Six Ways to Know If You AreLinguistically Responsive

Sharroky Hollie

Sharroky H

ollie

Day 1—Morning Keynote

Day 2—Morning Keynote

Day 3—Morning Keynote

Day 1—Morning Breakout

Day 2—Morning Breakout

Day 3—In-Depth Seminar

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Six Ways to Know If You Are Linguistically Responsive

Sharroky Hollie, PhD@validateaffirm

Sharroky@culturallyresponsive.org

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Goal 1:  Increase Student Engagement

Do students have a sense of belonging?

Are students engaged pedagogically? (instruction)

Goal 2:  Deal with Inequities

Courage. Articulation. Safe place and space.

Goal 3:  Give Outrageous Love

Who needs more love?

Is my heart and mind in the right place?

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What are the six ways?

1. You can define it.2. Something that you are, not 

that you do3. You are not confused about 

your identity.4. You know who you are serving 

or not serving.5. You don’t celebrate Black 

History Month.6. Practice everyday in every way.

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My racial identity dictates my

cultural identity.

Cultural responsiveness is only for minority

students.

The goals for culturally responsive teaching are best met at the

district level.

Diversity, equity, and cultural responsiveness

are interchangeable concepts.

CLR Anticipation GuideAnswer the Following Statements with True or False.

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How have you distinguished negative energy from struggle (progress, positive energy)?

Offensitive-ness Haters Doubters Twisters Bootstrappers

Combination of emotions whereby one is being defensive, feeling offended, and too sensitive all at once; an overly emotional reaction to concepts or materials that have been presented unemotionally

Bring unnecessary drama and stress to the matter at hand—something is always wrong and negative energy is the response.

The “Thomases” of the world—critical questioning can be beneficial, but only to a point; doubters take the questioning a step too far most times.

Take the facts and twist them to fit their agenda. Give only half the story. Expert de-contextualizers

The rationale is that they did not experience it, so why should their students experience it. Believe that the path they took should be the one others take.

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V A

B B

VALIDATE Make legitimate that which the institution (academia) and mainstream media have made illegitimate culturally and linguistically.

AFFIRM Make positive that which the institution (academia) and mainstream media have made negative culturally and linguistically.

BUILD Create the connections between the home culture/language and the school culture/language through instruction (teaching necessary skills) for success in school and the broader social context.

BRIDGE Create opportunities for situational appropriateness or utilizing appropriate cultural or linguistic behaviors.

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Situational Appropriateness or Global Dexterity“Learning to adapt your behavior across cultures‐no matter what culture you come from, what culture you are going to, or the situation you find yourself in Global Dexterity is "fitting in without giving in." 

—Molinsky 2013

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Something that you are, not that you do

Are culturally responsive educators born or are they made?

Do I know who I am‐rings of culture‐or am I confused?Fill in the blanks below …

My racial identity is ___________________ Behavior __________________

My national identiy(ies) is/are ___________ Behavior__________________

My ethnic identity is ___________________ Behavior __________________

Section Three: Anthropology

How do I define race?

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History of Racial Classification“Caucasian variety. I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially its southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, and because … in that region, if anywhere, we ought with the greatest probability to place the autochthones [original forms] of mankind.”

—Blumenbach, On the Natural Variety of Mankind, 1795

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Mongolian (Eastern Asia)

Ethiopian (Africa) 

Caucasian (Europe and adjacent areas)

Natives (Americas)

Malaysian (Pacific Islands)

Original Five Classified Races

Race is arbitrary.

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The whole way we have approached the work is built upon the assumption that good people treat people equitably and it is bad people who do all the those terrible things.

Our biases are not decisions made because somebody is “out to get” somebody, but rather because all human beings have bias. And the more we think we are immune to it, the greater likelihood that our own biases will be invisible or unconscious to us.

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So, what is race?1. Genetic lineage (forensic identification, possible diseases, phenotypes)2. Story of human geography3. Socially constructed (historically)

You Know Who You are Serving

Key term 2 is underserved:An underserved student is any student who is not successful academically, socially, and/or behaviorally in school because the school as an institution is not being responsive to the student.

Words to consider when thinking of your underserved:disproportionality, historic, institutional

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Are there any ____________ students having success? Yes or No. If yes, go to next question.

If no, then stop here.

Among those students not having success, who is the most likely to be underserved?

