August 31, 2024 • 28 mins
Please share your questions and/or reactions to this episode with Dr. Green.
What if the traditional methods of teaching are inherently flawed and perpetuating inequality in our education system?
In this episode #47, join Dr. Terrance L. Green, as he discusses the transformative Equity-Responsive Instruction Framework, which is designed to create racially just classrooms. You’ll learn why the outdated banking model of education fails to consider students' unique lived experiences.
Moving from theory to practice, Dr. Green dives into actionable strategies for planning to enact equity-responsive instruction. He explores five essential questions that educators can use to ensure their lessons are inclusive and reflective of their students' cultural, racial, and community backgrounds. Learn how to make your classroom universally accessible, promote higher-order thinking, and share power with students by co-creating learning goals and norms.
This insightful episode provides questions to help educators foster dynamic, equitable learning environments that affirm and engage all students in meaningful ways. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to advance your teaching practice and support every learner’s journey.
Grab my FREE e-book "3 Essential Questions Every Equity Team Must Ask: Equity Audits That Make Real Change." Get your copy HERE.
I hope you enjoy this episode and join our community at: www.raciallyjustschools.com. When you join the community, I will send you a FREE video on 3 Tips to Make Your Racial Justice Work Better.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Terrance L. Green (00:00):
Before we jump into today's episode, I
have some exciting news to sharewith you.
One of the questions I getasked all the time is do you
have any tips to help our teamwhile we're conducting our
equity audits?
Well, now I do Get my brand newebook Three Essential Questions
.
Every Equity Team Must Ask toconduct equity audits that make
(00:21):
real change.
It's your team's blueprint foraction Plus.
The book comes with a cheatsheet guide at the end that can
help your team.
Use it to support your work, asI've been sharing it with folks
they've asked well, is it$14.99 or is it $9.99?
And you know what I'm making?
It absolutely free, that'sright.
I just want to get thisinformation into the hands of
(00:44):
the people who need it forabsolutely free.
To get your free copy, all youneed to do is to go to
equityauditscom forward slashebook that's equityaudits with
an S dot com forward slash ebook.
Enter your name and your bestemail address and I'll send it
to you right away.
So grab your free copy.
(01:05):
Now All right on to today'sepisode.
Have you ever wondered about asimple yet effective teaching
framework that you could use inany teaching and learning
context?
If you've answered yes, thenyou are in the right place.
Hi, I'm Dr Terrence L Green.
I'm a tenure professor and I'vehelped to prepare hundreds of
(01:26):
racially just and anti-racistschool leaders, and I want to
help you.
That's why I created thispodcast to provide you and your
team with real-world insightsand practices that work so that
you can collectively buildracially just schools.
On today's podcast, I'm goingto share with you four problems
with traditional teachingmethods and why they typically
(01:47):
don't work in classrooms foryoung people and even for adults
.
Then I'm going to talk to youabout some more innovative
approach to teaching and what wecan glean and learn from them.
And finally, I'll be sharingwith you some steps to a
teaching process that I callequity responsive instruction
and how you can start practicingit.
Today, in this episode, as wetalk about equity responsive
(02:11):
instruction, I want tospecifically talk about planning
for equity responsiveinstruction.
Now, in subsequent episodes,I'll unpack all of the elements
of equity responsive instructionand what it looks like, how it
might unfold in a classroom,what if you're observing it,
what to look for, but right now,I want to start at the planning
phase, right?
So I want you to think about alesson, a unit that you want to
(02:33):
plan, and I want you to bethinking about yourself, or with
your team or with yourinstructional coach, how you
might start to plan for equityresponsive instruction.
I'm going to share somequestions that can help guide
that planning.
Before we get into today'sepisode, I want to remind you
that this podcast is brought toyou by wwwraciallyjustschoolscom
(02:54):
, and when you join ourcommunity today, I will send you
a free video on how to makeyour racial justice work better.
I'm excited about you joiningthe community and I look forward
to meeting you, and if you'reready to get into today's
episode, we will in one second.
But first I have a specialannouncer that's going to get us
started.
Welcome to the Racial JusticeSchool Podcast with your host,
(03:17):
dr Chad Saldar.
He's my daddy and he's the bestever.
Let's go.
You're listening to theRacially Just Schools Podcast,
the show that provides resourcesto help you and your team build
racially just schools.
Now here's your host, drTerrence L Green.
Welcome to the Racially JustSchools podcast.
(03:47):
My name is Terrence L Green andI am your host and yo.
I am excited that you are herewith me on today.
Now, on today's episode, I'mgoing to be talking about a
concept that I developed around2017, 2018.
It's been many years since Ideveloped it it was even before
the pandemic and so I waswriting a book possibly on it
(04:08):
and a book proposal to end upwriting it, but I got several
chapters on this idea that Istarted writing about many years
ago, called equity responsiveinstruction.
Equity responsive instruction,and this is something today that
I'm going to share with youabout how you can start
practicing equity responsiveinstruction right now.
In whatever capacity you'reteaching in whether it's at a
(04:32):
K-12 classroom level or PK-12,whether it is a university
classroom, whatever context youfind yourself in, whether you're
teaching other principals orother administrators you can
apply equity responsiveinstruction to advance your
racial justice and equity work.
So let's jump right in.
(04:53):
As we think about equityresponsive instruction, it's
important to first understandand differentiate it from still,
unfortunately, some common waysand popular ways that
instruction typically unfolds inschools, even though it's
ineffective and even though it'sdeeply problematic.
And I want to talk to you aboutwhat Paulo Freire called, in
(05:15):
his famous book the Pedagogy ofthe Oppressed, the idea of
banking, and for the sake ofthis episode, I'll call it
banking instruction.
