CRC Discussion Question II

June 29, 2021

Discussion Questions - Section II

Answer the following questions by responding below. Please be precise in your answers and respond to 2 other participants. You will screenshot your responses and include them in your LRP. (If you are unable to post here, please write your responses directly into your LRP.)

What did you learn from these articles and videos?
What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom for you?
How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy in culturally responsive classrooms?
Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?

Comments

UnknownJuly 5, 2021 at 5:56 PM
1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?
I learned that culturally based learning is about the whole child. I learned how the cultural based education along with socio - emotional development increase the success of educational outcomes. I agree with the idea of students learning about their culture and being taught with their cultural in mind within lesson plans builds stronger roots within each child by instilling cultural values. I learned how being culturally responsive supports a relationship of trust and respect. The results being students that speak with confidence and when teachers include literature that includes the cultures of their students, the students can see themselves in the literature and will be able to see themselves and make connections to other forms of literature they are introduced to in their future education.
2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
It hasn’t been until I started taking PDe3 courses that involve culturally-relevant strategies have I been purposeful in ensuring each learning day involves and aspect of my students cultural background or cultural environment. In the past I would start are class period with a discussion session, students would ask each other questions that they thought of or I would have some pre-made questions on laminated cards handy to keep the conversation engaging. I also decorated one of my bulletin boards with “Mrs. Donohue’s Math Team” to give that environment of team attitude. Nothing that truly involved meaningful culturally responsiveness strategies. I am gradually developing ways to include culturally– relevant instruction.
3. How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom for you?
Creating a culturally responsive classroom has become a priority as I improve my teaching instruction. Just this last year of school, we have created an official “HA” committee to work towards having a more culturally responsive environment at school.
I do believe that when students can build inner confidence, they do better in all aspects of challenges and in their learning. By creating a culturally responsive classroom I’ll be creating a student –centered environment with instruction that is meaningful and authentic to the students I’m teaching.
4. How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy in culturally responsive classrooms?
The articles and videos have not only been influential but they have been inspiring!
I plan to be purposeful in improving my teaching pedagogy by continually finding ways to have a culturally responsive classroom. I plan to research and find literature that is culturally-relevant so my students can make better connections with what they are reading. I plan to create a culturally responsive classroom environment that feels welcoming to my students.
5. Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
I think culturally responsive classrooms will benefit me as a teacher and the school as a whole. When I was growing up I can only remember one project from my entire K -12 education involving my culture. It was in the 5th grade. Because I am a teacher on Maui, I feel that being a culturally responsive teacher will build a stronger foundation for my students to rely on when they start to travel the world and become the minority amongst their future peers and perhaps even their co-workers. One benefit of many for schools: So much is about “scores” with certain schools. The evidence shows that a culturally based education along with SEL learning leads to improved scores.
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RichJuly 6, 2021 at 8:35 PM
1. The videos and articles went in depth into CRT. Through the texts I learned the role of an educator within the CRT framework. CRT is inherently student centered and defines actions that teachers and students must take that necessitates that a teacher not simply rehash a static teacher centered curriculum. A teacher must leverage relationships with students to seek to understand their cultural backgrounds and unique identities. Teachers must then work to incorporate individual students' identities in the classroom which can take the form of student produced texts (ie artifacts) and/or multicultural texts all the while providing opportunities for students to share about themselves. I learned that CRT is rooted in remedying systemic problems arising from social inequality. The achievement gap is a manifestation of an education framework that does not seek to respond to the needs of all students (ie neglecting low status students). There is an impetus on teachers to and education to correct this injustice through CRT. In addition to the above mentioned roles of teachers and students, teachers must also work to gain a multicultural perspective. They must seek to understand their students and the communities they come from. I learned about the efforts in Hawaii to incorporate CBE. Hawaii is definitely a place that lends itself to CRT given how multicultural Hawaii is.
2. Ways in which I try to make students feel welcome in the classroom is through student voice. I try to create opportunities for students to dictate the direction of instruction. One such way is allowing students options for demonstrating their knowledge of a topic. I try to use discussion, both formal and informal, to invite student opinions and to establish a culture where student voice and opinion is valued and respected. I try to get to know my students.
3. Creating a culturally responsive classroom is of paramount importance to me. CRT involves a classroom environment in which everyone's unique identities are honored and respected. Its a classroom that invites students to be a partner in their education. CRT promotes students voice and ownership over their education and promotes the achievement of all.
4. The texts have reinforced in me the importance of CRT in providing an equal and just classroom for all of my students. They reinforce that CRT is on a micro level can lead to academic achievement and self actualization but also on a macro level how they can help to remedy issues of social inequality. I feel great purpose in the role of education and the CRT framework to instill the democratice ideals that push people to understand and work with each other rather than to prescribe one mode of learning that benefits some and disadvantages others, eventually disfavoring us all.
5. As noted in the previous question I believe the effects of CRT can have far reaching effects that can pervade society. On a school level, CRT can promote achievement by its attempts to respond to and honor all students and their unique identities. Instruction that responds to students' needs will naturally be much more powerful in promoting achievement as well as organic exploration and self actualization. On a societal level, I believe CRT will help to model a democratic citizenship in students where they will seek to understand others and leverage each other's unique strengths to tackle real life problems. On a school and then societal level, CRT will provide all students the opportunity to achieve and seek a fairness in education that seeks to correct the inequalities brought on by variables out of students control.
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UnknownJuly 9, 2021 at 6:46 PM
By reading the assigned articles and watching the videos, I learned the importance of creating a classroom that is inviting, comfortable, familiar, and safe for students of all ethnicities. Teachers should be trained to understand the significance of equity and cultural diversity and be able to learn strategies for differentiated instruction and integrate of culture into the curriculum. I appreciated the examples shared such as being intentional in talking about color awareness through literature and actions. When I reflect back to childhood books that my teachers shared in class, most were based off of European characters. I remember reading a couple of Asian based books entitled Momotaro-san and The Five Chinese Brothers. Because I had a connection to the culture being that I am part Asian, they were some of my favorite books. I found the stories to be familiar such as in the appearance of the characters’ eyes and hair, wardrobe, and food. I agree that we teachers must become “a student of differences.” We need to learn about our students’ backgrounds through ways such as creating questionnaires, researching their culture, visiting homes, involving parents at school, and finding cultural leaders in the community. Culture can be brought into the classroom by including labels of things printed in multiple languages, having artifacts and literature that represents the students’ ethnic background, and creating student-centered lessons involving a variety of experiential learning.

I try to make my students feel comfortable in class by focusing on relationships. During the first week of school, I learn how to say each student’s name correctly. They are greeted by name everyday upon entering class. I try to find out about students’ lives by sending questionnaires, Do Nows, discussions, and 1-on-1 conversations. I share stories and general personal information in hopes that students can find similarities or want to discuss differences. When conversing with individuals, I practice active listening and take notes so that I have conversation-starting information for future talks. I speak students’ names often and try to be encouraging each day.

Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important to me after reading the articles and viewing the videos. They have influenced my view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms. Now that I have some background information, I have learned that cultural support needs to be expanded in my classroom. I thought that bringing local and Hawaiian culture into the classroom was sufficient, especially when the Department of Education promotes Nā Hopena A‘o (HĀ). After this particular lesson, I understand the need to reach as many students as possible by showing acceptance and appreciation for who they are and where they came from by learning about their culture and incorporating it into our curriculum. In this way, students can feel a sense of belonging and it will be a great example for other students to learn cultural appreciation.

Culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and the school as a whole. I recently returned to public school teaching after being away for 22 years and the culture mix has changed a lot. In keeping current with the times, I must make adjustments to my curriculum and consider the benefits for all students by being culturally aware. The amount of students from different places and EL learners entering our schools continue to change our classroom make-up. By being intentional about recognizing different cultures, learning about them, and embracing the similarities and differences in lessons, students and teachers have a chance of being more accepting of one another.

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AnonymousJuly 14, 2021 at 5:43 PM
1. From these videos and articles, I have learned that culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is acknowledging and infusing the culture of students into the classroom and curriculum. By doing so, it helps students to feel connected and accepted, build relationships across races, and helps to create a sense of trust, self-worth and community. A culturally responsive classroom becomes an enjoyable learning environment where students are able to be academically successful, which in turn helps to close the achievement gap of students of color, immigrant children, or those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. One strategy to infuse culture into the classroom is through including literature that will create the opportunity to connect with different cultures and learn about race-related injustices.

2. To help students feel comfortable in my classroom, I feel that building positive relationships with me as well as each other is integral. When students have a positive relationship with others they build feelings of trust and acceptance, resulting in more risk taking and in depth conversations. To create these positive relationships I use a variety of strategies - making sure lessons are fun and engaging, modeling and expecting mutual respect as a classroom norm, showing empathy, caring and concern, sharing personal experiences and finding common ground. For those students who are a bit more shy or display difficult behaviors, I purposely make time to talk to them one-on-one and celebrate their successes.

3. Creating a culturally responsive classroom is important to me. Culture is a big part of who you are and how you connect to the world around you. Through the articles and videos in this module, I have learned how integrating culture into lessons helps students to feel accepted and in turn want to contribute to the classroom community. This helps to enrich and deepen their discussions and learning experiences.

4. Previous to taking this course I have not heard of or been exposed to the concept of a “culturally responsive classroom”. After reading the articles and watching the videos in this module I have learned so much already! I value the concept of infusing culture into my lessons and classroom. I am always looking for ways to help my students to connect to my lessons and to each other. In the video “Education: Culture Matters”, it began with talking about traditional Hawaian culture sayings such as, “Learning is doing, all knowledge is not gained in one place.” The idea is that how we learn is ingrained into our cultural practices of what we do. And through these practices, students gain a sense of responsibility and want to give back to their classroom community, a sense of trust to support learning, and a sense of enjoyment for their learning environment. These are all things I would love for my own students.

5. Culturally responsive classrooms can definitely benefit me and the school as a whole. We live in Hawaii, which is the mixing pot of all ethnicities and cultures. Our school has a large variety of student cultures and we have a large population of ELL students. It seems that cultural awareness is being recognized more and more. Our state education system is taking the initiative to have all teachers be educated in the ELL area by mandating credits and/or seated hours for classes that are directly related to teaching ELL. A culturally responsive classroom is beneficial in all the ways that I had previously mentioned in question 1-4. It’s all about creating a learning environment that feels safe, comfortable and enjoyable so that students are motivated to challenge themselves and have a successful learning experience.
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UnknownJuly 18, 2021 at 4:20 PM
1. I learned that there is much value and importance in acknowledging and incorporating each person’s culture and personal history into the classroom. Culturally responsive teaching seeks to help those from all cultures to succeed, not just the most dominant or affluent ones. The first article mentioned that education is a social process. When students can interact, especially by sharing their own culture and experiences, it helps to create a greater understanding, larger perspective, and a more lasting effect in their learning. This type of learning places the student at the center which allows for their culture to shine and to be given the spotlight in the discussion. When student-centered learning is taking place, it gives less opportunity for the teacher to dominate with their own culture and past experiences and allows for the students to drive the class from their own lives.

2. One thing I try to do to make students feel comfortable is to empower their student voice. When students show out, I acknowledge and reiterate the value and worth in what they are saying. I hope that the student feels rewarded in participating. Another approach I have is in building positive relationships with students. I do this mainly through a small group or one-on-one interactions. I try to get to know just one fact about a student and then continue to build on that as a move forward throughout the year. In this, the student is seen and acknowledged where their personal hobbies, interests, and experiences become valuable to another person and hopefully something valuable to themselves. Lastly, one unique way that I try to make students feel comfortable is by being silly. Some students might be afraid of teachers because they are seen as authoritative figures. In my attempt to lighten up the mood, I hope to ease those student’s minds to see me through a different light.

3. It is very important for me to create a culturally responsive classroom. First, helping a youth on their path to embrace their culture can become a powerful step towards success in life. But in this aspect of “success”, I’m not referring to money, bank accounts, or possessions. This “success” is the inner confidence of knowing who you are and thriving in it. This day and age is prevalent with so much mental and emotional struggles. People face this inner battle more than ever. In this, empowering one’s culture can be one necessary step towards success in being mentally and emotionally strong and healthy in the future.

4. These articles and videos have shown me how narrow-minded I can be as an educator. In my experience as a student, it was teacher-centered where the teacher lectured, and I took notes to be able to do well on the assignment or test. It was simply a transfer of knowledge. In these articles, it discusses ideas where the lesson is student-centered and the students use their prior knowledge and previous experiences and apply them to new concepts to help to create a greater understanding and connection to the learning. Instead of just learning facts and information, the student-centered lesson helps to create a new bond and connection to that information.

5. Yes, I believe a culturally responsive classroom can benefit me and the school. The main reason is because it helps to create a stronger bond between student and content. For some students, they can gain a grasp of the content because of personal motivation to do well in life or to make their parents proud. For others, they do not have that same drive in their academics, so if the material does not come easy then they lose all drive to push themselves to learn the material. But if the content becomes relevant, this creates an importance that serves as a connection between content and the student. This stronger bond helps to bridge the gap which can lead to a greater future success.
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UnknownJuly 27, 2021 at 11:32 AM
Call me ignorant, but I actually had no idea that nearly 90% of teachers identify themselves as white. Perhaps being uniquely situated in Hawai’i, I was oblivious to this fun fact. Some other things I learned include that CRT focuses on students playing an active role in the “production and acquisition of knowledge.” I liked how in the Office Chat video, the interviewee mentioned that students are responsible for lending to the conversation on culture but that they must first be “invited” by their teachers. The interviewee also mentioned that parents also play a key role in this conversation. Furthermore, I learned that a color-blind approach is generally not viewed as effective and may actually send a negative message to kids. In contrast, a color-aware approach would then welcome culturally diverse conversation and action, like having students embark on social justice missions such as writing letters to petitioning for various flesh-colored bandages. One video talked about having students bring in artifacts and symbols from their culture— for whatever reason this learning really sparked excitement for me and got my wheels turning. In regards to trying to make my students feel comfortable, in my classroom, I try to embrace a wealth of conversation and questions. When repeating these questions for the whole class, I typically help students reframe or clarify their questions so that sensitive topics may be addressed, well, sensitively and mindfully. I think students appreciate this open dialogue and deep exploration into areas and conversations where other adults feel potentially uncomfortable navigating a conversation like this. Creating a culturally responsive classroom is important to me, however I am still shaping my opinion as to how important I feel it is. I guess I’m wondering how much of this responsiveness needs to be intentionally planned and integrated, versus organically integrated. These articles and videos already have me thinking about ways I want to enrich my Quarter 1 unit on Heroism. I realize there is so much opportunity for integrating CRT into this unit. I have culturally diverse texts already built in, but I’m not sure I have spent time having my students consider culture when considering heroism. I’m now thinking about how I might modify some of my essential questions to consider both heroism and culture. I do believe doing this and attempting to build cultural responsiveness into my classroom will benefit teachers and students because it naturally sparks engagement through relevancy and personal connection.
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AnonymousJuly 29, 2021 at 8:51 AM
These articles and videos have taught me that there is now hard data that confirms cultural based education and culturally responsive classrooms impact learning positively. According to the article, this positive impact is because culturally responsive classrooms create a sense of trust, engagement, and self worth in the classroom. This is especially true when students can see themselves reflected in the history, literature, and assignments.
Being positive and having fun is a strategy I have always used with to facilitate connections with my students. This breaks down the barriers that stand in the way of relationship. Joking in class and appreciating the humor of students makes class seem safe and enjoyable, as long as the joking isn’t directed at someone or sarcastic. When students don’t take you too seriously they are able to see you are more than just a teacher and trust you and relate to you on a more personal level. In addition to having fun, finding common ground with students provides a shared connection with them to build a relationship on. Finding common ground with them requires a teacher to be present and mindful.
Having engaging curriculum, lessons, and assignments is more important to me than creating a culturally responsive classroom. However, since these articles suggest that students are more engaged with curriculum that is relevant to their culture the relationship becomes reciprocal. It is also important to me that students are obtaining skills in my classroom that will be transferable. Whether in life or career path, a cultural responsive classroom would have to enhance this process. Since society and most employers value the diversity of ideas and their contributors of those ideas, a culturally responsive classroom would help me in this process.
I think the most important aspect of these articles and videos that has influenced my teaching pedagogy is that I must be aware of my own prejudices and biases. Diverse cultures and their values give a significant part of our student body and the more teachers make relevant cultural connections with sensitivity towards them in the classroom will improve their learning and experience. It is already a challenge for them to enjoy being in school, so to ignore the diverse student population and proceed with a ‘I teach you listen’ attitude will make it more difficult for them. A cultural approach will at least give the disengaged student something to grab on to.
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UnknownAugust 11, 2021 at 5:57 PM
What I learned that resonated with me the most from these articles and videos is how important it is to not have a color-blind approach to teaching children, but to embrace all the different cultures and ethnicities talking about it openly. I learned about how important it is to do this in order for all kids to be able to learn to their maximum potential and have equal opportunity in the classroom and later in the workforce and world to be as successful as possible. I learned how important it is to make the lessons culturally relevant by implementing multiple different points of view and also connecting it with the place where we live. By implementing and administering Culturally Responsive Teaching it creates equal opportunity and also teaches the students at a young age about multiple different cultures and ethnicities, especially in the melting pot school that I teach at.
I greet all of my students at the beginning of the class at the door, and after the first couple of weeks of school after I get to know them better address them by name as well as make small talk with them about their specific interest in what I have learned about them. I have an open door policy where they can come and talk to me in private at any time if they are having issues, concerns and or issues. The first couple weeks of school we do team building activities and exercises like 4 truths and a lie, name tags that have important information about you and teacher trivia so we can all get to know each other better. This helps to create a comfortable environment and the students to get to know me and their peers better. It also helps me to learn more about them and connect with their personal interest, a lot of the time this is based on their cultural background from what I have found.
Creating a Culturally Responsive Classroom is extremely important to me. I try to take every unit that we teach and make it relevant to the location where we live, tying it with the content standards to the best of my ability. I also do activities and or assignments that are relevant to the topic like having the students create a crest of their family when we are working on the middle ages and crusades. This helps them to better connect with their culture and find out or expand the understanding of their last name and the origin.
The articles and videos gave me a much better understanding of why it is so important to implement and include as much information as possible that is relevant to each individual culture. It helped me to better understand and taught me a lot about how this helps to teach all children and breach any gaps in learning. I learned by having a more Culturally Responsive Classroom I will get more student engagement and be able to help facilitate and teach all children pushing them to their maximum potential. One of my largest takeaways from the videos is the chart that they showed us breaking down how the school with the high CBE has students that are more connected with the environment and community, higher connection with people in their school and enjoy attending their school more.
I 100% believe that having a Culturally Responsive Classroom can benefit not only my classrooms but make our school better as a whole. The stats and numbers from the articles and videos are clear evidence of students feeling more comfortable, storing a sense of belonging in their communities and liked going to school more with the classroom and having more culturally based lessons and connections. By having a more Culturally Responsive Classroom it also creates more of a connection with the students and curriculum that we are teaching and also a better bond with their peers. With stronger peer to peer interaction it increases overall learning and engagement.
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Ronal AbrahamAugust 15, 2021 at 4:05 PM
1. I learned that there is a lot of data that support culturally responsive classrooms. I also learned that culturally responsive teaching helps students to become active and engaged learners. The second article shared many strategies for integrating cultural awareness with the use of literature. The article also explained that race-related teaching practices address race in the classroom through literature, play, and discussion techniques. The first video discussed ways that culture-based teaching increases a student’s sense of self, builds trust, and increases motivation. I learned how integrating culture-based practices helps Native Hawaiian students appreciate their cultural history and knowledge and increases their success outside of the classroom. From the second video, I learned that the teacher is responsible to create an inviting environment where students feel safe and valued. I also noted that for teachers to integrate culturally responsive practices, they must first understand their own culture and possible cultural biases.

