Being a parent is always easier when you’re not one.  The same can be true with teaching. 

Really?  How hard can it be?  The students just come into class, ready and eager to work.  Everyone is focused and on task, materials and homework proudly displayed.

What? That’s not the case? So, what are teachers to do? How can you create a place where your students want to come in, learn, share, and create?

Think about your ideal classroom environment.  Think about the physical location.  How do you set up your desks? What do you post on your walls?  What resources are available for your students? 

Now, think about when those desks are filled?  What attitude pervades your classroom?  How do students talk to each other?  How do they talk to you?  How do you know that learning is taking place, and what do you do when it’s obvious that your students are distracted?  How do you build and maintain rapport?

How can you have a classroom where students make their own deadlines and are responsible for their own actions?  It’s all part of building trust and community.  In Teach like Your Hair’s on Fire, Rafe Esquith shares his ideas on creating an environment of respect, learning, and motivation.  RAPSA recommends this book focused on a classroom in Los Angeles, where ninety-two percent of the students live below the poverty level.  He continually strives for success with his students, pushing them to achieve and being their biggest supporter.

Building trust isn’t automatic.  It takes time and nurturing, and there isn’t a magic formula on how to achieve it.  How do you keep your students engaged?  How do you build trust and community?  Share your ideas with others here in the RAPSA Lounge.

We’re talking about race and culture, but what does it mean to have “culturally relevant curriculum”?  In 1994, Gloria Ladson-Billings defined the term as “a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes.” Essentially, teachers enhance the curriculum and state requirements to include connections between the students’ home and school lives.

What do you do in your classrooms to be culturally relevant?  What books would you recommend?  What other ways do you enhance the learning for your students?