Now, banking instructionfunctions off of this premise.
The premise is this whether youknow, folks engage in it
implicitly or explicitly, to befilled with knowledge from
teachers.
And the reality is, the morethat students are filled with
(05:45):
knowledge, the more they areconsidered great students.
And the more that teachers fillstudents with knowledge, the
more they're considered greatteachers.
And so Freddie has this amazingquote in there.
He says that education thus hasbecome an act of depositing
right.
But now here's the thingBanking instruction is one
ineffective, two isn't equitable, but three is highly
problematic for a number ofreasons, and I want to share
(06:06):
with you four problems withbanking education and why it is
so ineffective.
The first one is this thatbanking instruction, it is the
information, the content, thefacts, the knowledge that is
shared with young people.
It is often detached from theirlived experiences and their
realities.
So the content, the things thatis shared with young people, it
is often detached from theirlived experiences and their
realities.
So the content, the things thatthey're learning, you know, it
(06:30):
seems like why in the world am Ilearning this?
What does this have to do withmy life?
What does this have to do withreality?
When would I ever use this?
But banking information is likeyou know what we don't, we're
less concerned about your livedexperiences and your reality.
This is content that I justhave to make sure I'm
transferring to you.
The second thing an issue withbanking instruction is that it
(06:51):
doesn't require any forms ofhigher order or more, I should
probably say more specifically,critical thinking, because
students are typically recording, they're memorizing, they're
repeating facts, they arelearning content without any
significant meaning or context.
But I'm just memorizing, I'mrepeating significant facts,
(07:14):
things of that nature, butthere's no significant context
for how all this stuff isunfolding.
It prohibits students fromdeveloping any type of critical
consciousness where they beginto question the world and
question their role intransforming the world and
transforming their community,come into classrooms with an
(07:46):
assortment of knowledge andknowledges, an assortment of
skills, abilities and gifts thatcan be foundational and
resources for learning.
So in baking instruction, itdoesn't register that young
people come into classrooms witha depth of knowledge and
knowledges, that they come intoclassrooms with amazing
abilities and skills and livedexperiences, which can be a
(08:08):
resource for learning and afoundation for learning.
And so these are four reasonswhy banking instruction is
deeply problematic.
Okay, now I want to start totalk to you about
equity-responsive instruction,and a great place to start is to
just talk to you about how Icome to understand what it is as
(08:31):
we start to unpackequity-responsive instruction.
To make it as simple aspossible, I think of equity
responsive instruction as ateaching framework and that
teaching framework seeks toaddress four particular aspects
in people's teaching.
One is their instructionalpractices.
Two is their ideological andtheir perspectives that they're
(08:53):
bringing and they're functioningand operating with in the
classroom.
Number three is classroomculture and community.
And number four, classroomstructure.
So when I think of equitableresponsive instruction, I'm
thinking about the actualinstructional practices, the
ideological and the perspectivesthat one brings into the
teaching environment andexperience, the culture in the
(09:15):
community that's engendered andthat's produced and reproduced
and created within that context,and then the culture in the
community that's engendered andthat's produced and reproduced
and created within that context,and then the structure of the
classroom, like who's in theclassroom, you know, like how is
it?
Folks would?
That would be Mark what'sidentified as having, like
similar abilities, varyingabilities and things of that
nature.
But a few caveats I want to giveyou as we talk about equity
(09:38):
responsive instruction.
So the first thing is I want toaddress is like my use of the
word responsiveness, and so whenyou hear the term
responsiveness, you mightautomatically think respond,
which can denote type of actionthat happens after something has
already occurred.
So it can conjure up the ideathat equity responsive
instruction is reactionary.
And so well, it's notreactionary.
(10:00):
I like to say it can bereactionary if instruction has
unfolded in a way that wasn'tthe most impactful or generative
, but it is also what I like tocall pre-actionary, so let me
explain.
So, one of the things that Idraw on as I think about this
idea from the research is anamazing article from Muhammad
(10:21):
Khalifa, mark Gooden and JamesDavis that they wrote in 2016
about culturally responsiveschool leadership, and one of
the things that they write inthere is that responsiveness is
the ability to create schoolcontext and curriculum that
responds effectively to theeducational, social, political
and cultural needs of studentscurriculum that responds
effectively to the educational,social, political and cultural
needs of students.
So the two essential words herethat I want you to hold on to as
(10:43):
we think about equityresponsive instruction is that
number one.
On one side, it creates and onthe other side, it responds, so
it is far more than just beingsomething that is reactionary.
It likes to pre-act, if youwill.
It pre-acts or proactively aimsto create, to anticipate and to
seek to address inequities inthe classroom across the four
(11:05):
levels that I mentionedpreviously.
The second thing is that youjust need to hold this caveat is
that equity responsiveinstruction, like any
instruction, any work aroundequity, is messy, it is rife
with tensions and sometimes ithas contradictions.
And so, as I think about thisas a teaching framework, it is a
flexible framework.
It's not inflexible, that hasto be followed like step by step
by step and is a linear process.
(11:27):
No, it's a scaffolded frameworkthat can be molded and
operationalized in differentways based on the contextual,
specific realities that someonefinds themselves in.
When we talk about equityresponsive instruction, I want
(11:47):
to specifically talk aboutplanning for equity responsive
instruction.
Now, you know, at the core, youknow, equity responsive
planning.
It means that you areintentionally, you're
proactively designing lessonsand units with an intentional
focus to make sure that you aremeeting the needs, but also
building on the gifts and theresources and the talents of
(12:09):
each and every student, whichtakes time to do this,
particularly in a way, as you'rethinking about differentiating,
as you're thinking about thevarying experiences that young
people have had as they show upin the class.