2. One way that I make students comfortable is by having them participate in team-building activities. The idea that we are part of a team seems to resonate with my students. I have many student-athletes that understand the importance of teamwork. I also ensure that I teach and give time for students to practice the classroom rules, expectations, and routines. I explain that it takes time to learn new things. This way, they do not feel uncomfortable when they forget a specific expectation or rule. I also like to have short conferences with each student and have them complete an interest survey. The survey gives me insights into each student's hobbies and interests outside of the school environment. This year, our school is continuing to teach using SEL strategies. The SEL lessons have had a positive impact on my students.

3. Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important because I want my students to feel valued in my class. Each year, I have students from varied cultures with a high percentage of Native Hawaiian students. I want to be more intentional in my integration of the Hawaiian values. This integration will help my students to feel comfortable participating and sharing during our class discussions. Based on the research, integrating culturally responsive practices can lead to higher student engagement and learning. I know that creating a culturally responsive classroom will assist me in engaging my students and helping them become active learners.

4. The articles and videos influenced my motivation to integrate culture-based teaching in my classroom. I feel more confident in my understanding of what a culturally responsive classroom is. I will be more explicit as I incorporate the Hawaiian values into my classroom routines and environment to ensure that my students feel safe and valued. I also feel motivated to look into multicultural literature and ways that I can incorporate them into the content that I teach.

5. Our school has already begun the process of integrating the Hawaiian Values into our school environment. However, there needs to be more work done and time given to collaborate on integrating specific culturally responsive practices into each classroom. Although not all of our students are Native Hawaiian, I feel that the values are universal. For example, we teach and practice Malama, which means to care for and protect. People from all cultures can benefit from learning how to care for and protect things, places, and others. I also feel that integrating culture-based teaching can benefit teachers by helping us connect with our students on an individual and academic level. Building these relationships can benefit and increase the total well-being of all members of our school.
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UnknownAugust 15, 2021 at 5:59 PM
I learned that currently in the United States, we have a difference in achievement between students who are white and minority groups. For example, dropout rates constitute mostly minority groups such as African American, Native American, and Latino groups. It also is not limited just to these groups. This is attributed to school being viewed as a hostile place where minority groups feel like they are under pressure to assimilate and not express who they are from a cultural perspective. The pressure to assimilate to a white, western view is heavily emphasized by the teaching force being predominately white. It is natural to want to promote your own culture as a teacher, but we must also extend that power to our students as well. Otherwise, there will be a conflict between the homogeneous white workforce and the increasingly heterogeneous student body in public schools. To ease this tension, teachers need to be more positive when acknowledging the multiple cultural backgrounds that are in our schools. We can't be "color-blind" anymore we must engage in a respectful way to acknowledge the positive contributions of other cultures to our society and promote a diverse future as being good rather than a failure of assimilation. When kids as young as 3 can distinguish race then it is important for teachers to not neglect speaking about racial issues and doing it in a positive way.
I make it clear at the beginning that I respect them by having it on the syllabus. Also, I talk about the power of compliments and how they can be a force for good in the world, so I have a lesson on how to give a compliment to someone. I print out a bucket on a page and I have them write their names on the top and have them pass their paper to the person on their right and each person needs to at least write one compliment to that person. I also join in so they know I want to be positive with them. Also, if a student is speaking in their native language, I engage and ask them how I can speak certain phrases or words. When I asked kosrae girl on how to say good morning in her language it helped me build a bridge of positive communication between us and she felt more at ease to speak around me.
It is very important for me to create a culturally responsive classroom, because I know that if I get really good at it I can make my students open up to me better and they can engage with me in a better way that will allow me to teach them better and for them to teach me.
The articles and videos have shown the importance that CRT needs to be integrated in the entire school curriculum. There needs to be serious reflection on the part of the teacher for what biases they might have and see how they can improve their lessons with keeping culture in mind. A teacher must also go on a journey to improve their knowledge of the cultures that enter our classrooms by reviewing its history and customs and having the students help us in our journeys. We also must be careful not to stereotype students according to their ethnic or racial identification and think that one size fits all when it comes to integrating CRT methods into the classroom. Each student has had a myriad of unique instances in their life that they need to be seen as unique individuals.
Therefore, the wide array of students that are in my classroom, for example, Micronesian, Filipinos, Japanese, and native Hawaiians, just to name a few, would benefit from CRT practices. Every student needs to become aware of the strengths that we get from our society when we see diversity as a positive and not a negative. As a social studies teacher, we have been warned to not teach in an ethnocentric European/Western perspective. We need to include CRT practices into our teaching so our students can see themselves as productive and valued members of society. When that can be established, we can also have students practice empathy for other marginalized minority groups by using literature as an entry point to discussions about race in a respectful way.
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UnknownAugust 21, 2021 at 8:49 AM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
I learned that culturally responsive teaching (CRT) has its roots in the civil rights movement, but did not conceptually emerge until the 1980’s and was not identifiable as a practice until the 1990’s. While this is true for the mainland, one could argue that in Hawaiʻi's government run school system the CRT movement conceptually emerged during the 1970’s and was in practice by the early 1980’s through the first Hawaiian Immersion schools.
The CRT ideals shift from the cultural deficiency perspective, where a dominant culture exists and other cultures are expected to assimilate into it, which essentially wipes out the non-dominant culture, to an egalitarian approach. CRT values all cultures and seeks to validate and perpetuate their existence.
As for theory, it places a major emphasis on the student/teacher relationship and teacher’s who are not from the host culture become lifelong learners. Data collected from classrooms utilizing CRT strategies, show students create more relevant connections and are more engaged.
What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
In my classroom I encourage students to speak in their most comfortable dialect of English or in Hawaii Creole English (HCE) if it's their first language. They are exposed to and learn standardized English and are made aware of times when code switching between dialects or languages is beneficial. I also encourage everyone to have an equal voice during discussions and activities.
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom for you?
I feel it is very important to create a culturally responsive classroom. From my experience, students respond better to regionally and culturally relevant materials. For example, when I teach about volcanoes, specifically Kilauea, everyone has a story to share about it. The class is very engaged and excited to learn more about it.

How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy in culturally responsive classrooms?
The videos and articles have inspired me and reignited a desire to really focus on CRT strategies. I started working at a new school this year, and the demographics are very different from my previous placement, so I am having to reassess my approach to CRT. This information has validated my experiential understanding of CRT and the success stories motivate me to draw attention to CRT while crafting lessons and designing my classroom. Often I go to a training or study a practice and it just remains theory or at best I apply it for a few weeks and then it slowly fades away. I think we all have stacks of materials from trainings we were likely forced to go to that we never use. CRT is universal and something that I need to filter all my lessons and strategies through.
Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
Yes, it can benefit individual teachers and the school as a whole. CRT is not limited to one academic area like math or ELA and it is not limited to a grade level or setting like general education or special education. CRT strategies can be applied to all grades, subject areas, and courses. Take PE as an example. Integrating physical activities engaged in during Makahiki season like hukihuki (tug-of-war) or haka moa (one arm/leg wrestling match) is a great way to bring cultural relevance to a teaching line. If students are playing these games during PE class, other teachers can teach about their history or significance. This example shows how teachers and a school as a whole can integrate CRT practices. Based on my experience and information from the articles, teachers and the school as a whole can expect more student involvement and this will equate to higher success rates in academics and a more positive school environment and culture.

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AnonymousAugust 21, 2021 at 10:14 PM
I like the article that shared how a teacher read a book and had a discussion on how children take care of their hair. From this simple discussion young children are able to hear differences and start to think about race or ethnic differences, but still know that they are all experiencing the same thing, love and care from the adults who take care of them. This stood out to me because it has opened my eyes to know that even in an early education setting we as teachers can still create culturally responsive classrooms. I learned about race-related teaching practices (RRTPs) such as using literature to start conversations just as the teacher did. But this also makes me wonder how many children's books do they have out there that could include all of the different ethnicities you're going to see in a class in Hawai’i.
It is important to create a culturally responsive classroom, especially here in Hawai’i because we are so diverse. The students in my classroom make up so many different ethnic backgrounds so I do wonder how I can be more intentional and inclusive to all of their backgrounds. Like I mentioned before I would love to try bringing in literature but I know I would have to be strategic on how I do that. I would hate to bring in books and one day a child asks me why they don’t see their own ethnic background being represented. Perhaps I would just try to focus on one simple thing we all do in common such as how the teacher focused on hair and then introduce the concept of differences. After watching the video “Education: Culture Matters” it made me realize that I can also share how we all share a common background of living here in Hawai’i. We share this in common and can all learn about the place we call home.
Of course I believe that a culturally responsive classroom can benefit myself, my students and my school. As I mentioned before we are so diverse and being able to share, acknowledge and accept eachother would make our environment a better place. It’ll allow kids to be more kind and respectful of differences they may have but it’ll also help myself and other teachers to be more aware. I will admit that now I do need to spend more time learning about the different ethnic backgrounds in my classroom so that I know how to not only address them, but include them. I can't expect my students to be so quick to understand and accpet if they don't even know what ethnic differences actually means (I teach 1st grade). So I want to make sure that I do my part.
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UnknownAugust 25, 2021 at 5:15 PM
1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?
I learned that culturally responsive teaching was created because of the achievement gap and dropout rates between race and socioeconomic class. A culturally responsive classroom puts in effort in incorporating different students’ culture and to make sure that their culture is valued and respected in the classroom. This helps students become aware of the different cultures in the classroom and appreciate them, especially those who struggle the most in class. With culturally responsive teaching, students are welcoming of each other and we are able to create a safe learning environment through this strategy. Culturally responsive teaching is using prior cultural and learning experiences of students’ to teach.

2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
In my classroom, I have not necessarily used the culturally responsive teaching approach to make my students feel comfortable, but still find different ways to do so nonetheless. I have students fill out a daily check in to see how they are doing everyday and to address any concerns in the morning. I also have students choose a classroom greeting like air hug, wave, thumbs up, and more. At least once a day, I have students do breathing exercises so that they can take a breather and refocus. I also incorporate dance breaks throughout the school day. These are some ways I try to make my students feel comfortable and to feel like they are part of the classroom.

3. How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
I believe that it is important to create a culturally responsive classroom because my classroom is diverse. I have students who are Filipino, Hawaiian, Samoan, Japanese, Korean and White. I believe it is important to celebrate who they are and one way is to celebrate, learn, and incorporate their culture within the classroom. When this happens, they are proud of who they are and they have confidence in themselves which will result in them putting their best efforts in their work and being engaged.

4. How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
These resources have influenced my view/teaching pedagogy on a culturally responsive classroom because I can see that this approach isn’t all that hard as it sounds. I can incorporate it through reading books with ones that show how others can look different, but regardless are beautiful. It showed me that teaching about different races does have to be a big and scary topic, but can be as simple as the way our hair looks. I plan to incorporate readings that celebrate different races in my classroom and hope that students can be aware and welcoming of others.

5. Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
Yes, I believe that culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and the school as a whole. Since my classroom, and the school itself, is diverse, students will become engaged and interested in learning about different cultures. The culturally responsive teaching approach can also close any achievement gaps and also dropouts within the district. When we welcome students and learn about who they are, they can see that we care and want them to be in the classroom.
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ScottSeptember 1, 2021 at 6:52 PM
Hi! I agree with you that teaching about race is a big and important topic, but it does not need to be difficult. I only now realized that having discussions with students about how their weekend went could be opportunities to discuss race/culture. These simple discussions could be opportunities for students to learn about classmates in a respectful and open way. Thanks for sharing!
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AnonymousSeptember 1, 2021 at 6:54 PM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
What I learned from these articles and videos is that culturally responsive teaching was developed in response to the differential in dropout rates based on race, socioeconomic class, and English language ability. I learned that there are 3 categories of Race Related Teaching Practices, the most ineffective being the color-blind approach. This approach is where teachers do not talk about race with students. This approach is potentially harmful, as no instruction may be leaving students to develop their own ideas about race. I felt like this made me pause and reflect here because as much as I hate to admit it, this is where I feel I am most of the time because I do not intentionally teach about race. I learned that to be more culturally responsive, I need to be more intentional in this area. Something I learned from the videos was that schools that implemented Culturally Based Education programs had higher SEL scores in the areas of strong sense of community, trust, and enjoy coming to school. I also learned that in order for us as teachers to become more socially aware, we must self reflect and then genuinely care about making a change in our practice.

What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
What I do to make my students feel comfortable in my classroom is develop a strong rapport with them. I try to talk with them as much as possible to strengthen these connections and to make them feel heard. Whether it be a check in on how their day is going or what they did over the weekend, I try to get students comfortable talking. I also stress the importance of respect and fairness in my classroom to try and ensure that students understand my expectation for their behavior. Though I don’t explicitly talk about race, I am not afraid to talk with students about issues regarding race or culture as it comes up.

How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is important to me because as I learned, it impacts students’ Social Emotional Learning. Students who enjoy coming to school and who have a strong sense of connection and trust with the school and teacher will be more prepared to learn. Creating a space that is safe and positive for students to come to everyday is of high value to me.

How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
These articles and videos have positively influenced my view on culturally responsive classrooms. I now have a clearer idea of what it is and what I can do to improve my teaching practice to be more culturally responsive. I learned that this is a very important area of education, but it can be addressed through literature or conversation. It does not necessarily need to be full blown lessons, though it can be, it just needs to be done intentionally and in a positive tone.

Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
Yes, I think that culturally responsive classrooms can benefit myself and my school. As learned in this unit, schools who implement Culturally Based Education have seen increases in student SEL ratings. SEL data is one of the big initiatives at my school, and in addition to students wanting to be in school and feeling a stronger sense of community, student achievement could also improve. Having a community of learners that want to be in school and are open to being active participants makes teaching a lot easier and more enjoyable. I believe that having a culturally responsive classroom is one way to create this sense of community.
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AnonymousSeptember 5, 2021 at 3:17 PM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
I learned that cultural diversity in the classroom goes beyond just what you teach in school. It involves getting to know what the child's home life is and the role that their culture plays in our socio-economic community. Making the student feel comfortable in the classroom setting and with the curriculum being taught, will hopefully make that student want to be more active in learning.
What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
In my classroom, I encourage group discussions and team building exercises. We talk about each others cultures and I try to focus on the similarities rather than the differences that each culture has. I also try to teach having respect and not being judgmental if something is done in a different way or someone has different beliefs than their own. I try to let each student know that they can come to me and talk privately also if they have things bothering them not only in school, but any issues that they may have.
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
I feel that doing what I can to help my students feel more comfortable and confident not just in my class, but in school in general is important enough that I will make the effort to do what I need to, to accomplish this. A student that feels welcomed, safe, and a part of the school and community, will be more receptive to learning and in turn, will make my job a little easier and more fulfilling.
How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
I have learned the history of where the CRT thinking developed from and why. I have seen the data results from studies that use cultural based teachings and those that do not. I have also learned some techniques and styles that I can use to relate more to the kids in my different classes.
Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
I think culturally responsive classrooms can be very beneficial for both the school and the student. It'll help the student have a better school experience and hopefully feel better about themselves in the process, and for the school, they'll have students that look forward to learning and contributing to society. I do have a thought on this though, here in Hawaii, we are far more culturally diverse than most places on the mainland. In my classes alone, I have children from Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan, Chuukese, Chamorro, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese and other cultures. Each one of them having their own unique rituals or beliefs. If you are going to be culturally diverse, you have to be sure to learn and understand every child's culture that you will be teaching, or that student may feel even more unwanted, different, or left out if their culture is not recognized but others are. That can be quite an undertaking for the teacher in addition to the regular curriculum he/she is tasked to instruct. I do believe that having a culturally diverse classroom is a good thing to have.
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AnonymousSeptember 12, 2021 at 9:35 AM
After reading the articles and watching the videos, I learned about the importance of creating a student centered, inclusive classroom. This really requires the teacher to get to know all of the students and to understand their different cultures, backgrounds, and belief systems. As a kindergarten teacher, I found the second article to be especially helpful and informative. One way to cultivate a culturally responsive classroom for young learners is to use a variety of children’s literature. Using picture books and stories helps children to develop their own identities and build relationships and understanding among different races and cultures.
I make my students feel comfortable in the classroom building a classroom community and positive relationships starting from the prior to the first day of school. I personally call each family to introduce myself so that parents feel a little more comfortable sending their child to school. I give the parents an opportunity to ask any questions or tell me anything about their child. I also make sure to ask the parents how to correctly pronounce their child’s name so that I can call them by their correct name as soon as they walk in the door. My students are only five years old, so they may not feel comfortable correcting me if I’m saying their name wrong. Every morning, we start the day by singing hello to each other. Then we all go around sharing something from a given topic. It’s a great way to get to know each other and to find connections among each other.
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is important to me because I can see how beneficial it is for students to feel that they are important and that they matter. I want the students to be able to be proud and celebrate their differences and also learn to be more accepting and understanding of each other. It seems more crucial than ever before to teach students these values.
These articles and videos have influenced my teaching by motivating me to take the necessary action to make my classroom more culturally responsive. I have started to look at the literature that I have been using for the past several years to see if I can replace them with more diverse books. I am also reflecting on my teaching practices to see where I can improve. I’m also excited to see what I can learn from this course and use new strategies that I can immediately incorporate into my daily teaching.
Culturally responsive teaching and classrooms can definitely benefit myself as a teacher and my school as a whole. Our school population is very diverse and I feel that it is so important for each and every student and staff member to feel that they are an integral part of our school community. We need to be able to learn from each other and respect each other. I feel that I can do my part by educating myself on different cultures and practices so that I can start to understand where people come from.
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AnonymousSeptember 12, 2021 at 4:02 PM
These articles and videos have taught me how important it is to make classrooms culturally responsive and teachers need to stop avoiding teaching color awareness because it will do more harm than good. Culturally responsive lessons focus on the whole child and go hand in hand with socio-emotional development, which I have always thought was critical for impactful learning. By creating a culturally responsive classroom, students start to create relationships and build a sense of trust. It makes learning more relevant when the curriculum is student-centered because students are able to make connections to the content and they can see themselves within the lessons making it more applicable to their own lives.
In order to make my students feel comfortable in my classroom, I try to talk with students about their lives from the beginning of the year. I start the year off by doing a show and tell activity with my first graders to get to know them a little more and their families. We try to make connections to what other students share. After that, I always try to make sure they know that their voice matters in the classroom, and we do a lot of discussing activities, academic and non-academic. When students are waiting in line to wash their hands or do other downtime things, I try to talk with them and learn about their lives and interests. By allotting time to get to know them individually, I think it really helps my students feel comfortable in my classroom.
I have never really thought about creating a culturally responsive classroom prior to taking this course and reading these articles and watching the videos, but I am glad I am starting to learn about it. I think I have unknowingly incorporated different culturally responsive lessons before in my classroom, but I would like to prioritize and intentionally create culturally responsive lessons in my classroom. I think it would really help my students by making learning more relevant to my students. Just reflecting back on my own experiences as a student, I remembered always thinking “Why do I even have to learn this?” and now I understand, it’s because I never cared about the lessons being taught to me because I didn’t find it relevant to my own life. If it were relevant to me, I probably would’ve learned a lot more and be more motivated to partake in what my teacher was teaching.
I now have more motivation to try harder to reflect on lessons and how I can improve them to make them more relevant and make my classroom more culturally responsive. I want to see how being more mindful of this will improve my teaching and my students’ academic success.
I wholeheartedly think that creating culturally responsive classrooms can benefit teachers and students as a whole. Like I said previously, I was always a firm believer in teaching the whole child. Not only will it make things more relevant and engaging, but I think it could also be used to help reduce behavioral issues too because students will feel important, safe, and represented in the classroom.
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TylerSeptember 26, 2021 at 10:51 AM
I learned a great deal from the resources. I learned that ignoring race and cultural differences in the classroom is more detrimental than it is helpful to create and foster a safe learning community for all students. I was happy to learn that effective CRC’s are all about relationships between members of a learning community which includes the adults. The idea of being part of this community rather than being above it and trying to manage it, was a new concept for me and one that I really appreciate.

