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I feel that working with students that have significant disabilities, it is extremely important to build those family and community collaboration. As I went through some of the observable behaviors, I realized that I am already doing a lot of these in my classroom. I am in constant contact with families. This includes emails, phone calls, in person meetings, and daily notes sent home. I also send out a survey at the beginning of the school year so I can get to know their students and before IEPs to learn what they would like their student to be working on. I also send home progress reports quarterly with thoughtful reflections on how their student is doing. I plan about 4 field trips a year. These are in the community and are engaging for the students. I also invite parents to join us for the field trips. If they cannot, I will send home a note letting them know how things went.
One thing I would like to improve in my classroom is really getting to know their cultural backgrounds and incorporating that knowledge in my classroom more. This is one of the most important elements of families and does need to be brought into the classroom.
To show family collaboration in my unit, I might send home visuals that families can use at home to work on their students' communication. This is a great way for school/home to have the same expectations and will allow the student to have more opportunities to practice.

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A sample observable behavior that supports students being representing in their learning environments is using images that represent students from non-dominant cultures are positive. This is done in my classroom with text selection for student bookshelf and group story time. The TED-talk video mentioned having a balance bookshelf that includes both mirrors and windows. I value this perspective and agree with the importance of having the balance of viewpoints in a book selection, starting at a very young age, is super important!

A second observable behavior that was described was using inclusive language and space inside and outside of the classroom. This is done in my classroom through family surveys and communication devices. Many of the students I work with are non-verbal, so I rely on family surveys and conversations to get information about their personal life (what they call their parents, siblings, grandparents, favorite foods, etc.). An example of how we use inclusive language with communication devices is customizing the icons, skin colors, hair textures, and spoken language. For a child whose family speaks Hindu, we changed the “Dad” icon to “Baba” because we want the child to feel connected to the device, take ownership of the device, and be able to provide the culturally appropriate language that he needs for school and home.

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I feel it is really important that students feel as people too and that they are involved in processes that happen in the classroom. One of the first ways we begin our school year is having students fill out an about me page at home with their families and bring it back to school to share with the class, this includes their interests, their family make up, what holidays they may celebrate and what they may look forward to. I can learn a lot through this activity as well as the students learn from one another. We also have parents complete a 3-2-1 about their students including what they feel are their child’s strengths, weaknesses and any other concerns they may have. I also feel like I have high standards for my own communication with parents, we had weekly newsletter from the start o the school that turn into monthly wrap ups. We use Seesaw for announcement and extra posts along with establishing open communication early. I try to attend sporting events and other extra curricular activities outside of school as well. This year I also starting keeping my data collection digital so that they individual assessments can go home in real time for parents to see what is happening, a lot of times parents are appreciative of this and when conferences come around aren’t surprised since they have seen snipits of their child’s work throughout the semester. I find this standard to be one of the most important because without that mutual trust and understanding children and parents won’t buy in to the process and learning. I want children to feel safe and accepted and I want parents to know I am there to support and encourage their students and it makes it easier if you have to have those more difficult conversations.

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Like Johnica, I too work wiht students with high needs. Parent communication and family involvement is huge in my room. I exhibit many of these behavior daily, some include. I use a variety of methods to communicate with fmailes to ensure everyone is able to communicate to the best of their ability. We use texting, remind, email, and daily notes currently. When I don't hear from a family for a period of time, I always check in. This is to not only ensure everything is okay, but to make sure their best mode of communication has not changed. I also like to have parents help me to prioritize skills and manage behaviors and independence for consistancy. I have parents complete a survey of what their students can do, are workig on, and what they want to be a priority. This way, we can align our focus and promote family buy-in. Unfortonatley, we have not have much community interaction due to covid restrictions, but this year we took two trips to public places and encouraged families to come. This encourage collaboration with school and other families, but also allows parents to see school expectaitons transfer into to community. I try to encourage families to come to school for their students birthday, celebrations, and accommplishments like a traditional school. In ECE, this can be helpful not only for students, but for parents, many who are still grieving. It is impotant that partetns understand that they have a community that understands.

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I always like to bring the students' backgrounds to class. I will ask the families to help the student create the What is important to Me poster. It allows me to get a glimpse of the family life and cultural background.

Then as the year goes on, when the school does special "holidays," we do a holiday around the world unit (usually one for each of the 4 seasons Fall-Halloween, winter Christmas/variations, Spring-valentines Day, summer - family). But I will talk about how different places celebrate the holidays differently and show some examples. I try to do one tradition from each continent. And then I have the kids share what their family does for the holiday or maybe grandparents. A lot of the time, the parents and the kids are very excited to share and show information about their family and have it included in the holiday celebration.

Seeing their culture being represented excites a lot of the kids. I also get a lot of books from the library that represent the different cultural celebrations at that time so the kids can explore.

