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This article specifies what teachers can do to make all students feel most comfortable in the classroom. Teachers should learn about the cultures and communities of their students, learn how to properly pronounce names, and some native language when possible.

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Our students bring their cultures with them into our rooms. Each one is unique and important. How we use them in instruction is up to us.

Students come to us with varied experiences. Even students with little or no education have had experiences. They may not be the same experiences we have had. Their experiences may be with cooking, growing crops, or with livestock. Those rich, hands-on experiences are useful too, and we can all benefit from them.

When we respond as educators to our students' cultures, we understand that cultural differences are assets. We can learn from one another.

Since culture is a huge part of a person's identity, when we include student culture in daily instruction, we teach the whole child. We empower the child to capitalize on their uniqueness and individualism. And we foster a love of diversity.

Culturally responsive teaching is not about one day of celebrating a certain culture. It's about daily practices that bring students' cultures into instruction, valuing each student and what they bring, teaching them as people first in order to maximize their potential as students.

Culturally responsive teaching is:

using students' cultural experiences in daily instruction.

embracing native language and students' families as assets.

creating a classroom environment that represents and respects all students.

communicating clear high expectations for everyone.

In the classroom, here's what this might look like:

Before you can tap into a student's culture, you must first know them well. Learning about your students is the key to culturally responsive teaching. And it goes beyond the permanent record folder. It includes talking with students, asking them questions, truly knowing about their family life, history, and experiences. Then you can look for ways to use the assets of various cultures to enhance what you are teaching. Let's say your students are about to start a unit on rocks and formation, and you know that one of the student's parents used to be a geologist in their home country. You could invite them to be a guest speaker. We also tap into culture when we encourage our English language learners to use their native language as a resource. Encouraging ELLs to read, write and speak in their native language allows them to hold on to their culture and bridges languages.

Look around your room. What do the walls and resources say? Do they represent the students they serve? Are there resources readily available to support translation for students needing language support? Students should be able to see themselves in the faces on the posters. Their classwork should proudly be displayed on the walls. And books of all types should be available for choice reading. Diversity in text should be represented.

When students feel they have a voice in the classroom, they take ownership of their learning and are more successful. Provide students with the opportunity to learn about one another, ask questions, and get to know classmates. Actively engage students in learning with lessons that are relevant and compelling. Lessons with less teacher lecture and more student engagement and collaboration will send a message to students that their voices are valued.

In the classroom, here's what this might sound like:

As simple as it may seem, it is super important. Names are attached to identity. They are words a child has heard consistently since birth. It's a shame when a child feels forced to create a new name because they feel that their new society can't pronounce their given name. Take the time to ask each student what they prefer to be called and how to pronounce the name correctly. It may take practice, but it will be worth it.

Imagine moving to the Philippines and not knowing Tagalog. Everything is written in Tagalog and all you hear is a language you've never heard before. Now imagine that your teacher learns a few words in English and says them to you. Maybe she says "Hello" or "Welcome." Whatever it is, imagine the feeling it would evoke. Perhaps comfort? When students are new to the country and speak little or no English, learning a few words in their native languages helps form a connection, shows that we care, and comforts them.

Teachers that employ culturally responsive teaching understand that setting high expectations for ALL of their students is critical. Lowering expectations for ELLs or other students is not an option. English learners are not given less to do; rather they are given equal access to grade-level curriculum with scaffolds and accommodations to support linguistic needs and level the playing field. Once students no longer need scaffolds, they are removed. Student progress is monitored and goals are set for each student.

Culturally responsive teachers understand that being bilingual is a true asset for the student both socially and globally. Growing the bilingual brain is of utmost importance. Teachers who embrace culturally responsive teaching build a classroom community that embraces languages and literacy of all types. Literacy in the native language is valued and encouraged. It is not uncommon to hear students talking and sharing in languages other than English in a classroom that is culturally responsive.

