A Culturally Responsive October 🍁
/Fall is the perfect time of year to celebrate and honor the diversity within our learning communities! Keep reading to learn more about different awareness campaigns happening this month.
Read MoreFall is the perfect time of year to celebrate and honor the diversity within our learning communities! Keep reading to learn more about different awareness campaigns happening this month.
Read MoreAnti-racism is the “active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably” (National Action Committee on the Status of Women International Perspectives: Women and Global Solidarity).
Being a culturally responsive educator allows you to value the diversity around you and becoming an antiracist educator propels you to fight against policies and practices that make it challenging for you and others to be your authentic self in an environment free from white supremacist culture.
Consider everything from the curriculum you teach, the school events you hold. who makes decisions, and hiring practices. do they reflect a commitment to antiracism or do they uphold white supremacist culture?
Taking responsibility for your power and privilege
Acknowledge your feelings about multiculturalism
Cultivate a desire to learn from diverse perspectives and grow your ability to support others from across lines of difference
Actively challenge practices and policies that uphold white supremacist culture
Recognizing class differences between different people of color based on their proximity to whiteness
Understand all people of color are struggling in some way under White supremacy
Challenge internalized White supremacy (i.e. respectability politics, myth of the model minority, etc.)
Actively challenge practices and policies that uphold white supremacist culture
As an educator, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the things we need to get done each day to support our students. Trying to get everything done and maintain boundaries can be tricky, but it's not impossible! Ready to learn how to plan your time effectively?
Read MoreAs more educators are committing to adapting their approach to meet the needs of culturally diverse students, culturally responsive teaching has become a hot topic. Learn more about this pedagogy and how it can be used in your classroom!
Read MoreJoin me this February, as I host the Love Black History Photo Challenge to help us capture inspiration from all around us. Falling in Love with Black History will feature a month-long photo challenge that explores innovation, entertainment, and little-known facts designed to deepen our appreciation for Black History.
Read MoreAfter several deliberations, I am thrilled to announce our first book club selection for 2021 is Equity By Design: Delivering the Power and Promise of UDL by Mirko Chardin and Katie Novak. As we continue to support our students during multiple, ongoing pandemics, are we doing what is necessary to ensure all students can and will succeed? Join me as we learn more about Universal Design for Learning (UDL), how it can create more equitable learning communities, and build on what we learned during our focus on Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond and Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues by Monique W. Morris.
We will begin our exploration of Equity By Design on January 25 in our Teacher Toolkit Virtual Book Club community! All book club resources will now be available in our very online community platform powered by Mighty Networks! There we get to share ideas, view all content tied to the book including discussion guides and videos, and have discussions outside of our live meetings. You will also be able to keep on the go by downloading the Mighty Networks app. Click the button below to join the discussion!
The start of a new year provides time to reflect on the prior year and this year I am filled with gratitude for our virtual book club community. In the middle of a pandemic, we came together to do what we do best, learn and challenge our thinking, in order to better support our students. Thank you for being willing to grow with me, dive into 2 books focused on creating antiracist and culturally responsive learning environments, and just get to know each other beyond our teaching roles. I’ve been thinking about a way to give our community a name that better reflects all of the work we do and I’m pleased to announce the Teacher Toolkit Virtual Book Club 🎉.
This year, we will be tackling 5 books together and the first one will start on January 26! Even though we have a new name, the thought-provoking conversations, practical application, and opportunities to grow will still remain! All book club resources will now be available in our very online community platform powered by Mighty Networks! There we get to share ideas, view all content tied to the book including discussion guides and videos, and have discussions outside of our live meetings. You will also be able to keep on the go by downloading the Mighty Networks app!
As I work to create the best community for you, I enjoy spending time making sure you get the most out of what we read by adding supplementary resources and ways to implement culturally responsive strategies in the classroom. I know it is incredibly challenging for educators to add additional costs in the pursuit of new knowledge and I commit to keeping costs as low as possible to ensure it’s accessible to as many teachers as possible.
For our first book of the year, you will be able to join the community and receive all of the accompanying resources for free! Now is the time to spread the word to your fellow educators so they can join and experience the joys of our virtual book club without paying a cent. Starting in February, there will be cost associated with participating in book club.
Thank you for being a part of our community and helping all of us grow!
We are just mere hours away from the start of my first Virtual Book Club and I cannot wait to expand my practice with you. In order to get the most out of our time together and have focused discussions centered on Zaretta Hammond’s book Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students we will use the following schedule:
Week 1
Focus: Examining Our Current Landscape- Achievement and the Role Culture Plays in Our Work
Required Reading: Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2
Week 2
Focus: Preparing to be a Culturally Responsive Leader
Required Reading: Chapters 3 and 4
Week 3
Focus: Creating and Leveraging Meaningful Relationships to Support Culturally Responsive Teaching
Required Reading: Chapters 5 and 6
Week 4
Focus: Building an Academic Mindset in a Culturally Responsive Learning Environment
Required Reading: Chapter 7
Week 5
Focus: Building Students’ Intellective Capacity in Socially and Intellectually Safe Classroom Communities
Required Reading: Chapters 8 and 9
Week 6
Focus: Leading with a Lens for Equity
Required Reading: Epilogue
In order to get the most out of what we will be learning, join the Chalon Creates! Virtual Book Club Group on Facebook and sign up to receive updates from me here if you have not done so already to access our weekly discussion questions and access to our live discussions.
Let’s get started!
“Language is powerful. when you are able to name a thing, it moves out of the realm of mystery into concreteness”
-Zaretta Hammond
I am so excited to announce my first virtual book club selection - Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta Hammond!
Starting June 30, we will have an opportunity to discuss Hammond’s work, assess our knowledge of learning, and discuss implications for our work. I invite you to join me as we expand our knowledge and create structures for our classrooms in the Fall. Click here to get access to our weekly discussion prompts, reading guide, and more!
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, We are the change that we seek.”
-President Barack Obama
Join me this February, as I host the Love Black History Photo Challenge to help us capture inspiration from all around us. Falling in Love with Black History will feature a month-long photo challenge that explores innovation, entertainment, and little-known facts designed to deepen our appreciation for Black History.
Read MoreDuring my first year as a teacher, I mastered the art of being firm, but fair when working with my students. That year, I piloted an intensive support room for students with special needs that struggled with maintaining appropriate behavior in a traditional classroom. I had been taught in my teacher preparation program to maintain a clear distance between myself and my students so they knew I was the leader of the classroom.
Read MoreIf you are looking for assistance transforming your students into thoughtful and engaged learners, you have come to the right place! At Chalon Creates!, we work to bridge the gap between the high academic standards that all students can achieve with the changing interests of the young people around us to develop curriculum, provide meaningful resources to teachers and school leaders, and help the next generation of teachers and leaders to do the same.
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