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The quote that stood out to me was in the subtopic of  culturally competent teachers in particular “As our society increases in diversity, teachers and other school personnel have a corresponding need to increase in their understanding of the integral relationship between culture and social behavior and the need to view students' behaviors within a cultural context.”

In the classrooms today, especially in New York City, there is so many students from different backgrounds and cultures. Being a melting point, New York City is filled with different cultures and as teacher, it is expected that these students be served receiving the same education as their white peers and the same treatment without bias. I.e a student who is from Haiti should expect the same treatment and education as a white student. Therefore it is important for all stakeholders in schools especially the adults working in the schools to be aware and account for the cultural diversity in the school and recognise that failure to connect to the diversity might lead to failure in the school.

As I get into the classroom, I expect to meet students from all walks of life with different cultures, behavior and beliefs. Thus it is important to understand these students and design lesson that are differentiated to be able to better serve this diverse classroom.

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A part of the article that stood out was the section on Culturally Competent Teachers because it informs us of the biases that children with different backgrounds may go through. “Children who differ from the mainstream both physically and culturally are at risk for having their actions misperceived and judge do unfairly.” Teachers must come to learn the different backgrounds of their students so they can be able to understand and be self aware of their own culture and any biases they may present. One of the examples they used was that in some cultures, children are taught to look away instead of making eye contact when they are being directed by an adult. This shows their sign of respect but to teachers, looking away can be seen as a sign of disrespect. This can be connected to my own students because the diversity within the classroom in large. Some implications this can have as I enter the new school year would be to keep an open mind and get to know the different cultures of my students

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Every successful person has a story, which always incudes a mentor that they thank for many things. Especially for young males of Hispanic or African American descent, they work best with outside support, and as the article mentioned, thy think success all depends on other people. We can’t blame them for this. And for a teacher to be culturally responsive we need to understand that having a person to look up to and to guide them makes a huge difference. Often times, a mentor or someone with the huge impact is a teacher. A teacher’s words mean everything to students and when they haven’t set their goals, it is because aside from their home situation their teacher has not helped them make goals. Page 4 explains that teachers need to set high expectations but I those goals need to feel attainable for students otherwise they will not find it possible and give up. The part of the article titles ‘Culturally Responsive teachers are introspective” stands out because it explains that in order for us to be culturally responsive and understanding, we don’t only evaluate our students but evaluate ourselves. If we notice we may find ourselves disciplining African or Hispanic girls or boys more harshly, it can be a factor of how tough I can be to various or targeted students. Students notice the actions of teachers, and teachers can’t realize them unless they self-reflect.

That is something I need to also implement in my upcoming classroom. I need to notice patterns, because I may not realize my attitude towards various people. I may not realize that even though I had a stern family and I take constructive criticism well, that other students of different backgrounds may take this more harshly as discouraging so I have to analyze my approach better both formally and informally.

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A passage that stood out to me in the reading is, “the one-size-fits-all approach is not viable option for increasing the achievement of CLD students.” Since we have an ever changing student populations with many different social economic backgrounds and cultures. Teacher need to me more culturally aware and view student’s behaviors differently. For example in some cultures children are not supposed to call out their answers unless being first acknowledge by an adult. In some group assignments in American classrooms that is something that is expected of our students. A student that doesn’t call out may be seen as not interested, or not understanding the material. Teachers need to gain better cultural awareness of the students in the classroom.

After reading this article I have a better understanding of how important it is for me as a soon to become teacher to have a better understanding of my own biases, and awareness of my own culture. And understand that my viewpoints are not as stated in the article “not universal nor are their cultural norms absolute”. Understanding that how I view student’s behavior and social skills can affect how I teach my classroom. As well as not punishing students for as stated in the article looking away, since that might something that is viewed as respectful and in our culture viewed as being disrespectful. Instead of punishing students we need to teach the students how to engage. Do role playing with the students.