I learned a lot from the “Culturally Responsive Teaching Text” about the background and critical pedagogy behind the practice. I didn’t know there was such a wealth of historical basis to back up why and how this is so important. It is a wonder that this isn’t adopted everywhere and more well known, as it seems like a great way to mitigate some of the massive achievement gaps that exist with diverse schools.

In my classroom I strive to make all students comfortable, however I am aware that I can improve. I make them feel comfortable by honoring their answers, being positive even when they may have been incorrect, I validate the attempt as best as possible. I make sure to try to establish positive relationships with the students in an area of their interest, this helps relationship building and can make all the difference in making a student feel comfortable. Finally, I try to be an ally, helping with academics but also doing my best to make myself available for anything else that might be on their mind. Honoring total well being helps foster a positive culture in class.

After reading and viewing, creating a culturally responsive classroom is extremely important for me. The benefits seem irrefutable. These days in the COVID reality, I think it is more important now than ever because students and all of us have outside influences stress, anxiety and trauma that are trickling into school. When students are stressed and then on top of that do not feel comfortable because their culture is not represented in class or in the curriculum, very little learning could ever be accomplished. Students would simply shut down.

The articles and videos have influenced my view and pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms because it has made me realize that this should be at the forefront of my classroom rather than an afterthought or in the background. I am recognizing the important of these practices as a daily exercise and consideration, not separate from the curriculum but intertwined within it.

As mentioned, I think that culturally responsive classroom practices can absolutely benefit me as a teacher and my students in their quest to learn effectively and find belonging because when those are achieved the classroom is a more productive and safe environment for all. As a school the same results at a larger scale or possible. There is a number of ways this can be accomplished school wide beyond just individual classrooms utilizing the practice. Things like thoughtful school wide assessments, the art on the walls and the school lunch menu can all contribute to a more inclusive school.
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Emily P.November 10, 2021 at 10:52 AM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
Culturally responsive teaching seaks to increase engagement and motivation of students who have been both unsuccessful academically and socially alienated from their public schools. In short, CRT is another method of addressing student interests and incorporating culture. Most significantly, I noticed that the cultural connection needs to be meaningful. I would encourage teachers to use a connection they are familiar with, passionate about, and comfortable with, because with all things in the classroom, students can quickly distinguish if you are genuine or not. As stated in the reading, CRT signals a need to expand and transform the knowledge base of teachers, the actual perspectives of teachers, and alter the curriculum and instruction in the classroom.
In Culturally Responsive Teaching, I noticed a significant statistic- 90% of all teachers identify themselves as White. This statistic alone is baffling and makes me uncomfortable, and lends itself to further trains of thought, such as who is recruiting teachers, is there a possibility of creating programs to promote an equitable future for our students, and how do we alter and shift the current status quo to suit the needs of our growingly diverse population of students, in order to create a better education system that meets the needs of all.
One of the most significant pieces of advice I learned from the Education Matters video is to start your instruction with familiar culture or themes, something the students are comfortable with, and move outwards as you teach on. In other words, avoid being too myopic so that our students can really have a well rounded education. Culture based education creates a sense of responsibility and students want to give back to the community. It makes learning enjoyable! Using culturally inclusive practices enhances a students self worth, directly correlating with their ability to test, and testing scores.
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Emily P.November 10, 2021 at 10:53 AM
What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
At the beginning of the school year, I introduce myself and my background. Most students find a connection somewhere in my story- from being raised on a reservation, being socially adopted, or being bounced around from home to home when I was younger and never really having one stable situation. This, I tell them, led to my admiration of cultures and love for education and reading. I make it a very important part of my introduction to mention how I was affected by my time on the reservation, and the families who took care of me, and the small things I do to bring honor to their culture while also recognizing that there are parts of that culture I will always be an outsider to. Following my own presentation and introduction, I always have students create a presentation on their cultures and backgrounds to introduce themselves. I use the presentations as a springboard to discuss the importance of respecting others' beliefs at great lengths.
After that, within the first quarter, I work hard to incorporate Na Hopena A’o in the classroom. Having a Hawaiian flag in the room and hanging up the Na Hopena A’o posters always helps the students settle in a bit more. They are super “small” things that teachers can easily do in the room to represent their respect for the place they are teaching in. I’m a strong believer in the classroom environment, and those two items are high on my list of priorities.
Another method I use to incorporate culture is sending out parent letters for any activities that may go against others beliefs or cultures, with encouragement to expose the child to these conversations in a healthy and safe environment. I do allow for opt-outs based on parent comfort. I also make a promise to the parents that if there is anything their child is uncomfortable with learning, that I will create a safe environment for the students to recognize differences in and generate a respect for other cultures. Creating a connection with parents and families is extremely important to me.
I also work hard to incorporate different literature and themes in our reading that explores the diversity represented in my classroom. We read short stories from around the world, drawing on my own admiration of World Literature. One of the students favorite readings is The Rooster. I allow for our students to write in Pidgin occasionally as well, and encourage different dialects exposed in dialogue. For the most part, I reserve the variations in dialect for the short stories or poetry units. Students are also given the option to write their essays in Hawaiian, with the knowledge that the Immersion department will lend a hand in grading.
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Emily P.November 10, 2021 at 10:53 AM
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is extremely significant to me, in fact, it was one of my driving passions to pursue a career in education. At a young age, I noticed how I was treated in my AP classes at Southampton High School, versus how my Native American friends and family were treated in their remedial classes. I was awestruck at the opportunities and funding that was available for me, and how our teachers would respond when I was caught doing something naughty versus when they were. There were never any stipends available for them, but somehow, my field trips were always paid for. This is what motivated me to become a teacher. I cannot change the entire structure of our education system, but I can break the norms in my own classroom. I always try to respond the way I wished my teachers would have responded to my friends (within reason, of course).
By incorporating elements of culture and driving students towards methods of healthy communication that recognizes differences, similarities, and creates a pathway for respect and honesty in their everyday lives, I believe that we truly can contribute to a better future.
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Emily P.November 10, 2021 at 10:53 AM
How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
As stated in Culturally Responsive Teaching, “CRT recognizes that teacher effectiveness decreases when instruction is primarily teacher centered with an absence of student and community voice.” Although I am cognizant of this fact and aware of it, I think that this quote has a strong influence on the changes I need to make in my own teaching style. To me, it serves as a reminder that student centered classrooms are much more effective, engaging, and overall just more fun for both student and teacher!
Sometimes, I am guilty of taking on the role of being a transmitter for information, rather than including students as active participants in that information delivery. Personally, I need to grow in the area of developing more interactive and student centered lessons. I think that I gravitate towards a lecture style class sometime, although I do work hard to try to balance my lecture style with a plethora of group work and activities. I think that by incorporating more project based learning and presentations, I can succeed in giving the students a stronger voice in the classroom.
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Emily P.November 10, 2021 at 10:54 AM
Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
Culturally responsive classrooms have the potential to not only benefit the student, the teacher, and the school, but the entire community, the state, the country, and the world. By encouraging our students to incorporate their own culture, we are teaching them to embrace their identity, to share the strengths and the weaknesses of how they were raised, and to help each other grow. By creating a collage of cultures in the classroom, our students have the ability to pick and choose aspects that align with who they are and their vision of who they want to become. Exposing students to uncomfortable conversations, where disagreements may occur, is excessively healthy. To keep them sheltered from other cultures and beliefs would be to send them out into the world blind and handicapped. From food, to language, to social mechanisms and art, our students deserve exposure to the magnificence of life. Becoming a globalized citizen creates flexibility, understanding, patience, and resilience in a child.
To incorporate elements of Ha, for example, would be to teach our kids the importance of well being, Hawaii, excellence, belonging, Aloha, and responsibility. These traits, if properly prioritized, can create a cohesive and effective school system for our students to thrive in. If our students were held to these standards, there would be minimal disruption in the learning process and the students would feel a lot more respected, and that would be reflected in the way they treat their educators and school staff. Apply that same thinking to the state, and imagine what a difference it would make in Hawaii if more people followed the framework and held these six fundamental lessons in the highest regard.

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JoyceNovember 17, 2021 at 1:09 PM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
As Vavrus stated, “culturally responsive teaching is designed to empower children and youth by using meaningful cultural connections to convey academic and social knowledge and attitudes.” Essentially, I learned that culturally responsive teaching is not merely a method but a force with the transformative power to activate students to have meaningful educational experiences. As a result, they take hold of their learning and make it their own.

What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
First, I start with examining my own bias to determine if and how it influences the expectations I have for students. Whether they are implicit or explicit, it’s vital I charge myself to admit my biases and then correct them through knowledge. Secondly, as a Library Teacher, I create a safe learning space by welcoming and valuing student voice. For example, students make suggestions about the topics and genres of books they want in the collection. Not only does this activate their individual ideas but it curates a collection that mirrors their culture.

How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
It is undeniably an essential component of my classroom culture. Creating a learning space that upholds shared beliefs and values provides an atmosphere that exudes the respect and trust addressed in the “Culture Matters” video. Consequently, a culturally responsive classroom increases educational outcomes and social emotional development, which are paramount during Covid.

How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
Erica Cornwell said it well when she said, “Insead of making the students come to us, in terms of their learning; we had to go to them, in terms of our teaching.” The NAEYC article further accentuated the significance of being “color aware” by giving concentrated efforts in teaching students about their race and it’s value to them and the community (Wanless and Crawford, 2016). The combination of Cornwell and Wanless and Crawford’s statements broadens my role as a teacher. In practice, I am compelled to build my teaching off of students' culture and prior knowledge to enhance their connection to the content. This bridges the connection between how their culture plays a role in the topics they are exploring. For example, in a recent study of King Midas, I could have had students compare and contrast with king/queen figures in their culture.

Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole?
Yes! As Dr. Kavatus Newell shared, culturally responsive teaching needs to be infused throughout the curriculum. On the contrary, it must not be a side dish or an isolated task. Wanless and Crawford also reveal that no one “book can fully represent a group or a complex issue.” This magnifies the point that the integration is the most profitable and effective approach to culture based education. If this approach is implemented on a school wide level, the continuity or cultural responsiveness is braided throughout a student’s K -5 years. Having a consistent and unified approach lends teachers to scaffold off of students prior knowledge and solidifies the value of their culture!
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BriannaNovember 27, 2021 at 9:06 AM
1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?
One of the first things that stuck out to me from one of the articles I read was that even though our nation’s student body is continuing to become culturally diverse there are still 90% of teachers in this country that identify as white. To me, this means that creating opportunities to practice culturally responsive teaching is an absolute must. In order to do this one of the first steps is to self-reflect. Teachers must take a hard look at their beliefs, values, cultural practices, and possible cultural biases to see where they can improve in order to be more inclusive in their classrooms. A culturally responsive school, as well as individual teachers, regularly involve the parents and community members. Teachers should be out in the community inviting members into the classroom to share their knowledge and experience with students. Cultural responsiveness must also be integrated throughout the curriculum and practiced throughout the year as opposed to one celebratory event or activity. Students must feel that they are a valued member of the school and that begins with the administration and teachers to initiate that environment.
2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
One of the ways in which I try to make my students comfortable is by setting up my room with decorations that are popular with the students at the time. I take time before the year starts to learn about what is popular and then create display boards and borders that I know the students will appreciate. I also use a lot of bright colors in my classroom and keep my room organized and clean. Another way in which I make my students feel comfortable is by creating a lot of “Get to Know Me” activities throughout the year. I created an assignment that involved the students researching how they got their names. For this assignment, the students had to go home and interview their parents on the story behind their first name. Once the stories were complete, the students then shared their stories with their classmates. It was a really great opportunity to see how much each child’s culture played a part into their name. We also learned from this activity how many students had names with similar background stories! Another thing I do that promotes a comfortable atmosphere is set up classroom routines that I establish from day one. I spend a lot of time coming up with classroom rules and expectations with the students that they agree to. Then, I also have daily routines that the students learn which help provide students with stability and reduce anxiety. I believe routines that are understandable and consistently followed help to significantly reduce stress and behavior issues in my classroom.

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BriannaNovember 27, 2021 at 9:09 AM
3. How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is detrimental to me! Without this kind of classroom, I don’t think I would be achieving my goal as an educator which is to provide a learning place were each of my students feel safe and valued. I think without being culturally responsive, especially in a place as diverse as Hawaii, I would be losing out on so many learning opportunities and cultural connections that should be free flowing in a classroom.
4. How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
What these articles and videos have done is remind me that I can always improve in the ways in which I connect with my students and the ways in which I allow them to connect with each other. Being culturally responsive means I need to continuously provide opportunities for parents and community members to be involved in my classroom.
5. Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
I definitely think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher. Becoming culturally responsive means I am opening myself up to more resources. I would be providing students a chance to lead rather than just listening to me lead. It also means that I am building positive relationships between students and creating a collectivist culture classroom. Being a part of a culturally responsive school is the most beneficial because then it becomes the norm and is a lot easier to follow and maintain since every member of the school is on board with the practices and expectations. The environment will also be more positive.