Culturally responsive teaching is not a strategy. It's more of mindset for teaching that embraces, values, and incorporates culture into daily instruction in order for learning to connect with students. Students feel valued, respected, and linked with instruction.
Valentina Gonzalez is a Professional Development Specialist for ELLs in Katy, Texas. Her 20 years of teaching experience include teaching in the classroom as well as serving as an ESL specialty teacher and district program facilitator.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching in Today's Classrooms - NCTE

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Our students bring their cultures with them into our rooms. Each one is unique and important. How we use them in instruction is up to us. Students come to us with varied experiences. Even students with little or no education have had experiences. They may not be the same experiences we have had.

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This article outlines why teachers need to help break the "pedagogy of poverty" that often affects marginalized groups. This article shows support of culturally responsive teaching because it allows students to take control of their own education and become more independent.

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This article provides different ways to bring culturally responsive teaching into the classroom. some ways include open and positive classroom communication, holding all students to the same standards, learning about new cultures, and observing student interaction.

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Access videos, whitepapers, eBooks, webinars, blogs, infographics, case studies, demos and more in our resource hub to support your success.

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This video describes an activity that poses students with a series of situations and students need to decide what decision they would make in each instance. Students then discuss why they made their decision. This helps students make the best choices in difficult situations and be better equipped for future situations.

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This activity teaches students about solving conflict. It involves role play to demonstrate four different communication styles. The students then learn how to better communicate and solve conflict among their peers.

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Attitude Latitudes

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 3
(Understands that interactions among learning, inheritance, and physical development affect human behavior)

What You Need: Three worksheets: Introvert or Extrovert, Optimist or Pessimist, X-Y graph
What to Do: Ask students what it means to have an attitude. Though they'll likely think it's a matter of having a good or a bad attitude, define attitude as one's "readiness to act or react in a certain way."

Have students describe how they act or react in different situations. Does their attitude change from situation to situation? Hand out the Introvert or Extrovert and Optimist or Pessimist worksheets for students to find out how they rank. Then, have them figure out their "attitude latitudes" on the third worksheet (an X-Y graph). Students will graph their introversion/extroversion score on the horizontal axis and their optimism/pessimism score on the vertical axis to land in one of four quadrants. You might use fictional characters from a book or movie to symbolize each quadrant. (I've used characters from Shrek. You're a "Donkey," for instance, if you're an extroverted optimist.) This will give students some insight into how they relate to other people and how they might harness their energies in the most socially beneficial way.

Brain Freezers

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 3
(Understands that interactions among learning, inheritance, and physical development affect human behavior)

What You Need: Worksheet and answer key
What to Do: How often do your students think about their own thinking? Distribute the Brain Freezers worksheet. Have students work individually or in small groups to answer all of the riddles as quickly as possible. (You might set a time limit, such as 10 or 15 minutes.) When students are done, ask them which riddles were difficult and which were easy. (They will likely say that riddles in the first column were easier.) Invite students to share their answers. As they do so, write the most common responses on the board. After reviewing the answers and explanations using the supplied answer key, ask students if they have changed their minds about which riddles were easy. Elicit that the riddles in the first column seemed easy, but actually should have made them stop and think. Their wrong answers were the result of "fast thinking." Conversely, the riddles in the second column seemed to require a lot of thought, when the solutions were actually simple; "slow thinking" likely bogged them down.

Use this activity as an opportunity to talk about times that "fast thinking" or "slow thinking" got them in trouble: "Fast thinking" can cause you to jump to conclusions, while "slow thinking" can make you dwell too much on problems.

Setting Boundaries

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 2
(Understands various meanings of social group, general implications of group membership, and different ways that groups function)

What You Need: Boundaries worksheet
What to Do: To most students, boundaries are the lines drawn between states or nations. Explain that boundaries also pertain to relationships-rules that tell us what we can and can't do. Talk about the boundaries that apply in families, school, and society. Next, hand out the Boundaries worksheet and talk about the types of rules-rigid (hard-and-fast), clear (firm but appropriate), and fuzzy (inconsistent or nonexistent). Have students work in small groups to evaluate the boundaries listed on the worksheet to determine the type of boundary described in each. Review the answers as a class and discuss what life would be like without boundaries. Are they frustrating but important to have? Work with students to create a list of classroom boundaries, organized by physical (respect one another's space), behavioral (listen respectfully), and academic (turn in work on time).