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The quote that stood out to me was about Ms. Andrews, "She needs to cultivate greater cultural awareness and understanding so that she can socialize her students in appropriate classroom behavior: When she becomes more culturally competent and skilled, Ms. Andrews can raise her expectations for both her students and herself." I chose this quote because it shows that an assessment of skills and expectations exists not only for the students but also for the teacher. Ms. Andrews needs to better her understanding of cultural awareness to more effectively achieve the desired behavior and raise expectations in her classroom.
This can connect with my students because I have taught in a classroom where there are different cultures present and as a teacher you have to be respectful to those students. It can even be things you don't think are important but are to them, such as their head wear or how they do or do not make eye contact. Also teachers should not make culturally insensitive jokes or comments, more teachers should become more socially aware.
The implications of this entering the school year for me are that I will do my best to make my classroom an open and safe place for all students. I will be more culturally aware than I have been in the past and will hold myself to higher expectations, thus allowing for my students to achieve higher expectations. I will do my best to accomplish these goals I have set forth.

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1. A quote that stood out to me comes from the section titled “Effective Instruction Within Culturally Responsive Classrooms.”  On p/ 358 the authors explain, “The first instructional principle that enhances student achievement is active student responding.  Greenwood, Hart, Walker, and Risley (1994) argued that the skill gaps of poor CLD students in urban schools are at least partly a function of fewer opportunities for active academic student responding.”  This passage stood out to me because it is not a sign that I would have thought to look for primarily in assessing my own students.  The thought that some students are just shy immediately crossed my mind.  However, as explained, active student responding is crucial to enhance academic achievement in CLD students who, as research has shown, spend significantly less time each day actively engaged in their academics.  I like the suggestion of using response cards and choral responding to increase students’ active engagement.

2. I have worked with teachers who make it a point to engage each student in the every class.  We have relatively small class sizes at my school, so this is something that can be done in each class.  I understand that these teachers aren’t just employing these strategies for no reason, but I never realized there was such a strong relationship between active engagement and academic achievement.  I have also seen teachers telling student ahead of time which question they were going to be asked to answer, giving them ample time to prepare themselves and reduce the anxiety of sharing before the class.

3. This article really stresses how important it is to actively create a culturally responsive classroom.  Working to better understand the backgrounds of my students will be something I take with me into the school year.  I understand that CDL students have an uphill battle academically speaking and will work to promote a fair level of equity when creating a positive classroom environment.  I will certainly keep in mind “the need to view students’ behaviors within a cultural context” when dealing with my students day in and day out.

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"teachers who understand culturally different behaviors respond in ways that appropriately and proactively accept or redirect student's behaviors when necessary" this quote stood out to me the most because traditional teaching and discipline is no longer effective in today's classrooms.
I was previously in a summer school setting of high school students and they were always in their cellphones. The co-teacher seemed to not have any behavioral plans in place in regards to cellphones. Given the understanding that it was summer school and most students don't even though they didn't want to be there in the first place. These students were so immune to being in their phones and the teachers telling to put their phones away they didn't even care at a certain point. Some students would put it away for a few seconds just to get us off there shoulder and then by the time you circle back around the classroom those same students are still in their phone. Reinforcing rules are very tedious and it takes time from instruction however, I believe it all depends on how you approach students. The traditional way is everyone gets the same discipline. This is no longer effective in classrooms today.

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After reading the article, “Culturally Responsive Classrooms For Culturally Diverse Students With and At Risk for Disabilities,” the following quote stood out to me: “Essentially, our actions toward young people can help them think of themselves as achievers or potential failures” (Gwendolyn & Lefki, 2008, p. 354) This quote stood out to me because as an aspiring special educator, I want to instill motivation and have high expectations for my students. When we have high expectations for our students, they have high expectations for themselves. CLD students who are at risk for disabilities need teachers to provide relevant experiences to encourage them to enjoy learning and stay in school. These students should be able to set goals for themselves early on, in order for them to work hard and stay motivated. As teachers, if we encourage our students to set high achieving goals for themselves, they will see that we believe in them and they should also believe in themselves.

This summer, I was teaching ELL students to read and write the English language. During my time with these students, I learned that setting high expectations for them was very important. Our summer project was to create books about animals, using sentences the students developed on their own. Initially, they were skeptical of their abilities to do this and saw this as a big challenge. I made sure to encourage them by reassuring to them that I believed they were authors inside.  I also told them that they could write about their cultural background in the “About the Author” section. Eventually, the students started to believe and perceive themselves as authors, and were much more excited to work on their books. At the end of the summer, each student was excited to present their book to their parents. This experience was a perfect example of how our words and actions toward our students affect how they view themselves.