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LauraNovember 29, 2021 at 1:00 PM
1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?
I learned a great deal from reading the articles and watching the videos. In the “Culture Matters” video, I learned that Hawaiian culture is rooted around the idea of trust and respect and how learning is not based in one place, that there are strong ties to the community in addition to the past and present. Creating a sense of responsibility can enhance self worth and engagement can improve academic performance. In the article by Shannon Wahless and Patricia Crawford, an important take away for me was that the color blind approach can send a negative message to children of color because they can be made to feel uncomfortable about acknowledging their race. Instead, it is vital to build positive racial identity which can be done by strategically selecting relevant literature, nurturing friendships across races, having a more “color aware” approach and also by using the social justice lens to view and discuss sensitive historical events. In the “Culturally Responsive Teaching” article, I learned that this is a reform movement within education that grew out of the civil rights movement and is geared toward honoring the cultural background of historically marginalized groups in order to close the achievement gap.
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LauraNovember 29, 2021 at 1:01 PM
2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
In order to make my students feel comfortable in my own classroom I try to make connections with all of my students and particularly try to find ways to include and modify my lessons and communication as needed to reach students from different cultures. I also talk about my experiences and my own Korean heritage and make a point of accepting and communicating how special other countries and cultures are when we are learning about them. For example, I was showing a news clip to a group of sixth graders and some of them started laughing in the background when they heard a person speaking in Mandarin Chinese during the interview. I made a point afterwards to clarify that these language sound different but that laughing can be hurtful and inappropriate. I then spoke in Mandarin to the whole class as I had studied abroad in Beijing as a University students 20 years ago and the class looked at me with wide eyes. I tried to bring the respect and relationship the kids had with me, their teacher, and apply that toward a culture and language they were unfamiliar with.
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LauraNovember 29, 2021 at 1:03 PM
3.How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is extremely important to me. I would go so far as to say this idea permeates into all areas of my life and I think making sure to find ways to make sure I am creating as much of a culturally responsive classroom is an important part of who I am as a teacher and a person. I am a biracial individual who was not born and raised in Hawaii although I have lived here for 20 years. I can remember times where culture was very important and I was fortunate enough to experience many different cultures as I grew up attending English speaking schools overseas. However, when I experienced school life in the United States, I definitely noticed a western, culturally singular approach to be more dominant even here, more so in certain areas than others. I also notice that the students who qualify for free and reduced lunches and are lower on the achievement scales tend to be of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations. I think it is vital to understand and make changes to help remedy these situations and close the gap for these individuals and part of the way we can do that is by being culturally aware and responsive in our teachings to make sure these needs are being addressed.
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LauraNovember 29, 2021 at 1:04 PM
4.How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
These articles and videos have influenced my view by attaching names to ideas and by providing data and specific examples to concepts I have been wrangling with for a long time. In addition, it has reinforced that the color blind approach I grew up with and continues to persist, is indeed damaging and fails to acknowledge other cultures and races. This in turn has done more harm because it has created a false sense of equality particularly with majority groups who are lulled into a false sense of equality.
I also have learned new strategies and information that can help me build a stronger, more culturally responsive classroom. One of the strategies is that it is ok to acknowledge our racial differences especially with kids of a young age and in fact it is important to discuss our differences in a positive way. Another strategy is by choosing more racially relevant literature that includes more diversity. As the school librarian, I have a tendency to gravitate towards the classics in children’s literature as they are what I have read and am more familiar with, but it is also important to strategically select and include more diverse literature.
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LauraNovember 29, 2021 at 1:06 PM
5. Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
Yes, I think a culturally responsive classroom can benefit me as a teacher and as the school as a whole in several ways. One is by recognizing that in the United States and even in our school in Hawaii, the majority of the teaching staff is caucasian and to be careful when a purely western perspective is presented and to be aware of when the curriculum and instructional style is skewed in one direction and teaching style. Another reason is that this can certainly benefit students of color and help them become more successful by creating a more diverse, safe and culturally accepted environment. As a teacher, I feel that I can learn more ways to be more comfortable with cultures I am unfamiliar with and find ways to encourage my students to do the same. For example, I looked up cultural values and customs of Israel as I have just had a family of ELL students move to our school from there.
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UnknownDecember 3, 2021 at 1:56 PM
1) Having a culturally responsive teaching practice will help me as an educator. Also known as CRT but not to be confused with Critical Race Theory, acknowledges students backgrounds and complexities of culture. I learned in different lessons I can incorporate more diverse readings and videos to help students feel accepted. I always knew being “colorblind” was not a good term, I like the term color aware. I told them that privilege is not necessarily a bad thing, but you can use your own privilege to help to advance others. It can help to fight discrimination.
(2) I was told to send home a controversial subject letter and allow students to opt out. If this topic makes them uncomfortable their parents do have the ability to opt them out and request an alternative assignment.
One thing I do in my classroom to make sure my students feel comfortable is to mostly focus on journaling. It allows students to speak their minds without fear of judgment and if they feel like they’re part of the dominant culture, they are able to dissect why they feel the way they do in private. They are allowed to share the way they think if they so choose when I share my own experiences. By allowing them to hear my experiences it helps them to open up to each other as well. Additionally when we have small group discussions I allow them to opt out or choose their group so they feel safe with their talking partners. I do think students need to talk to each other so they can further see different perspectives, but this is where journaling comes in handy. They can cite something another group said and explain their own thoughts on it.
(3) It’s very important for me to create a culturally responsive classroom, but a little bit harder to do in practice. In doing so, I’ve had to send home a “controversial subject” letter and allow parents to opt their children out. Students oftentimes don’t understand why their parents have chosen to opt them out of the lesson. I think parents need to have a conversation on why they chose to and allow students to decide.
(4) I think this articles and videos have influence by teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms because it gave me a deeper understanding to why I want to have one. I was on the fence about doing some of my culture based activities because my school has me send home “a notice about controversial issues” but this helps me to further explain why it’s important and important for me to do it regardless. I’m thinking that I need to do this later in the quarter because of building student rapport, but it’s hard because it directly affects the first couple of units I teach in quarter 1.
(5) I get to learn about my students’ cultures in a culturally responsive environment. I get a deeper look into why they do things the way they do and why they think the way they think. I can hear about parts of their culture they struggle with and how they are coming to terms with it. Culturally responsive teaching is a learner center environment. For students that do not feel a strong connection to their ethnic culture, I tend to encourage them to look at their able-bodied culture or military culture, or even gender and age. I think this helps the school as a whole because we do have a very transient military population in Hawai’i and specifically our school. It really helps to get perspectives out in a safe way.
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AnonymousDecember 20, 2021 at 8:35 PM
I learned the importance of acknowledging students’ cultures in the classroom. Traditionally, education reflects the dominant cultural norms of Euro-Americanism. As a result, students often find school to be a threat to their culture and identity because it does not reflect their home culture. Diverse students do not see themselves in the stories and lessons presented in school. With this knowledge in mind, I know that it is critical to create an inviting classroom and embed students’ cultures in the curriculum. One way to make the classroom inviting is to use multicultural literature. Using diverse literature can help students develop a positive racial identity, learn about other cultures, and be more tolerant of others. Students will also feel connected to their learning, cared for, and ultimately seen and accepted for who they are. Students’ social and emotional well-being will be positively impacted, which will impact learning outcomes.

In my classroom, I begin the school year by sharing artifacts that are important to me, such as sharing a Japanese doll to explain my Japanese heritage and showing pictures of my family. I ask students to bring 2-3 artifacts from home to share with the class. Students share various objects such as favorite toys, pictures of family, and special mementos. Through this activity, we are able to make connections with each other right away. In the beginning of the year, we also read stories that discuss celebrating our differences and being kind to others. We talk about making mistakes and using it for growth. I point out when I make mistakes, so students know that everyone does it. Throughout the year, we begin our day by sharing our feelings. We talk about the issues that bother us and upcoming events that excite us. I try to be welcoming by allowing students to express themselves and remind students that being different is okay. I also make my students feel comfortable by setting up classroom rules, expectations, and routines so students understand what is expected of them.

Creating a culturally responsive classroom is important to me because I want students to feel safe and valued. I want students to be engaged in their learning. I have students from diverse backgrounds and students who speak more than one language at home. I want my students to feel empowered to learn in class and see their differences as an asset. I want my students to believe that they all can be successful.

The articles and videos helped me to reflect on my teaching practices and understand the importance of creating a culturally responsive classroom. The article “Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom” talked about the difference between color blindness and color awareness. I learned that being color blind happens when we do not directly talk about race with our students. When this happens, we send the message that we do not recognize/accept our students’ racial identity and students end up developing their own ideas about their race and others’ races. On the other hand, color awareness is when students learn about race and how to treat others. The articles motivated me to think about how to address racial experiences within my classroom context and include diverse children’s literature as a stepping stone. I know that I can do more to address race. There are ways to connect race to our topics of study in first grade, such as when we talk about art, health, and our community.

I believe culturally responsive teaching can benefit myself and my school. Students will feel more connected to their learning, have a better outlook on school, and be more willing to work hard in the classroom. I think that if I incorporate culturally responsive teaching techniques, I can build positive relationships with students, help them learn in ways that are relevant (e.g. using chants/songs, collaborative learning), and motivate them to achieve more than they thought they could.
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UnknownDecember 28, 2021 at 4:53 PM
I learned that having awareness and creating a welcoming and inclusive classroom is an important aspect of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT). CRT allows students opportunities to make connections with school, home and their culture. Through the articles and videos I also learned that CRT builds on students’ funds of knowledge, prior experiences, and addresses how culture plays an important role in learning in the classroom. I learned that early childhood education is a great place to start exposing and educating children about different cultures and multiple viewpoints that can all be connected. With this in mind, diverse children’s literature allows children to make connections with their own culture and others. Students should feel cared for and be comfortable with being themselves in the classroom because it is a place for learning and growing together.

At the beginning of each year, I always incorporate activities to get to know others in the classroom. I start with having students go home to ask their families how they got their name. I share that my middle name was passed down from my grandmother and it is Japanese for empress child. Hearing stories about how each of them got their names was neat to hear because then my students shared about their families and were able to connect with each other through their stories. I also read diverse children’s literature so that we can begin to discuss and celebrate our differences. Through the stories we learn how many of us share similarities with the characters and even if we have differences or a different opinion we can still get along with one another.

Creating a culturally responsive classroom is important to me because having a safe and caring learning environment is the best place for student growth. If students do not feel safe and comfortable sharing in the classroom, then it will be a setback in their learning process. Also since Hawaii is a melting pot of cultures, I feel that it is essential that students are aware of the different cultures and learn how we all bring different strengths to the classroom.

The videos and articles have allowed me to reflect on my teaching practices and look for different ways to integrate CRT throughout the curriculum that I teach. I feel that I will continue to build strong trusting relationships with students in the beginning of the year because as Dr. Kavatus Newell discussed in the Office Chat video, it all begins with a teacher’s invitation for genuine care of the students in the classroom. From classroom set-up, students should feel that their values and beliefs are thought of and acknowledged in the classroom, then students can feel comfortable with the teacher and begin to open up and have a successful school year.

I believe that culturally responsive classrooms can benefit myself and the school because I want the school environment to be a safe place for students to learn and be comfortable being themselves. Students should feel valued and have a sense of belonging in the school because I feel that developing the whole child is essential. Being able to make connections with home and school will keep students engaged and allow for more student-centered learning opportunities.
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AnonymousJanuary 2, 2022 at 9:10 PM
1. I learned that Culturally Responsive Teaching can take on many different forms and implementation strategies and that it is not a one-size-fits-all practice. From the Office Chat video I learned that the onus of learning about each cultural group in your classroom isn’t always on the teacher, but the responsibility to invite students into that space of sharing is. I found that to be very helpful in thinking through how I would plan out my classroom environment. In the Culture Matters video I learned how recently the statistical measures to track culturally responsive teaching practices have been developed and that the research was considered “cutting-edge” just ten years ago. This was important to me because it does help explain why many of our colleagues are resistant to the terms and practices associated with CRT. From the Culturally Responsive Teaching article by Michael Vavrus, I learned that it is vital for students and teachers to learn alongside their students about the communities that they serve. I found this to be a very provocative idea with a ton of potential. The idea of renewing my understanding of my community alongside my students every year makes a lot of sense.

2. I would say the most impactful thing I do as a teacher to make my students feel comfortable is greeting them at the door and throughout the day from the hallway. While greeting them is a universal activity and not particularly culturally responsive every time, it does allow me to make sure every student feels welcomed, validated and gives them an opportunity to speak to me directly outside the context of our work in the classroom. Through this practice I have developed excellent rapport and background knowledge on my students.

3. Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important to me. I know that I pour a ton of energy into creating stimulating and rigorous lessons each year for my students, but I don’t know if all that energy is being efficiently applied when I don’t know as much as I could about my students and let them tell me what would move the needle for them. My goal as an educator is to transfer as much knowledge and inspire as much thinking as possible to my students while I have the opportunity to do so. However, I have been approaching this relationship from the vantage of my, or the dominant, culture in education. A more intentional shift to a culturally responsive approach would be huge for my ability to effectively teach.

4. Yes, the resources in this section definitely influenced me. Some, like the Office Chat, helped clarify some details on the practice that I was unclear on and, frankly, scared to ask. The Culture Matters video did a great job highlighting the need for and excellent examples of culturally responsive teaching in Hawai’i. The Vavrus article really gave me a lot of technical explanations and background on the the range of practices that can be included in a culturally responsive classroom.

5. I believe a that a culturally responsive classroom would benefit me as a teacher for sure, and the school. As a teacher I think this practice would help my students do even better on their assignments because they would be more aligned to the work, and I would be more aligned to their outcomes on an individual basis. In my role as a teacher I have participated in cohort-level projects where individual teachers were asked to adopt practices (primarily related to discipline and grading) that would benefit the entire grade level, and the results were fantastic. I would love to see a similar effort made on culturally responsive practices. The cohort facilitation would also benefit from PLC-style learning opportunities where teachers could share out more about what they learned about and from their students.
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UnknownJanuary 3, 2022 at 8:30 AM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
Two reading articles granted me the understanding of the essential reason why I need to learn about my students’ cultures. As I studied to become a teacher, I always heard that we need to understand our own students, but it never was clear - how can my understanding of my students help them to become better learners? The articles explain that knowing students’ cultures open up opportunities for me to bring in suitable teaching materials that may give them insights about any injustice they face as minorities and have their own voices to address those issues. It shows that the question I started with as a student (to become a teacher) was not the most appropriate because culturally responsive teachers should be more concerned with empowering students to fight against inequities. Teaching them how to behave as good learners may help them while they are “in” school, but we want to teach them what they can take away “from” school.
What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
One of the videos talked about how Obama, who had become the first African-American president, positively influenced students who are from different backgrounds. It encouraged students to think that they can be anything they want without any limitations. I also remind the same thing to my ELL students with different language backgrounds to help them feel comfortable in my classroom. When I came from Korea, I was 16 and I had a lot worse English than my students. I often tell them that they have to try their best without giving up because, although they may face some English barriers now, they are capable of achieving anything they want if they keep pushing for it. I also genuinely understand the frustration of not understanding the language and it has been helpful to build relationships with my students by making these connections with them.
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Based on my answer for the first question, creating a culturally responsive classroom is absolutely necessary for me because I teach EL newcomers. All of my students are from outside of the United States and none of them are white, who possibly experience white privilege that the articles mention. They all have different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and CRT seems to be one the best teaching approaches in my teaching situation.
How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
Now that I understand the reason why I need to know my students and their cultures, I want to start learning about them and bring in multicultural literature as a social justice approach. There might be language barriers for them to freely discuss their thoughts and reflections, but it can perhaps be replaced with other representatives such as drawings. I want to have lessons that allow them to have opportunities to bring in their own perspectives that will eventually empower them to speak up for themselves and any injustices they witness.
Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
Some compliments I received as a new teacher was that I take care of my students as if they were my children. I teach six subjects to the same group of students and I feel very attached to them because I see them throughout almost the whole day, everyday. They each attend one elective class and this is when they mingle with mainstream students. I want them to be able to interact with others without experiencing any forms of discrimination from having different backgrounds. Therefore, all teachers at my school can benefit from understanding CRT, including myself. If all teachers use CRT, all students will learn how to show respect to others with different backgrounds.
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AnonymousJanuary 3, 2022 at 4:05 PM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
I learned that there are three levels of RRTPs (Race Related Teaching Practices) that educators use to address race in the classroom: color blind, color aware and social justice. A color blind approach is harmful because it forces children to draw their own conclusions about racial differences and/or silences them from discussing race. A color aware approach acknowledges racial differences and uses teachable moments and activities to discuss topics of race. The most proactive approach is social justice for it empowers children to take action against racial injustice and strives to improve systems that perpetuate discrimination, bias, or unfairness. I liked the many examples given on how to move from a color aware approach to a social justice one such as the teacher who used literature to start a discussion about why one character, an elderly man of color, might not have ever learned to read. Her prompt allows students to make their own connections using their own experiences/background knowledge and thereby collectively building the shared understanding of the classroom community.

What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
During our unit at the beginning of the year called “All About Me”, I often share with my students that my favorite food is natto, a Japanese fermented soybean dish. I recall for them how I was embarrassed to eat it in front of my friends at school because of its slimy texture and pungent smell. Now I am proud to share my cultural foods with other people and am honored to pass these traditions on to my son. By sharing my personal story and glimpse into my cultural heritage, I’ve started the process of creating a connection between myself and my students. In the video “Culture Matters”, a culturally responsive approach is validated by the research from Kamehameha Schools. The data shows that culture based connections improves student empowerment, enjoyment and motivation in school possibly because the pilina, the relationship between teacher and students is strong.

How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important to me since my students are five year olds just beginning their learning journeys. It is incredibly important that they know from the start their presence and contributions will be valued. I also believe that being able to listen to multiple perspectives and respect other points of view is a life skill lacking in many adults.

How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
From these resources, I realize that I can be a culturally responsive teacher and have a lasting impact on my students’ self image and learning experience. In the Office Chat video, Dr. Newell discusses the importance of teachers being self reflective about their own biases and proactive when learning about students’ cultural backgrounds. This aligns with what the Vavus article stated that “Culturally responsive teachers are lifelong learners of culture and its implications for teaching and learning in their particular settings.” So although it may take a lot of work and reflection, the effort will be worthwhile.

Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
Culturally responsive classrooms benefit all teachers and schools because they embody the best practices of teaching and learning. According to the article “Culturally Responsive Teaching”, its pedagogy increases student engagement and motivation, is constructivist, fosters a caring school climate and enhances academic and social knowledge. Once students feel they are in a safe, supportive environment and feel empowered to take risks, learning can occur.
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LauraJanuary 7, 2022 at 9:10 AM
1. In this section, I learned about many different strategies to help become a more culturally responsive teacher to students from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. I found the examples given with students of a specific background and teachers who had experience and advice in working with these groups of people to be particularly helpful. The specific characteristics shared about learning and communication from group to group and similarities in broader, overlapping groups helped remind me to keep these important factors in mind. I also learned that to become a true culturally responsive teacher, I must examine my own bias, be knowledgeable and proactive of the cultural background of the students in my class and find ways to help my students be as successful as they can be.

This information has changed my teaching style because it has encouraged me to think outside the box and to be more mindful and proactive about incorporating more diverse materials into the existing curriculum and into the classroom as whole. Taking time to make personal and cultural connections and to express care and interest will prove to be invaluable and a motivating factor in student achievement. In the past, I think I felt pressure as a teacher to make sure students were meeting standards and focused more on quantity and getting through certain parts of the curriculum to make sure that everything was covered. After reading these articles, while that is still our job, to use the curriculum to instruct our teaching, I feel like I can now overlap some parts together, take more time to establish and build relationships with students and understand their ethnic and cultural background. Spending more time doing this can help me be more successful as a teacher and make my students feel like their ways, learning styles and culture are honored and respected. Also, I can make sure I consistently spread out materials throughout the year and supplement the curriculum with more diverse texts and images. Many schools and curriculums have certain months and holidays where they solely discuss a certain group of people such as black history month in February, Latinx history month in September or Native Americans during Thanksgiving. I will now be more conscious of incorporating both views and examples of men and women and people from a variety of backgrounds and taking more time and effort to find appropriate and meaningful materials to accomplish this goal.

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UnknownJanuary 7, 2022 at 9:11 AM
3. I have used a variety of these strategies and have always been mindful of cultural and ethnic differences in my students as this has always been very important to me. Growing up as an expatriate overseas in many different countries has given me the opportunity to live in, visit and learn about many different types of people and their history and cultures. I am grateful for these experiences as it has taught me that we are one human race although many times, people are treated differently around the world for a variety of reasons. My undergraduate degree is in Asian Studies so I am familiar with asian stereotypes and the “model minority” myth. I am also biracial, being of half Korean descent. With my personal experiences in this area, I am always very aware of the importance of cross cultural communication particularly with students from an asian background who may sometimes be quieter in the classroom than students from other backgrounds. I try to give them and other students other opportunities to participate and show their learning such as putting them in small groups instead of the traditional western direct question and answer style where not all people feel comfortable or are used to being so vocal and speaking up in front of a group. I am also particularly aware of the participation grade that is relevant in many elementary report cards and try to find different ways for students of different abilities and social and cultural backgrounds to participate so they are not at a disadvantage.

I also have provided cultural scaffolding for students and have their peers share some background information and then ask them to share how their culture is unique and how they do things. Another strategy I use is to be mindful of how a student’s first or last name is pronounced. I work as the school librarian and so I serve the entire student body and see each class once a week. I remember having to give an award to a student whose last name was a thirteen letter Samoan name that I was not sure how to pronounce it so I asked a few other teachers who had the student and her siblings so I could practice and make sure I said it correctly. I also had a student with a Danish last name and several consonants together that I was not sure how to pronounce and she happily explained to the class how to pronounce it and what her background was as she connected to a story I had read to them about a Hedgehog that was set in Denmark.
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LauraJanuary 7, 2022 at 9:12 AM
4. The strategies that I will use in my CRC plan are to use diverse resources to plan structure and supplement learning opportunities, understand student learning needs and styles and find ways to connect with more diverse individuals in the community. By being more selective in the texts and resources I use to teach my students, I can model and show them that there are different perspectives to an event or story and that can vary based on who you are. Having these diverse materials and examples can help students connect better in different ways. I can also make sure I actively incorporate people and perspectives of different social and cultural backgrounds consistently throughout the year instead of at an isolated time. I can also actively research different cultural backgrounds and make a note of what kinds of values, interactions and learning styles are accepted and encouraged with those students. I can use this information to plan activities and structure my lessons in a way that is more multimodal and can be appropriate to a wider variety of students’ learning styles.

