Article share: Empowering Educators through Cultural Competence

Check out an awesome article by Jose Vilson here.

Here's an excerpt that I found particularly powerful, especially as my own school grapples with the meaning of "progressive education":

Build Relationships, But as a Teacher First
Everyone has a different approach to classroom management. Some don't smile until December, if ever. Others can't help but smile and laugh throughout the year. Some impart their wisdom with diatribes and speeches, while others know how to quietly move about the room and make their presence felt. The common thread in all of those cases is students understanding that the teacher cares and has a specific way of showing that he or she cares. A few teachers have said, "The student might not be able to read, but they can read you." That's powerful in the context of schools where teachers don't have the same cultural background as the students. When teachers have a passion for the students in front of them, and not just for the subject they're teaching, everyone wins.
This also means, simultaneously, that teachers shouldn't seek to create friendships in the normal sense. Many of my students would shake their heads at other teachers who tried to create friendships with them, saying they wanted a teacher, not another friend. While this might seem counterintuitive to progressive education (whatever that means), we must recognize that many students find comfort in having someone who provides stability and structure.

I often struggle with keeping the balance of being humane and having a consistent classroom environment. I tend to error on the side of structure, but this year I have made a conscious effort to release control as we moved into spring. A quick example in my room has been going from assigned spots (designated by a square) on the carpet, to any spot on the carpet, to no spot on the carpet. 

My motto is always that everybody gets what they need, which means one child had a discreetly assigned spot close to me much longer than everyone else. In a beautiful example of environment helping along our journey, the tape gradually came off of the carpet and he stopped sitting in his spot. I chose not to say anything, nor to replace the tape. We never talked about it and he never had an issue with the new independence. Overall, I think our job as early elementary educators is to first establish firm structures and then gradually release them over time, making adjustments for individual children's needs.