As I enter the school year, I will implement more culturally responsive practices into my classroom such as immediate feedback, curriculum based measurements and a brisk instructional pace. I will make sure to provide immediate feedback for my students; so that they are able to correct their mistakes the first time they make them, and prevent future mistakes. Curriculum based measurements will allow me to distinguish between ineffective instruction and unacceptable student performance, leading to differentiated instruction or a different approach of teaching the curriculum. Lastly, research has supported that a fast paced or brisk instruction can help CDL students learn material faster. I can incorporate this technique when learning vocabulary and/or identifications. All of these techniques will be extremely useful and will enable me to provide a culturally responsive classroom for my students.

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The article titled “Culturally Responsive Classrooms for Culturally Diverse Students With and At Risk for Disabilities” examines effective classroom practices for teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. Populations of minority and high-risk for disabilities students have historically had unequal access to a quality education. In particular, English language learners (ELLs) have the highest dropout and poverty rate than any other population of students. This article aims to counter the unproductive “one size fits all” approach with a differentiated and culturally responsive approach to close the achievement gap that exists within the CLD population. The quote “For self-understanding, teachers need to recognize their own ethnocentrism and bias and realize that their worldview is not universal nor are their cultural norms absolute”(pg.352)stood out to me because it brings to light an important barrier to successful instruction for CLD students. Teachers who cannot understand and relate to their students will not be effective in teaching those students. Cultural biases within teachers widens the achievement gap that some CLD students face. Teachers who place unsuccessful labels on students can instill pessimism within the student, which decreases their motivation to succeed and increases their motivation to misbehave. This is why it is important to recognize biases and be culturally responsive, so that we may encourage our students to have long term goals. Self-reflecting on your beliefs and biases can help you modify your thinking and instruction to better suit the needs of the students. All students have the right to an equitable education and cultural biases are one major barrier for students obtaining that right.

In my experience as a substitute teacher, I have encountered many CLD students. Two methods I used to promote a learning environment for these students was building personal relationships and setting high expectations. For example, with ENL students, I always tried to relate to their culture by learning their native language and their cultural norms. Often, I would have the students teach me their native language and would even sing along with them to their favorite songs. I found that these methods help the students accept me and build a strong trusting relationship with the students. Although the students trusted me, I noticed some students who struggled with the new language would be timid and would have low expectations of themselves. For these students I would help them feel more comfortable taking risks by attempting to use their home language. Students typically would see me trying their language and mimic that in English. I always set high expectations for these students because it instills intrinsic motivation that they need to undergo successful inquire-based learning.

After reading the article I have learned many more techniques that can help me teach CLD students more effectively come September. I plan on implementing more activities that require active participation or student responses. Such techniques include response cards, guided notes, choral calling, and comprehension cards. With this being said, it’s important to correct errors when they first occur with positive reinforcement to minimize future errors. Also, I plan on putting more emphasis on finding the most effective pacing for my classroom. If my classroom is paced incorrectly, students can fall behind material which can have lasting effects on the effectiveness of future lessons. It is important to accurately assess each student to know when it is the right time to move on to the next lesson. By incorporating these techniques alongside previous techniques I have used before, I can ensure that I create a culturally responsive classroom that places my students in the most positive learning environment.

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What stood out from this article was that is was written in 2008. I'd Like to change the narrative from culturally Responsive, to Culturally embracing and celebrating our students. When we think of cultural diversity we are thinking about nationality and  heritage, which is a valuable component to education and should not be dismissed. However, Culture extends beyond that; Sports is a culture, music is a culture, youtube, Instagram and Snapchat are cultures.

Embracing cultural differences to me and in my classroom extend beyond what language students speak and what side dish is common at the dinner table, (Tostones is my cultures side dish).

The way we respond to cultures in my classroom is by creating new ones that are inclusive for all students, we take all our differences and turn them into similarities for example my small groups are named after students favorite sport teams; Cavs, Lakers, Giants, GSW, etc. We play different music genres in our classroom, (BTS is actually really good), and we watch this show called "chicken girls" on youtube, which I personally don't enjoy but it is not always what I want to hear, however I embrace it and accept it and even learned the dance.

We have talent shows on Fridays, were students get to show off their non mathematical talents. Student choice projects where they can present on whatever they want with the only condition being that it has to connect to a mathematical concept learned in class.

Our culture is not all about being a low income African-American, and our parents not speaking English. I'd like to broaden our perspectives on culture and redirect the narrative.