As the school librarian, I can be more mindful of finding books written by more diverse authors and even watch author videos that highlight individuals from different backgrounds. This can help students see a wide variety of people in this profession in addition to reading books and seeing illustrations that encompass a wide variety of different ethnicities and cultures. By mindfully including texts consistently throughout the year that reflect different viewpoints I can promote and create a more culturally responsive classroom.

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LauraJanuary 9, 2022 at 1:45 PM
1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?
What I learned about CRC is that it is really about expanding the teacher's practice and skills for providing learning accessibility on the part of the students. The article by Vavrus described CRT as outlining the role of CRT which is to "...expand the customary professional knowledge base for teachers to close the achievement gap." I thought this was really interesting because usually conversations about closing this gap center around academic skills acquired by students and not so much the approach to developing those skills on the part of the teacher. I also learned that the CRT approach doesn't just stop at the classroom but seems to be a philosophy that can and should be threaded into the culture of the school (and indeed on the district level) to be fully effective. Indeed, including students' backgrounds in the learning methodologies and content has far reaching implications to our citizenship and indeed democracy, and I thought this was a very powerful message with great significance, especially today. The video presented by Kamehameha schools was such a clear example of what it looks like to incorporate students' culture into the learning experience, and I very much appreciated the information and the examples. Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom provided more examples of how to incorporate "Race Related Teaching Practices" into reading lessons, and I appreciated the books suggestions as well as pointers on opening up discussions on racial identity and understanding. What really stuck out with this article were the three progressions (it seems) of approaching conversations about race: color blind, color-aware, and social justice. At first I thought the social justice approach would be difficult in an elementary school and more suited to older kids, but the examples proved otherwise.
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LauraJanuary 9, 2022 at 1:45 PM
2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
Although I’m a counselor right now, I do a lot of teaching with our Social Emotional Learning program, and I’m in the classroom several times per week. As a former high school EL teacher, it was really important for English learners to feel all comfortable as newcomers. I learn students’ names immediately and I use them. I give choices on how or if to answer questions, and try to include a variety of ways to answer from simple to complex. As far as cultural responsiveness, I feel that I try very hard to be inclusive in my choices for things to read, for types of role plays and activities, for the types of questions I ask. I think it is important for all types of people to be represented in whatever I present to the class, in the pictures of kids and family structures used as examples (i.e. maybe a single parent, a daddy doing laundry, videos that may not be in English but with subtitles and spoken in a language by many of the kids' families, etc.). It’s important for students not to feel isolated in the classroom because that does not promote learning. These, however, are not changes to pedagogy or are perhaps superficial inclusiveness strategies, not exactly the definition of a CRC, as I am learning.
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LauraJanuary 9, 2022 at 1:46 PM
3 How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
As I have outlined above, it's always been important to help kids see themselves in some way when I am teaching and also in my counseling activities. Students will learn better when they feel safe, heard and included. I do want to get better at direct discussion about differences, and I feel that students will appreciate that. I learned early on in my teaching career that if students know that I understand where they come from, or that if I'm interested and ask questions, they are very much more likely to be engaged in learning. By no means do I do everything right, and this is why I'm taking this course. But I know that if students see me as an ally, our learning experiences together will grow and be stronger.
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LauraJanuary 9, 2022 at 1:46 PM
4 How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
I appreciated the ideas that CRT abandoning the ideas of cultural deficiency on the part of the students. I have been teaching since the early 1990s and believe me, I noticed that this unfortunate mindset was ever-present in veteran teachers then. Now I am in a different state, but just as multicultural as where I started teaching, and fortunately I do see colleagues making more of an effort to infuse students' cultures into products from the classroom. However, I'm not so sure about processes in the classroom, and this is what I believe will need the most change in my own pedagogy. The great thing about the Kamehameha video is that it showed the learning process which was engendered from native Hawaiian culture and ways of learning (experiential, for example). The "Office Chat" video brought up the concern that many might have which is, if you have kids from all different backgrounds and cultures in your classroom (which I did as an EL teacher and do now as a counselor in HI), how do you capture all of the learning cultures of all of them in one experience? The speaker made the point (which seemed to be a little lost on the director) that you get to know the students and find out who they are. This relationship is probably what drives pedagogy of a CRC, and that is my take away from that video. This is so important because even kids from the same country can have different cultures, like we do in the USA. Take students from India, for example. There are several languages and religions there and many subcultures. There is no way the cookie cutter approach works in this and other situations. The only solution is to build relationships with the students - and families - and go from there.
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LauraJanuary 9, 2022 at 1:47 PM
5 Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
If students feel like they are represented in the classroom, that the classroom is a true 'ohana, they will be more engaged, more likely to try harder, and may have stronger academic outcomes. This is how it would benefit students, but what about the adult professionals on campus? Vavrus's article addresses the value CRC has on the culture of the school and on creating students more engaged in not just learning experiences but democracy itself. To bring up my early experiences as a teacher in the inner city, the lack of engagement or value in education in my first school was rampant. I know this is because quite a number of the old school chalk-and-talk teachers just didn't value the backgrounds of most of the students. It was the students' job to leave their cultures and experiences at the door and approach the teacher, rather than the other way around. It didn't work. Our graduation rate was horrendous. The school was so underperforming that it closed and was broken up into smaller schools. As a counselor now, I have the opportunity to observe students and teachers in a variety of classrooms and learning environments within our school and sometimes other schools. The classrooms with the teachers who care the most (and show it) about students' backgrounds, who allow the kids to represent themselves, and who show appreciation and gratitude for the diversity of their student body have the safest classrooms and the most comfortable and productive learning environments.
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DawnneJanuary 20, 2022 at 11:30 AM
I learned that it is important to understand that I need to keep in mind that all students come from many different backgrounds, cultures, and status. Each student’s environment plays an important role in how students learn and connect. For students to be able to engage and understand, differences need to be acknowledged, celebrated, embraced, incorporated, and talked about. We need to change learning up a bit so the concepts are relevant to our students.

I don’t have a classroom, I have an office. I try to have my office open and inviting. I have pictures, mindfulness, feelings, second step, and calming posters up on my walls (along with the other required postings). When students come in, I talk to them, let them look around for a bit and allow for questions. I do have games in my office as well and students are allowed to play with them after our conversations. We also are out at morning drop off and greet students each morning.

It’s important for me to create a culturally responsive space for all the student I work with because I want them to feel comfortable and welcomed. One thing that we did pre-pandemic was have a lunch bunch with all of our new out-of-state students. We showed them around the school and talked to them about expectations and some favorite things about Hawaii. They then shared where they were from and talked about their state/country. It’s important for both native and non-native to be aware of where each other comes from.

I love that the Wilhelm Ohana were featured in the Education: Culture Matters video! My husband works with a program that partners with Uncle Dean and he always talks about how inspiring he is and it always puts everyone in a good mood and their perspective changes each time they are able to kokua and malama. It makes me wish I was able to take students on field trips and incorporate more aina based learning. The best I can do right now is to incorporate real life playground situations when teaching guidance lessons.

I definitely think that having culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a counselor and our school as a whole. We have so many different types of learners with all different values. If we can all embrace having culturally responsive classrooms, we can all have one common value and it help us work towards one common goal.
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Laura BJanuary 21, 2022 at 10:32 AM
1. I learned from the articles and videos that by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, students of color continue to have a high percentage of the 1.2 million of students who dropout of high school every year. Currently in the United States, about 68% of those who begin ninth grade, graduate by 12th grade. But for African American, Native American Indians, and Latino students, graduation rates are around 50%, and for males it ranges from 43 to 48%. Researchers have found that by the age of 8, differences between the cultural values and patterns of communication at home and the school can diminish the desire of young people to learn and to believe in their own capacity to achieve.

2. I make my students feel comfortable in my classroom by sharing my own insecurities when I was a child with them. Since everyone has moments of self doubt, I don’t want my students to think that just because I am an adult and their teacher, I am unrelatable. So I share with them the story about when I was young, I was self conscious about all of my freckles. I tell the funny part that I bought “freckle disappear cream” from the store, hoping it would work. I asked my friend if she noticed a difference and she said it looked like I had more freckles than I ever had before. I learned the hard lesson of how important it is to read the fine print, discovering that an “increase in freckles may appear and discontinue use if so.” I confide with my students how I eventually got over my insecurities by looking in the mirror and telling myself how much I loved my freckles enough times until I finally believed it. Then I stopped caring about freckles and started living my life.

3. Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important to me. I want my students to feel welcomed and comfortable in our classroom. My classroom feels like a second home to me, so I hope my students feel relaxed and happy to be in our classroom too. Not only does a culturally responsive classroom help students emotionally but it also raises academic scores. It’s a win-win for everyone. Happier kids and improvement in grades- it just makes sense for teachers and the school to create a place where students feel accepted and they are exposed to their own culture and those of their peers.
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Laura BJanuary 21, 2022 at 10:33 AM
4. These articles and videos inspired me to change the way I introduce characters of a play when my class performs a reader’s theatre or a play. Before my students choose parts for a play, I introduce the characters. On the projector I leaf through the play so the students can see what characters have large speaking roles and what characters have small speaking roles. That way, the students that struggle with reading won’t find themselves stuck with having to read lots of lines in front of their classmates. Then I randomly pick names and students can choose what character they want based on availability.
Before starting this culturally responsive class, I never told my kids that the male students could choose female roles and vice versa. But I think if I nonchalantly mention that “any person can choose any character, gender doesn’t matter” it would open up their choices to what roles they want. It would also help my students that are transgender feel more accepted. Plus I can share with my students that when I was young performing “The Nutcracker” ballet, many of the male roles were danced by females (myself included) because we didn’t have enough male dancers. It was no big deal and totally accepted by everyone.
I read about the suggestions of children’s literature with racially diverse characters and themes from the article, “Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom” by Shannon B. Wanless and Patricia A. Crawford. One recommendation, “Amazing Grace”, is about a girl who wants to be Peter Pan but her classmates tell her she can’t because she’s black. I look forward to reading this story with my class before our first play so that it sets the tone that a student’s gender or race has no boundaries when choosing characters for a play.

5. I think having a culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and the school as a whole because the students will understand that their teacher and school care about who they are, what they have to say, and we are listening to them. Their opinion matters. One race, religion, or gender is not better than the other. Students will feel safer and happier which means they are more likely to put effort in class. There will be less behavior problems. Administration and other students won’t have as much of their day witnessing some students out of control and dealing with phone calls home to parents. In turn, parents will be happier with the school and have less complaints. Academic scores will go up. Students will have more respect for the campus environment and buildings. It’s like the butterfly effect, a small change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.
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AnonymousFebruary 2, 2022 at 12:32 PM
From these articles and videos I learned some valuable information about how to create a culturally responsive classroom. I learned that the first step is to make sure to have an open platform for students to share about their own culture/background. By inviting students to tell about themselves they feel welcome and valued.
To make my students feel comfortable I foster an environment of open communication and lack of judgement. I teach technology in a lab setting. Students display behaviors that may be different from their homeroom. This allows there to be individual conversation on a wide range of topics. This results with students feeling comfortable in my classroom.
It is extremely important to me to create a culturally responsive classroom. I have always been interested in other cultures and traveling. I am the technology teacher at my school. This means I teach every classroom at our school. This allows students to get consistent lessons both across the grade level and school wide. This is powerful and creating a culturally responsive classroom will greatly benefit all students at our school.
These articles and videos gave me a clear understanding of what a culturally responsive classroom looks like. The video Education: Culture Matters gave specific examples of creating a culturally responsive classroom. Reading your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom gave a list of childrenʻs books that could be used for creating a culturally responsive classroom. These would be beneficial to use when implementing lessons for students.
I think that a culturally responsive classroom can benefit me as a teacher tremendously. The more I learn about other cultures and the more I teach my students about various cultures the stronger our school community will become. This is especially true given the uniqueness of my position and ability to implement things school wide!
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UnknownMarch 7, 2022 at 6:34 PM
After reading the articles and watching the videos I have a deeper understanding of the origin of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the importance of culturally responsive teaching. The first article, “Culturally Responsive Teaching” by Micheal Vavrus examines and explains that the history of CRT stems from the civil rights movement. After Brown vs. Board of Education, many students of color were marginalized in education because of their culture and race. Unfortunately, some students today are still feeling the effects of this historical marginalization. Many teachers and curriculums reflect a culture that is foreign to students of color. I also learned that many students will disengage from their willingness to learn and participate if they feel that their voice does not hold the same value as their non-minority peers. Many educators will view this disengagement as a behavior issue versus changing and adopting a curriculum that supports a multicultural body of students. In the second article, “Reading your Way to Culturally Responsive Classroom”, I learned about the importance of addressing race in early education classrooms. Most teachers use a color-blind approach which can cause unintentional harm. This article taught me that early education teachers can help foster a culturally responsive classroom. I really enjoyed and appreciated this article because I am a kindergarten inclusion teacher. My main focus this year has been cultivating an inclusive classroom. My students are aware that some friends in our class need more patience or may have meltdowns and tantrums and they try their best to help these friends calm down and are great models. Teachers should adopt a color-aware approach versus a colorblind approach and recognize and celebrate color awareness. The videos about CRT reviewed how data shows that students will perform well academically and socially when they can see themselves in the literature and are able to connect the past to the present. Through these videos, I learned that CRT can positively impact education by creating a sense of responsibility that encourages students to want to give back to their community.
I teach inclusion kindergarten. I try to make my students feel comfortable by cultivating a sense of family and belongingness in our classroom. I usually start the school year off by really getting to know all of my students individually along with their families. I assign an All About Me project that allows my students to describe and share their interests. It is important to me to make my students feel safe, valued, and loved in my classroom. I want my students to feel connected to the community and world around them. I want to instill the value of learning about diverse cultures and appreciating and knowing their own culture. I want my students to have an education that is relevant and meaningful to them.

. The new insight that I have gained from this section has inspired me to incorporate culturally responsive teaching into my everyday practice. I am excited to learn more about CRT and the specific strategies that will help me be successful in my implementation. I think that culturally responsive classrooms can positively benefit me as a teacher and my school. CRT is linked to higher graduation rates and encourages students to give back to their community. Data shows that CRT increases student engagement. CRT prepares students for the real world. They will have to learn how to work with and get along with people from different cultural backgrounds. Students will also be able to draw inner strength from understanding their own cultural background. CRT allows students to be more open-minded, empathetic problem solvers. Culturally responsive classrooms allow students to have a sense of belongingness and to understand their sense of self-worth.
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UnknownMarch 7, 2022 at 9:45 PM
The response above is from Leilani.
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Jo Anne LMarch 11, 2022 at 10:53 PM
After reading the articles and watching the videos, I learned that there are endless ways to incorporate culture within the classroom to be more culturally responsive. It was great to see so many examples of how educators can be culturally responsive and incorporate their students’ background into their day. Even just having a discussion or playing a game related to a student’s upbringing or culture can make all the difference in building relationships with your students. Learning that cultural responsiveness has a huge impact on student learning and academic success was really eye-opening as well.
To make my students feel comfortable in my classroom - which is a smaller resource-like room, I personalize some of their supplies. Each student has a bin, binder, work folder, and cubby with a colorful name plate on it. This year, I also started having students pick a clipart that they feel looks like them (from a resource I purchased on TeachersPayTeachers), which I added to their name plate. They really loved looking at all the clipart and choosing the one that looked like them. After choosing, they were very eager for me to get it printed and placed on their supplies. Each student was able to find a clipart that looked just like them. I also have conversations with them about them - their family, hobbies, extracurriculars, and even just asking them the common “what did you do this weekend?” helps me learn so much about them. It also opens up the avenue for me to share about myself and helps my students learn more about me and see what we have in common.
Creating a culturally responsive classroom has become more important to me throughout the years of my teaching. After having children of my own, I started to value our place and culture so much more than I used to, and want them to grow up immersed in the culture & traditions of their kūpuna. As an educator, Iʻve seen how effective relating studentsʻ backgrounds and cultures to what theyʻre learning can be not only to their academic growth, but to their engagement, social-emotional well-being, and to the entire class community.
The articles and videos helped remind me of how important and effective incorporating culture into our classrooms is. Seeing wonderful examples from the Kamehameha video & the NAEYC article, reading about the key components of Culturally Responsive Teaching, and listening to the discussion provided in-depth information that helped make it seem less daunting to me. After reading the articles and watching the videos, I realized how simple it is to start.
Aside from teachers and schools, communities can also benefit from culturally responsive classrooms. Our school tries to incorporate place-based learning, and that has led to many partnerships within our community in which our students were able to serve as they learned. From the Waiheʻe wetlands, to Kahoʻolawe, Kealia to Kalepolepo, farms, loʻi, and local restaurants & chefs. Our students AND staff have all worked with and learned from so many people and organizations within our community and I have witnessed them carry those memories and experiences with them as they grow, and I do too. Our students and staff have even written songs and published albums - and all the songs are based on our place and things going on in our ʻāina & community. So I not only think culturally responsive teaching is beneficial - I KNOW it is.
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Tani SaitoMarch 15, 2022 at 5:59 PM
After reading the articles and watching the videos, I have learned that Culturally Responsive Instruction is an educational reform to providing inclusive practices which create a classroom culture and community. The article, "Culturally Responsive Teaching" (CRT) provides insight on how CRT incorporate multicultural practices to address the cultural backgrounds of all students. The Culturally Relative Instruction method came from a civil rights movement to include all students, regardless of their race or culture. The article also suggests that teachers must understand and find interest in learning the backgrounds of their students' so they can create learning opportunities that will address the needs of all learners. Most importantly, creating a learning space for students from all backgrounds to feel safe and valued.

In order to provide my students with a comfortable learning environment, I make sure all of my students have a voice in the classroom and are respected for their differences. Each student is provided with a morning job they have to complete before the class joins for morning circle. The assigned jobs are calendar reporter, weather reporter, lunch reporter, and attendance reporter. Although my students have similar cultural backgrounds, all of my students have varied disabilities with unique strengths and weaknesses. However, the morning circle provides my students with a voice as they engage in their job and everyone in the class provides positive praise once a student is done reporting. Students feel respected and proud of completing their morning job, making each student feel comfortable in communicating with all members of the classroom.

