The Classroom Environment

Culturally Responsive & Sustaining Teaching

In my development as an educator, I have learned more about what it means to be culturally responsive and sustaining in my teaching. I have adopted the framework provided by Dr. Zaretta Hammond in her book, Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain. The ultimate goal in teaching is to foster an environment of independent learners. Such an environment is cultivated through strong relationships between the teacher and the student and amongst students. It is also cultivated through consistent, high expectations that communicate to students a strong belief in their ability to achieve their social and academic goals. 


Building Student Relationships & Learning Partnerships

Relationships form the foundation of a strong learning environment. I was intentional and consistent in my efforts to get to know my students throughout the year. When I taught 9th grade English, the first project students ever completed was telling their life story using a modified version of the Pecha Kucha. As the school year went on, I continued to learn more about my students through their writing, intentional one-on-one check-ins, and through smaller activities such as an attendance question (linked below).


Part of building strong relationships requires vulnerability from the teacher’s end. I would share and model for students vulnerability through my own stories, which helped them make connections and feel more comfortable in the classroom environment. 

Classroom Norms

Class norms were always created during the first few days of the school year. I would craft my classroom vision and develop a set of norms that, when upheld, would lead to the outcomes I envisioned. The norms anchored discussions about the classroom community. I would solicit feedback from students and then finalize the norms. The norms were posted in the classroom for easy reference. Classroom norms informed students how to operate in our learning community. These were behaviors that were deemed critical and any breaches of these specific behaviors would be addressed immediately by any member of the class. 


Even during remote learning, classroom norms were crucial to maintaining a safe online learning environment. Students were shown the classroom norms each time we started class. 


Classroom Norms