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The quote from the article, "Culturally Responsive Classrooms for Culturally Diverse Students with and at Risk for Disabilities," that stands out most to me is: "All teachers, regardless of their racial and ethnic background, need to have self-awareness, they need to know about their own and other cultured, and they need to understand how their beliefs and biases can affect their teaching (Gay, 2002)."

I think this quote encapsulates the philosophy of becoming a culturally responsive teacher. No matter how open-minded or caring we are, we all have histories and schema that we walk into the classroom with. It can be difficult to discuss race, ethnicity, and biases with our colleagues, but I believe it is such an important conversation to start. My school has not had enough of these conversations, and I am looking forward to our August PD, so I can work with me fellow teachers to enact some of the processes we have been reading about this week. I know I want to create a more caring and inclusive environment in my classroom this year, and I think given the information and tools, my colleagues will be determined as well. This article, as well as the articles from Wednesday's task sheet, are important to share with my colleagues. Our school is so diverse, and I think we need to do a better job of using culturally responsive pedagogy to meet the needs of our CLD and ELL students.

The article outlines many important culturally responsive strategies to use in the classroom. One idea that stands out to me is student responding in culturally responsive classrooms. As I prepare to begin the new school year, I want to make sure I am using strategies that ensure CLD learners have opportunities to interact in the classroom. Many CLD students from low-income households lack home-based exposure to literacy experiences, and fewer opportunities for active academic responding at school. The article suggests using tools such as response cards, guided notes, and choral reading (Cartledge & Kourea, 2008, p. 8). I definitely want to use strategies for increasing student engagement, especially with my CLD students. Last year, I often felt like the same handful of students dominated classroom discussions, so I want to set the expectation that it is a whole class discussion from the start this year. Some students will be reluctant to interact, especially ELL and CLD students, so I think using scaffolds and a variety of tools for engagement will be effective. According to Cartledge & Kourea (2008, p. 16), "Empirical evidence indicates that the strategies that provide for clearly specified goals,high rates of academic responding, and progressive monitoring are effective and particularly valuable for CLD learners with or at risk for disabilities."

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One passage that stood out to me while reading Culturally Responsive Classrooms for Culturally Diverse Students With and At Risk for Disabilities was “For culturally responsive teaching, Howard (2003) theorized that teachers need to engage in critical teacher reflection. He advised that teachers should confront themselves relative to race and social justice to see how their beliefs and behaviors affect their teaching.”  I found it to be a great reminder that in order to create a culturally responsive classroom, teachers need to take inventory of their own beliefs and attitudes towards culture, race and behavior. We need to be able to objectively look at ourselves , and our practices to see what role we are playing in our students’  behavior, and what messages we may be inadvertently sending to the students Have we really created a culturally responsive classroom culture, where we know and understand where all our students and their behaviors are coming from, or do we just think we have?  Did we really succeed in achieving in creating a learning environment that was welcoming, empathetic, and nonjudgmental from the students’ perspective? I spent last year in a racially and culturally diverse Title 1 middle school in Harlem. There were a few occasions where I had conversations with students who felt they were being treated unfairly or harshly especially from a behavioral standpoint because of their race. Many stated that they did not like going to a specific class because the felt the teacher was a racist and did not like students of color which was the majority of the school population. I know projecting racism was not that teacher’s intent but somehow his classroom culture and classroom management style translated into many students feeling that they were not “liked” or understood by the teacher because of their race. Going forward in my classroom I am going to take the time to get to know my students on an individual basis to better understand their behaviors and learning style before reacting to behaviors and try to get a feel for how they feel in my classroom.

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The passage that stood out to me most was, “For self-understanding, teachers need to recognize their own ethnocentrism and bias and realize that their worldview is not universal nor are their cultural norms absolute” (353).  It reminded me of when I first began my teaching career at a school in North Carolina and I taught students who were from white, middle class families.  When I moved to California my students were mostly Hispanic and now teaching in New York my students are exclusively students of color.  I had a lot of work to do in recognizing my own biases and ethnocentrism.  I remember an IEP meeting where the father of my student was present at the meeting but did not give any input and didn’t even look at me when I spoke.  He was a Hispanic man and I thought that he was being disrespectful to me and displaying apathy towards his daughter’s education.  In reality, he was showing me respect by following my recommendations and trusting my input.  I had to take a step back and realize that we are from different backgrounds and showing respect doesn’t look the same to everyone.  The lesson I learned from this father has encouraged me to reflect on the behavior of my students and their families and to think about cultural differences before interpreting someone’s behavior.  At my current school, I will be teaching a new class of students that I haven’t taught before.  I will make sure to get to know them and their families at the beginning of the year so I can incorporate their culture, history, and traditions into my classroom. This will help build strong relationships and encourage student engagement.