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Even though I teach young students in the early elementary grades, I do many things in my classroom that allow me to learn from them about their own cultures, which includes any holidays and traditions. At the beginning of every school year, I have families fill out a survey detailing h0lidays they do or do not celebrate, and any traditions they have as a family. With this knowledge, I am able to heave students learn from each other as they share their experiences or traditions that they look forward to. This usually goes really well with the curriculum I use (ULS), which has a traditions unit in December that highlights many of the traditions my students also partake in. We do many small groups where we are doing crafts, making foods with our SLP as a lesson, and reading books. I try to be a guide for my students as they share their own stories with their peers, because I know how valuable it is for them to learn from each other, and not just from me all of the time. Every student, no matter their age, can teach something to someone, and it is so important to me to highlight that in my classroom.

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I feel that creating a strong school-home connection is extremely important in the school setting. This starts with building strong rapport with families. I always strive to make positive parent contacts starting from the beginning of the year to begin the relationship. When students see a positive relationship with their families and teachers, it can assist with the teacher/student relationship as well.

When looking at the observable behaviors, majority of them are things I already incorporate in my classroom. Having an open communication with parents and making sure they are aware of the best ways to communicate with you is a big one.  I typically communicate with my parents over the Seesaw app or email. Inviting families into the classroom is another great way to have parents be involved in their child's school environment. Last year I invited parents to come in and teach about different holidays. This was so much fun and it also gave students and families opportunities to teach about their cultures holiday. I will definitely be continuing this activity.

For my unit, I think it would be great to invite parents in for a writing celebration at the end of the unit. This will be where the students share their final writing piece. This will also give an opportunity for parents to see their child's writing growth over time as well.

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The standard I reviewed discussed choosing texts that reflect the students in the classroom, community, and family cultures. I also connected this to the Ted Talk video for this week. It’s important for students to not only be able to see themselves in texts that are in school, but also be exposed to different cultures or people that look different from them. I continue to work on the diversity in my classroom library. It does have some diversity with books of different cultures or children with different ability levels. When choosing books for my intervention groups, I sometimes try to look for books that are easy to grab or may interest them. However, I think I could be more mindful to more frequently choose books that show diversity.

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Having just watched Lin's TedTalk I knew this was the one for me. I was really moved by her speech. I made me understand how important it is to feel a part of something and not want to be different. I didn't understand the big picture. I knew that I was to have culturally and diverse materials on display in my room per required by our grant. I knew that having other cultures represented was beneficial. My reasoning was that the students need to have exposure. I did not realize the importance to those students of other cultures and backgrounds needing these images and materials in order to feel a part. It has made me think so differently!! So, I do have culturally based items in my room such as books, pictures, toys, and language. I am learning some Spanish knowing that I will have a student from a Mexican family. I take lots of pictures of the students and display them all over the room. Pictures with friends and of themselves doing activities. And of course, their names are everywhere! Not only do I try to make sure that my students are represented culturally but through their different abilities and disabilities also.

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Valuing each student a whole, complex, unique individual is so important. When it comes to celebrating diversity and individuality, seemingly simple actions can have a big impact. For example, we had a few students in our room this year who celebrate Eid. They were not in school that day, and I sent their families a quick message that just said "Eid Mubarak!" (which means "happy festival/ have a good Eid"). Those families reached back out and said they were pleasantly surprised to receive the message. When the students returned to school, I asked them a few specific questions about Eid to prompt them to share stories about the holiday with their classmates. Later that year, we did a student spotlight project where the kids made collages out of photos that their families had sent or that I had taken at school. Each student got a turn to talk into an echo microphone and share about their family, favorite things, etc. My assistant and I used the knowledge we had gained about each student to tailor our "interview questions". We asked about one student about Eid, and we'd ask another about Target. The family of the student who had a picture of them at Target had previously shared with us that their child was feeling ignored now that their younger sibling was old enough to talk, take turns with toys, read with mom, etc. His mom and him would go to Target once a week as their special family time, so that he could feel seen and valued as an individual. We added the Target logo to one of our blocks, and gave him space to reenact with his weekend with his mom during free play. These actions helped to create a sense of community. Student got to connect over their similarities and explore curiosity about their differences.

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I think it is very important to see students as individuals and make sure to make connections with the families. Since I teach kindergarten and first grade, we always do All About Me projects the first week of school. With this activity, families get to complete it together and the students get to present it at school. It allows both the teachers and the students an understanding of a students culture or basic information. During back to school night, I also have parents complete a survey form. This form gathers information about holidays, cultures, celebrations or anything else that I should know about. I like to do this because I think it is important for parents to see that we are acknowledging not every student comes from the same background and has different cultures.