What Sets You Off?

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 4
(Understands conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions)

What You Need: What Sets You Off? worksheet
What to Do: Managing emotional responses is difficult for many adolescents, who are still developing neurologically-the emotional centers of the brain develop more rapidly than the executive centers.

Hand out the What Sets You Off? worksheet. Have students recall a time when they got really angry and then write down "just the facts" about the incident. Students should detail three different experiences on the worksheet. Then, challenge them to look for patterns as to what sets them off. Have they gotten angry at least twice over the same situation or with the same person? This can reveal that certain people or behaviors (e.g., teasing) act as triggers for them. Likewise, it will help identify "danger zones" for confrontations (the locker room, for instance). When you debrief students' experiences, focus on the suggestion "Don't react! Respond." Discuss the difference (reaction is knee-jerk, while response is something you do after careful thought) and how a response might have de-escalated an encounter.

Resolving Conflicts

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 4
(Understands conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions)

What You Need: Two worksheets: What's Their Attitude? Part I and Part II

What to Do: Introduce students to four communication styles: assertive (standing up for yourself and respecting others), passive (doing anything to avoid conflict), aggressive (standing up for yourself and not caring who gets hurt), and passive-aggressive (secretly angry). Give examples of these styles using characters from a book you've recently read in class.

Hand out the first worksheet, What's Their Attitude? Part I, to learn how these different styles play out in
conflicts. Then, create a fictional disagreement, inviting student volunteers to role-play it. Dissect the conflict by identifying who was involved, what each person wanted, how the individuals communicated what they wanted, and if it was resolved, including who "won." Talk about the different communication styles each actor exhibited.

To wrap up, have students complete the questions at the bottom of the worksheet and on the second worksheet ( What's Their Attitude? Part II) to anticipate how they might best act during a conflict. Refer back to these win-win solutions the next time a disagreement occurs in class.

Adapted from Social & Emotional Learning: Essential Lessons for Student Success.
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Grades 6-8: Social-Emotional Skills | Scholastic

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Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 3 (Understands that interactions among learning, inheritance, and physical development affect human behavior) What You Need: Three worksheets: Introvert or Extrovert, Optimist or Pessimist, X-Y graph What to Do: Ask students what it means to have an attitude.

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This activity asks students to envision themselves in the future and where they see themselves. This relates to social awareness because it allows students to see how others see themselves.  It also allows students to relate to each other and understand how each other feel.

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This article suggests that self management helps learners build independence and can be especially helpful for students with autism spectrum disorders. The articles provides strategies that teach students how to independently manage themselves. Further, it explains how students can identify their target, find reinforcers, and keep record.

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IIDC - Indiana Institute on Disability and Community

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Self-management is a procedure in which people are taught to discriminate their own target behavior and record the occurrence or absence of that target behavior (Koegel, Koegel, & Parks, 1995).

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This article suggests that self awareness of crucial to development. It offers a few different ways for students to become self aware. They can become self aware by keeping a journal, making connections between personal life and course content, meditating, and creating projects around their own lives.

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This is video #6 in my 12-part video series based on my book The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students. In this video you will learn 5 practical strategies for incorporating self-awareness activities in the middle and high school classroom. These 5 strategies include the following ideas:

1. Use self-awareness assessments

2. Let students keep personal journals

3. Connect content to students' personal lives

4. Teach mindfulness meditation

5. Have students create autobiographies

You can watch the video above, or read a transcript of the video below:

''Hi, I'm Dr. Thomas Armstrong, and this is Video #6 in my video series based on my book The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School students (published by ASCD). As part of this series we're looking at eight practices that middle and high school teachers can implement in the classroom, which are in line with recent research concerning how the adolescent brain develops. In this video, we're going to focus on adolescent brain-friendly intervention #2: using self-awareness activities.

