WHY

HOW

WHAT

Notes

Culturally Responsive

Academic Mindset

Instructional Strategies

Academic Focus

Belonging – students feel part of the design process & the learning community

Ownership – students are invested because they helped create expectations

Co-creation- students work with classmates and teacher to design products/performances and success criteria

Clear Expectations

● Learning Targets

● Checklists

● Anchors to analyze together

Growth Mindset – students see that they get better with effort

Self-Efficacy – students believe they can succeed because they see where they are & where they need to go.

Social Construction students work together to deepen learning, explore ideas, and help each other to achieve success

Voice – students show their thinking periodically

Feedback – students receive timely, actionable feedback they can use

Formative Assessments

● Various types

● Ongoing

● Actionable Feedback

● Opportunities to improve

Self-Discovery- students pursue interests; they also learn about themselves as learners so that they can take responsibility for the learning.

Empowerment – students see that their voices make a difference

Voice students are invited to share their thinking and ideas

Social Construction students work together to, deepen learning, explore ideas/ and achieve success

Authentic Assessments

● Choices

● Audience

● Purpose

● Complexity

Learning Opportunities

CRSE/HOM Connections

Students listen and look at pictures in Drawn Together by Minh Lee; they stop periodically to discuss how they think the boy is feeling and support their inferences with:

1. their own experiences and feelings
2. specific words or details in the pictures

Voice: Students are given a voice as they share relevant experiences and observations. As students hear different perspectives, they build Cultural Intelligence. They also see that what they already know and can do has value and can help them to succeed.

Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations

Students talk with peers to ask and answer questions they have about the story and to list things that made the book interesting and meaningful to them.

Social Construction: Students work together to deepen learning or understanding of a text/topic through their own inquiry. Questioning and Posing Problems

Students create pictures to show a challenge they faced and how they solved it.

Students have a choice in what to present and how to present it. This activity also focuses attention on Social/Emotional Learning. Creating, Imagining and Innovating

They share their pictures and tell the story to a peer(s) who will ask clarifying questions.

Social construction: Students act as a learning community where members share their ideas and support each other in refining their thinking and communication. By questioning, students show interest in each other’s stories and learn from each other’s experiences. Thinking & Communicating with Clarity & Precision

They highlight what they liked in the shared work & use those models to create learning targets, checklists or guidelines for revising their stories.

Co-Creation: Students share their thinking about what works best and work together to establish success criteria that will help them to improve. Thinking Interdependently

Students use the work done with peers to add text to explain the pictures more fully.

Students use learning targets/checklists to check progress, make sure the work is complete/accurate; they take responsibility for learning. Striving for Accuracy

Students share their stories with classmates who ask questions and make connections to their own experiences.

Voice: Students feel heard and respected; they also build Cultural Intelligence by hearing the various experiences and perspectives of their peers.
Listening with Understanding and Empathy

Students create Learning Pit Charts to show feelings they had as they worked through the task. They annotate what made them feel that way.

Self-Discovery: Students learn about themselves as learners; this empowers them to take more responsibility in later tasks. Thinking About Your Thinking

Possible Questions to build CRSE awareness during pre-observations:

Notes

● What resources might enable students to view concepts, issues, themes, social problems from several multi-cultural perspectives?

● What systems and/or protocols might encourage students to share experiences, feelings, and perspectives during the lesson? (ex. accountable talk stems, discussion protocols, group roles, etc.)

● What choices might students make during the learning so that they develop a sense of ownership and have opportunities to use their strengths to demonstrate learning?

● What assessments might you build into the lesson so that you can monitor and support each student’s progress?

● How might you scaffold activities so that students believe they can succeed?

● How might you involve students as co-creators in the creation/ analysis/ reflections of performance task(s) and assessment criteria (ex. rubric, check-list, etc.)?

● _________________________________________________________

Some of what you might see in a culturally responsive classroom

Notes/Other

On the classroom walls/boards/shelves, you might look for:

● explicit learning targets written in student-friendly language

● classroom expectations that give all students a sense of belonging

● class commitments and/or agreements established as a community

● samples of student work that show a variety of styles/levels of performance

● student work that shows students’ own identities

● comments on students’ work that have been made by their peers

● signs and symbols of Habits of Mind integrated into class norms, culture, and learning

● _____________________________________________________

In a walkthrough/observation, you might look for teachers’ inviting students to share:

● how they are feeling about themselves, the content or learning tasks

● how their personal experiences help them to make sense of the text/content

● what interests or confuses them about a task and where they might seek additional information or assistance prior to asking a teacher

● strategies they might use to complete a task or overcome setbacks

● ___________________________________________________

In a walkthrough/observation, you might look for:

● students supporting each other in developing the Habit of Mind. For example, students gently remind each other of strategies that might help in a given situation.

● students using the language of the Habits of Mind as they explain how they are proceeding, improving, or completing a task.

● students independently defining/articulating a problem, idea, design, or investigation they want to pursue.
___________________

Some of what you might see in a culturally responsive environment

Notes/Other

During a class observation/walk-through, you might look for:

● students listening to each other’s suggestions as they discuss which options they would like to pursue Listening with Understanding and Empathy

● students asking questions that require higher levels of thinking and working together to find answers Questioning and posing problems

● students using anchors/drafts that represent a variety of styles and levels of performance to co-create success criteria which can be used to monitor their progress Thinking Interdependently

● students articulating how they learn best and the kind of help they need from peers/teacher on a particular task Thinking about Their Thinking

● students giving each other meaningful feedback, based on clear success criteria Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision

During a class discussion you might look for:

● students expressing ideas/feelings in a variety of ways Taking Responsible Risks

● students respectfully pausing, paraphrasing & probing to understand the ideas of others Listening with Understanding & Empathy

● students asking peers to explain statements or to cite textual references
Striving for Accuracy

● students questioning and seeking answers that move them more deeply
into the learning Questioning and Posing Problems

In talking with students, you might see how they are Thinking about Their Thinking by asking them to explain:

● what they are doing/learning and why

● where they are in the learning process and what they need to do next

● how they are using feedback/success criteria to improve their work

● how they feel about their progress and ability to succeed

● which strategies/Habits of Mind are helping or might help them to succeed