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1. "As our society increases in diversity, teachers and other school personnel have a corresponding need to increase in their understanding of the integral relationship between culture and social behavior
and the need to view students' behaviors within a cultural context." I think it is important to note that while our school populations are becoming more diverse, the need for more diverse teacher population is in high demand. While studies show that teachers are still predominately white women, it's is crucial that we vary not only race and gender, but most importantly the backgrounds and experiences of the teachers.

2. I am a clear statistic of being a white woman teacher, but my background is much different than those of fellow white female teachers. I come from a blue-collar family from working class, and I went a low-funded public school in Georgia. Our curriculum and materials were outdated, sexist, and antiquated. My experiences with the public school system isn't necessary a bad one, but is definitely isn't that of a positive nature either. I'm hoping to relate to my students with being more culturally aware of other students as well as my own personal biases that I may hold due to my background or assumptions that I may carry.

3. My students have a VERY different background than myself. They hold different experiences of school than myself, and are also significantly younger and in a completely different time in their life. I am hoping that I will be able to hone the ability to understand all of the different facets and factors in these student's lives while somehow simultaneously self-reflecting on my own.

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From the article “Culturally Responsive Classrooms for Culturally Diverse Students with and at Risk for Disabilities” by Gwendolyn Cartledge and Lefki Kourea, a passage that stood out was “As our society increases in diversity, teachers and other school personnel have a corresponding need to increase in their understanding of the integral relationship between culture and social behavior and the need to view students’ behaviors within a cultural context.  Children who differ from the mainstream both physically and culturally are at risk for having their actions misperceived and judged unfairly”.

I can make a connection with the reading to my own students.  I vow to be as open minded and understanding that not all my students have the same resources as one another, not every student will be engaged with the content because of cultural differences and lack of understanding of the content, and not every student has a role model to look up to.  My goal is to push all my students to better themselves whether it is through differentiated instruction, better classroom management techniques, or restorative practices but I will never give up on any of my students.  I will be as understanding as I can and will connect my culture with my students’ cultures to create a diverse classroom that opens any barrier or walls that students have put up.  Most importantly I want all my students to realize that they matter, not just within the classroom but to the world and instead of discouraging cultural beliefs we must encourage one another to defeat stereotypes.

An implication this might have as I enter into the new school year is not knowing exactly where to begin, how to begin, and what to begin to encourage students and other teachers to be more open minded and welcoming to the idea of a diversified classroom.  As a new teacher, it is very difficult nailing down teaching, classroom management skills, and implementing new ideas, however, my goal is to help all my students be successful so I must find strategies to make a better classroom.

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Module 16 - Article Response - Clement Salomon

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Module 16 - Article Response - Clement Salomon

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1. The passage that particularly drew my attention in the article titled, "Culturally Responsive Classrooms for culturally diverse students with and at risk for Disabilities", is the following one: "To be successful in teaching CLD students with and at risks for disabilities, teachers need to master the skills of effective instruction. Empirical evidence indicates that the strategies that provide for clearly specified goals, high rates of academic responding, and progressive monitoring are effective and particularly valuable for CLD learners with or at risk for disabilities. As described previously, effective instruction enables teachers to be focused, clearly directed, and systematic in their teaching. Teachers of CLD students need preparation in this methodology, and these competencies should be key criteria for determining highly qualified teachers" (p.365).

2. I can clearly pinpoint, from this past year teaching mostly (if not almost only) CLD students who struggle with (sometimes multiple) disabilities or are more likely to develop one or many, how culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices are extremely effective and how the key criteria for determining highly qualified teacher should be based on mastering such practices in the classroom. Indeed, CLD students represent an ever increasing percentage of the U.S student population, particularly in urban education setting (with ELLS comprising the fastest growing subgroup). Furthermore, CLD students, as students from racial/ethnic minority group and linguistic minority groups (i.e., those speaking native languages other than English} are unfortunately very often the ones that are not receiving the services and supports they much need to be successful in schools. I have witnessed so many times how CLD students are overtly represented in special education programs, whereas they could have been provided preemptively with Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions (within the context of a school-wide PBIS). Additionally, CLD students (including in particular ELLs) who are struggling with disabilities see their opportunities to cognitive and behavioral abilities being severely limited or non-existent because of historical and continuing educational inequity. As a result of their cognitive and behavioral growth being stunted, they are often left in the position of dependent learners, unable to achieve their full potential.