So it is about, you know, goingbeyond just delivering content
in an actively, in an engagingway, but you want to make sure
that you are showing up in theclass in ways that are
(12:32):
intellectually stimulating, thatit honors the identities, the
lived experiences and the uniqueperspectives that young people
and that students bring intoclassrooms.
And so this is going to be veryimportant as we start thinking
about dismantling systemicinequities, as we think about
how we're planning for whatunfolds and what happens in our
(12:52):
classrooms and creating learningspaces where literally every
single person who was there theyfeel like this is a place that
they can thrive, and we start tocreate the conditions under
which and within where they canbegin to thrive.
Ok, now I want to share with youthe questions that you can use
in your planning as you'regetting ready to use equity
(13:16):
responsive instruction, andthere are five questions that I
want to share with you.
Okay, let's jump right in.
Here's the first question whatare some ways that I or that we,
if you're working on a team,can teach this overall unit and
or today's lesson to ensure thatit is culturally and community
responsive to the students andfamilies that are in my
(13:38):
classroom?
I would say it again what aresome ways that I, that we, if
you're working on a team, canteach this overall unit and or
today's lesson right to ensurethat it is community and or
culturally responsive to thestudents and the families that
are in my classroom?
So in this question, I want youto be thinking about the
students that are in yourclassroom, be thinking about
(13:59):
their backgrounds, be thinkingabout their racialized
identities, be thinking abouttheir cultures, their
communities, and how can yourlesson plan, your unit plan,
reflect those realities in waysthat are strength-based, in ways
that build on the assets andthe gifts that they represent in
their community?
So, are there ways to includeand incorporate particular types
(14:21):
of literature and theparticular types of authors of
those literature?
Are there examples?
Are there case studies?
Are there things that reflectand mirror your students'
cultural backgrounds, theirracialized identities?
Are there stories?
Are there history, particularhistory from their community
that can be used as a teachingtool?
Are there arts that can be used?
(14:43):
All right, you know thisapproach is, you know, to aim to
make the learning more aboutwho they are and to affirm their
identities and showing themthat their experiences and the
knowledge that they have, thatit matters and that it is a
resource and it is a foundationfor the learning.
(15:04):
And, additionally, you shouldconsider inviting community
members into your classroom,whether you know folks, if it's
something that's math-basedpeople who do math types of work
, whether it's something that'senvironmental or scientific
people do scientific work,whether it's something that
deals with the literature orarts, like thinking about the
people in the community that youmight invite into your
(15:24):
classroom, whether that isphysically or virtually, to
share their knowledge andexperiences.
Right, this, I think, can helpto enrich the learning
environment and it builds animportant bridge between the
school and the community.
And you could be thinking aboutwhat you're grappling and
wrestling with in the content inyour particular classroom.
Are there people in thecommunity who are grappling with
(15:46):
similar issues, whether, again,it's historical, whether it's
mathematical, whether it'ssomething that has to do where
English language arts can beused as a tool to help them
address what they're addressingin the community?
So by making these connections,you begin to affirm and devalue
students' identities andencouraging them to bring their
whole selves into the classroom,but also to make connections
(16:08):
between what's happening in theclassroom and what's happening
in their community context andtheir lived experiences.
(16:33):
The second question is how mightI structure this lesson or this
unit so that it is universallydesigned to be accessible for
each student in my classroom?
Where they can, they'rerequired to engage in higher
order thinking and criticalthinking and knowledge
construction, and so we want tomake sure that, regardless of
how students learn, regardlessof their learning experiences,
(16:55):
we want to make sure that theycan fully participate, be
engaged and be an active creatorand benefit from the lesson
that they're a part of.
Again, we're talking abouteducation not being done to you,
but something being done withyou.
There's agency, there's anagentic portion to that.
This means using a variety ofteaching strategies and the way
(17:17):
you engage with young people,opportunities for hands-on
learning.
I use Lego bricks often, I usePlay-Doh.
So, thinking about, you know,are there opportunities for
hands-on learning where peoplecan, you know, show their
learning through what theycreate?
And we could talk more abouthow this might play out across
all different types of contentareas.
(17:37):
So it's not just only about youknow having high expectations
and you know setting the barhigh, but it's making sure that
all students are engaged incritical thinking and problem
solving and constructing theirown knowledge as they're
learning in your classroom.
So you know you candifferentiate tasks in a number
of ways.
You can create a lot ofopportunities for students to
(18:01):
show what they know and to maketheir understanding known, come
through projects, throughpresentations, through
discussions, through writtenreflections.
You can use all types ofscaffolding techniques to
support students so that yougradually can increase the
complexity and the challengethat you bring to them.
But this all unfolds people andhappens in planning.
(18:23):
You can plan for this and justbecause you plan for it doesn't
mean it won't go awry.
But you're thinking about thisproactively, how this might look
right.
So it means providing the rightsupports to ensure that all of
your students can thrive withintheir context, the right
supports to ensure that all ofyour students can thrive within
their context.
(18:48):
The third question is this howam I teaching this lesson and or
this unit in ways that willshare power with students?
How might I createopportunities in this lesson to
learn from students and to makethem and position them as
teachers?
I'll say it again the thirdquestion is how am I teaching
this lesson in ways that willshare power with students not
have power over students, butpower with students and how
might I create opportunities inthis lesson to learn from and
(19:12):
with my students and to positionthem as teachers.
So traditional teaching, as Isaid earlier in this episode, it
positions the teachers you knowoftentimes as the sole
possessor and holder ofinformation and knowledge.
