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believe certain students are not as capable and will not succeed, they are more likely to use basic teacher direction methods, such as lecture and question and answer, which have a low impact on student success (Gay, 2002). On the whole, teachers ask these students fewer and lower-level questions and don’t provide sufficient wait time for them to formulate an answer (Irvine & Armento, 2001). Furthermore, as Dweck (2006) tells us, teachers often have a fixed mindset when it comes to the potential of different culture groups. A growth mindset on the part of teachers makes them more positive toward students and encourages them to hold higher expectations for all students. There are many benefits to being culturally responsive in schools and classrooms. Such an environment increases students’ comfort level, knowledge growth, and the freedom with which they explore new ideas. In addition, teachers who promote cultural responsivity find that they are better able to reach diverse learners, discover their students’ passions, and select a greater variety of appropriate resources for learning. We cannot overstress the importance of this area of learning. Even students who have no ethnic diversity in their current classroom can expect to learn—and work—with individuals of other cultures at various times throughout their lives. The more adept they become at demonstrating cultural responsivity, the more successfully they will collaborate in diverse groups later in life.

      Educators have multiple tools and tactics available to them for developing a classroom environment of cultural responsivity. They can begin this effort by developing student awareness of their own and other cultures and ethnicities and by teaching students to appreciate the value of diversity in classrooms. Other methods for building cultural responsivity include:

       Encouraging students to become more cognizant of other cultures’ values

       Discouraging students from imposing their own cultural values on others

       Examining cultural biases

      Even everyday classroom interactions offer opportunities for students to learn cultural responsivity. As teachers become more familiar with their students’ cultural influences through conversations and their own reading and research, they can try to incorporate some multicultural ideas, practices, and traditions into their classroom teaching content and practices. Students and teachers alike must also be prepared to have patience as they continue to build their knowledge base of—and responsiveness to—other cultures. There are many resources available to educators working to build their knowledge of students’ culture (see, for example, Black, 2006; Brown, 2003; Ford, 2005; Gay, 2002; Montgomery, 2000). Teachers can also attend community cultural celebrations and occasions, inquire at local cultural organizations, and share and discuss cultural materials and information in collaborative teams and other professional groups.

      As we continue on in the 21st century, we all can expect to learn, work, and live in culturally diverse groups at some period in our lives. In keeping with this reality, educators can’t limit their focus to the late–19th century concerns of reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic. The three Rs of most concern in education today are relationships, responsibility, and respect. Without these understandings, little other learning may take place in the brain. In fact, our soul and spirit are hungry for more than just survival skills and a keen ability to remain on high alert. To feed the curiosity, interest, and engagement that drive learners today, educators must engage in the critical work of building a positive classroom community of learners.

       Building Students’ Social Skills

      Learning and demonstrating social skills is yet another essential element of a positive and nourishing learning environment. When students receive training in social skills, they reap the benefits of that training well into their adult lives. Many adults lose their jobs not because they lack appropriate job-specific knowledge or training, but because they can’t collaborate effectively with other employees. Adolescents are not necessarily any better at social skills than elementary students. That’s why social skills are such an important part of any secondary student’s toolkit for future success (Goleman, 2006b). Many middle and high school teachers feel they don’t have time to teach social skills with all the content they have to cover, but if they don’t, who will? Many families focus on teaching these skills in their home, but others neglect such teaching entirely. While some students may demonstrate a command of such social amenities like saying “please,” “thank you,” “pardon me,” “pleased to meet you,” and so on, many students lack training in these and other important social basics. Explicitly teaching social skills, therefore, is paramount to building a community of learners, as well as for preparing students for personal and professional success throughout life. Examples of essential social skills include:

       Listening to others

       Taking turns

       Encouraging others

       Using positive statements

       Using quiet voices

       Participating equally

       Staying on task

       Asking for help

       Using polite language

      In the next section of this chapter, we discuss cooperative group learning (CGL), and these basic social skills are fundamental to this process. Students who learn to check for understanding, ask for clarification, follow directions, disagree agreeably, resolve conflicts, accept differences, and encourage one another become better able to participate effectively in collaborative groups.

      Teaching social skills isn’t like teaching “hard” skills such as reading or mathematics, where little is open to interpretation and students have direct and immediate opportunities to understand the practical application of what they’re learning. To successfully teach social skills, therefore, teachers must be certain to cover the following aspects.

       Why the skill is necessary: As is often the case, examples of successes and problems associated with social skills offer more powerful learning opportunities than do lectures. Often, a teachable moment for a social skill occurs while students are working together. In those situations, educators can take time to examine the situation with students, talk about exactly what has happened, and ask the students to identify what social skill or action could solve the problems present in that experience.

       What the skill looks, sounds, and feels like: Educators can also model social skills or illustrate them through role-playing a story or watching a video or YouTube clip. Students can also create a T-chart with what the skill looks like and sounds like or a Y-chart to also identify what it feels like (Hill & Hancock, 1993). By helping students expand their understanding of how they demonstrate and respond to specific social skills, teachers build students’ self-awareness as well as their empathy for others’ feelings. Teachers can work with students to build charts that describe how people demonstrate specific social skills and the feelings those skills elicit (Hill & Hancock, 1993). Скачать книгу