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How do we teach our students to do more than survive? How do we show them how to thrive?

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Dr. Bettina Love is the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University and the bestselling author of Punished for Dreaming

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How does culture influence how we react and respond?

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Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Hey. Thanks for stopping by my blog. You might have found your way here through a number of possible paths. Maybe you heard about my book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Or, maybe you typed in www.ready4rigor.com and those shadowy internet puppeteers redirected you here. Maybe you ended up here because you were doing a Google search for culturally responsive teaching practices

Or maybe your school is reading Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain in a book study and you wanted to know more about this Zaretta Hammond chick who wrote it.

It doesn't matter how you got here. What's important is that you and I are now connected.

Since you are an equity-minded educator like me, you are probably waging your own private movement to bust the myths behind student engagement (or the lack of) among low performing students of color, poor students, and English learners.

Well, you are in the right place. This is a blog where we can get answers to our collective and individual questions about how we can help students become confident and competent learners. In this space, I want to highlight what I am learning from being out in schools and classrooms with teachers who are successful with diverse students. I want to focus on how we can take everyday strategies and practices and put them to work in their classrooms to be more culturally responsive.

So, again, welcome!

Just to let you know, on average, I publish a new post every other week - two times per month at the least (sometimes a few more). That gives me time to be in schools and to write. If you don't want to miss updates on what I am seeing and learning, sign up for my newsletter by pushing that button below.

Binge-worthy Posts and Podcasts

Books are good, but sometimes you want your knowledge in bite-sized doses. That's what I like to deliver: consumable, usable, and entertaining food for thought (and action). Here are some of the most popular blog posts and guest podcast interviews to sample.

About Zaretta Hammond

It's funny. These days a lot of folks are calling me "Dr. Hammond" since the book has become required reading in many teacher education programs and school districts. Well, to set the record straight, I am not a PhD. I do have a Master's degree, but I consider myself a "boots on the ground" teacher. I call myself a former writing teacher turned equity freedom fighter. My heart is forever with children and teachers in the classroom, not in an ivory tower, even if these days most of my "students" are new leaders and pre-service teachers. [ A quick note: Not throwing any shade at all the PhDs out there doing the work.]

When I was in the classroom back in the day, I taught composition (expository writing). It was where I started to understand how important literacy was to equity, and how neuroscience and culture should inform our instructional practice.

Since leaving the classroom, I have done work as a curriculum designer and professional developer at organizations such as the National Equity Project and the Annenberg-funded Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC) in the San Francisco-Bay Area. I am a trained facilitator in anti-bias processes and have facilitated groups focused on learning to talk about issues of racial politics and privilege.

My primary work has been linking instruction, equity, and literacy. I have spent time as an adjunct instructor at Saint Mary's College in Norther California where I taught Adolescent Literacy and trained tutors and parents in reading support strategies for struggling students of color.

As an undergraduate, I attended University of California, Berkley before finishing up my degree at New York University where I majored in English Literature with a minor in Writing. I completed my Masters in Secondary English Education, with a Concentration in Writing Instruction at University of Colorado, Boulder where I simultaneously did my teacher certification program (starting three months after the birth of my son. I do not recommend this).

For the past 25 years, I've maintained a small, independent education consulting practice from which I do my research and writing as well as support schools doing deep instructionally-focused equity work.

Stay in touch

I hope this blog inspires, motivates, and challenges you to try some new practices that move you toward being more culturally responsive. If it does, send me a note. I'd love to hear from you. The best way to keep in touch with me is to sign up for free email updates (where you get all kinds of exclusive goodies).

Other Ways to Connect

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About - Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Hey. Thanks for stopping by my blog. You might have found your way here through a number of possible paths. Maybe you heard about my book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Or, maybe you typed in www.ready4rigor.com and those shadowy internet puppeteers redirected you here.

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Keeping Students at the Center of Our Work

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Who are we hurting the when we focus on points & compliance?

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Start Your Journey: Grading for Equity Online Course

Discover how to transform your school and classroom with equitable grading practices that are accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational!

Now Introducing: Grading for Equity Community Book Study

The Grading for Equity Book Study is a new program for schools and districts that provides a structured approach to collectively engage teachers and administrators (and even caregivers and students!) in meaningful discussions about the why, the what, and the how of equitable grading.

Book Study sessions are 90 minutes in length and can be scheduled based on your school or district's calendar. Each session will be led by a Crescendo Education Group Facilitator and will be held remotely.

Quiz:
How Equitable Is Your Grading?

We all want equity in our districts, schools and classrooms. Teachers and school leaders: Find out how equitable your grading is, and ways to improve.

Bring Equitable Grading to Your PLC, School, or District

Students need equitable grading in every classroom in every school. Find resources to help others understand the urgency, ideas, and strategies of equitable grading.

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Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms. A powerful and growing movement among professional educators.

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Communication
Activator
Strategic
Responsibility
Significance

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Paradigm Shifts: Mindsets, systems, & structures

Training & Support

Under the microscope

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A "team" to help lead this work
Partners for alternative-to-suspension programs
Experience establishing systems of support

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Clear expectations and timelines
Commitment to the work
Help identifying where to start and who can help

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District-wide systems and structures that MANDATE a restorative response and build students up rather than tearing them down.