One of the hallmarks of adolescence is the development of a deeper sense of self-consciousness. Teens often obsess with how they come across to others. They become sometimes even morbidly self-reflective. They grasp at groups, ideologies, fads, fashions, and trends as ways of defining who they are or who they might be. Erik Erikson, the noted psychoanalyst, who originated the idea of ''identity crisis,'' believed that adolescence was the crucial stage in human development when people work at construct an enduring and coherent sense of self that will serve them well in meeting the challenges and opportunities of life. Erikson said that in the adolescent years there's a struggle taking place between two forces, one that is helping the teen forge that stable identity, and another that is essentially preventing that process from occurring, leaving the teen with what Erikson called ''role diffusion.''

Role diffusion, or what I'd like to call Identity Confusion, happens when the teen fails to create this core sense of self but instead, flounders in a state of bewilderment concerning who he or she is, or creates a negative self-image based on bad or misperceived life experiences, or forges an artificial identity through identification with a gang, a clique, a media star, or some other substandard role model. This, then, can become the negative or muddy identity that they take with them into adulthood, resulting in poor choices concerning work or life partner, poor lifestyle habits such as alcoholism or drug abuse, or increased risk of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.

Neuroscience research suggests that this process of building a sense of identity during adolescence is actually going on in the brain, as evidenced, for example, by a study where teens had their brains scanned while answering statements related to themselves such as ''I like to read just for fun,'' or statements pertaining to some fictional character like Harry Potter. When teens made statements about themselves, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain important for self-reflective processing, lit up, whereas when adults made the same self statements, the lateral temporal cortex, an area of the brain having to do with recall of prior life experiences, lit up. This suggests that teens are actively constructing a sense of self, while adults are recalling their previous experiences of a self they have already created.

In addition, because the prefrontal cortex of the brain doesn't fully mature until the early twenties, while the limbic system or emotional brain matures in early adolescence, the capacity of a teen, especially a young teen, to use mature reasoning to deal with life experiences having to with a sense of self, is severely limited, leaving the limbic system to be the area of the brain that responds to life's challenges, as in this example of a teen who shows up at a formal party in his jeans and a t-shirt, whereas his peers are wearing suits and tuxes. The fully mature limbic system responds emotionally by judging the teen a loser, while the still-maturing prefrontal cortex may not yet be developed enough to understand that this could represent a good learning experience that wouldn't be repeated in the future.

The upshot of all this is that middle and high school teachers should be spending time in the classroom helping the teen in constructing this sense of self through the use of self-awareness activities. Here are five strategies that can help accomplish this goal.

The first strategy is to use self-awareness assessments. There are a wide range of assessments online that teachers can have students take that will assist them in exploring their abilities, capacities, traits, and intelligences. The website Edutopia, for example, run by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, has an online checklist that helps students better understand their multiple intelligences, and there's another one they have for emotional intelligence. Other assessments include the Gallup organization's StrengthsExplorer (available by purchasing the book and receiving an access code), And the VIA Inventory of Strengths for Youth, and developed by the University of Pennsylvania's Positive Psychology program available online for free.

The second self-awareness strategy is to let students keep their own personal journals. Personal journals represent a powerful way for students to engage in a process of self-reflection of their own ideas, feelings, goals, experiences, and aspirations. These journals can be tied directly into the curriculum in different ways. For example, when reading a novel, students might keep a journal representing the life experiences of a favorite character. Or in history class, a journal might be kept as if the student were living in a particular historical era being studied. There are a number of books available to help young people keep journals, including this one by Lucia Capacchione, The Creative Journal for Teens.

The third way to engage self-awareness in the classroom is to connect whatever is being taught to the personal lives, memories, feelings, and experiences of the students. For example, if students in a science class are studying anatomy, the teacher might bring in the skeleton of a dead animal to share and ask students to share their own experiences of finding animal skeletons while out walking in nature. A simple formula I like to use in eliciting personal connections to course content is as follows: ''This of a time in your life when you ____blank. And you fill in the blank with whatever is relevant to what you're teaching at the moment. For example, if the lesson is about the American Revolution, ask your students to ''think of a time in your life when you felt like revolting against authority.'' Or, in algebra, when asking students to ''solve for x, which is an unknown,'', ask students to think of a time in their lives when they confronted an unknown and how they went about solving it.

