Brandon Readus
Woodbrook Elementary School, Gifted Resource Teacher / Diversity Resource Teacher
In education, there are many strategies branded as “best practice”. In the role of teacher, I am empowered to make instructional decisions to meet the needs of all of my learners. Accordingly, the achievement of each individual student in my sphere of influence is a byproduct of this teacher autonomy and without intentionality, culturally diverse students are deprived of the opportunity to engage in higher order thinking and consequently become dependent learners.
Third grade is when many children "psychologically" drop out of school. Their bodies are in the classroom, but their minds are elsewhere”. This teacher’s journey serves as a roadmap of intentional re-navigations to combat this reality with a cohort of dependent fourth graders while aligning my practice with the three ACPS characteristics for Culturally Responsive education as a compass.
I compare my journey to that of a science experiment. It began with observations and reflections. Who was I teaching? Through surveys, conversations, and anecdotal notes, I recorded my initial findings about the cultures, learning styles, and mindsets of my students. Subsequently, I reflected on my own cultural frame of reference, triggers, bias, and schooling experience and answered the question: Who (am) I? How am I being perceived? Based on those observations, I hypothesized and selected culturally responsive strategies to pilot. Lastly, I would reflect on the results of each “experiment” with the students to determine the usefulness of each strategy. Gone were the days of me doing school to and for kids. Instead, I wanted my students to take ownership of their success and partner with me to help them succeed. The final step was routinely communicating the results with students and their families in order to develop next steps.
Shifting my practice to “teach to” and “through” my students’ cultures facilitated exponential academic growth during one semester on a nationally normed assessment. Because of Culturally Responsive teaching, this cohort gained a pathway towards stronger math skills, more focused mindsets, an appreciation of personal reflection, and more conviction to succeed independently.
Woodbrook Elementary School, Gifted Resource Teacher / Diversity Resource Teacher
In education, there are many strategies branded as “best practice”. In the role of teacher, I am empowered to make instructional decisions to meet the needs of all of my learners. Accordingly, the achievement of each individual student in my sphere of influence is a byproduct of this teacher autonomy and without intentionality, culturally diverse students are deprived of the opportunity to engage in higher order thinking and consequently become dependent learners.
Third grade is when many children "psychologically" drop out of school. Their bodies are in the classroom, but their minds are elsewhere”. This teacher’s journey serves as a roadmap of intentional re-navigations to combat this reality with a cohort of dependent fourth graders while aligning my practice with the three ACPS characteristics for Culturally Responsive education as a compass.
I compare my journey to that of a science experiment. It began with observations and reflections. Who was I teaching? Through surveys, conversations, and anecdotal notes, I recorded my initial findings about the cultures, learning styles, and mindsets of my students. Subsequently, I reflected on my own cultural frame of reference, triggers, bias, and schooling experience and answered the question: Who (am) I? How am I being perceived? Based on those observations, I hypothesized and selected culturally responsive strategies to pilot. Lastly, I would reflect on the results of each “experiment” with the students to determine the usefulness of each strategy. Gone were the days of me doing school to and for kids. Instead, I wanted my students to take ownership of their success and partner with me to help them succeed. The final step was routinely communicating the results with students and their families in order to develop next steps.
Shifting my practice to “teach to” and “through” my students’ cultures facilitated exponential academic growth during one semester on a nationally normed assessment. Because of Culturally Responsive teaching, this cohort gained a pathway towards stronger math skills, more focused mindsets, an appreciation of personal reflection, and more conviction to succeed independently.
Whitney Hinnant
Hollymead Elementary School, 1st Grade Teacher
Have you ever been in a space that appears to be healthy, thriving, and intentional then suddenly realize it’s a facade? I have. When I opened my eyes I realized that I in fact was perpetuating the facade. I was the educator writing goals that automatically excluded 15% of students I was tasked to grow and nurture because they were not meeting benchmarks, were identified as English Language Learners, had no previous formal education experiences, or simply lacked self-control. The 2016-2017 school year presented me with an opportunity to challenge that facade through the application of rigorous instruction, relevant differentiation, and community.