3. After being exposed this summer intensively to CRT teaching and curriculum practices, I strongly long to successfully become overtime what educator Judith Kleinfeld (1975) had labeled a " warm demander" (she was describing the style of the most effective teachers with Inuit and Native Indian students from small rural villages attending urban schools in Alaska).In a nutshell, a "warm demander" is able to increase the engagement and efforts of students who have disengaged because they are English learners and/or have felt like outsider in the classroom, which most of my CLD students have expressed directly or indirectly. A "Warm demander" will display "personal warmth" coupled with "active demandingness". Put it in simpler words, a "warm demander" will show care and push at different times to his/her students: he/she will focus explicitly on building rapport and trust with his/her students and expresse warm demeanors towards students through non-verbal markers. he/she will further show personal regard and interest to his/her students (e.g., by inquiring about important people and events in students' lives) and eventually earn the right to demand high levels effort end engagement from his/her students. He/she will hold high standards for learning but offer emotional support and instructional  scaffolding to dependent learners when challenging tasks and activities are asked from them. Ultimately such teachers as "warm demanders" ought to be very competent with the technical side of instruction, which form the basis as a criterion for being highly qualified teachers. I am aware that it represents a lot to develop and grow into but it should be regarded at the horizon we strive to reach.

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A quote that stood out to me was, “Educators frequently associate disciple with punishment, but culturally responsive disciplined environments are places where students learn to become disciplined, so that discipline becomes something that students possess rather than something imposed on them” (Cartledge & Kourea, 2008, pg362). This quote is so important because it removes the idea that punishment is the only answer and that to move these students academically we must motivate them to do the right thing by showing them.

I can connect what I’ve read with my students by realizing that something that has been a constant in all the readings for this class is the necessity to be self-reflective and in particular to this article, to be culturally responsive. I consider myself to be very lucky in that I am a Latina woman and me and my students share much in common. I can speak the language their parents speak however I think to be even more purposeful and deliberate in understanding my students I need to realize even if we share the same culture, we have experienced different upbringing and situations.

As I enter the school year I need to be empathetic and open to the different norms in every culture. Knowing that when a child doesn’t look you in the eye it isn’t because they don’t respect you, but they have been taught form their culture to treat adults with respect by not looking at them directly in the eyes. Being different is okay and I need to be open minded because my “typical” isn’t everyone else’s.

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"Aronson reports that numerous studies have verified the hypothesis of stereotype threat. He recommends that classrooms for affected CLD students emphasize cooperative structures rather than competitive ones. He also advises teaching students that intelligence is not a fixed entity; instead, student can stretch their abilities and performances through effort and hard work" (p.360).

Students need to understand that there should not be limits to their learning or their educational experience just because of their color, race or background. These “threats” can alter their perception of how they can learn or how they are treated by their teachers, and it is simply unfair to them. We as teachers need to make sure our classroom environment supports everyones learning, and that students and their peers learn to work together, not against each other.
The idea of their brain expanding and growing with hard work and dedication can also enhance CLD students’ outlook on their learning experiences and give them that confidence that they are smart, and are capable!
I know when my eighth graders during student teaching felt upset that they could not understand something as quick as their peers I encouraged them by telling them a story from when I struggled in class. I told them that their brains are still developing and their minds are still continuing to grow and prosper and that at some moments in time some things may be harder to learn than others, but it is our perseverance that keeps us strong…seems corny but young students need any type of motivation they can get! Especially if it is as relatable as Ms. L failing a math test.

With my students for this coming year, I will strive to create a cooperative learning environment for them to work with their peers..and actually enjoy it. I want my students to support each other and help each other, and not compete for grades but to motivate each other. Every student will be given an equitable opportunity in my classroom, with no stereotypes or bias at hand. It may be difficult but it is something to always be working towards.