I also think it is important to keep parents in the loop about their students progress and what we are learning about. I send home weekly newsletters that discuss reading, writing, and math activities that we will be completing throughout the week. Parents then understand what content their child is learning about and can also support them at home. During parent-teacher conferences, I also print out a report on basic skills (letter id, counting, identifying shapes) so parents can visually see how they are progressing. Communication with parents is so important and forming that relationship from the start supports both you and the student.

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A sample observable behavior that supports students as individuals in the school setting is ensuring that student/family artifacts are on display in the classroom. This is something that I feel like I do really well. Each of my students gets their own space in the classroom where they are allowed to put up whatever they would like (as long as it is appropriate). This includes family photos, drawings, and student work. I also purchase club and athlete photos for any students that are on teams within the school and put them up on my board by my desk. I want students to know that the classroom is not just mine, but theirs as well. Anytime we complete an assignment in class, I tell them they can post it in their spaces or on the main board. It gives them autonomy and makes the classroom feel more like a home and that everyone is valued.

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In my classroom, I have always tried to have representation of different backgrounds students belong to represented to some extent. I don't have any photos/posters of students or other people around the room, but in the books I have in my classroom I have tried to have different student voices and backgrounds represented, as well as in the content we are learning. I do think my school district does a better job than most districts at making sure students can see themselves represented in the curriculum--I feel our ELA and science curriculum, in particular, is very inclusive and filled with lots of diverse voices--however, I still think the district has long ways to go, and can and should be doing more. I think the mindset I have towards my districts efforts are also applicable to my own efforts in my classroom. After looking over section 8 and reading my classmates' posts, I feel there are a lot of things I can do additionally in my classroom and curriculum project to make students feel even more welcome. For instance, I could incorporate more inclusive language and teach explicit social skills lessons on the importance of inclusivity and inclusive language. I also think just having backgrounds and identities solely applicable to current students included in my classroom is not necessarily enough. Having a wide variety of different representations and voices in all aspects of my curriculum would be meaningful to students, and also help to further an environment of inclusivity and belongingness in my class.

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I agree with Ashley, I think this TED talk was a great example highlighting the need to purposefully ensure diversity is represented in the curriculum. As a reading interventionist I am very intentional in the mentor or small group texts I utilize, particularly around cultural celebrations. For example, during the Chinese New Year in February I try to select texts focusing on this celebration. The same can be said for Columbus Day, or Thanksgiving, using the book Encounter with 4/5 graders to focus on the Native American perspective.

One of the standards in this section also talked about assessment reflecting student identities. In my district students are assessed using running records. Each time a student deviates from the standard English pronunciation of a word, including its ending, it is considered a miscue. Even if this miscue is indicative of their cultural dialect, it becomes a point against their accuracy score. I find commonly with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students that endings of words (-ing, -ed, -s/es) are dropped. However, these miscues do not necessarily impact their comprehension. I believe this assessment needs to be reviewed from a cultural lens to assess its validity when scoring the accuracy of a CLD student.

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I find that this can be a challenging standard to implement successfully within my school. Since we are a therapeutic day school, we don't have such a diverse student population. I want to start incorporating some of the observable behaviors into my classroom. One way is to use names and images that are representative of all students. An aspect of one of our school wide initiatives, Conscious Discipline, talks a lot about school families. I want to incorporate this into discussion on families in general and be able to share who are families are with the class, both students and teachers. I think with using this as a starting point we can incorporate discussions on how families are similar or different into our daily lessons. It will also remind us to use inclusive language in the classroom.

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One thing that I feel that I work really hard to do in my classroom is to treat my students like they are individuals, not just names on a spreadsheet or a collective group of students. With being a 3rd-5th grade resource teacher, I get to work with some of my students for three years in a row, which leads to lots of time to learn about who my students are as people and to get to interact with their families. When I read through the list of observable behaviors, I found that there were several things that I already do in my day to day classroom instruction. One of the big ones that stood out to me is to encourage and provide opportunities for small conversations. I have found that many times after a long weekend, a holiday break, or after an exciting community event, it is often beneficial to set aside some time at the beginning of class to give students time to share. This not only allows me to learn more about them, but also maximizes instructional time by getting the conversations out of the way at the beginning instead of having them pop up in the middle of class time. Another behavior from the list that I feel like I do pretty consistently is to get feedback from students about their learning and about classroom rewards/incentives. I try to be as honest with my students as I can be, and I tell them I want them to be honest with me too. By giving them a chance to tell me the things they like and don’t like, as well as the things they would or wouldn’t find motivating to work for lets me know how best to structure my classroom to meet them where they are and to support them. Seeing that some of the observable behaviors are some of the things I am already doing in my classroom gives me a sense of pride in my teaching, and also helps me to see what steps I can take to incorporate more of the ideas from the list next school year.