Being a culturally responsive teaching should be seen as more than just trying to get along with the students because the teachers are supposed to be empowering their students. This means they should try to use different resources in order to ensure that these students have a positive mindset and want to learn more. This also gives dependent students the opportunity to mentally challenge themselves so that they can build on to what they already know. This will allow these students to expand on their self efficacy which will enable them to believe that they can do more. (Hammond, 88).
James Banks describes that in order to build dependent learners into independent learners, there needs to be transformative learning happening within the classroom. Transformative learning can be described as something that helps students acquire better knowledge and skill sets that will enable them to make critical decisions. This type of learning needs to be empowering for these types of students so that they have more confidence in their academic ability. This also can help to increase a students intellective capacity which will allow them to understand more information in an effective way. (Hammond, 89).
Learned helplessness can be described as a belief that a student can not fully reach their academic potential because they are not capable of succeeding. These thoughts usually come from the students minds but can be reinforced if a teacher also shows signs of disappointment or not having any faith in the student. This can be considered as the exact opposite of having an academic mindset because the students wont try to put any effort into their learning if they continue to fail on the same tasks. Teachers should try to avoid having their students reach this stage because it can lead to an amygdala hijack that won’t allow their students to respond to certain queues effectively. (Hammond, 91).
It is bad for teachers to express sympathy over a students failure because it shows that the teacher might have low expectations for them. This means that these teachers are basically agreeing with this struggling student and are not promoting a positive mindset. This also goes the same way for lavish praise after completing simple tasks because it shows that not much has to be done in order to achieve success which is not the example that should be set. A great example of this would be a teacher congratulating a student when they got only one question right on a ten question test. Although they successfully answered one question, the teacher should respond in a way to that student that would make them want to have a more positive academic mindset rather than focusing on one small achievement. (Hammond, 91).
It is important to say something about the inequities that have affected students of color because they should not be what you base a students academic ability. It some cases, it can be shown that some students of color do struggle with their academics but this should not change how they are treated in the classroom. Teachers being colorblind is also not good because it can make certain micro-aggressions towards these students of color seem to be not important. Teachers should instead validate these students differences and make them feel important in their own way. (Hammond, 92).
It is very important to recognize that these diverse groups of students are not helpless because a lot of them have very important histories behind their backgrounds. This is especially because a lot of them advocated for equal rights and the opportunity to be educated fairly and equally. This can bee seen as something to show these diverse students how their ancestors advocated for change and that they should do their best to achieve their goals. (Hammond, 92).
The learning partnership and pact is an agreement between the teacher and student that allows them to be able to come up with some type of formal agreement. This agreement can entail the use of learning goals that the teacher wants the student to reach within a specific amount of time. The teacher can be seen as an ally in this instance who is willing to do everything they can to ensure that the student reaches their academic goals as long as they are willing. (Hammond, 94).
In order for a teacher to create a pact with a student, both need to be on the same level of understanding of what the students abilities are. This means that the student will need to be open about what they do and don’t understand in order for the teacher to come up with a plan to combat against these insecurities. Teachers need to ensure that they are talking “with” instead of “at” students so that they feel as though the teacher is not being too demanding. Within this agreement, teachers should also make sure to set benchmarks that they want students to achieve to show that they are improving and deadlines so that they don’t fall behind. This will enable the students to have a more concrete way of meeting their learning goals. (Hammond, 95).
In order to be a warm demander, the teacher needs to be the students ally and make them want to be the driver of their own learning. This is a way for the teacher to still be a caring role model but also allows them to push their students to take more responsibility for themselves. The warm demander is a person that doesn’t directly demand something from their students, but shows that they want them to succeed by taking the time to motivate them to be successful. (Hammond, 94).
Being a warm demander can make dependent learners more independent because it makes the students want to take charge of their own learning process. It is not a way of simply telling students what to do, but giving them the choice take their own steps with the aid of the teacher. (Hammond, 94).
Some concrete things that dependent learners need form their teachers are the use of checklists that allow them them to keep up with what skills they are achieving. Tools that track their academic achievements such as formative assessments can allow for these students to see how they are progressing as it can be completed everyday in class. A processes of reflecting would also be important for these students because it will allow them to see why they made the decisions they made and what they can do to improve upon it. (Hammond, 100-101).
On the warm demander chart, I feel as though I would fall under the sentimentalist aspect but would be something that I would want to improve upon. The best part of this type would be that they show personal regulars for their students and know that they all have value. A part that I feel as though needs to be let go of in this portion is that they tend to make excuses fo a students academic performance. This type of thinking shows that the teacher is not very supportive and doesn’t feel that a student can overcome their challenges. Some of the actions that I would take in order to become a better teacher would be to not have presumptions about how a student will perform because they can all achieve success if they are motivated correctly.
Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.