Culturally Responsive Teaching: My ratings on being Ready for Rigor

There are four parts to the Ready for Rigor framework as seen in this graphic.

From that I have rated myself on the four categories as follows.

• 3: I understand and am proficient in this, and I regularly practice this in my classroom.
• 2: I understand this somewhat, but I’m am not proficient at it and I don’t use this regularly in my classroom.
• 1: I am not sure what this is, and/or I cannot do it.

Ready for Rigor Framework

2 - Awareness

2 - Learning Partnerships

3 - Information Processing

2 - Community of Learners and Learning Environment

There are several patterns that emerged as I reflected on my self-reflecting scores for the Ready for Rigor Framework. First of all, I have a love of learning myself and a passion for figuring out how learning happens. For this reason I scored myself a 2 in “Awareness” and 3 in “Information Processing.” I recognize that culture affects learning and that is the impetus behind my deciding to learn more about culturally responsive teaching. I want to know how to have culture be an aid in teaching and learning instead of a barrier. Over my seventeen years of teaching I have continually adapted lessons to provide ever more authentic opportunities for students and try to make classes culturally relevant. But am I really? Could I be doing more? I believe this is in fact where “Awareness” could be improved and in turn help me improve student information processing. 

I have recently been reflecting about the balance of giving students both care and push. Knowing when to do each is challenging and effective teaching makes it look effortless. I made a concerted effort this past year to get students away from thinking about school being about grades, and instead that school is about learning. We don’t do what we do in school for a grade, but as part of learning. This was a shift for students and I. Being able to balance care and push was easier when the focus wasn’t on “getting work done.” This is similar to how the tone and effectiveness of parent-teacher conferences change when any discussion of homework is removed. Something deeper can be discussed rather than why “work isn’t getting done.”

By shifting class culture from that of one focused on grades, we could develop in my class a rapport that focused on learning. We also then developed a common language about learning and goals. That is why I rated myself as a 2 for Learning Partnerships since I feel there is more I can do with CRT to get that care and push well balanced. I feel I do need to help students share a common language they can use when talking about their learning. Now that I have made a cultural shift, that can be followed by a language shift. Often I find students want to do well, have questions about what to do, and struggle identifying how I can help them without doing it for them. Part of the cultural shift was that I will not help them “figure it out”. The students need to do the cognitive heavy lifting. But arming them with the language to help them articulate better questions as well as understand and help their peers is a vital next step. 

Reference
Hammond, Z., & Jackson, Y. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, a SAGE Company.