Through the the reading of chapter four, one concept that resonated with me is where it talks about the idea of how the brain gets stressed especially when talking about subjects such as race. This is because the human brain can gets uncomfortable especially when a person has thought of talking about sensitive topics. In order to be a good culturally responsive teacher, it is important to be able to understand and talk about these issues within the classroom so that the students feel confident and are able to be educated in a safe space. This means that in order to achieve this, there needs to be a sense of equal representation of all students within the classroom in order for them to learn efficiently without any implicit bias. (Hammond, 54). 

 

This seems like an area that I would like to expand upon if I were teaching in a classroom because I feel as though it is hard for some teachers to go about this topic in the right way. I feel as though in order to create the best learning environment and to not have any implicit bias, it should start with learning about each of you’re students from the beginning of the school year. This will be especially helpful because it can get rid of any presumptions that a teacher might already have about a student and clear up any confusions. 

 

Another area which resonated with me is where it talks about how teachers need to begin with an intention as well as going through the process of self examination. This is a great way of helping yourself to become a culturally responsive teacher because it shows that you are open to change and want to make a difference in your students learning environment.this will help you point out where you might think that some of your teaching practices are wrong and can help you devise a goal that you want to eventually reach when eliminating implicit bias within the classroom. One of the examples of doing this within the classroom suggests seeking advice or help rom an experienced teacher with a similar racial background that already has experience with making their classroom culturally responsive. I feel as though this would be a very helpful method for new teachers in the classroom because they will be able to see how their successful methods have worked and to see what the effective results were. (Hammond, 55). 

 

Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.