Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1483308014 ISBN 13: 9781483308012

Publisher: Corwin, 2014

A bold, brain based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction

To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation―until now.

 

In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain compatible culturally responsive instruction.

 

The book includes:

 

• Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships
• Ten "key moves" to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners
• Prompts for action and valuable self reflection

About the Author:

Zaretta Hammond is a former classroom English teacher who has been doing instructional design, school coaching, and professional development around the issues of equity, literacy, and culturally responsive teaching for the past 18 years.  She teaches as a lecturer at St. Mary’s College’s Kalmanovitz School of in Moraga, California.

In addition to consulting and professional development, she has been on staff at national education reform organizations, including the National Equity Project and the former Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC).  She has trained instructional coaches in reading development, especially targeted at students of color and English learners.  She has also designed national seminars such as the three-day Teaching with A Cultural Eye series for teachers and school leaders. She is regularly invited to present at regional and national conferences. She has authored articles that have appeared in publications such as Phi Delta Kappan.

Along with a focus on culturally responsive teaching, Ms. Hammond has a strong research agenda around literacy, vocabulary development, and equity. She has designed culturally responsive tutor training programs aimed at volunteer reading tutors for a variety of non-profit organizations. She currently designing a literacy program to accelerate low reading skills among high school students. She holds a Masters in Secondary English Education.

She also writes the popular ready4rigor.com blog.  Zaretta is the proud parent of two young adult children, both of whom she taught to read before they went to school. She resides in Berkeley, CA with her husband and family. 

Review:

"An essential, compelling and practical examination of the relationship between culture and cognition that will forever transform how we think about our role facilitating the learning of other people’s children – and our own children!  Zaretta Hammond forcefully traverses the socio-political landscape of race and learning, smashing our misconceptions and bias about the educability of black, brown and low-income students; setting us free to take a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to creating classroom practices and environments that result in true learning partnerships with our students. The framework Hammond offers skillfully weaves together cultural knowledge (students’ cultural identities and how they see and make meaning of the world) with neuroscience (what we now know about how the brain processes and retains information)  – the real artistry of culturally responsive pedagogy.

 

This book demonstrates high regard for the complexity of teaching and delivers an even higher regard for the promise and academic potential of the students we’ve made most vulnerable in our school systems if we, as educators, choose to act on what we know. This book should be required reading for every teacher education program in the country!"

Author: LaShawn Routé Chatmon, Executive Director Published On: 2014-08-12

"All students can and will learn at high levels when provided the type of instruction described in this book. This work calls us to action by mandating that we move beyond looking for student outcomes that rely heavily on the regurgitation of memorized facts to applying the information learned to new situations.  Each child’s life outcomes are dependent on their ability to think critically.  Dr. Hammond does just that in this book.  She uses her mind well, writes effectively and provides analysis on the connection between brain-based science and culturally responsive instruction.  This is a must read for those wishing to have a mindset shift and aptly implement rigorous instructional practices to support all students." Author: Kendra Ferguson, Chief of Schools Published On: 2014-08-26

"Drawing on the research form neuroscience Zaretta Hammond explains what we should have known all along – all children are capable of higher order thinking and capable of producing intellectually advanced work if provided the opportunity to learn by caring and capable adults. Hammond dose more than explain the research. Drawing on years of experience in schools as an educator and trainer, she shows how this can be done even in schools that have grown accustomed to failure. At a time when the nation is searching to find ways to close the racial achievement gap, this book will be an invaluable resource. " Author: Pedro Noguera, Professor, NYU