Children enter their earliest years of education as dependent learners. However, this early education dependency should not be categorized as deficit as it is the job of educator to facilitate the transition to an independent learner. I will discuss how I intentionally facilitated the growth of my learners’ cognitive processes and structures and the shifts I made to my teaching practice to align my practice with Albemarle County Public Schools’ identified characteristics of Culturally Responsive Teaching.
I will provide evidence of the impact self-reflection, an understanding of my cultural frame of reference and cultural inquiry had on my lens, cultural inclusivity, and the personal growth and achievement of my learners. I will also demonstrate how I solidified my educational beliefs and improved my teaching practices through the intentionality of my instruction and strategies. Finally, in order to further influence student achievement I will share how I purposefully and methodically built relationships with my students and their families during the course of my learners first grade year.
Hollymead Elementary School, 1st Grade Teacher
Have you ever been in a space that appears to be healthy, thriving, and intentional then suddenly realize it’s a facade? I have. When I opened my eyes I realized that I in fact was perpetuating the facade. I was the educator writing goals that automatically excluded 15% of students I was tasked to grow and nurture because they were not meeting benchmarks, were identified as English Language Learners, had no previous formal education experiences, or simply lacked self-control. The 2016-2017 school year presented me with an opportunity to challenge that facade through the application of rigorous instruction, relevant differentiation, and community.
Children enter their earliest years of education as dependent learners. However, this early education dependency should not be categorized as deficit as it is the job of educator to facilitate the transition to an independent learner. I will discuss how I intentionally facilitated the growth of my learners’ cognitive processes and structures and the shifts I made to my teaching practice to align my practice with Albemarle County Public Schools’ identified characteristics of Culturally Responsive Teaching.
I will provide evidence of the impact self-reflection, an understanding of my cultural frame of reference and cultural inquiry had on my lens, cultural inclusivity, and the personal growth and achievement of my learners. I will also demonstrate how I solidified my educational beliefs and improved my teaching practices through the intentionality of my instruction and strategies. Finally, in order to further influence student achievement I will share how I purposefully and methodically built relationships with my students and their families during the course of my learners first grade year.
Monica Laux
Western Albemarle High School, Language Arts Teacher
In Albemarle County Public Schools, there is still an achievement gap that negatively impacts students of color. For this reason, a shift toward Culturally Responsive Teaching is occurring in classrooms of all ages and levels. This teacher examines a mindset and instructional shift in an 11th grade American Studies classroom. Artifacts and examples from each of the Culturally Responsive Teaching characteristics are included along with evidence of teacher and student growth/change. The presenter applied specific teaching strategies, lesson plans, and projects. It is clear that applying reflection, protocols that ensure equity of voice, culturally responsive feedback, and communication with families produces a positive effect on student learning in concrete, measurable ways. The students studied are in the advanced level of English 11, which means they are not honors students or standard students but are ones in the middle who require slightly more scaffolding. There is a wide range of abilities and needs at the advanced level, and Culturally Responsive Teaching strategies benefits these students that have often been overlooked or given low expectations. Students achieved higher results in writing, classwork, reported a better learning environment, and achieved a 98.9% pass rate (with a 40.4% advanced pass rate) on the Virginia End-of-Course Writing SOL. The teacher reflection and strategies employed are part of a continuous process of getting to know students, studying what works, and helping them achieve. Conclusively, Culturally Responsive Teaching creates a better learning environment for students and allows for positive results. This mindset shift and process should be replicated across the county in order to close the achievement gap.