Of that group, are there any ____________ students having 

success—yes or no? If yes, go to next question. If no, then stop here.

Among those students not having success, who is the most likely to be underserved?

Break The Code

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Top Five Underserved Populations

1. Native Americans/ American Indians/ Indigenous Peoples

2. African Americans3. Mexican Americans4. Hawaiian Americans5. Asian Americans

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You don’t  just celebrate Black History Month or superficially deal with culture and language.

Do you know the history of Black History Month?

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the creator of the original Negro History Week, did not intend for this week to be turned into a month and forever. It began in 1915!  

The intent of African Americans’ contributions to American history was supposed to be temporary, a way of appreciating the historical relevance of an invisible people. 

Carter G. Woodson believed that publishing scientific history would transform race relations by dispelling the wide‐spread falsehoods about  the achievements of Africans and peoples of African descent. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, “He was asking the public to extend their study of black history, not to create a new tradition.” 

He pressed for schools to use Negro History Week to demonstrate what students learned all year. 

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CLR and SeparatingContent vs. Pedagogy

Pedagogy How I Teach It

ContentWhat I Teach 

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Dive into the Pool of CLR Activities

Responsive Classroom Management•Use of attention signals strategically•Use of protocols for responding•Use of protocols for discussing•Use of movement activities•Use of extended collaboration activities

Responsive Academic Vocabulary•Tiering vocabulary words – Level 2 and Level 3•Use of vocabulary acquisition strategies•Use of reinforcement activities

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Dive into the Pool of CLR Activities

Responsive Academic Literacy•Use of culturally responsive supplemental text•Use of engaging read-aloudsUse of effective literacy strategies across content areas

Responsive Academic LanguageProviding opportunities for situational appropriatenessUse of sentence lifting for situational appropriatenessUse of retellings for situational appropriatenessUse of role-playing for situational appropriatenessUsing teachable moments for situational appropriateness

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Creating Instructional Range

TraditionalCulturally

ResponsiveResponsive

A CONTINUUM OF TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTION AND RESPONSIVE INSTRUCTION

DIVE INTO THE POOL OF CLR ACTIVITIES

How Culturally Responsive IsYour Classroom?

Cultural Images and Artifacts (historical and contemporary)

Learning Centers focused on different modalities

and multiple intelligences

Opportunities for interactions that create a sense of family and

community

100% engagement for all lessons

Provide big picture (conceptually based teaching/learning)

Multiple opportunities for practice

Sage on the stage or guide on the side?

Effective question techniques or

codependent for the right answer

Incorporate music, fine arts, and culturally

responsive literature

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6 Ways to Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching 

Checklist

You can define it. Something that you are, not 

that you do You are not confused about 

your identity. You know who you are serving 

or not serving. You don’t just celebrate Black 

History Month. Practice everyday in every way.

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When do students have an opportunity to be themselves culturally and linguistically during instruction? 

When do teachers, leaders, and support staff validate and affirm the students’ cultural and linguistic selves while they learn?

When do students have opportunities to be who they are without being warned, punished, or penalized?

The answers to these questions are at the heart of the BeYou campaign.BeYou stands for Be Engaged Your Own Unique Way.

#BeYou

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Thank You

To schedule professional development at your site, contact Solution Tree

at (800) 733‐6786.

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BeYou Campaign When do students have an opportunity to be themselves culturally and linguistically during

instruction?

When do teachers, leaders, and support staff validate and affirm the students cultural andlinguistic selves while they learn?

When do students have opportunities to be who they are without being warned, punished,or penalized?

The answers to these questions are at the heart of the BeYou Campaign. BeYou stands for Be…Engaged…Your…Own…Unique Way.

The campaign is for educators to provide students opportunities to be who they are behaviorally, based on the Rings of Culture and the Iceberg of Culture tied to cultural responsiveness. BeYou is a drive to offer an alternative to the ubiquitous SLANT, which is used prolifically in classrooms across the country.

Give students a different narrative – them being them – while they learn.

During this 2017-2018 school year, provide evidence that your students are able to be themselves during instruction and while learning. Use social media, pictures, video, or written testimony to show your students being who they are culturally and linguistically. Highlight their cultural and linguistic behaviors based on the variety of identities that they bring to school.

Use the hashtag #BeYOU @validateaffirm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Snapchat.

www.culturallyresponsive.org Facebook@validateaffirm Twitter@validateaffirm

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