What came up for you when reading about independent vs. dependent learners?

Select one of the Four Practice Areas of Culturally Responsive Teaching that you would like to learn more about. What stands out to you regarding this Practice? What would you like to learn more in terms of application to your own learning and practice?

What came up for me when reading about independent vs. dependent learners is that dependent learners lack the cognitive skills to learn independently, as well as sometimes lack the motivation to learn independently. Many attribute certain students (such as students of color, ELLs, and poor students) to be from a "culture of poverty" that places less value on education and as a result, perform at a lower level. However, most students can be taught to be independent learners if there is a focus on teaching them certain cognitive skills such as information processing.

Practice Area III: Information Processing - This practice stands out to me because it directly influences a student's development; not just academic, but general. If a child learns how to efficiently process information, they will be set up for success both in school and out. However, I would like to learn more about how certain cultures affect information processing and if there are any major differences across cultures.

While reading the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, what stood out to me was the distinction between an independent and a dependent learner. Hammond talks about  how dependent learners are often labeled as incapable learners or unmotivated, but they are students who have not learned how to take ownership of their learning. As teachers, we do not want to simply give them facts and information, but we want them to feel empowered to share their voice during the lecture. I recall myself as this dependent learner during elementary school; it was hard for me to make sense of the work provided and find space in the classroom to advocate for that assistance. This text helped me recognize that perhaps the classroom environment and instructional approach weren’t fully there. I want to build the importance of scaffolding for students to build confidence and involve more cultural identities in my planning. 

One of the four practices I want to explore further is information processing. It highlights how teaching isn’t just about the content that students are getting- it’s about how they are processing information, retaining, and applying it to their daily work. As I work with both SPED and GenEd students, I want to learn more about the strategies they use at home to strengthen their memory and understanding, and how I can apply some of them to their learning in school. Some scholars might enjoy the rhythm of music and enjoy story telling so knowing this, I can incorporate it into my teaching. 

What came up for you when reading about independent vs. dependent learners?

Reading about independent vs dependent learners had me reflecting on how traditional instructional models often reinforce dependency, specifically for culturally and linguistically diverse student groups. Many students, especially those from marginalized communities, are often labeled as "struggling" not because they lack academic potential, but just because they haven't been familiarized with traditional methods of accessing, organizing, and applying knowlege independently. Something that really stood out to me within this notion is the idea that culturally responsive teaching is not just about inclusion or student engagement, but should be focused on shifting our mindsets of students from passive recievers of information to active, independent thinkers. This shift requires explicit cognitive scaffolding and demonstrated trust and belief in students. In my own classroom, I want to ensure I am creating conditions that allow students to build their self directed learning muscles, rather than keeping them in a cycle of dependence by over-supporting or not challenging them.

I want to learn more about the practice area 2, "Learning Partnerships." What stands out to me about this practice is the emphasis of trust as a neurobiological prerequisite for learning. The reading reframes the oft-discussed concept of "building relationships" as a core strategy for making rigorous learning possible, especially for dependent learners who may have internalized not to trust school as a space where they belong and can thrive. I want to learn more about how to develop these partnerships with intention, especially in ways that affirm students' identities and communicate high expectations. I feel that relationship building is often praised as a best practice, but as new a educator, I don't always feel supported with specific applicable ways to execute this. I'm curious what specific teacher moves build this kind of trust and what warm demanding looks like in practice, especially with students who have experienced educational trauma or mistrust.

As I read about independent versus dependent learners, I naturally thought about my own students and how the combination of my teaching practices and our prescribed curriculum both hinders and supports independence in various ways. At my school, we use the Lavinia curriculum for Close Reading, in which students are given a passage (usually fiction or nonfiction, sometimes poetry) and are expected to annotate the passage as they read according to its genre and “thinking jobs”. For a fiction text, students should annotate according to the passage’s characters, problems, solutions, and lessons learned. For nonfiction texts, they should annotate the text’s big topic, teaching topic, and author’s point of view. While these tasks should hypothetically prepare students to process higher order thinking questions and comprehend texts when reading independently, the way in which this process is modeled and taught feels counterproductive. Too often, my students have become stuck because they feel like they cannot annotate correctly, and they fail to recognize that their annotations can and should look different from everyone else’s. My students become so caught up in the procedure of annotating and doing it “correctly” that what should be a useful comprehension tool becomes cumbersome and turns them into dependent learners who cannot produce work without me holding their hand and giving them constant reinforcement. Eureka, our math curriculum, provides multiple strategies for solving one type of problem (for example, six or seven division strategies), which to an extent is helpful and encourages independent and abstract math thinking, but ends up being overwhelming. Once again, what is meant to be helpful serves as a barrier to independence for many students. So, how is independence fostered in a manageable way? How can I prevent such tools for independence from becoming overwhelming?