A fourth way to develop self-awareness in the classroom is to engage students in mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness meditation is a process of becoming aware of one's present life experience. The usual approach to using it involves having students sit comfortably in their seats, close their eyes, and pay attention to their breath, attending to the inflow and the outgo of their breathing for a period of time ranging from 5 to 30 minutes. Distractions will naturally occur during this time. Students are instructed to notice when their mind is distracted by a thought, a feeling, a sensation, or a perception, and then to return their attention to the breath, and to keep on returning to the breath after each and every distraction. Students gradually become aware of the different things going on inside their minds and outside in the world, and this can help them deal with negative emotions, stressful situations, and other life challenges. There are a number of books and guided meditation CDs available on the topic of mindfulness meditation, including this one entitled The Mindful Teen: Powerful Skills to Help You Handle Stress One Moment at a Time.

Finally, a fifth way to build self-awareness in the classroom is to have students create their own autobiographies. The most typical way to create an autobiography is to write one. But there are many other ways in which an autobiography can be constructed. Students can put together a photo collage, a video documentary, a series of drawings or cartoons, a musical autobiography (for example one song per year of life with explanations for their personal significance), or even a multi-act dramatic play.

If you would like more information about providing self-awareness activities at the middle and high school level, or want to know about all eight interventions that are adolescent brain-friendly, get my book The Power of the Adolescent Brain, available through Amazon or other online sources including the publisher ASCD. You can also find the other videos in this series on You Tube.

For more information about my work, read my book The Power of the Adolescent Brain, go to my website: www.institute4learning.com, or contact me at: thomas@institute4learning.com. Thanks so much for your attention. I hope this information helps you appreciate the broad range of strategies that can be used to help teens become more self-aware. This process of building self-awareness will pay dividends as students use their growing sense of self to more confidently confront the challenges of life.''

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5 Ways to Promote Self-Awareness in the Middle and High School Classroom

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This is video #6 in my 12-part video series based on my book The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students. In this video you will learn 5 practical strategies for incorporating self-awareness activities in the middle and high school classroom.

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This article provides a framework for engaging all students of all backgrounds. The article suggests making lessons that students can apply to their own lives.

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This article outlines the 5 key competencies associated with SEL and how they promote academic success.

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What is Social and Emotional Learning?

How do we define social and emotional learning (SEL)? Researchers generally agree upon five key competencies of SEL ( Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor & Schellinger, 2011; Weissberg, Durlak, Domitrovich, & Gullotta, 2016). These competencies provide the foundation for maintaining high-quality social relationships and for responding to the challenges of life.

1. Self-Awareness:

What are my thoughts and feelings?

What causes those thoughts and feelings?

How can I express my thoughts and feelings respectfully?

2. Self-Management:

What different responses can I have to an event?

How can I respond to an event as constructively as possible?

3. Social Awareness:

How can I better understand other people's thoughts and feelings?

How can I better understand why people feel and think the way they do?

4. Relationship Skills:

How can I adjust my actions so that my interactions with different people turn out well?

How can I communicate my expectations to other people?

How can I communicate with other people to understand and manage their expectations of me?

5. Responsible Decision Making:

What consequences will my actions have on myself and others?

How do my choices align with my values?

How can I solve problems creatively?

Learning Outcomes

A meta-analysis of 213 programs, primarily covering three decades of research, found that social and emotional learning interventions that address the competencies listed above increased students' academic performance by 11 percentile points, as compared to students who did not participate in such SEL programs (Durlak et al., 2011). The social and emotional learning programs also reduced aggression and emotional distress among students, increased helping behaviors in school, and improved positive attitudes toward self and others (Durlak et al., 2011). Effective SEL programs addressed the five key competencies listed above, explicitly and sequentially, and used active-learning techniques to engage youth in developing understanding of them. Specific practices and programs shown by multiple, rigorous, peer-reviewed studies to benefit K-12 youth are described on the Evidence-Based Programs page of the SEL research review.

SEL Skills and Academic Success

Relationships and emotional processes affect how and what we learn. By reducing misbehavior and the amount of time spent on classroom management, SEL programs create more time for teaching and learning. SEL also strengthens students' relationships with their peers, families, and teachers, who are mediators, collaborators, and encouragers of academic achievement.

