigold in your school and stay close to them, you will grow. Find more than one and you will positively thrive.

Few teachers will be lucky enough to be planted close to a marigold - being assigned to one as a mentor, co-teacher, or team leader will be rare. You will have to seek them out. You can identify them by the way they congratulate you on arrival, rather than asking why anyone would want this godforsaken job. Or by the way their offers to help sound sincere. Or just by how you feel when you're with them: Are you calmer, more hopeful? Excited to get started on a teaching task? Comfortable asking questions, even the stupid ones? If you feel good around this person, chances are they have some marigold qualities.

Once you've identified your marigolds, make an effort to spend time with them. Having a hard day? Go to your marigolds. Not understanding how to operate the grade reporting system? Go to your marigolds. Confused by something the principal said at the faculty meeting? Marigolds. They may be on the other side of the building, out of your grade or subject area, or otherwise less convenient to reach than others. If your school is especially toxic, you might have to find your marigolds in another school, or even online. Make the effort. It's worth the trouble.

While seeking out your marigolds, you'll need to take note of the walnut trees. Successful gardeners avoid planting vegetables anywhere near walnut trees, which give off a toxic substance that can inhibit growth, wilt, and ultimately kill nearby vegetable plants. And sadly, if your school is like most, walnut trees will be abundant. They may not seem dangerous at first. In fact, some may appear to be good teachers - happy, social, well-organized. But here are some signs that you should keep your distance: Their take on the kids is negative. Their take on the administration is negative. Being around them makes you feel insecure, discouraged, overwhelmed, or embarrassed.

WALNUT TREES ARE POISON. Avoid them whenever you can. If you don't, they will start to infect you, and soon you'll hate teaching as much as they do.

Doing this may be a challenge: Your supervisor might be a walnut tree. You may be co-teaching with one. You might work on a whole team of walnut trees, spending hours with them every week. Touching base with your marigolds will help flush out the toxins that build up from contact with the walnut trees. On top of that, simply identifying certain co-workers as walnut trees can help dilute their power over you. If I'd had a label I could mentally place on certain people in the schools where I worked, they would have had far less of an impact on me.

So in the spirit of identification, here are some common walnut tree varieties to look out for:

Kid-Hatin' Kate, who will snort every time you share a positive anecdote about your students. Spend enough time with her and you'll believe every single one of them is a lying, cheating little sneak and you're a fool if you think otherwise.

Retirement Dan, who regularly reports on how many years he has left before he's "outta here." He then adds with a chuckle that you have about thirty, right? Dan will find your enthusiasm about school "cute," but will then tell you to "just wait...it'll wear off."

Twenty-Page Tina, who sets impossibly high standards for her students and brags when kids fail. You had your kids write a five-page paper? Tina assigned twenty. Your mid-term had fifty questions? Tina's had a hundred and fifty, and only a dozen kids passed it. The students say her exams are the only ones they ever have to study for. After talking to Tina, you'll feel the urge to triple your kids' workload and add at least ten trick questions to your assessments, just to get your average down.

Badass Bobby, who overhears you talking about your students acting up in class and says, "They would never try that crap in my room." Whenever you leave a conversation with him, you go and scream at your kids.

Hattie-Who-Hates-the-Principal. Self-explanatory.

Lawsuit Steve, who sees you touch a student's forearm and says you better watch out. He "had to give up hugs years ago" and is always reminding you to "be careful."

My-Time Margaret, who counts the number of minutes she got for lunch, complains about serving one more day of car-rider duty than anyone else, and knows precisely what time she's legally required to be in the building each day (not a minute earlier).

And Good-Old-Days Judy, who hates anything new and never fails to mention how much better things used to be.

Be especially vigilant during PDs, when you'll find yourself in a veritable forest of walnut trees. It will be the worst when the presenter asks you to perform some task - read student work, for example - in groups. The trees will slowly turn toward the center, leaves rustling, snarky comments dropping off their branches like walnuts whacking the table. It won't matter how potentially interesting the activity might be, as soon as they huddle up it will be snark, snark, ugly, ugly, hate, hate. When this happens, recognize that you are surrounded, hold tight to your roots, and remember your marigolds.

Your search for marigolds will yield imperfect results: Not everyone is all-marigold or all-walnut tree. There will be some in the building who just make you happy - go to them for a mood boost. Some who aren't terribly good at the teaching part, but love the kids to death - seek them out when you need to be reminded of how much you love them, too. Others will take care of you - encourage you to rest, slack off a little, not beat yourself up. And some who are intensely into the craft, who always have a great strategy on hand and keep up on current research - they can really help you stretch your abilities. Learn who has what marigold qualities and get what you can from each of them.

Finally, try to find some compassion for the walnut trees. Their toxicity comes from a place of real pain, and they themselves probably fell under the influence of the walnut trees who came before them. Plus, it's not like their complaints have no basis in reality. Teaching is a ridiculously hard job, some say almost impossible - like climbing Mount Everest (if you'll allow for one last metaphor). Still, you're aware of the difficulty, and though many before you have failed, you have accepted the challenge.

Before you climb that peak, you'll need to choose a sherpa to escort you through the trek. The first option is Walter Nutt, who starts by asking why in the world you'd want to do something like this. He describes the many others who have died trying to do this climb, how sick you'll get, how people have polluted the trail, all but destroying what was once a pristine and beautiful mountain. The second option, Mary Gold, congratulates you on your courage, sits down with you to map out some important strategies, and finishes off by saying It's a crazy-hard, mammoth task, but you know what? We're going to kick that mountain's ass.

Who do you want leading you up that peak?

Find your marigolds and stick close to them. Grow big and strong. Kick that mountain's ass. ♦

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Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers

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Welcome to your first year of teaching. This year will test you more intensely than just about anything you've done up to now. It will deplete all your energy, bring you to tears, and make you question every talent or skill you thought you had.

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"When someone can see that your intention is to help them because you show them what it looks like to be successful, you'll gain their trust."

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The "role playing" activity was great! It is so important to have these conversations with staff, students, admin, and students. We never truly know where someone is coming from, but taking the time to listen and ask the right questions can certainly help us get there.