In practice staff will: Academic Example Behavior Example Use proximity and eye contact with sensitivity to students’ cultural and linguistic background Employ body language, gestures and expressions that demonstrate all students are important. Stand at the classroom door and welcome each student by name as class begins, honoring the greetings students choose to use in response. Gather student input and explicitly teach culturally and linguistically appropriate greetings within different situational contexts. Work collaboratively with students to establish classroom norms and routines for learning experiences such as discussions and cooperative/individual learning activities. Stand alongside a student, cognizant of a student’s potential reaction to the use of eye contact or physical touch. Incorporate education about students’ home cultures and individual selves during Morning Meeting / Circle of Power and Respect Use affirming and clarifying language Convey that positive intentions are presumed through inquisitive and supportive interactions with students. Ask a student, “How can I help you figure this out?” Explicitly teach students the language of self-advocacy, such as “Could you please help me?” and “I don’t understand; could you explain it again?” Provide sentence stems for students to engage in positive conversations that promote collaborative inquiry and analysis. If a student does not follow a participation protocol, “It seems you are eager to share. How might we have an opportunity to hear your voice and your friends’ voices?” Be consistent and positive in delivery and approach Communicate classroom rules and routines clearly, consistently and fairly to all students. Explicitly teach and consistently follow through on the school routines and procedures equitably across gender and race. Explore and clearly articulate how school routines and expectations may be similar to or different from Use empowering teacher language to reinforce positive behaviors (at least 4 positive to every 1 negative) Adopt a growth mindset regarding behavior and social emotional skill development
home and community rules and routines. When establishing routines and expectations, consider how they work to support or limit students. Create equitable opportunities for successful participation in class activities Create a classroom climate whereby students are experts of their own experiences. Create opportunities for students to work together to complex problems and support shared learning. Provide multiple methods for students to provide feedback (verbally, symbolically, in writing, etc.) Student voices: “I just want you to be nice to me. Well, not to pick on me, but to make me better. I know you have good intentions, but I just want you to communicate with me better to make me comfortable in your class, ‘cause I’m really good at learning things when I ask questions or when I communicate with the teacher, ‘cause that’s how I learn, but if I can’t communicate, can’t learn like that. So please don’t judge me for how I act or how ______ I am ‘cause that’s just me. ‘Cause if I’m not talkative, I can’t learn to either. So yeah, that’s it.” – MMSD CLRP Student Advisory Participant “I don’t think a lot of people know what Hmong is here. It’s just like people asking you, do you speak Asian?” - Hmong heritage language learner Practice #3: Develop Self Efficacy In practice will: Academic Example Behavior Example Encourage student agency in learning and school-community engagement Support students in developing “habits of mind” to help them take a critical stance on their learning. Encourage students to share their thoughts, opinions and feelings in respectful ways. Allow sharing to impact planning and instruction. Validate students’ thoughts as moments of courage even when staff is unable to honor requests. Show respect and build critical thinking by explaining why. Provide appropriate language stems, conversations protocols, and word banks/personal dictionaries/thesauruses to scaffold for students’ language needs. Student developed “thematic units” to help students have a say in meaningful instruction Students self-monitor their adherence to behavioral expectations and use of social emotional skills following a lesson / activity through intentional reflection