What came to me with independent vs dependent learners is the concept of connecting learning to the children. It's a combination of what they've been taught to think about education and the disconnect they feel in the classroom, as well as how the instructions you receive in the early stages of academia play a significant role in transitioning to middle school. Being a current middle school teacher, I see this gap and the lack of independent work. When the reading level isn't up to grade level, it's much harder to take your work on independently. This can look like hiding in the classroom, trying to look busy. I have many students who seek to hide in the classroom. This all stems from insecurities through a lack of skills in a certain subject, and this can be through gaps in learning. This is social economics at play.

The practice area that I want to learn more about or put more practice within the school is awareness. This is a simple concept, but the school I teach at has lost many teachers throughout the years, allowing the students to build the culture of the school. The kids have built an anti-academic type of culture. It could be their age playing a role as well, but I also believe that how they were presented with education plays a role. Having awareness and a strong awareness, I'm hoping to counter the culture by understanding them more and seeing where we can have a meeting point. This would lead to me seeking more culturally responsive more to do in class, which is much more engaging than work in the past. Even to some degree teaching them the realities of the world in a way that's obtainable for them.

When I was reading about independ ent vs dependent learners something that came up for me was how some schools often expect student compliance over reflective thinking. I know that students from historically marginalized groups, low-income, BIPOC, etc., are frequently pre-conditioned to rely on the teacher for directions and learning, rather than actively developing skills to be successful in their learning independently. From what I’ve observed as a first-year teacher, Independent learners tend to finish work quickly and need more challenging bonus work or they can sometimes struggle in silence but independently. Dependent learners tend to be more reserved when they are struggling and rely on their partner pair to supply the answers/for a teacher to just tell them without them having to do much work or material only clicks to them when they discuss it with their partner pair.

I’d like to focus more on the Building Awareness and Learning Partnerships practice area of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) because forming authentic relationships with students and being a culturally competent educator allows lessons to be more relevant and engaging. Practicing CRT also creates a warm, welcoming classroom environment with mutual trust and respect. Hammond emphasizes that we cannot build cognitive independence without first creating safe, affirming learning environments especially for students who have experienced a cultural disconnect in the classroom, like my multi-language learners (MLLs). CRT also pushed me to consider how my own implicit biases may impact my relationships with students. In terms of my own learning and practice I want to know more about how I can build a warm, demanding energy that is both nurturing, respected, and intellectually rigorous?

One things that came up for me while reading is how making the shift from depending to independent learning is connected to a wide array of factors apart from simply willpower. The systemic problems that plague students from marginalized communities exacerbate the issues and causes of these learning disparities. An example that stood out to me was how the article notes that schools that emphasize rote learning and memorization to the detriment of critical thinking produce worse learning outcomes. Upon reading this, I wondered whether schools that clung to outdated practices tended to serve marginalized populations at a greater rate (due to lack of resources), and whether this further contributed to such students leaving school without the necessary skills to succeed.

One area that particularly intrigues is practice area III (information processing). Given the vast amount of developments happening in the field of neuroscience, I would be fascinated to learn more about how one can apply research-based findings into real-word practice. I especially wish to learn more about how information processing can vary between cultures and how I can apply that to my teaching practice.