And so when you share powerwith students, the goal is
you're working to design lessonsand units to create more
(19:32):
dynamic and equitable learningenvironments.
So you might consider how youmight co-construct and co-create
aspects of the learning Forsure, co-create and co-construct
the norms of the class, but youalso might think about
co-constructing and co-creatingthe learning goals with your
students.
This allows them to now becometeachers and facilitators and
(19:55):
creators and they actually getto design part of what they're
learning.
And again, you want to makesure all this stuff, of course,
is aligned to the standards,because I know you're teaching
in a particular context and so Iwant to make sure that you are
teaching and doing what you'resupposed to do.
But there are opportunitieswhat I'm saying even where you
(20:16):
are to think about how you mightplan for equity, responsive
instruction in the work that youdo.
So then this as you're thinkingabout this question, you're
thinking about how do you flipthe dynamic to make sure that
student is teacher and teacheris student, in that there is a
dynamic nature between those two, and so students can lead small
(20:40):
groups, they can share theirexpertise.
This again, we're trying toposition them to understand
their power and theircontributions.
And so sharing power recognizesthat learning is a multiple way
street, that you learn with andfrom your students in the same
ways that they learn with andfrom you.
It might unfold differently,but we're trying to set up that
(21:01):
dynamic, but we're planning forit even before we enter into the
classroom.
Question four is this why andhow do I ensure that the ends of
this unit and or lessonaddresses academic, cultural,
racial and or inequitable powerdynamics?
(21:24):
To what ends have I created aclassroom environment where
every student feels a sense ofdeep belonging, thriving and as
part of a community?
I'll say it again why and howdo I ensure that the ends of
this unit in today's lesson,this unit in our lesson,
addresses academic, cultural,racial and equitable power
(21:49):
dynamics?
To what ends might I create aclassroom environment where
every student feels this deepsense of this is where they
should be, this deep sense ofthriving as part of this
community?
So this question is reallyasking you, and if you're
planning, with somebody on yourteam to think very deeply about.
You know how you are showing up, but also the space that's
(22:10):
created for the ways that yourstudents show up, and so we're
thinking about the multipleperspectives and viewpoints that
can live in the classroom.
Classroom is creating a sense ofradical belonging, this folks
of color who are black authorsor indigenous authors or Pacific
(22:41):
Islander authors or whomever.
You're centering the voices ofthe people that are in your
class.
You're using instructionalstrategies that amplify their
perspectives.
You're creating opportunitiesto engage in conversations.
Now, you know, depending onwhere you are, this might have
to unfold a little bitdifferently depending on the
(23:02):
district that you're in, butyou're thinking about
proactively.
Are there opportunities to havediscussions around issues of
power?
Are there opportunities to havequestions around issues of
equity and to encourage them tothink critically around the
world about issues that arehappening around the world and
in their local context?
Around the world, about issuesthat are happening around the
world and in their local context?
And so, even if you can't speakdirectly about particular
(23:25):
issues, because there is aracial backlash that is
continuing to unfold in regardsto any work that's related to
racial justice or equity, butcan you create the conditions
for young people to at leastquestion right.
And so, even if you have to usesomething that is traditional
in terms of the curriculum orthe text, there are some things
through questioning that couldbe powerful tools to develop a
(23:49):
consciousness in young people,to develop a world that is
racially just and equitable.
Now, again, you need to take allof this I'm asking you within
the context of the district thatyou're working in, and you have
to be strategic.
You know we did a while back,uh, did a episode, check it out,
definitely on um being, youknow, strategic in, in, in how
(24:13):
you move, and so I think theseare things you all want to
consider, but these are thingsthat will come up in planning
and you're like I need some timeto plan, so you need to go to
your administrator, go somebodyin the district, like we've got
to figure out a way to plan, andI need to do an episode on
equity in scheduling, right,because schedules are always
(24:35):
messy and they're always allover the place, but one of the
main ideas is that you schedulewhat you prioritize the most,
right, so that's the fourth one.
The last question is this howand in what ways can I link this
lesson to state standards, makeit relevant to students' lived
experiences and do it all inways that build on their gifts,
(24:58):
their assets and their strengthsto develop a critical
consciousness.
So this is again if you'reworking and teaching in a system
and I mentioned this before,but I'm being very explicit how
and in what ways can I link thislesson to state standards, make
it relevant to students' livedexperiences and do it in ways
that builds on their assets anddevelops a sense of critical
consciousness?
So you know, the reality isthat many educators feel
(25:22):
pressured.
They're here to like strictlygiven standards and guidelines,
and so, but meeting thosestandards and making your
content relevant aren't mutuallyexclusive.
So right, so I want you to.
In this question, we're thinkingabout how you can bring the
state standards to life byconnecting them to the lived
(25:43):
experiences of the young peopleand the students that you
support.
So, again, this goes back towhat we mentioned a little bit
earlier, but using these realworld issues that resonate with
your students in communities andin their lives as a basis for
exploring the academic and thecontent knowledge concepts,
right?
So you know, depending on yourcontext.
(26:06):
So you take this with a grainof salt too.
So I was going to say.
For an example, though, ifyou're teaching about government
, you can connect the lessons ofrecent community events or
recent national events asopportunities to teach about
government, for an example.
So you use critical momentsthat are happening in young
(26:27):
people's communities and arehappening across the world,
across their nations, to developa sense of critical
consciousness and helping themto start to analyze the
questions of societal structuresand to think about, you know,
how they actually can be changeagents, and this can happen
across all content areasMathematics too, because I
always get that question aboutmath and working on an episode
(26:50):
that's going to be very powerfulfor those of you engaged in
math education from an equityperspective.
But in this is the fifthquestion that you might ask in
equity, responsive instruction,as you're planning.