It is important for me to create a culturally responsive classroom so all students feel like equal members in the classroom community. I work in a community that is predominantly Filipino and I identify with this community as I am half Filipino myself. Some of my students understand Tagalog but are unable to speak the language. I consider myself very lucky that I can also understand my students cultural background as I see similarities with their upbringing and family dynamic. I can relate to my students as they have similar stories about their family parties, and I encourage my students to share their family experiences. Sharing their experiences allows my students to have a sense of community and also be accepted culturally.

The articles and videos have reminded me of the importance of integrating culture into my teaching practice. The article, "Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom" provided me with ideas of how I can choose text sets that incorporate multicultural views and show visuals of students from multicultural backgrounds. As I provide my special needs students with stories related to living skills, I reflected on how each story shows characters from different cultural backgrounds that are navigating their way through various life experiences. I feel it is important to continue being aware of learning activities that I provide include various cultural perspectives and inclusiveness.

Creating culturally responsive classroom environments will provide students with the opportunity to feel accepted and appreciated for their uniqueness. The video, "Education: Culture Matters" reports that cultural based education shows evidence of students providing higher ratings on their teachers' pedagogy in providing a classroom community, making students feel valued, and a safe space for learning. In comparison, that have not adopted the CBE model resulted in lower ratings in teacher pedagogy from the students. This evidence shows that students will thrive within a classroom and school culture that incorporates the CBE model.
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Jason FukushimaMay 7, 2022 at 8:44 PM

1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?
From these articles and videos I have come to realize that I do use Culturally Responsive Teaching strategies in my classroom more than I think. It didn’t really dawn on me that the way that I try to incorporate Hawaiian and local culture in my classroom was a way of using CRT. I think it never dawned on me because that’s how I’ve always approached teaching. Keeping in mind the experience of the kids and how they have grown up here in Hawaiʻi. In hindsight, it makes sense because it is culturally responsive to the students that are born and raised here. Growing up going to Kamehameha I was taught about embracing who I am and where I have come from. This is something that I have tried to pass on to my students. I never realized that that was something that could have been considered a part of CRT.

2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
The way that I try to make my students feel comfortable in my classroom is that I try to pass on the point that they should always embrace who they are and where they have come from. One of the main values passed on to me growing up was learning from your past to work towards a better future. Embracing who you are and where you have come from gives you guidance for where you should go. I try to give students the opportunity to share who they are and where they come from at the beginning of each school year as a way of establishing pilina (relationships) with them and for them with each other.

3. How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
It is very important to me because I have learned so much about the results of cultures being suppressed growing up and learning about the Hawaiian culture and learning the history of my own family. In Hawaiʻi being Hawaiian was seen as something bad for so long. The language was banned from schools and people were banned from practicing their culture openly. This lead to so much knowledge being lost and so many people being lost because of having to change who they are. This was something that happened within my own family. My grandma was forbidden from speaking Hawaiian and I had no idea up until the time that she passed. It really drove the point home for me that I want my students to embrace who they are and where they come from to prevent something like this from happening again.

4. How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
I think these articles have really cleared things up for me. I think I was unclear for a while of what it meant to be a culturally responsive teacher. Now I realize that embracing the local culture and the many cultures of Hawaiʻi has always been apart of CRT and that I will continue to develop this throughout this course and the rest of my teaching career.

5. Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
I firmly believe that it will benefit everyone. When students feel like they are important and that they matter, they give the most effort and produce the best results. By making sure that they are seen and heard and that their culture matters, it gives them the encouragement that they are seen and that they are able to be successful.
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SybilMay 9, 2022 at 11:51 PM
1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?

I learned that culturally based education increases students’ success because it views the child as a whole, rather than a passing pupil. Teachers foster an environment centered around the student and their cultural and family values, thus allowing instruction to be more relevant to the learner. These strategies can be challenging to implement at first since there is limited diversity found in curriculum and it takes time developing relationships deep enough to understand their cultural backgrounds. However, it is apparent that cultural responsiveness must integrated throughout instruction. Furthermore, students apart of culturally based education understand their teacher values them as a whole and instills trust to create strong and meaningful relationships. This allows students to be active learners and engage during discussions. Students can apply their personal experiences within instruction which makes learning more memorable and meaningful.

2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?

To make my students feel comfortable in our classroom, I worked very hard to develop and maintain strong relationships with all my students. Each day, I stand at the door and give them a joyous welcome. Following this, students move onto their morning work. One component of our morning work is our “Daily Check-In Board”. Each student has a sheet protector with ten emojis describing basic feelings such as excited, fine, angry, frustrated, tired, etc. Before we begin instruction, students complete their “Daily Check-In Board” by circling one or more emotions, then explaining why they feel this way. I find that students are very open to sharing when given the opportunity to privately write it down. After a few minutes, I walk around the classroom and have a brief conversation about each students’ board. Another way I help students to feel comfortable in our classroom is by having bimonthly “lunch bunches”. A group of 3-5 students come upstairs and we enjoy lunch together, follow by activity that includes drawing, a small craft, or playing a board game. During our lunch bunches, my students and I “talk story” about non-school things like afterschool extra curriculars, their families, or what they did over the weekend.
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SybilMay 9, 2022 at 11:52 PM
3. How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?

I believe it is very important to create a culturally responsive classroom. The articles indicate the benefits and positive impacts cultural responsiveness. Personally, I have been a learner in a non-culturally responsiveness classroom during my undergrad. It feels uncomfortable and unapproachable. I am usually proud of all my ethnicities and my different cultural experiences. However, this classroom made me feel small; I felt shame to share my experiences because I knew they were polar experiences in comparison to my peers. As an elementary teacher, my students spend most of their day with me. I would hate for them to ever feel the same way I did. I want to embrace the differences our classroom and teach students how their diverse experiences can bring positive change to our world. Additionally, creating a culturally responsive classroom teaches students how to respectfully approach and ask questions to those that share different experiences or beliefs, which in turn will help them mature into respectful and understanding adults.

4. How have these articles and videos influenced your view/ teaching pedagogy in culturally responsive classrooms?

The articles and videos have had a positive influence in my teaching pedagogy in relation to the importance of having a culturally responsive classroom. I’ve always been cognizant of creating an environment that’s welcoming to all learners, regardless of differences such as culture. However, these articles have inspired me to spend more time integrating these strategies within my instruction. For example, there are new social studies standards, HCSSS, coming out and we need to create and adjust units so that they align to HCSSS. As we analyze the standards and create units, it would be a great time to see areas to integrate these strategies.

5. Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?

Yes, I think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit both myself as a teacher and our school. I teach at a Title 1 elementary school with large and diverse population of ELL students. If each classroom is intentionally creating culturally responsive classrooms, students will feel safe, welcomed, and included. This cultivates an environment for student success and will help improve learning, therefore improving test scores. Additionally, students will learn in an environment that recognizes and appreciates different cultures, which will help them to mature into respectful adults that understand how to collaborate and compromise. Furthermore, fostering a school that embraces a culturally responsive approach will be recognized by the community and shows families how much their kids are valued and cared for. This encourages families to participate in school activities which allows families to connect and create an inclusive community.
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Melissa O.May 11, 2022 at 5:16 PM
1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?
I learned more about what culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is and why CRT is important. CRT is student-centered and focuses on creating an inclusive and welcoming classroom/school environment in which all students are actively engaged in learning. Instead of teachers taking on the role of transmitters of information and students taking on the role of passive listeners/receivers, CRT calls for a two-way communicative process in which teachers help students become active participants in the learning process. In order to make CRT effective, teachers need to expand and apply their multicultural knowledge, skills, and dispositions in their teaching. For example, teachers should regularly use heterogenous cooperative learning to provide space for student voice and maintain student engagement in learning. Teachers must also practice critical reflection to recognize and address when their own socially constructed histories and/or professional dispositions may impede learning in a culturally diverse classroom. Therefore, CRT pushes teachers to become lifelong learners of culture and its implications for teaching and learning in culturally diverse settings. Through CRT, students become confident and proud of who they are and their culture, and they are encouraged and empowered to reach high academic expectations and succeed.
In addition, I also learned that children form ideas about their own race and other people’s races early on—that by the time they are preschoolers, they are making choices based on race, such as who they play with and how. Therefore, teachers should be active and intentional in addressing issues of culture and race from early on in order to support students in forming positive perspectives on culture and race.

2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
In my classroom, I foster a respectful, caring, and safe learning environment for all of my students. For example, I co-create classroom rules with my students so that they feel involved and know that their voice matters in class decisions. I also emphasize the importance of being respectful and caring towards one another. For instance, I regularly acknowledge that everyone is different, such as how everyone works differently (e.g., some students may take longer than others to complete their work; some students may solve a mathematical problem in a different way; some students may need additional help from the teacher), and that we should be respectful of one another regardless of our differences. In addition, I build relationships with my students by communicating frequently with them and providing opportunities for them to talk about themselves and share their thoughts/ideas. For example, when covering a new topic, I always ask my students if anyone knows about the topic and can share what they know, thus eliciting their background knowledge and giving them the opportunity to contribute to our learning (rather than me just simply telling them what the topic is or giving them information from the very beginning). And when my students talk, I actively listen to them and provide affirmation/validation for what they share. At the same time, I also try to share about myself so that my students can find common ground with me. Overall, with these practices in my classroom, my students seem to feel comfortable with one another and me.
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AnonymousMay 11, 2022 at 5:16 PM
3. How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom for you?
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important to me, especially since I teach in a culturally diverse school. Plus, our state—and the entire world—is culturally diverse. There is no denying the research that shows how students of color, immigrant children, and students from lower socioeconomic families struggle and don’t achieve as highly due to education, schools, and curriculum not addressing racial, cultural, and economic differences. I have seen (and continue to see) similar effects when my culturally diverse students enter my classroom at the beginning of the school year. For instance, about half of them enter my classroom as struggling readers, which not only affects their reading comprehension, but also affects their confidence and how they feel about themselves. Therefore, I value creating a classroom that is responsive to my students’ needs, which includes acknowledging, validating, and addressing cultural differences. Otherwise, if I can’t create an environment in which my students have positive perspectives on their racial/cultural identities, I know that I won’t be able to help them build their confidence, pride, and self-esteem in themselves—and as a result, they won’t be able to learn effectively or succeed. Thus, I want to strengthen my knowledge and skills of CRT to strengthen the kind of culturally responsive classroom that I aim to create.

4. How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy in culturally responsive classrooms?
The article “Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom” changed what I thought about children’s perspective on race. I didn’t know that children from ideas about their own race and other people’s races to the extent that they choose who they play with based on race. To me, this came across as very important to know because I teach Grade 2, so it could be the same for my students as well—they might be playing with peers of a certain race or avoiding playing with peers of a certain race (but I don’t know for sure because I’ve never thought about it before). Thus, this new learning makes me feel that it’s never too early to talk about and address issues of culture and race with children. Now I understand that it’s even more important to do so early on so that students can form positive perspectives on culture and race. Now I feel all the more motivated to incorporate lessons, texts, and activities that actively and intentionally address culture and race with my students.
In addition, the article “Culturally Responsive Teaching” made me realize that I should use heterogenous cooperative learning in my classroom. Currently, I tend to steer towards homogeneous groups for cooperative learning; so in other words, I tend to group students based on ability levels (e.g., higher-level-reading student with higher-level-reading student; lower-level-reading student with lower-level-reading student). However, I now realize that heterogeneous groups would better support student engagement as well as provide my students with the opportunities to work with different peers who have different (cultural) backgrounds, knowledge, etc. As a result, they could learn about and share with different peers, and it would probably help them form positive perspectives on peers of different races/cultures. So going forward, I plan to incorporate heterogeneous groups when I do cooperative learning my classroom.
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AnonymousMay 11, 2022 at 5:17 PM
5. Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
Yes, I think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit both me as a teacher and the school as a whole. As a teacher, I believe that not only is it my goal to guide students to gain the knowledge, skills, and mindset to achieve highly, but it’s also my goal to help my students grow into physically, mentally, socially, and economically healthy individuals who are lifelong learners and can contribute positively to the community and world. In other words, the whole child is important (not just the academics). But if my students have doubts about themselves and struggle with their race/cultural identity, it will be difficult for me to support them in their growth and learning. Thus, I believe that culturally responsive classrooms are beneficial because they address these issues through a student-centered approach consisting of effective practices, such as intentionally talking about race/culture using children’s literature and using heterogeneous cooperative learning that encourages student voice. And, if all classrooms were culturally responsive classrooms at my school, then my school would be able to (more) fully achieve its mission of “empowering students to be caring, lifelong learners with college-career-life readiness skills who contribute to the community.”
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DonnaMay 16, 2022 at 6:59 PM
1.What I learned from these articles and videos is that CRT is absolutely essential in schools in order for students to be successful. When children see great disparity between their experience in school and their experience at home, this can negatively affect their own capacity to learn. And this can happen at such a young age. The Deweyian standpoint of a learner-centered pedagogy is one ideal way to address this disparity. And what a great way to teach these young minds that empathy lends to working together towards common goals. Creating an inclusive teaching environment and learning from your students (along with learning from their families and communities) is key. Developing a relationship with the student is where it begins.

I also learned that the teacher/student relationship development is extremely important in early childhood development. If there is an absence of teaching about race differences (color-blind approach to race-related teaching practices), whether intended or not, the child can come up with their own ideas about race. They can feel “different” if their teacher is not the same race. The intent is to let them know that all races are valued (color-aware approach to race-related teaching practices). And therefore, all races, and their differences, should be discussed. The social justice approach to teaching about race goes a step beyond the color-blind and color-aware approaches in that it teaches students to actively recognize and act on race-related injustices. If whole communities could come together and practice these concepts, what a wonderful world it would be.

2.In my classroom, to make my students feel comfortable, I begin the year by having the students fill out a survey about themselves. This helps me to get to know a little about them. I also send home a parent questionnaire asking the parents to tell me a little about their child, including a question about how they think their child learns best. This helps me to know what to look for when we begin our lessons, and also lets the parent know that I would like to give their child the individualized attention he/she deserves. These questionnaires are received with great delight. Throughout the school year, depending on the particular project we are doing, I try to have the students differentiate their learning by including some aspects of their own culture into their projects.

3.It is extremely important for me to create a culturally responsive classroom. It may be difficult for me to have some conversations with my 6th graders regarding race differences. But I think that by NOT addressing it, it may make it more difficult for any student who is not in the majority race of the classroom. Because I teach the Social Studies standards of Ancient Civilizations, this is one way that I could have the students incorporate their own ancient regions (ancestry) into their projects.

4.These articles have reminded me of the importance of integrating CRT in my classroom. Although I do connect with my students and I know that they know that I care about them, I could learn more about their home life and bring more of that into my classroom. It’s wonderful that during PBLs my students can choose much of the aspects of parts of their projects, which lends itself nicely to letting them express themselves and their culture.

5.I think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and the school as a whole. When the students feel “at home” while at school, they are at their most comfortable level. They can relate and connect to the learning in a way that wouldn’t exist without the CRT.

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SarahMay 20, 2022 at 9:34 AM
Reading the articles and watching the videos, I learned what Culturally Responsive Teaching entails. I was unsure coming into this, but I now understand that much of this information is not entirely new to me. For some reason

I’ve learned that Culturally Responsive Teaching is the same as Culturally relevant teaching. For some reason, I thought they were different things. Now that I understand that, I know that much of this information is not entirely new to me. That being said, seeing it all together after two years of having students working apart from each other due to social distancing was an extremely important refresher. One thing I learned that I can’t quite wrap my head around is that white teachers make up 90% of all teachers. This is just shocking. Another thing I learned is the focus that Culturally Responsive teaching has on changing the traditional pedagogy and not just activism. That spoke to me, as I feel I sometimes fall into thinking activism and content are enough.

First and foremost, to make my students comfortable, I learn to say their names correctly and make a point to say them when giving compliments and positive feedback. I once had a student tell me that no teacher ever said his name without scolding, and this stuck with me. I also try to make sure that I make eye contact with them when speaking to and with them. I try to ask their opinions about things that are not class-content related, so they can see that I value them as individuals outside my role as their teacher. I ask them about themselves in writing at the start of the year and make a chart with facts about them that I can refer to when I talk with them.

Creating a Culturally Responsive Classroom is critically important to me. As a haole living in Hawaii, I don’t just have a responsibility to my job, but a moral responsibility to make sure that I am teaching them in a way that respects their culture. I have seen many students shut down because they feel no one at school understands them or cares. I don’t ever want to be the cause of that.

These articles have been an important reminder that changing the texts and speaking about cultural issues is not enough to create a Culturally Responsive Classroom. A shift in traditional pedagogy is also necessary and is the only way to be truly inclusive. This doesn’t mean an occasional change in activities, but a fundamental change in what the classroom looks like. It must be student-centered.

Creating more Culturally Responsive Classrooms will make for happier and more engaged students. This is good for them as well as the teachers. Coming to work with students who like your class is so much better than facing students who are forced to be there and don’t feel like they belong. The effort it will take for our school to become more Culturally Responsive will pay off by changing the learning environment for the students and the work environment for the teachers.
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Brandon C.July 5, 2022 at 8:55 AM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
The most important thing I learned from the articles and videos was the value of creating a culturally responsive classroom. Section II helped give me an overall picture and idea on what a culturally responsive classroom is and some possible ways to create this environment within my classroom and curriculum. It starts with building a relationship with students and getting to know them personally. This relationship will create an environment where the students feel comfortable and willing to share parts of the culture within the classroom. It also taught me how important it is to address culture and race in the classroom. Looking back at the 2021-2022 school year, one of my resource classes had one Marshallee student, one Samoan student, two Vietnamese students, one African-American student, and four Filipino students. I missed an excellent opportunity where students could have shared different aspects of their culture and celebrated it with the class.
What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
Some things I do right now to make my students feel comfortable and welcome in my classroom is greeting them at the door, talking to them to find out their interests, sharing about myself, and trying to find commonalities between us. It can take awhile for some students and truthfully I am unable to build a positive relationship with all my students. Some students just are not open to it or come to school with enough consistency to achieve it. Despite these shortcomings, I do build many positive relationships with a lot of my students and they will often share how much they enjoy my class despite it being a US History class where many students do not have a great interest in the subject. Building a positive relationship with students is an important step to setting up your students up for success because it is easier for students to learn from someone they enjoy being around.
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Brandon C.July 5, 2022 at 8:55 AM
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important to me because it creates an environment that is student-led, as opposed to having them sit all day just listening to me talk about the content. Creating a positive classroom where students feel willing to speak and learn about other cultures, understanding similarities and differences, along with learning about US History is a good way to improve engagement in my classroom. I have always struggled with engagement and creating a culturally responsive classroom is an important tool to improve engagement and student learning in my class.
How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
The videos and articles have influenced me into understanding the importance of a culturally responsive classroom. Teaching in Hawai’i highlights the importance of this type of classroom and creating differentiated lessons where students feel confident to share and have the ability to succeed is crucial for student learning. Section II highlighted the importance of a culturally responsive classroom and I am looking forward to learning more teaching and instructional strategies to create a welcoming classroom environment that has suitable differentiated lessons where students from various cultures are able to access.
Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
I think a culturally responsive classroom can benefit me as a teacher and school as a whole. Culturally responsive classroom is a good way to create an engaging learning environment for all students. Engagement is essential for student learning and it is a topic that is brought up often at school level meetings. Every classroom is different but one thing that remains constant is that students need to be engaged in order for them to learn successfully. Creating a culturally responsive classroom is another tool where teachers can improve student engagement.
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AnonymousJuly 6, 2022 at 2:33 PM
The attached articles and videos emphasized the importance of creating a safe environment for students, that will encourage them to discuss their culture and support the cultures of others. In particular, the video "Education: Culture Matters" shows how Kamehameha Schools incorporates place-based curriculum in order for students to gain a sense of community, which will apply within the classroom setting as well. This can be done in a way that celebrates similarities of being a resident of Hawaii, as well as differences with students' different ethnic backgrounds. At the start of the year, I spend a wealthy portion of the time getting to know the students, and allowing them to be comfortable enough in the space to open up and be themselves.
Throughout the year, I like to do check-ins with students and follow through on them, so that they know I am present, and I care about their concerns or what is going on in their lives.

