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Growth in Learners: A reluctant speaker can now share their thoughts and explain their strategy to peers.

Change in Educators: Adjusting to a new grading system

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Every kid needs a champion | Rita Pierson | TED

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Learners typically have to adjust to change. Something new is always rocky at first and requires consistency and practice. Learners may feel a variety of emotions when change occurs. Learners may feel excited, nervous, or even resistant. Learners will need a time period to adapt to and practice new routines before stabilizing.

Educators may feel stressed, uncertain, or curious about change. Especially when trying new instructional strategies or adapting district expectations. Instructional shifts that occur include experimenting with what is working or even just giving a change or an adjustment period. When I try something new and it's not working perfectly right away, I want to go back to the old method. However, change requires patience.

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Change is what happens when things do not stay the same. Change is inevitable. Change can also be positive or negative. Things change whether we want them to or not.

The definition of growth is something that has grown or is growing. Growth is seen as a positive. Growth is an optional experience. It is something that starts internally.

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6 Ways Change & Growth Differ – Which Do You Need? | Danielle Bernock

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Change and growth are not the same. What if your happiness depends on which you choose – to change or grow? How do you decide which you need?

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Change for learners can mean getting a new teacher, being introduced to procedures and expectations, or following a new schedule.

Change for educators can mean using a new curriculum, teaching content in a new way, or teaching a different grade level.

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Growth for learners = building their skills and level of effort, participation, and engagement.

Growth for Educators = reflection and differentiating for all learners using innovation and best practices

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6 Ways to Help Children Embrace Change | Connections Academy®

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Change for kids can be difficult. Here are 6 ways parents can teach their children to handle change and some coping with change activities for kids.

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Navigate and Embrace Change | Simon Sinek

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The Mindset of a Champion | Carson Byblow | TEDxYouth@AASSofia

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Educators can guide students through change and support growth by building a safe classroom environment. When students feel safe and seen in their classroom, they are more willing to try new and "hard" things. Educators can also encourage students to set and track their goals as well as their own data. This gives students accountability and something to work toward. Providing specific feedback and recognition of effort are also ways to guide students through change.

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Building Resilience: A Vital Skill for Students - The Global College

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In this blog post, we will explore what resilience is, why it is crucial for students, and how to develop and harness this invaluable trait.

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Growth for educators is reflection and seeking ongoing professional development or strategies for best reaching our students. Educators can seek growth by attending PD workshops and trainings and participating in professional learning communities. This allows educators to learn from other educators or even come up with new ideas together. Educators can also seek out educational research, journals, or texts related to their content area.

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Growth or change does not look the same in every school, classroom, or community. Culture and experiences shape how we respond to change and growth. The area in which we live also determine what changes are possible or may occur. We have to learn our students and build rapport with parents and the community in order to be able to adapt and embrace change.

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Most educators acknowledge that a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching is ineffective, and a more student-centered approach is necessary for student success. Culturally responsive teaching incorporates and centers unique student experiences and identities, supporting educators to build learning partnerships that result in increased student engagement and ownership of learning.

But what exactly is culturally responsive teaching?

Based on Gloria Ladson-Billings' 1994 culturally relevant pedagogy framework, culturally responsive teaching refers to an approach to teaching and learning that facilitates the achievement of all students by recognizing that culture is a powerful force in shaping how we see ourselves and the world around us. In a culturally responsive classroom, reflective teaching and learning occur in a culturally supported, learner-centered context, whereby the strengths students bring to school are identified, nurtured, and utilized to promote student achievement. When students feel seen, heard, and understood, they are more likely to engage in the learning process and achieve success.

Zaretta Hammond, in her book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, defines Culturally Responsive Teaching as "an educator's ability to recognize students' cultural displays of learning and meaning making and respond positively and constructively with teaching moves that use cultural knowledge as a scaffold to connect what the students know to new concepts and content in order to promote effective information processing. All the while, the educator understands the importance of being in relationship and having a social-emotional connection to the student in order to create a safe space for learning."

Components of Culturally Responsive Teaching

In Beyond Flesh-Colored Crayons: The Four Components of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy , Hammond lists the four key components for culturally responsive pedagogy as follows:

1. Affirmation - I recognize and accept you as you are. I understand and nurture your multiple identities and none of these aspects of you are in conflict to me.

2. Validation - Validate students' experience of the world by acknowledging the socio-political context we live in. Teach the truth about power, politics, history, and context in developmentally appropriate ways, and use these issues as tools of instruction and discourse.

3. Cognition - Use students' culture as a reference point for helping them understand concepts. This is where learning theory, neuroscience and culturally responsive teaching all meet up.

4. Processing - Help students "hold on to it." Learn about the neuroscience of information processing to support students in internalizing content to the level of automaticity. Call and response, music, movement, and storytelling are all culturally relevant ways to create neural pathways.

What Culturally Responsive Teaching IS / IS NOT

Culturally responsive teaching is:

a bridge between home and school life,

affirming of students' history and culture, and

centering student voices and learning styles in all lessons and classroom experiences.

Culturally responsive teaching is not:

confusing race and culture as being the same thing,

only about motivating students of color,

relying on a single method to engage students within the lesson,

mastering the details of every culture, and

just adding Black (or other groups') history to the curriculum.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching - National Equity Project

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When we attend to healing, we expand our ability for ourselves, our organizations, and our movements to evolve and grow. Learn why healing is capacity building!