Well, that is it, folks.
Thank you so much for joining.
I hope you enjoyed it and I amso excited and really looking
forward to our time togetherduring future podcasts.
(27:13):
What I need you to do is toplease hit the subscribe button,
share with a friend and pleaseleave a review.
Love you, and if you want tohear more from me, you can head
on over towwwraciallyjustschoolscom.
That iswwwraciallyjustschoolscom.
When you join our community.
(27:34):
I have a free video for you onthree tips that will make your
racial justice work better.
And again, if you love the show, hit, subscribe, rate it and
leave a review on iTunes.
And until next time, peace.
Before we jump into today's episode, I
have some exciting news to sharewith you.
One of the questions I getasked all the time is do you
have any tips to help our teamwhile we're conducting our
equity audits?
Well, now I do Get my brand newebook Three Essential Questions
.
Every Equity Team Must Ask toconduct equity audits that make
(00:21):
real change.
It's your team's blueprint foraction Plus.
The book comes with a cheatsheet guide at the end that can
help your team.
Use it to support your work, asI've been sharing it with folks
they've asked well, is it$14.99 or is it $9.99?
And you know what I'm making?
It absolutely free, that'sright.
I just want to get thisinformation into the hands of
(00:44):
the people who need it forabsolutely free.
To get your free copy, all youneed to do is to go to
equityauditscom forward slashebook that's equityaudits with
an S dot com forward slash ebook.
Enter your name and your bestemail address and I'll send it
to you right away.
So grab your free copy.
(01:05):
Now All right on to today'sepisode.
Have you ever wondered about asimple yet effective teaching
framework that you could use inany teaching and learning
context?
If you've answered yes, thenyou are in the right place.
Hi, I'm Dr Terrence L Green.
I'm a tenure professor and I'vehelped to prepare hundreds of
(01:26):
racially just and anti-racistschool leaders, and I want to
help you.
That's why I created thispodcast to provide you and your
team with real-world insightsand practices that work so that
you can collectively buildracially just schools.
On today's podcast, I'm goingto share with you four problems
with traditional teachingmethods and why they typically
(01:47):
don't work in classrooms foryoung people and even for adults
.
Then I'm going to talk to youabout some more innovative
approach to teaching and what wecan glean and learn from them.
And finally, I'll be sharingwith you some steps to a
teaching process that I callequity responsive instruction
and how you can start practicingit.
Today, in this episode, as wetalk about equity responsive
(02:11):
instruction, I want tospecifically talk about planning
for equity responsiveinstruction.
Now, in subsequent episodes,I'll unpack all of the elements
of equity responsive instructionand what it looks like, how it
might unfold in a classroom,what if you're observing it,
what to look for, but right now,I want to start at the planning
phase, right?
So I want you to think about alesson, a unit that you want to
(02:33):
plan, and I want you to bethinking about yourself, or with
your team or with yourinstructional coach, how you
might start to plan for equityresponsive instruction.
I'm going to share somequestions that can help guide
that planning.
Before we get into today'sepisode, I want to remind you
that this podcast is brought toyou by wwwraciallyjustschoolscom
(02:54):
, and when you join ourcommunity today, I will send you
a free video on how to makeyour racial justice work better.
I'm excited about you joiningthe community and I look forward
to meeting you, and if you'reready to get into today's
episode, we will in one second.
But first I have a specialannouncer that's going to get us
started.
Welcome to the Racial JusticeSchool Podcast with your host,
(03:17):
dr Chad Saldar.
He's my daddy and he's the bestever.
Let's go.
You're listening to theRacially Just Schools Podcast,
the show that provides resourcesto help you and your team build
racially just schools.
Now here's your host, drTerrence L Green.
Welcome to the Racially JustSchools podcast.
(03:47):
My name is Terrence L Green andI am your host and yo.
I am excited that you are herewith me on today.
Now, on today's episode, I'mgoing to be talking about a
concept that I developed around2017, 2018.
It's been many years since Ideveloped it it was even before
the pandemic and so I waswriting a book possibly on it
(04:08):
and a book proposal to end upwriting it, but I got several
chapters on this idea that Istarted writing about many years
ago, called equity responsiveinstruction.
Equity responsive instruction,and this is something today that
I'm going to share with youabout how you can start
practicing equity responsiveinstruction right now.
In whatever capacity you'reteaching in whether it's at a
(04:32):
K-12 classroom level or PK-12,whether it is a university
classroom, whatever context youfind yourself in, whether you're
teaching other principals orother administrators you can
apply equity responsiveinstruction to advance your
racial justice and equity work.
So let's jump right in.
(04:53):
As we think about equityresponsive instruction, it's
important to first understandand differentiate it from still,
unfortunately, some common waysand popular ways that
instruction typically unfolds inschools, even though it's
ineffective and even though it'sdeeply problematic.
And I want to talk to you aboutwhat Paulo Freire called, in
(05:15):
his famous book the Pedagogy ofthe Oppressed, the idea of
banking, and for the sake ofthis episode, I'll call it
banking instruction.
Now, banking instructionfunctions off of this premise.
The premise is this whether youknow, folks engage in it
implicitly or explicitly, to befilled with knowledge from
teachers.
And the reality is, the morethat students are filled with
(05:45):
knowledge, the more they areconsidered great students.
And the more that teachers fillstudents with knowledge, the
more they're considered greatteachers.
And so Freddie has this amazingquote in there.
He says that education thus hasbecome an act of depositing
right.
But now here's the thingBanking instruction is one
ineffective, two isn't equitable, but three is highly
problematic for a number ofreasons, and I want to share
(06:06):
with you four problems withbanking education and why it is
so ineffective.