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“As teachers become increasingly aware of the critical role that they can play

in helping CLD students with disabilities, the students may become more adaptive in their behavior and more successful in school, although researchers have not yet empirically documented this outcome. Not only are culturally responsive teachers caring, but they are also resourceful, persistent, and committed to their students. They try out a variety of strategies in the interest of their students until they achieve the desired results”. This quote stands out in that it places great importance on the effects that an understanding teacher can have on the behavioral and academic growth of their students. Trying to understand students communicates care for them and makes it so that a teacher can find the best way to reach that student.

I have always grown up and gone to school in a place rich with cultural diversity. I frequently express my gratitude for where I come from, because it exposed me to an array of cultures and has made me compassionate and responsive to the differences around me. In my most recent position I traveled from classroom to classroom and noticed the phenomenon that Hispanic students were frequently placed right up front or their desks were separated from their peers. Teachers were clear that they were disruptive in class and this was the only way to get them under control. I was told to “keep an eye” on those students. While I agree that some of these students posed particular challenges in the classroom, I also think there has to be a better way to encourage positive behaviors and discourage negative behaviors without othering that student. After reading this article I wonder what steps those teachers took to better understand that students behavior and what support that student could have received in order to progress behaviorally and academically. At the time I felt sympathy for the aspect of shame that they receive from being pushed away from the rest of the class. I wonder what having had a partner to keep them on task may have meant for them or what changes in the way they were taught could have benefitted them.

In terms of the coming school year I will try to be aware of my own cultural biases and the ways in which I can be a more understanding and encouraging educator. I have always felt the connections we build with our students can change everything for them. I hope to develop an understanding of my students through personal interactions and getting to know their families and interests as well. From that understanding, develop the best methods for communicating the curriculum with my students. I absolutely believe in the capacity of students to learn from one another and am going to encourage that they work with their peers. Once I have a better understanding of my students strengths and weaknesses, I hope to pair my students with a partner that is best suited to encourage their development both socially and academically.

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“CLD students with and at risk for disabilities need experiences that encourage them to persist with school and other worthwhile endeavors. Wynn (1992) contended that teachers' words are powerful and that "we can affirm success or we can affirm failure by what we say" (p. 97). Essentially, our actions toward young people can help them think of themselves as achievers or potential failures. Wynn advises educators to help young people think of themselves as achievers by identifying extraordinary goals.”

I can implement this with future students by always being positive with them. We have all heard horror stories about past teachers who left a negative mark on our educational experience. On top of my head immediately I can remember my 4th grade teacher who constantly belittled me because of my dyslexia. It is now 16 years later and I still haven’t forgotten.  If we inspire our students to embrace education, and treasure if we can set our students up for success. If we have a negative effect on our students they will begin to hate education, and may not aspire to advance their education in the future.

As this school year begins, and I continue as a substitute I will still continue to remain positive with all the students are meet. Even as a substitute we are leaving that classroom which some sort of impact. This impact is probably minimal or not existent by we still need to create a positive learning experience for all students.

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The quote that stood out to me was "For self-understanding, teachers need to recognize their own ethnocentrism and bias and realize that their worldview is not universal nor are their cultural norms absolute (Weinstein, Tomlinson, Clarke, & Curran, 2004). All teachers, regardless of their racial and ethnic background, need to have self awareness, they need to know about their own and other cultures, and they need to understand how their beliefs and biases can affect their teaching" (Gay 2002). I chose this passage because it is so important for teachers to accept all cultures and views of students. Part of school is for students to express their ideas and thoughts. Teachers need to accept students for who they are and understand and respect their ideas. While student teaching, the school I worked at was very culturally diverse even though in one city. This school had students from the suburbs, city, and country areas. All of these students had different ideas and views on the world. It was up to me to create an atmosphere where all students can feel safe to express themselves. The implications I will have as I enter this years classroom, is start off by asking about the students and their background. I want to see what their interest are and what their home life is like. In addition, I will come into school with an open mind and positive attitude. This will help show the students I respect their ideas and culture. I will create problems based on their interest so they are engaged. I will have good rapport with my students and make sure they feel supported everyday.

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After reading the article, respond to the following questions:

1. What was a quote or passage that stood out to you?
2. How can you connect what you've read with your own students (past or present)?
3. What implications might this have as you enter in to this school year?

**Respond to at least two of your colleagues!**

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i guess is about making a adecision because in the poem it is saying be happy, do good so is giving someone else advice about life