Vionette: [speaking Spanish].

Sarah: There are no blank slates walking into the classroom. Culturally responsive teaching is capitalizing on all that students bring with them from their personal lives and their home lives. And it’s really knowing that student, knowing where he or she is from, and using that to craft the most meaningful and rigorous learning opportunities.

Here at Amigos, a bilingual school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we are focused on culturally responsive, joyful education.

Marco: To borrow Zaretta Hammond’s word, culturally responsive practice really is widening our aperture as adult educators, to consider a broader perspective on what strategies can then match with our students’ needs, if we really want to see more equitable outcomes for our students.

Sarah: One of the things that we’re doing to support that work and our growth as educators are learning walks. Learning walks allow teachers to visit each other’s classrooms to see how they are implementing new strategies. We are looking for evidence of equitable student participation and we’re looking to make sure that primarily, there’s a relationship there, because in order to teach that child, you need to know that child.

Marco: We visit the classroom, take notes using our guide.

Vionette: [speaking Spanish].

We are really looking at what instructional decisions are we making that will support students to have equity of voices, rigor and consider their different cultures and identities, and really capitalize on that for them to feel safe and authentic and a sense of belonging into our classrooms.

[speaking Spanish].

Student: [speaking Spanish].

Vionette: I’m really thinking about, what are the different ways that one can organize the instruction so there’s diversity of access points to this language and the literature, and for the students to be able to feel comfortable, sharing what they know, sharing what they don’t know.

Student: [speaking Spanish].

Teacher: I really thought that one of the strengths was your use of the vocabulary and then giving
students the tools they needed to use it themselves.

Marco: We come back together for a debrief. We look at questions that may emerge, and any recommendations that we’ve come up with.

Teacher: Everyone ended up being engaged at some point.

Marco: We were struck by the variety and the depth of voice that students were demonstrating in her class. We heard lots of different voices and that was exciting to see and hear.

Sarah: We need to make sure that they all feel represented, they all feel safe to do their best learning,
they all feel respected. And I think that’s a lifelong process for any educator. Culturally responsive teaching isn’t something that you say, “I went to a professional development session, I’m all set.” Check the box. It’s something you have to dedicate a lot of time to, throughout your career, to make sure that you’re doing the best for the students.

Schools That Work

Amigos School