What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom for you?
How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy in culturally responsive classrooms?
Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
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AnonymousJuly 11, 2022 at 10:57 AM
Aloha Kumu,
Cheryl Borsh here, 5th Grade Teacher Big Island Hawaii. My apologies for the delay in responding.
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
In the link for “Reaching your way to culturally responsive classroom when teachers participate with their students we can ensure our students feel accepted and safe in the classroom environment. This in turn builds classroom community, acceptance, grit, trust and for the individual student and confidence in learning new things. I learned that addressing race early by leveraging race-related teaching practices can help students develop their own positive racial identity, build relationships across races, and recognize and stand up to race-related injustices. (Wanless & Crawford, 2016) I plan to seek out diverse literature for my students and find books where students can relate or see themselves in the readings.
In the “Education: Culture Matters” video I learned that connecting to aina myself and my students is a crucial part of learning and caring about ourselves and one another. Reflecting on, we are all interconnected by the land in which we are stewards. (Kamehameha School, 2011)
I learned there is a theme that is particularly important: we all must begin with self-reflection. For me as a teacher and learner of CRC we/students need to take time to dig deep to identify and uncover things that are similar and different. We need to ask ourselves questions as to why we feel the way we do. Is there something in our culture/upbringing that we don’t want to look at or talk about? Identify what we do want to talk about and why. Being able to identify experiences we have had in our life journey, and what has formed our thinking and feelings can only help us and our students grow in the concepts of empathy.
What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
As I reflect on what I do to make my students feel comfortable and safe in our classroom I think of our first hundred days of school. Each day is very important to their success of feeling safe and wanted to learn new things. One way I start the school day is having morning meetings. Our morning meetings give students a platform, if they choose to, talk about a topic. For example, before Covid, we would sit togher on a rug and talk about something like: “what is something that freaks you out?” My students knew what the word “freaks' ' meant, but I wondered, what if I have a student who doesn’t know. It seems so simple to me, but maybe it is not. Or maybe a student is culturally averse to talking about things that make them feel “freaked out”.
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
I feel it is imperative to create a culturally responsive classroom because being able to understand students’ lives help foster each of the HA values, by beginning with belonging. This process will ensure that all students feel safe, respected and challenged in their learning not only in school but throughout their life journey.
How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
The articles and videos have influenced my view on culturally responsive classrooms by validating what we already know about ourselves and our students. We all need to feel safe, respected, and comfortable in order to accept new concepts in learning. If we have walls up to protect ourselves from a potential social-emotional threat, then how can we learn?
Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
I feel that culturally responsive classrooms can only benefit me and my school as a whole by bringing more understanding, empathy, compassion for our students, self, and connection to aina. The more we understand the persons, places and things around us the better chance we have of emotional, belonging, responsibility, excellence, aloha, total well-being and Hawaii as a whole.
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LinhJuly 13, 2022 at 6:33 PM
The article, “Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom” taught me the three different stages of addressing race in a classroom. They are the color-blind approach, race-related teaching, and the social justice approach. All are levels of addressing race in the classroom. Reading about the three degrees made me reflect on what I do in my classroom. I tend to not use the social justice approach. I worry that if I do, I may say something I should not or a parent will get upset about what a child is learning. So I tend to use the color-blind approach instead. I also learned from the video “Education: Culture Matters” that Hawaii has one of the oldest school systems in the west. This was a fact I did not know before so it was interesting to gauge how long Hawaii has had public school education.
I try to have a friendly and welcoming classroom. I continuously tell my students it is okay to make mistakes and that we should care for and be kind to everyone. I always remind them that I am available if they need help. I usually circulate the classroom to support ones who may be too shy to ask for help. I treat all my students with respect and expect them to do the same to their classmates. I love to smile and maintain a happy and positive attitude so I try to incorporate that into my classroom. I add humor and try to get my students to laugh daily. I also have a joke of the day so my students can enjoy a laugh daily. They are also welcome to input their own jokes, which they have been enjoying.
I believe that creating a culturally responsive classroom is really important, especially living in Hawaii. We are known as the “melting pot” or “mixed pate” state after all. Living here, we are blessed with being around people from all over the world and we get to enjoy their culture and food. This is important to bring into the classroom so students are aware about the people they see everyday. By starting this awareness in the classroom, it will prepare them for their everyday living in Hawaii. Students worry about being smart or dumb but being part of a community where you help build up others is so much more than that.
These videos and articles have supported my view on culturally responsive classrooms. If anything, it motivates me more to do so. I see so many benefits to creating this type of classroom however I also see so many struggles. I told myself for a few years now to incorporate more cultural components into my lessons and classroom but it gets difficult to plan with so little time. There is always a crunch to teach all the standards teachers are required to teach and I just always see myself struggling to integrate culture content into my lessons. That is why I have not made much improvements to build on my culturally responsive classroom.
I definitely believe that a culturally responsive classroom will benefit me as a teacher and the school. I am a person who loves food. I love to try foods of different cultures and love trying new dishes. Growing up as a Vietnamese person, I was exposed to some exotic foods and my mom only cooked Vietnamese dishes. When our family went out to eat at a restaurant, I would get so excited because I got to try other cuisines. Now that I am older, I also love to learn about the process and history behind the dishes. My fascination with food and other cultures gets reflected in my teaching. I bring up different dishes in my class all the time and my students would react to it. We bond over ones we like and dislike. It seems like a minor detail but it is a connection my students and I share to help build our classroom community and our love for the people around us. As I continue to improve in my knowledge of culturally responsive classrooms, my students will improve as well.
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AnonymousJuly 19, 2022 at 4:12 PM
Through the articles and videos, I learned the deeper definition of a Culturally Responsive Classroom and the importance of it. In order to build a relationship between student and teacher, one must create an inviting and comfortable space for students to want to learn in our classrooms, feel safe, and build a trusting relationship. I found the article Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom very interesting because of the 3 approaches to RRTP (race-related teaching practices): color-blind, color-aware, and social justice, as well as the video Education: Culture Matters and their information on Culture Base Education and how that ties with Educational Outcomes and Socio-Emotional Development.

In my classroom, I try to create a comfortable and welcoming environment and build trusting relationships with my students. I try to build rapport with them every day, asking about their day, sharing experiences, listening to their concerns, letting them voice out their opinions whether they are related to class content or about their personal lives. Some examples are valuing students’ voice and choice by co-creating rubrics to assessments and projects. I believe students’ should have a say in their learning. Another one is by having students complete an end of quarter survey where they let me know what areas of strength and improvement I could make as their teacher.

Social Emotional Learning skills help us talk about certain topics that most teachers avoid addressing because it might be controversial or uncomfortable for many. The importance of understanding one's culture and history before learning another is something I would like to integrate to my own practice. It is not just about understanding the culture and history, but also valuing its greatness and accepting its flaws. When I talk about Spanish culture, students first might think of all the stereotypes; but when I talk about colonization, racism, immigration, among other "controversial" topics students might not understand or even want to hear it - they want to hear the good things, not the bad. As mentioned earlier, I enjoyed reading about the 3 approaches to RRTP, because of the emphasis on how certain practices can have a positive or negative impact on students. I still remember when Black Lives Matter movement was happening in 2020, I was hesitant to bring it up in my classroom due to the possible ”controversial” or ”uncomfortable“ discussions without realizing that the absence of race-talk, although not intended to be harmful, was sending a negative message.

I think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and the school as a whole if we deepen our understanding and integrate it throughout our curriculum and not just as an addition as mentioned in the video Office Chat: Culturally Responsive Teaching. It can definitely increase student engagement, a sense of belonging, and a sense of responsibility.
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Cathleen KuangJuly 22, 2022 at 11:51 AM
1. What did you learn from these articles and videos?

From these articles and videos, I learned the true meaning behind culturally responsive teaching. In this course, we are focusing on the ethnic backgrounds of culturally responsive teaching, which means it may play a bigger role than I had thought it would. I also learned that there are three categories of race related teaching practices: color-blind, color-aware, and social justice approaches. Some approaches are more effective in culturally responsive practices than others. There was also a video that talking about culture based teaching in Hawaii. In their video, it shows how culture-based learned has supported students in their socio-emotional and academic learning. I learned that culture is a part of our identity and learning about our culture can help us look understand things in a more worldly perspective. In the last video, Dr. Newell explains culturally responsive teaching and how we should approach culturally responsive teaching. Culturally responsive teaching starts with the teacher creating an environment for culturally responsive teaching. One that is welcoming, positive, and respectful of the cultures that the students bring to the classroom. Everyone plays a big role in culturally responsive teaching, including the teachers, the students, the family, the school, and the community. We all should learn and appreciate people’s backgrounds and cultures to support our students.  

2. What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?

In my classroom, I create a positive environment by being a positive teacher. I have had students who used to refuse to go to school, but by creating a learning environment positive and fun, it encouraged them to come to school everyday. I also give opportunities for students to collaborate with their peers. When students are able to have academic discussions, they are not only hearing my thoughts and ideas, but the thoughts and ideas of their peers. This shows that there are many solutions to a problem, and helps everyone be comfortable with with sharing their ideas to others.  

3. How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?

I believe that creating a culturally responsive classroom is important for me because of my own culture and background. Although I was born in America, English was not my first language because my parents spoke Chinese. In school, people would make fun of me when I had to speak with my family in my dialect. I was so embarrassed to practice things for my culture because of that reason. I am glad that my family still taught me things from my culture and told me stories that connected me to my culture, because I do believe that I have a better understanding and respect of other people’s culture because of it.  

4. How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?

In the past, I thought I was being culturally responsive in a positive way, but after this section, I understand that I need to have a different approach. In my current practices, I usually have discussions with students about the topic, and have them relate it back to their own lives. I realize now that what I am doing is using a color-blind approach to be culturally responsive. I need to be more intentional with incorporating cultures into my instruction so that students can feel a sense of belonging in the classroom.  

5. Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?

I believe that everyone will benefit from being culturally responsive. We live in a society that has a lot of injustices, a lot of which come from being uneducated and disrespectful about one’s culture and race. When we can connect to our own culture and use that information to connect with other people’s cultures, we can thrive in a society that supports each other regardless of who we are and what our culture is.  
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AnonymousJuly 23, 2022 at 2:11 PM
The videos and articles taught me the importance of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) and how to build a culturally responsive classroom. The resources provided examples of how educators can look for teaching opportunities to address race in early education and help students develop positive racial identity. Educators must create a safe classroom environment that emanates kindness and trust and builds relationships across races.

Creating a comfortable classroom starts from the first day of school. I review the third-grade expectations with the students. Next, students create their own class rules, and everyone signs the document, so everyone takes ownership of their behavior. This document is hanging in class, so everyone has a personal stake in their behavior. I share a little about myself and have the students work with partners to complete an activity to get to know each other. Students will introduce their partner to the class and, at the same time, discover information about their classmate. There are also opportunities when students to share their cultural experiences, and students can ask questions. Every morning I greet each student as they walk into class. Morning greetings provide an excellent opportunity to check on their social-emotional well-being, and I can speak to them privately if there are any concerns. I conscientiously build a report with the students daily. I encourage group work, have students learn from one another, and break down barriers. I am continuously building a positive relationship with the students. To achieve this, I share my personal information or experiences about myself, letting the students know how proud I am of their accomplishments and creating a safe, nurturing, positive, and stimulating learning environment where all students can succeed.

Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important to me. I want to make a safe space for my students to be comfortable sharing about their culture and RRTPs. I would also like to speak with my colleagues about their experiences, conversations, and ideas. I want to help the students in my class develop a positive racial identity, build relationships across races, be aware of race-related injustices, and be inclined to take justice (Walness & Crawford, 2016).

The articles and videos influenced my view/teaching of pedagogy in culturally responsive classrooms by providing examples of how I can create a culturally responsive classroom and RRTPs. The resources helped me to understand the importance of creating a safe learning environment for students to feel safe in their learning environment. Designing intentional lessons will provide me with teaching opportunities to address and have the students explore RRTPs and teach the students to value and celebrate all cultures and races. Literature is a great way to introduce RRTPs and provides an opportunity for students to develop positive racial identity and build relationships across races. Social-emotional learning (SEL) helps students to create a positive self-image and build relationships with their peers within their community.

Culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and the school as a whole. Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) will help me design lessons that leverage students' prior knowledge, culture, languages, and life experiences. CRT will help me identify the student's strengths, talents, interests, skills, and responsibilities outside school. Understanding my students will assist in designing mindful and purposeful lessons that will help to build a culturally responsive classroom and help me with RRTPs. A culturally responsive classroom allows me to build relationships with my students and create a safe, nurturing, rigorous and stimulating learning environment for students to be employable and college-ready in the 21st Century.

Walness, S. B., & Crawford, P. A. (2016, May). Reading your way to a culturally responsive classroom. NAEYC. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/may2016/culturally-responsive-classroom
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Adonna EllardAugust 8, 2022 at 7:16 AM
I learned about the importance of teaching culture in the classrooms. I learned how important it is for everyone to understand each other’s culture because it makes everyone better understand and communicate with each other. I learned that children see race whether it be other people’s cultures or their own. I think that race is a very important part of a child’s life, and that when a teacher recognizes it’s important to teach about race
What I usually do to make things comfortable for my students to have fun activities in the classroom. For example I like getting to know you icebreakers so that my students can get to know each other, and they can to know me as well. I also have them pair up so that they don’t feel like they are alone and feel included. I also make sure that they can come up to me if they need help with anything. There are some students who feel nervous or afraid to come up to a teacher or raise their hand because they are intimidated by them. Another thing I do is raffles for rewards. If a student participates in class I give them a raffle ticket. If they do well on their Achieve 3000 assignments or iready then I give them tickets to enter a raffle that I do every week.
I think that it is very important for me in creating a culturally responsive classroom because culture in Hawaii is very important. We celebrate the different cultures here, and what I love about being born and raised here is that we grow up with people who are different from us and we don’t notice the difference until we are older. I think it is important for my students to understand their classmates' culture and to be socially aware that different ethnicities go through different things here in society.
The articles have influenced my view on culturally responsive cultures by making me question my own teaching practices and I can do better. It also gives me a sense of understanding on how to create a culturally responsive classroom. It was also interesting to see a culturally responsive classroom, and the effects it has with students, and how they have a sense of belonging in the classroom.
I think that culturally responsive classrooms can definitely benefit me as a teacher and as a school as a whole. I think that it will give me an opportunity to be mindful of what each of my students go through and make me understand what culture is for each of my students. I grew up in my Filipino culture, so I can understand my students who are Filipino very well, however it’ll great if I understand all of my students with different cultural backgrounds.
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AnonymousAugust 18, 2022 at 9:43 AM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
I learned that a culturally responsive classroom is an important approach to whole child development. I believe that understanding our students' culture is extremely important for their growth and development. I also learned that there are three categories of race related teaching practices: color-blind, color-aware, and social justice approaches. Some approaches are more effective in culturally responsive practices than others. This section really brought broad topics into focus for what this course is going to be.
In my classroom, I make my students feel comfortable by treating them all exactly the same right from the start. I do my best to be as straightforward and honest with my students about how the class works and what their expectations are. We always introduce ourselves and have them do some kind of icebreaker at the beginning, but after that it is just about building trust with them. That takes time and consistency to build.
Creating a CRC classroom is important to me, but I think it is just one part of creating a positive and effective classroom culture. I have taught in many different geographic and socioeconomic areas during my time in education. I think that we have a tendency to get a little tunnel vision when it comes to focusing on just one thing. That can cause us to lose sight of things that are just as important as our culture. In Hawaii it happens a little bit more organically, because there are so many cultures that we grow up with. It has sort of become a “local” culture unto itself.
These articles have influenced my view or teaching pedagogy by being more mindful about how I introduce my topics with my students. Trying not to be color blind in how we present things and or topics. I sort of get lucky being an Art teacher so we can be very expressive in how we feel and that allows for a lot of feedback from students. That in return allows for a lot of student voices to take place and be heard.
I think CRC can definitely be beneficial for a whole school. It allows you to have open dialogue and work in groups to address things. It creates a school wide language that can be used and demonstrated for the students on a daily basis. However, just like anything in education it takes whole school buy-in to be effective.
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Markie B.September 15, 2022 at 7:37 AM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
After reading the articles and watching the videos, I learned how important it is to incorporate culture into the classroom. By incorporating culture into the classroom, you give students the sense of belonging. Students feel safe, valued and respected because we acknowledge and teach about their cultures. Additionally, I learned how culture based education works hand in hand with socio-emotional development and educational outcomes. These three ideas are very important to help students learn overall.

What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
To make students feel comfortable in my classroom, I work on building strong positive relationships with them. From when my classroom door opens I make sure to stand by the door, greet students and make conversation with them. These interactions could be as small as commenting on what they’re wearing, what they ate for breakfast or what they did on the weekend. I also walk around the classroom and sit next to students, check in with them on their work or start/continue a conversation I had with them. I think this makes students feel welcomed and seen because I stop what I’m doing and check in with them. Additionally, I also include brain breaks in the classroom where we either play 5 minutes games, videos or songs and students get to interact with their peers and I. I believe doing little things like so helps students feel comfortable with me and the classroom environment.

How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Creating a culturally responsive class is very important to me. Growing up in Hawaii with a mixture of cultures, I’ve always valued learning about my own culture and other cultures here in Hawaii. I believe in the importance of understanding and practicing your own culture so traditions and values don’t become forgotten. Incorporating culture in the classroom, not only helps students understand who they are, but it helps them feel valued and understood. Students need to feel safe and cared for in order to successfully learn.