Reading about independent versus dependent learners made me pause and reflect on my own classroom (Over the course of this past school-year/first year as a teacher). What stood out was Hammond's point that many students of color and multilingual learners are often over scaffolded to the point where they actually become dependent on teacher support, leading them to never get the opportunity to build up their cognitive capacity/or to think critically. It challenged me to rethink whether some of the supports my co-teacher and I put in place could actually have been unintentionally reinforcing that form of learned helplessness. Specifically, in moments where I may have stepped in too quickly during a task, either simplifying the question or redirecting a student before they struggle productively. This also made me think about the ongoing conversations we've had at my charter school as ELA teachers around how we facilitate discussion. We're often encouraged to limit teacher talk and avoid leading students to the right answer. Instead, we focus more on teaching students how to drive the conversation or debate themselves. With this though, I can see as a first year educator how it can be easy to accidentally fall back into those habits of over supporting or using too much teacher talk, especially when students appear to be struggling. However, Hammond helped me to see that productive struggle is also a necessary step for independent learners to be built.

The practice area that I would like to learn more about is Information Processing. Specifically, how to strengthen and expand students' intellective capacity to promote deeper learning in my classroom. What stood out to me about this practice is how it begins to shift the focus from simply managing behavior or building relationships (Both of which are essential of course), to intentionally targeting the cognitive training that students need to become independent thinkers. This resonates with where I currently am in my teaching journey. This past year, i've grown much more confident in building trust and community in the classroom, and I have felt proud of the relationships i've built with my students, as well as my classroom management skills. Now, i'm ready to take the next step in helping my students process, analyze, and retain information, but in ways that align with their cultural backgrounds and how their brains are wired to learn. Too often in my first year I was so focused on understanding how to manage a room that I believe I missed steps of learning those brain based strategies to challenge them more. One way I have set out to do this is by reflecting on my economy of language as an educator, as well as how I teach vocabulary or structure writing tasks.

Reading about the differences between independent and dependent learners made me reflect on how often students, especially those from marginalized backgrounds, are misidentified as “struggling” when really they just haven’t been taught how to think critically or process information in culturally sustaining ways. It hit me how easy it is to fall into the trap of over-scaffolding or doing the thinking for students out of care, without realizing that this reinforces dependence. I’ve definitely seen students who are capable of brilliance hesitate to take academic risks because they’re waiting for a cue or confirmation. It reminded me that part of my role is not just to teach content, but to build students’ confidence in their ability to learn and think on their own.

I’m really drawn to the practice area of “Building Learning Partnerships.” What stands out to me is the emphasis on trust and rapport, not just as a classroom management strategy, but as a foundation for cognitive growth. It reframes the teacher-student relationship as a co-regulated partnership, which aligns with how many students from collectivist cultures experience support and motivation. I want to learn more about how to intentionally structure routines and feedback to reinforce that partnership, especially in a way that empowers students to lean into productive struggle. I also want to get better at noticing when my tone, pacing, or scaffolding might be unintentionally pulling students back into dependent roles.

As I was reading about independent vs. dependent learners, I was reflecting on how much of an impact educators can have on their students every day. One day of lazy instruction is maintaining the achievement gap. The little things that do not feel consequential in the moment compound and have a negative, lasting impact on a student. Then, the blame is shifted to the students, that somehow their gaps that resulted from their lack of adequate instruction is their fault. Something that really stood out to me in this reading was the emphasis on skill building as synchronizing . The shift towards teaching to the state test has robbed many students of the necessary practice needed to build independent thinking skills.

I would like to learn more about information processing. I am interested in learning specific skills and knowledge that will improve my instruction and feedback for my students, specifically in relating to metacognition.

Reading about independent versus dependent learners helped me understand how critical it is to intentionally support students as they grow toward taking ownership of their learning. Dependent learners often rely heavily on teacher guidance, and moving them toward independence requires trust, affirmation, and consistent encouragement. It reminded me that independence is a process, not an immediate outcome, and that strong learning partnerships play a key role in that journey.

Out of the Four Practice Areas of Culturally Responsive Teaching, I am most interested in Creating Inclusive Environments. What stands out to me about this practice is how creating a welcoming and affirming classroom space can affect students’ motivation and willingness to take academic risks. I want to learn more about specific strategies to make classroom routines, materials, and interactions more inclusive and culturally affirming. In particular, I’m curious about how to adapt lesson plans and classroom culture so all students feel valued and represented. Applying this knowledge would help me build a classroom where every student feels safe and inspired to learn.