Western Albemarle High School, Language Arts Teacher
In Albemarle County Public Schools, there is still an achievement gap that negatively impacts students of color. For this reason, a shift toward Culturally Responsive Teaching is occurring in classrooms of all ages and levels. This teacher examines a mindset and instructional shift in an 11th grade American Studies classroom. Artifacts and examples from each of the Culturally Responsive Teaching characteristics are included along with evidence of teacher and student growth/change. The presenter applied specific teaching strategies, lesson plans, and projects. It is clear that applying reflection, protocols that ensure equity of voice, culturally responsive feedback, and communication with families produces a positive effect on student learning in concrete, measurable ways. The students studied are in the advanced level of English 11, which means they are not honors students or standard students but are ones in the middle who require slightly more scaffolding. There is a wide range of abilities and needs at the advanced level, and Culturally Responsive Teaching strategies benefits these students that have often been overlooked or given low expectations. Students achieved higher results in writing, classwork, reported a better learning environment, and achieved a 98.9% pass rate (with a 40.4% advanced pass rate) on the Virginia End-of-Course Writing SOL. The teacher reflection and strategies employed are part of a continuous process of getting to know students, studying what works, and helping them achieve. Conclusively, Culturally Responsive Teaching creates a better learning environment for students and allows for positive results. This mindset shift and process should be replicated across the county in order to close the achievement gap.
Lars Holmstrom
ACPS Instructional Coach / Diversity Resource Teacher
ACPS Instructional Coaches pursuing “Coaching for CRT” certification should document that they have supported teachers broadly and/or deeply to apply each of the 3 ACPS CRT Characteristics in their classrooms. Supporting teachers broadly means documentation that a coach has supported a wide range of teachers to engage CRT practices from across the 3 Characteristics. Supporting teachers deeply means documentation that a coach has supported a smaller number of teachers to engage all 3 Characteristics in their classrooms. Certification for the coach should be based not simply on documentation that teachers with whom the coach partnered applied CRT practices in their classrooms, but additionally that the coach employed established coaching practices to support CRT development, and/or created novel coaching practices for supporting the teacher to do so. “Coaching for CRT” certification should document an impact on teacher practice primarily, and should document an impact on student performance whenever possible.
This presentation will document that I have supported some minor breadth of teachers to engage CRT practices modestly in their classrooms, and in this way have made some small progress towards receiving “Coaching for CRT” certification. In this sense, this presentation may serve as an initial format after which “Coaching for CRT” applicants might model in the future.
“Coaching for CRT” certification may additionally document that the applicant has had an impact on the practices of the coach community at large. This presentation will note the ways in which I have worked to create a more fertile ground for myself and other coaches looking to engage coaching for CRT in the years ahead. I do not believe that this aspect of the presentation will be necessary for coaches seeking certification in the future. However, it may be of interest to ACPS Instructional Coaches hoping to explore coaching for CRT in these early years of the certification process.
Finally, this presentation will include my reflection on the personal growth and learning that has been a part of my journey this year.
ACPS Instructional Coach / Diversity Resource Teacher
ACPS Instructional Coaches pursuing “Coaching for CRT” certification should document that they have supported teachers broadly and/or deeply to apply each of the 3 ACPS CRT Characteristics in their classrooms. Supporting teachers broadly means documentation that a coach has supported a wide range of teachers to engage CRT practices from across the 3 Characteristics. Supporting teachers deeply means documentation that a coach has supported a smaller number of teachers to engage all 3 Characteristics in their classrooms. Certification for the coach should be based not simply on documentation that teachers with whom the coach partnered applied CRT practices in their classrooms, but additionally that the coach employed established coaching practices to support CRT development, and/or created novel coaching practices for supporting the teacher to do so. “Coaching for CRT” certification should document an impact on teacher practice primarily, and should document an impact on student performance whenever possible.
This presentation will document that I have supported some minor breadth of teachers to engage CRT practices modestly in their classrooms, and in this way have made some small progress towards receiving “Coaching for CRT” certification. In this sense, this presentation may serve as an initial format after which “Coaching for CRT” applicants might model in the future.
“Coaching for CRT” certification may additionally document that the applicant has had an impact on the practices of the coach community at large. This presentation will note the ways in which I have worked to create a more fertile ground for myself and other coaches looking to engage coaching for CRT in the years ahead. I do not believe that this aspect of the presentation will be necessary for coaches seeking certification in the future. However, it may be of interest to ACPS Instructional Coaches hoping to explore coaching for CRT in these early years of the certification process.
Finally, this presentation will include my reflection on the personal growth and learning that has been a part of my journey this year.