The first one is this thatbanking instruction, it is the
information, the content, thefacts, the knowledge that is
shared with young people.
It is often detached from theirlived experiences and their
realities.
So the content, the things thatis shared with young people, it
is often detached from theirlived experiences and their
realities.
So the content, the things thatthey're learning, you know, it
(06:30):
seems like why in the world am Ilearning this?
What does this have to do withmy life?
What does this have to do withreality?
When would I ever use this?
But banking information is likeyou know what we don't, we're
less concerned about your livedexperiences and your reality.
This is content that I justhave to make sure I'm
transferring to you.
The second thing an issue withbanking instruction is that it
(06:51):
doesn't require any forms ofhigher order or more, I should
probably say more specifically,critical thinking, because
students are typically recording, they're memorizing, they're
repeating facts, they arelearning content without any
significant meaning or context.
But I'm just memorizing, I'mrepeating significant facts,
(07:14):
things of that nature, butthere's no significant context
for how all this stuff isunfolding.
It prohibits students fromdeveloping any type of critical
consciousness where they beginto question the world and
question their role intransforming the world and
transforming their community,come into classrooms with an
(07:46):
assortment of knowledge andknowledges, an assortment of
skills, abilities and gifts thatcan be foundational and
resources for learning.
So in baking instruction, itdoesn't register that young
people come into classrooms witha depth of knowledge and
knowledges, that they come intoclassrooms with amazing
abilities and skills and livedexperiences, which can be a
(08:08):
resource for learning and afoundation for learning.
And so these are four reasonswhy banking instruction is
deeply problematic.
Okay, now I want to start totalk to you about
equity-responsive instruction,and a great place to start is to
just talk to you about how Icome to understand what it is as
(08:31):
we start to unpackequity-responsive instruction.
To make it as simple aspossible, I think of equity
responsive instruction as ateaching framework and that
teaching framework seeks toaddress four particular aspects
in people's teaching.
One is their instructionalpractices.
Two is their ideological andtheir perspectives that they're
(08:53):
bringing and they're functioningand operating with in the
classroom.
Number three is classroomculture and community.
And number four, classroomstructure.
So when I think of equitableresponsive instruction, I'm
thinking about the actualinstructional practices, the
ideological and the perspectivesthat one brings into the
teaching environment andexperience, the culture in the
(09:15):
community that's engendered andthat's produced and reproduced
and created within that context,and then the culture in the
community that's engendered andthat's produced and reproduced
and created within that context,and then the structure of the
classroom, like who's in theclassroom, you know, like how is
it?
Folks would?
That would be Mark what'sidentified as having, like
similar abilities, varyingabilities and things of that
nature.
But a few caveats I want to giveyou as we talk about equity
(09:38):
responsive instruction.
So the first thing is I want toaddress is like my use of the
word responsiveness, and so whenyou hear the term
responsiveness, you mightautomatically think respond,
which can denote type of actionthat happens after something has
already occurred.
So it can conjure up the ideathat equity responsive
instruction is reactionary.
And so well, it's notreactionary.
(10:00):
I like to say it can bereactionary if instruction has
unfolded in a way that wasn'tthe most impactful or generative
, but it is also what I like tocall pre-actionary, so let me
explain.
So, one of the things that Idraw on as I think about this
idea from the research is anamazing article from Muhammad
(10:21):
Khalifa, mark Gooden and JamesDavis that they wrote in 2016
about culturally responsiveschool leadership, and one of
the things that they write inthere is that responsiveness is
the ability to create schoolcontext and curriculum that
responds effectively to theeducational, social, political
and cultural needs of studentscurriculum that responds
effectively to the educational,social, political and cultural
needs of students.
So the two essential words herethat I want you to hold on to as
(10:43):
we think about equityresponsive instruction is that
number one.
On one side, it creates and onthe other side, it responds, so
it is far more than just beingsomething that is reactionary.
It likes to pre-act, if youwill.
It pre-acts or proactively aimsto create, to anticipate and to
seek to address inequities inthe classroom across the four
(11:05):
levels that I mentionedpreviously.
The second thing is that youjust need to hold this caveat is
that equity responsiveinstruction, like any
instruction, any work aroundequity, is messy, it is rife
with tensions and sometimes ithas contradictions.
And so, as I think about thisas a teaching framework, it is a
flexible framework.
It's not inflexible, that hasto be followed like step by step
by step and is a linear process.
(11:27):
No, it's a scaffolded frameworkthat can be molded and
operationalized in differentways based on the contextual,
specific realities that someonefinds themselves in.
When we talk about equityresponsive instruction, I want
(11:47):
to specifically talk aboutplanning for equity responsive
instruction.
Now, you know, at the core, youknow, equity responsive
planning.
It means that you areintentionally, you're
proactively designing lessonsand units with an intentional
focus to make sure that you aremeeting the needs, but also
building on the gifts and theresources and the talents of
(12:09):
each and every student, whichtakes time to do this,
particularly in a way, as you'rethinking about differentiating,
as you're thinking about thevarying experiences that young
people have had as they show upin the class.
So it is about, you know, goingbeyond just delivering content
in an actively, in an engagingway, but you want to make sure
that you are showing up in theclass in ways that are
(12:32):
intellectually stimulating, thatit honors the identities, the
lived experiences and the uniqueperspectives that young people
and that students bring intoclassrooms.
And so this is going to be veryimportant as we start thinking
about dismantling systemicinequities, as we think about
how we're planning for whatunfolds and what happens in our
(12:52):
classrooms and creating learningspaces where literally every
single person who was there theyfeel like this is a place that
they can thrive, and we start tocreate the conditions under
which and within where they canbegin to thrive.
