Getting Started With Culturally Responsive teaching

by Nikki Williams Rucker

describes the foundational strategy in culturally responsive teaching as conducting

"an internal audit."

The goal of such a reflection is self-enlightenment - to make oneself aware of one's own thoughts about "stereotypes...implicit bias...unintentional, unconscious             attitudes." If we expect our                 students to discuss "tough                 subjects" with us, we must first         be willing to address the tough     subjects within ourselves as well.

One instructional strategy for reading comfort AND comprehension which stood out to me was the suggestion to assign paragraphs or passages to read ahead of time so students don't feel put-on-the-spot when called upon to read. 

The Chris Gable Video

points out that kids care what their peers think about them. So calling on students spontaneously to read can easily lead to embarrassment and, in turn, discouragement.

However, I think some informal assessment is also necessary to ensure students are hearing and absorbing what other students are reading aloud rather than silently practicing their own passage(s).

After all, as noted in 

the LEE County SIOP video

students who are nervous 

"don't learn as well."

Student comfort is vital for success.

Metacognition 

    Def. the learning method by which students think about the process of learning/thinking

according to the 

Chris Gable Video

Vacca et al. Chapter 4 

elaborates on the concept of metacognition by describing the goal of student journaling as being able to "employ questions that make students more aware of the thought processes they use as they read and how those processes affect their interaction with the text" (93).

Vacca et al. Chapter 4 suggests incorporating writing prompts to guide students through the journal writing process. 

I intend to incorporate this method into my own reading and writing instruction because when I was in high school, I found journaling to be helpful but inefficient without prompts to guide my thinking. Using Vacca et al.'s method, I think students can avoid the issue of quantity over quality when it comes to semi-annotative journaling.

Codeswitching

    Def. "a term used to explain the interplay of language structures using phonological and syntactical variations" (65).

according to Vacca et al. Chapter 3