Researchers have documented the importance of caring teacher-student and student-student relationships in fostering students' commitment to school and in promoting academic success (e.g. Blum & Libby, 2004; Hamre & Pianta, 2006; Hawkins, Smith, & Catalano, 2004; Jennings & Greenberg 2009; cited in Durlak, et al., 2011). Safe and orderly environments that encourage and reinforce positive classroom behavior have been identified by research as one of the necessary conditions for academic achievement ( Marzano, 2003).

There are also several person-centered reasons SEL can promote academic success. Self-regulation, the ability to control and manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, has been linked to academic achievement in numerous studies. Students who are more self-aware and confident about their learning capacities try harder and persist in the face of challenges (Aronson, 2002; cited in Durlak et al., 2011; Dweck, Walton, & Cohen, 2014). Students who set high academic goals, have self-discipline, motivate themselves, manage stress, and organize their approach to work learn more and get better grades (Duckworth & Seligman, 2005; Elliot & Dweck, 2005; cited in Durlak et al., 2011). Finally, students who use problem-solving skills to overcome obstacles and make responsible decisions about studying and completing homework do better academically (Zins & Elias, 2006; cited in Durlak et al., 2011).

According to a national survey of middle and high school students, less than one third indicated that their school provided a caring, encouraging environment, and less than half reported that they had competencies such as empathy, conflict resolution and decision-making skills (Benson, 2006; cited in Durlak et al., 2011). By strengthening students' social support networks and their skills in self-management, SEL can help to unleash the potential within academic environments to support students' well-being and success.

Several studies explore the long-term benefits of social and emotional learning programs. In one, researchers examined how SEL intervention programs (such as social skills training, parent training with home visits, peer coaching, reading tutoring, and classroom social-emotional curricula) for kindergarten students impacted their adult lives, and found that these programs led to 10% (59% vs. 69% for the control group) fewer psychological, behavioral, or substance abuse problems at the age of 25 ( Dodge et al., 2014). Another study examined kindergarten teachers' ratings of their student's prosocial skills (e.g. kindness, sharing, and empathy) and discovered a strong correlation to adult outcomes such as higher educational attainment, stronger employment, and better mental health, in addition to reduced criminal activity and substance use ( Jones, Greenberg, & Crowley, 2015). In 2015, researchers analyzed the economic impact of six widely-used SEL programs and found that on average, every dollar invested yields $11 in long-term benefits, ranging from reduced juvenile crime, higher lifetime earnings, and better mental and physical health ( Belfield et al., 2015). Additional research supports the long-term benefits of SEL programs, finding evidence that investing in high-quality programs for all children can increase the number of productive, well-adjusted adults and yield positive economic benefits in the future ( Jones et al., 2017). Finally, a 2017 meta-analysis of 82 school-based SEL programs found long-term (between 6 months and 18 years) improvements in four areas: SEL skills, attitudes, positive social behavior, and academic performance. Additionally, decreases were found in three areas: conduct problems, emotional distress, and drug use ( Taylor et al., 2017).

A 2015 economic analysis found that in the period from 1980 to 2012, automation has increasingly replaced repetitive and analytical tasks, placing greater demand on jobs that require social skills ( Deming, 2015). In a 2015 Amici Curiae brief, nearly 50 Fortune-100 and other leading American businesses argued that in order to be competitive, businesses need to be able to hire workers who have experience sharing ideas and viewpoints with diverse groups of people.

A 2017 research review found that SEL programs can promote academic success and increase positive behavior, while reducing misconduct, substance abuse, and emotional distress for elementary school students. In addition, effective SEL programs are enhanced when schools partner with families and when they are culturally and linguistically sensitive ( Dusenbury & Weissberg, 2017).
Continue to the next section of the SEL research review, Evidence-Based Programs.

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Social and Emotional Learning Research Review

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How do we define social and emotional learning (SEL)? Researchers generally agree upon five key competencies of SEL ( Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor & Schellinger, 2011; Weissberg, Durlak, Domitrovich, & Gullotta, 2016). These competencies provide the foundation for maintaining high-quality social relationships and for responding to the challenges of life.