Ok, now I want to share with youthe questions that you can use
in your planning as you'regetting ready to use equity
(13:16):
responsive instruction, andthere are five questions that I
want to share with you.
Okay, let's jump right in.
Here's the first question whatare some ways that I or that we,
if you're working on a team,can teach this overall unit and
or today's lesson to ensure thatit is culturally and community
responsive to the students andfamilies that are in my
(13:38):
classroom?
I would say it again what aresome ways that I, that we, if
you're working on a team, canteach this overall unit and or
today's lesson right to ensurethat it is community and or
culturally responsive to thestudents and the families that
are in my classroom?
So in this question, I want youto be thinking about the
students that are in yourclassroom, be thinking about
(13:59):
their backgrounds, be thinkingabout their racialized
identities, be thinking abouttheir cultures, their
communities, and how can yourlesson plan, your unit plan,
reflect those realities in waysthat are strength-based, in ways
that build on the assets andthe gifts that they represent in
their community?
So, are there ways to includeand incorporate particular types
(14:21):
of literature and theparticular types of authors of
those literature?
Are there examples?
Are there case studies?
Are there things that reflectand mirror your students'
cultural backgrounds, theirracialized identities?
Are there stories?
Are there history, particularhistory from their community
that can be used as a teachingtool?
Are there arts that can be used?
(14:43):
All right, you know thisapproach is, you know, to aim to
make the learning more aboutwho they are and to affirm their
identities and showing themthat their experiences and the
knowledge that they have, thatit matters and that it is a
resource and it is a foundationfor the learning.
(15:04):
And, additionally, you shouldconsider inviting community
members into your classroom,whether you know folks, if it's
something that's math-basedpeople who do math types of work
, whether it's something that'senvironmental or scientific
people do scientific work,whether it's something that
deals with the literature orarts, like thinking about the
people in the community that youmight invite into your
(15:24):
classroom, whether that isphysically or virtually, to
share their knowledge andexperiences.
Right, this, I think, can helpto enrich the learning
environment and it builds animportant bridge between the
school and the community.
And you could be thinking aboutwhat you're grappling and
wrestling with in the content inyour particular classroom.
Are there people in thecommunity who are grappling with
(15:46):
similar issues, whether, again,it's historical, whether it's
mathematical, whether it'ssomething that has to do where
English language arts can beused as a tool to help them
address what they're addressingin the community?
So by making these connections,you begin to affirm and devalue
students' identities andencouraging them to bring their
whole selves into the classroom,but also to make connections
(16:08):
between what's happening in theclassroom and what's happening
in their community context andtheir lived experiences.
(16:33):
The second question is how mightI structure this lesson or this
unit so that it is universallydesigned to be accessible for
each student in my classroom?
Where they can, they'rerequired to engage in higher
order thinking and criticalthinking and knowledge
construction, and so we want tomake sure that, regardless of
how students learn, regardlessof their learning experiences,
(16:55):
we want to make sure that theycan fully participate, be
engaged and be an active creatorand benefit from the lesson
that they're a part of.
Again, we're talking abouteducation not being done to you,
but something being done withyou.
There's agency, there's anagentic portion to that.
This means using a variety ofteaching strategies and the way
(17:17):
you engage with young people,opportunities for hands-on
learning.
I use Lego bricks often, I usePlay-Doh.
So, thinking about, you know,are there opportunities for
hands-on learning where peoplecan, you know, show their
learning through what theycreate?
And we could talk more abouthow this might play out across
all different types of contentareas.
(17:37):
So it's not just only about youknow having high expectations
and you know setting the barhigh, but it's making sure that
all students are engaged incritical thinking and problem
solving and constructing theirown knowledge as they're
learning in your classroom.
So you know you candifferentiate tasks in a number
of ways.
You can create a lot ofopportunities for students to
(18:01):
show what they know and to maketheir understanding known, come
through projects, throughpresentations, through
discussions, through writtenreflections.
You can use all types ofscaffolding techniques to
support students so that yougradually can increase the
complexity and the challengethat you bring to them.
But this all unfolds people andhappens in planning.
(18:23):
You can plan for this and justbecause you plan for it doesn't
mean it won't go awry.
But you're thinking about thisproactively, how this might look
right.
So it means providing the rightsupports to ensure that all of
your students can thrive withintheir context, the right
supports to ensure that all ofyour students can thrive within
their context.
(18:48):
The third question is this howam I teaching this lesson and or
this unit in ways that willshare power with students?
How might I createopportunities in this lesson to
learn from students and to makethem and position them as
teachers?
I'll say it again the thirdquestion is how am I teaching
this lesson in ways that willshare power with students not
have power over students, butpower with students and how
might I create opportunities inthis lesson to learn from and
(19:12):
with my students and to positionthem as teachers.
So traditional teaching, as Isaid earlier in this episode, it
positions the teachers you knowoftentimes as the sole
possessor and holder ofinformation and knowledge.
And so when you share powerwith students, the goal is
you're working to design lessonsand units to create more
(19:32):
dynamic and equitable learningenvironments.
So you might consider how youmight co-construct and co-create
aspects of the learning Forsure, co-create and co-construct
the norms of the class, but youalso might think about
co-constructing and co-creatingthe learning goals with your
students.
This allows them to now becometeachers and facilitators and
(19:55):
creators and they actually getto design part of what they're
learning.
And again, you want to makesure all this stuff, of course,
is aligned to the standards,because I know you're teaching
in a particular context and so Iwant to make sure that you are
teaching and doing what you'resupposed to do.
