1. Culturally responsive teaching: I introduced family language in French using Black Panther and my predominantly Black 8th grade class LOVED it. I used a clip from the movie (dubbed in French), and they were so excited to talk about it. They did groan at first about not being able to watch in English, of course. I had a lot of fun teaching those lessons. And that class did better overall on the quiz than my other 8th graders! #blackfutures
2. Building relationships: I had a student stay after for help with his homework, which became a therapy session in the end. He didn’t ask for advice or anything, he just talked about what was going on in his life. As he was leaving, he noted how much he had talked and how it had been nice for someone to listen.

I also had a student I had to call home for. We talked after class and he took responsibility for his actions, and then came back at the end of the day asking to call home right then and there. It was a great experience–his family was happy to get an update on his behavior, and the student got to have a voice in explaining the situation. It helped me because calling home is honestly annoying and time-consuming. I try to make it more than just about what went wrong, but usually me and the family member I’m talking to don’t have the time/relationship to get into things.

Also been thinking about this Twitter post a lot. How do I incorporate more of this mentality into the classroom? How do I help students understand that “proficiency” is well…dumb?