How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
The articles and videos have influenced my view and teaching by helping me better understand the importance of culturally responsive classrooms. In each article and video, they all shared the same message of how students feel more understood and valued when culture is taught in their classrooms. I believe more than ever, our students need to feel safe and understood after recent times have been so uncertain. In one of the videos, the speaker shared how students are like trees, they need to establish their roots, then their branches will grow, but only when their roots are strong and discover new things. I firmly believe that is how students learn. They need a good, strong, positive foundation first before they can continue to learn and grow, incorporating culture into classrooms can help support this.

Do you think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit you as a teacher and the school as a whole? If so, how? If not, why?
I believe culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and my school as a whole. It’ll benefit me because I’ll be able to learn more about my students and their backgrounds. From there, I can create more engaging and meaningful lessons that relate to students' lives. Additionally, I can create a positive learning environment where students feel connected with themselves and their classmates/classroom. I think it’ll benefit my school as a whole because students will feel more safe in school. Like many schools in Hawaii, my school has a variety of cultures and ethnicities. Hopefully by feeling safe, valued and seen, there will be less behavior issues, attendance issues and more student success. I believe it’ll also increase staff morale because we can create a sense of community and belonging even on campus.
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AnonymousSeptember 27, 2022 at 12:55 AM
1. I learned so much from these articles and videos! One of the things I learned was the importance of culturally diverse literature available to students. I appreciated that the reading mentioned that although there are more resources for Black families, that it’s important to have a variety of cultures represented. I was also reminded that introducing and engaging in various cultural practices with students shows acceptance of their races and cultures. Finally, I appreciated the invitation to develop an awareness of your biases and misconceptions and then invite students and parents to share their home culture with acceptance and care. I think this takes time and sensitivity, but I know I appreciate when people have a desire to better understand where I am coming from, and I hope my efforts will be received in the same way.

2. To make students feel comfortable in my classroom, I try to get to know them on a more personal level. Not only do I come to know their academic levels, but I try to get to know what their interests are, if they speak other languages, what their struggles are, and what kind of home life they are living. I try to show grace with all the various situations they find themselves in, and encourage them to strive for high standards of excellence in my classroom because I believe they can do it, no matter their background. And then we work hard, and together, we achieve certain levels of excellence!

3. It is very important to me to create a culturally responsive classroom. I have seen through my own education, as well as through my time as a teacher in Hawaii, how the curriculum provided isn’t always relevant to the student’s personal experience in Hawaii. For example, I never saw snow until I was a freshman in college at a university on the mainland. Many of my students with similar experiences may read stories about snow, but not be able to fully understand or relate. I think creating a culturally responsive classroom where students can see themselves and their experiences in the story will allow them, as the video mentioned, to make more meaningful connections with the content. At the same time, I think it’s important to have a variety of experiences so they are exposed to more cultures and ways of thinking that can broaden their own thoughts and opinions.

4. As a person of color, I have felt that cultural responsiveness is important. However, much of my teaching hasn’t been INTENTIONAL in creating culturally responsive classrooms. It is more because I personally come from a multicultural background, that some of the strategies I use lend itself to creating a culturally responsive classroom. For example, the examples I use to make connections for the content, some of the language I use during instruction, and explicitly teaching certain Hawaiian values has taught my students some of my culture. However, through these videos and articles I have realized that I need to be more intentional in my conversations around culture, as well as the activities I implement to perpetuate a cultural responsiveness and acceptance.

5. I definitely think that culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and my school as a whole. I believe culturally responsive teaching practices help to shape students to be more well-rounded and socially adept. It helps to teach and enforce the “soft skills” that I have noticed are often missing from my students’ education. At my current school, the administration does not seem to see the value of culturally inclusive classrooms, and instead has placed the focus almost exclusively on academically low-performing students. This is the opposite of how one is taught in the Hawaiian way - focusing on the whole child. It is my opinion that this should change, and I am excited to at least start it first in my own little corner.
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Megan TerryNovember 20, 2022 at 5:09 PM
1. In Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom I learned about RRTP’s or race-related teaching practices. One of the primary takeaways were the discussions on color-blind, color-aware, and a social justice approaches. In a color blind classroom, differences are not recognized or celebrated, and the teacher may focus primarily on universalities. In a color-aware classroom, differences are honored and recognized. The teacher responds to “teachable moments” to discuss different cultures and perspectives. In particular, I liked the concept of the “mirrors” and “windows.” Some classroom moments can be a mirror to hold up to celebrate a student’s culture. Other moments can be windows to peer in an appreciate the culture of others. Finally, a social justice approach is one in which the teacher uses teachable moments to point out and allow students opportunities to recognize instances of racial injustice. For example, in a children’s book when an older black character learns to read for the first time, the elementary school students are invited to discuss possible reasons that this character didn’t have the opportunity to learn to read when they were young.

2. Much of the tips from “Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive” resonated with what I do in my classroom. By the very nature of the course I teach (World History), I have a multicultural approach to teaching. I begin to build a positive and trusting classroom culture from Day One. There are many ways that this happens. In fact, the first assignment of the year is for students to write an “I am From” poem, patterned after the well-known poem that relies on sensory images from one’s childhood. These are decorated and frame a large rainbow map of the world to represent the world history that we are about to embark on over the year, and remind us all of the unique lives that inhabit the classroom. I try as much as possible to tie learning back to student’s lives, and where we are going as a society in the future. Students frequently work collaboratively. Students journal daily and are prompted to explore their own opinions which includes sharing their own cultural perspectives. Literature choices are made with an eye toward both hearing from the voices of local writers and reading the points of views from around the world.

3. It is extremely important to create a culturally responsive classroom, because if students don’t feel their own perspectives are valued, it’s very difficult to engage them on the perspectives of the cultures we learn about, whether that’s Mesoamerican Aztecs or women from Han Dynasty China. In the course that I teach, we span 600 years of history and five continents, but the life experiences of my students are as valid as any other we study from history.

4. I wasn’t sure of the substance of the course, so they help me to understand the where we are going, and to affirm that there are useful and inspiring practices to bring into the classroom. I was inspired to see the wonderful learning happening presented in the Culture Matters video. It is wonderful to see students thriving and embraced when their culture is lifted up and celebrated. I believe that when we are connected to our own history, we are much more confident and equipped to head into our futures.

5. I absolutely agree that having a culturally responsive classroom can benefit the school as a whole, especially in a place like Hawaii with so much cultural diversity. From the Culture Matters video, I learned that research supports this. When students feel culturally supported, they are receptive to learning. Furthermore, by learning more about each other’s differences, we can better empathize with each other’s unique lived experiences. We can better appreciate different belief systems, family traditions, and even languages.
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Megan TerryNovember 20, 2022 at 5:11 PM
In Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive Classroom I learned about RRTP’s or race-related teaching practices. One of the primary takeaways were the discussions on color-blind, color-aware, and a social justice approaches. In a color blind classroom, differences are not recognized or celebrated, and the teacher may focus primarily on universalities. In a color-aware classroom, differences are honored and recognized. The teacher responds to “teachable moments” to discuss different cultures and perspectives. In particular, I liked the concept of the “mirrors” and “windows.” Some classroom moments can be a mirror to hold up to celebrate a student’s culture. Other moments can be windows to peer in an appreciate the culture of others. Finally, a social justice approach is one in which the teacher uses teachable moments to point out and allow students opportunities to recognize instances of racial injustice. For example, in a children’s book when an older black character learns to read for the first time, the elementary school students are invited to discuss possible reasons that this character didn’t have the opportunity to learn to read when they were young.
From the Culture Matters video from Kamehameha Schools, one of my biggest takeaways was the power that can come from meeting students where they are at. I liked the approach of the comparative literature teacher who starts with Hawaiian literature and then expands outward.
Much of the tips from “Reading Your Way to a Culturally Responsive” resonated with what I do in my classroom. By the very nature of the course I teach (World History), I have a multicultural approach to teaching. I begin to build a positive and trusting classroom culture from Day One. There are many ways that this happens. In fact, the first assignment of the year is for students to write an “I am From” poem, patterned after the well-known poem that relies on sensory images from one’s childhood. These are decorated and frame a large rainbow map of the world to represent the world history that we are about to embark on over the year, and remind us all of the unique lives that inhabit the classroom. I try as much as possible to tie learning back to student’s lives, and where we are going as a society in the future. Students frequently work collaboratively. Students journal daily and are prompted to explore their own opinions which includes sharing their own cultural perspectives. Literature choices are made with an eye toward both hearing from the voices of local writers and reading the points of views from around the world.
It is extremely important to create a culturally responsive classroom, because if students don’t feel their own perspectives are valued, it’s very difficult to engage them on the perspectives of the cultures we learn about, whether that’s Mesoamerican Aztecs or women from Han Dynasty China. In the course that I teach, we span 600 years of history and five continents, but the life experiences of my students are as valid as any other we study from history.
I wasn’t sure of the substance of the course, so they help me to understand the where we are going, and to affirm that there are useful and inspiring practices to bring into the classroom. I was inspired to see the wonderful learning happening presented in the Culture Matters video. It is wonderful to see students thriving and embraced when their culture is lifted up and celebrated. I believe that when we are connected to our own history, we are much more confident and equipped to head into our futures.
I absolutely agree that having a culturally responsive classroom can benefit the school as a whole, especially in a place like Hawaii with so much cultural diversity. From the Culture Matters video, I learned that research supports this. When students feel culturally supported, they are receptive to learning. Furthermore, by learning more about each other’s differences, we can better empathize with each other’s unique lived experiences. We can better appreciate different belief systems, family traditions, and even languages.
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DesireeNovember 29, 2022 at 10:54 AM
What I learned from these articles and videos is how important it is to incorporate Culture-Based Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching into the classroom. I found this fact interesting from the article, "Showing children that we see and value all aspects of them—including attributes related to race and culture—is a critical step in helping them feel welcome and connected to their teachers and peers". Culture can tell a lot about who a student is, what their interest is, and what their home life may look like.

What I do to make my students feel comfortable in my classroom is create a comfortable environment for students to feel safe and know that they can approach me with anything questions or concerns no matter if the topic is outside of the subject that I teach. In the video, Culturally Responsive Teaching the speaker mentioned how important it is to integrate culture into your curriculum, instead of adding it in. The speaker made a good point about how we are all not knowledgeable in every single culture, but being aware of students' cultures that are brought into the classroom is just as important to begin to make connections and integrate culture.

It is important to create a culturally responsive classroom because there is a correlation between Cultural Based education, a child's socio-emotional development, and their educational outcomes. Data also shows that classrooms with high culture-based learning outrank those with low culture-based learning in three categories. The three categories are: "I protect my environment and community", "I trust people in my school", and "I enjoy attending my current school". The importance is all in the data.

The articles and videos have influenced my view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms. Data shows the importance of integrating culture into the classroom. It helps to build relationships and create an environment that allows students to be successful on all levels. When I think of cultural base teaching, I think of our Marine Science Program. The curriculum that this co-teaching team has created is amazing! Everything relates to our culture here in Hawaii! Students love this class and end up exploring things they wouldn't have in the traditional classroom. That right there are goals! I would love to implement a culture into my classroom that has this effect on our students.

I most definitely think culturally responsive classrooms can benefit me as a teacher and my school as a whole. When looking back on my grade school experience, the most fun I had is when we weren't learning Math or English, but when we were doing "SEL" type activities. Now, I say that with quotations because SEL didn't seem like a huge emphasis when I was growing up. As I reflect, maybe I was indeed learning English and Math, but it was in a way that was fun and relatable. The same works for culture-based learning. If students can connect to the material and make those real-life connections, their more likely to learn! and retain that information!
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Maureen ClayDecember 2, 2022 at 10:45 PM
I learned how truly important culturally based education is for students. I have always felt it is important but I have struggled with always incorporating it into my math lessons. In one of the videos it stated that you really have to know yourself as a teacher and have self reflection before you can truly teach students and that is so true. I feel like when I don’t have a good understanding of myself and where I come from I am not really there for my students. I also really liked the point of being aware of what students bring into the classroom and showcase their strengths and ideas is a great thing to add into the classroom.
I welcome my students every day by name when they come into my classroom and try to make it a safe and caring environment. I do try to ask a fun non math related question at the beginning of each of my classes. I don’t have a lot of time with my students and need to get right to math content, but I know I could do better with building connections. I try to emphasize in my math classes that mistakes are okay and they are a part of learning. I want students to feel comfortable about learning new things and know that mistakes are okay. Not all my students feel comfortable speaking however and I know I need to work making all my students comfortable.
I find it very important to have a culturally responsive classroom, however I know that I need to improve and be more aware of my students' cultures. I would really like to get better at incorporating ideas into my math questions, but do find it very difficult and it takes a lot of time to change questions in my curriculum. I am wondering recently however if building a culturally responsive classroom just means incorporating culture into my math problems or if there are other ways that I can incorporate culturally responsiveness into my classroom.
These articles and videos were very interesting and did change my idea of what a culturally responsive classroom really can be. I realized that just having items around a classroom or parental involvement can be things that make a culturally responsive classroom. I really liked the thought that just showing you care as a teacher encourages students to share their culture and feel comfortable in the classroom. I also found an interesting portion of one of the videos that talked about providing differentiation for students and by doing this allows different access for students. I usually think of differentiation for sped students but I now realize that it can be for all students and teachers can differentiate for different cultures as well. The videos expressed, culture based learning in the classroom creates a sense of responsibility when students want to give back to the community. This is exactly what I want to be teaching my students and what I want to do better as a teacher. By doing this students will look at the world differently and how they fit into their environment
I definitely think that culturally responsive classrooms can benefit teachers and schools. Like the videos stated, students will perform better and enjoy classes if they feel a connection with the teacher and the content and their culture is brought into the classroom. “Education is how to transmit cultural values and norms and practices.” This quote from one of the videos really stuck with me. Culture should be celebrated and shared within the classroom and is something that will help improve student outcomes. The day after I watched this module's videos and read the article I had the opportunity to see the amazing cellist Yo Yo Ma in concert. It was amazing timing in starting this class because he is currently playing concerts around the world spreading his message about culture and how it connects us all together as humans. A quote from Yo Yo Ma that sums up culture in the classroom and why it is so important, “ Culture- the way we express ourselves and understand each other- can bind us together as one world.”
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AnonymousDecember 6, 2022 at 9:02 AM
I learned so much from the articles and videos. I learned that I need to learn more about a culturally responsive classroom. Here in Hawaiʻi it is more obvious that we have cultural diversity. We are a definite melting pot. Our students may hear a variety of languages, see a variety of skin, hair and eye colors and shapes. They are familiar with the Hawaiian language and may even speak or understand it. Our students are fortunate enough to have a class, Papa Ike Hawaiʻi, taught by a young and enthusiastic Kumu. They learn the Hawaiian culture and hula and mele. The video capturing the Hawaiian immersion school was inspiring. Other areas of the country may not have much diversity at all. I picture an all white class with Northern European ethnicity.
I take every opportunity to discuss race from a social justice point of view. I related the article speaking to choosing “racially relevant literature”. I read aloud to my middle schoolers everyday. This is one of favorite times of the day with my students. I choose the books I read with great care, making sure to expose my students to racial, ethnic, social, and class diversity. We discuss the various similarities and differences between races, traditions, customs, etc. We begin the year with creating a timeline of their lives which incorporates their personal ethnicity, family background, customs and traditions their family values and practices. I could relate to that portion of the article.
Creating a culturally responsive classroom is very important to me and while I am creating this environment to the best of my current knowledge, I am eager to learn more. The more children are taught social awareness, acceptance of others regarding race, religion, and gender, the greater the possibility of a generation coming in to adulthood with compassion, understanding and knowledge of a world outside of their own. The videos and articles reminded me of the importance. I thoroughly believe that all schools should embrace a culturally responsive classroom approach to learning. Eyes and hearts will open! My plan is to share what I have learned and plan to practice with my colleagues and administration. I would like to foster more culturally responsive classrooms on our campus.

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Ryden A.December 12, 2022 at 1:18 PM
What did you learn from these articles and videos?
Through the article and videos, I was able to learn what a culturally responsive classroom is, as well as understand the steps it takes to be able to promote, teach and facilitate one. I learned that race-related teaching practices (RRTPs) help push diversity, and promote positive racial identity. Being that children as young as three- months old can realize and be aware of racial differences, it is that much more imperative to show and bring awareness of differences in race and culture in the classroom, rather than shroud the diversity of the students through the ineffective color-blind approach. RRTPs like color- aware and social justice can be very beneficial, as it can help promote from an early age the fact that students are different, and that it should not be something to overlook, but to accept, appreciate and understand.
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Ryden A.December 12, 2022 at 1:18 PM
What do you do to make your students feel comfortable in your classroom?
As an alternative learning teacher, my student clientele often lack the basic support systems that most students may, or are lucky enough to have at home. It is not uncommon for some students to be absent for days and weeks at a time. Because of this, these students have a difficult time coming to terms with the idea of self- motivation and the importance of coming to school. Because of this, I try my best to make sure that my classroom is some place that they want to come to, and feel comfortable and safe while present. I also try my best to decorate my classroom with posters, toys and other objects to add personality and warmth to it. I feel as though if I add bits and pieces of myself to the classroom, it will help students see and feel that I am willing to be open and share about myself, and that they can hopefully feel as though they can do the same. I also try my best to be as personable as possible, and try to connect with each student. Rather than rote lecturing, I try to encourage discussion and conversation about the topic we are learning about.
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Ryden A.December 12, 2022 at 1:20 PM
How important is creating a culturally responsive classroom to you?
Throughout my first few years of teaching, it has become increasingly important to build cultural responsiveness in my classroom. By doing this, I am able to show to my students that diversity and inclusion is celebrated, and that each of their cultures and cultural backgrounds have a space in this classroom, and their learning. With any lesson we do in class, I try my best to integrate at least one to two concepts of the background culture. I do this to help students understand and see that culture is all around us, and makes us who we are, if we do not take it upon ourselves to showcase and teach the similarities and differences of each culture, our students will miss out on the opportunity to be more aware of the diverse and wide range of cultures that surrounds them.
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Ryden A.December 12, 2022 at 1:20 PM
How have these articles and videos influenced your view/teaching pedagogy on culturally responsive classrooms?
The articles and videos have had a heavy influence on my teaching pedagogy. The concepts and lessons that were gone over in these resources have helped me understand the importance of why we as teachers (especially in Hawaii) must take it upon ourselves to be the ones to demonstrate the showcasing of diversity of our students. After watching the Culture Matters video by Kamehameha Schools, I am now more attuned with how culture based education has an impact on social emotional development and educational outcome. This justification that the ideas behind cultural responsiveness can affect academic success and social emotional well being of students shows the need, the importance and place for cultural responsiveness in the classroom setting.
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