But there are opportunitieswhat I'm saying even where you
(20:16):
are to think about how you mightplan for equity, responsive
instruction in the work that youdo.
So then this as you're thinkingabout this question, you're
thinking about how do you flipthe dynamic to make sure that
student is teacher and teacheris student, in that there is a
dynamic nature between those two, and so students can lead small
(20:40):
groups, they can share theirexpertise.
This again, we're trying toposition them to understand
their power and theircontributions.
And so sharing power recognizesthat learning is a multiple way
street, that you learn with andfrom your students in the same
ways that they learn with andfrom you.
It might unfold differently,but we're trying to set up that
(21:01):
dynamic, but we're planning forit even before we enter into the
classroom.
Question four is this why andhow do I ensure that the ends of
this unit and or lessonaddresses academic, cultural,
racial and or inequitable powerdynamics?
(21:24):
To what ends have I created aclassroom environment where
every student feels a sense ofdeep belonging, thriving and as
part of a community?
I'll say it again why and howdo I ensure that the ends of
this unit in today's lesson,this unit in our lesson,
addresses academic, cultural,racial and equitable power
(21:49):
dynamics?
To what ends might I create aclassroom environment where
every student feels this deepsense of this is where they
should be, this deep sense ofthriving as part of this
community?
So this question is reallyasking you, and if you're
planning, with somebody on yourteam to think very deeply about.
You know how you are showing up, but also the space that's
(22:10):
created for the ways that yourstudents show up, and so we're
thinking about the multipleperspectives and viewpoints that
can live in the classroom.
Classroom is creating a sense ofradical belonging, this folks
of color who are black authorsor indigenous authors or Pacific
(22:41):
Islander authors or whomever.
You're centering the voices ofthe people that are in your
class.
You're using instructionalstrategies that amplify their
perspectives.
You're creating opportunitiesto engage in conversations.
Now, you know, depending onwhere you are, this might have
to unfold a little bitdifferently depending on the
(23:02):
district that you're in, butyou're thinking about
proactively.
Are there opportunities to havediscussions around issues of
power?
Are there opportunities to havequestions around issues of
equity and to encourage them tothink critically around the
world about issues that arehappening around the world and
in their local context?
Around the world, about issuesthat are happening around the
world and in their local context?
And so, even if you can't speakdirectly about particular
(23:25):
issues, because there is aracial backlash that is
continuing to unfold in regardsto any work that's related to
racial justice or equity, butcan you create the conditions
for young people to at leastquestion right.
And so, even if you have to usesomething that is traditional
in terms of the curriculum orthe text, there are some things
through questioning that couldbe powerful tools to develop a
(23:49):
consciousness in young people,to develop a world that is
racially just and equitable.
Now, again, you need to take allof this I'm asking you within
the context of the district thatyou're working in, and you have
to be strategic.
You know we did a while back,uh, did a episode, check it out,
definitely on um being, youknow, strategic in, in, in how
(24:13):
you move, and so I think theseare things you all want to
consider, but these are thingsthat will come up in planning
and you're like I need some timeto plan, so you need to go to
your administrator, go somebodyin the district, like we've got
to figure out a way to plan, andI need to do an episode on
equity in scheduling, right,because schedules are always
(24:35):
messy and they're always allover the place, but one of the
main ideas is that you schedulewhat you prioritize the most,
right, so that's the fourth one.
The last question is this howand in what ways can I link this
lesson to state standards, makeit relevant to students' lived
experiences and do it all inways that build on their gifts,
(24:58):
their assets and their strengthsto develop a critical
consciousness.
So this is again if you'reworking and teaching in a system
and I mentioned this before,but I'm being very explicit how
and in what ways can I link thislesson to state standards, make
it relevant to students' livedexperiences and do it in ways
that builds on their assets anddevelops a sense of critical
consciousness?
So you know, the reality isthat many educators feel
(25:22):
pressured.
They're here to like strictlygiven standards and guidelines,
and so, but meeting thosestandards and making your
content relevant aren't mutuallyexclusive.
So right, so I want you to.
In this question, we're thinkingabout how you can bring the
state standards to life byconnecting them to the lived
(25:43):
experiences of the young peopleand the students that you
support.
So, again, this goes back towhat we mentioned a little bit
earlier, but using these realworld issues that resonate with
your students in communities andin their lives as a basis for
exploring the academic and thecontent knowledge concepts,
right?
So you know, depending on yourcontext.
(26:06):
So you take this with a grainof salt too.
So I was going to say.
For an example, though, ifyou're teaching about government
, you can connect the lessons ofrecent community events or
recent national events asopportunities to teach about
government, for an example.
So you use critical momentsthat are happening in young
(26:27):
people's communities and arehappening across the world,
across their nations, to developa sense of critical
consciousness and helping themto start to analyze the
questions of societal structuresand to think about, you know,
how they actually can be changeagents, and this can happen
across all content areasMathematics too, because I
always get that question aboutmath and working on an episode
(26:50):
that's going to be very powerfulfor those of you engaged in
math education from an equityperspective.
But in this is the fifthquestion that you might ask in
equity, responsive instruction,as you're planning.
Well, that is it, folks.
Thank you so much for joining.
I hope you enjoyed it and I amso excited and really looking
forward to our time togetherduring future podcasts.
(27:13):
What I need you to do is toplease hit the subscribe button,
share with a friend and pleaseleave a review.
Love you, and if you want tohear more from me, you can head
on over towwwraciallyjustschoolscom.
That iswwwraciallyjustschoolscom.
When you join our community.
(27:34):
I have a free video for you onthree tips that will make your
racial justice work better.
And again, if you love the show, hit, subscribe, rate it and
leave a review on iTunes.
And until next time, peace.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com