Listening, caring, building trust, and knowing each student individually. These are among the pillars of "culturally responsive teaching." In this piece, we take you inside a classroom at O'Keeffe Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin, to see how these strategies, and more, are helping students break through to become independent learners, prepared to succeed and defy the achievement gap.
***
Credits:
Intro/Outro music by MicroSchool students Cheviest and Montevious.
Other music by Ryan Aranda.
Thank you to 8th grade teacher Tracy Warnecke.
Resources:
Zaretta Hammond's Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain
***
Transcript:
(musical intro with mash-up of different voices)
my main passion is robotics engineering. I kind of feel like we're on the radio. This has been my dream like forever. It makes you want to be a better student inside the classroom. I want to be a astronaut go outerspace. Try to understand where I fit in a society that doesn't always cherish my presence.
(end of musical intro)
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hello and welcome back to the MMSD voices
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podcast where we will go into our
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public school community in Madison
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Wisconsin and hear directly from the
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voices of our students staff and
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families I'm Ryan
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a Memorial High School 2009 graduate now
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I work for the School District I
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graduated from as a bilingual
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communication specialist at our central
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office I'm here to introduce today's
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episode we're heading to Georgia
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O'Keeffe middle school to hear from a
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teacher known for being great at getting
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kids to push themselves academically and
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achieve a high levels by relating to
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them connecting to their lives
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understanding them and gaining their
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trust
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it's a story on culturally responsive
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teaching we'll hear from eighth grade
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teacher Tracey Warneke and we slice up a
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few clips former students to sharing
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their insights we hope you enjoy it is
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my 21st year being a public head teacher
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so it's the journey to get to this point
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and it's a journey by making a thousand
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mistakes first and just constantly
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reflecting upon my practice and knowing
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what I can do better the next day I have
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no control over the kids reaction to me
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I have control over me and my reaction
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to them I have control over my
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curriculum and how I present it to them
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it's also through thousands of hours of
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grad school and professional development
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that I just take what I learn and I
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apply it here in the classroom I play
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some days it goes well some days it
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completely bombs
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I reflect on that I ask students for a
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reflection what can we do to make it
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better so with that what I've learned
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over the years is behavior comes first
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academics comes second and I think as
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teachers we get that especially math
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teachers where they have that crunch of
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they have to cover certain chapters by
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certain dates and you know you have to
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reach certain goals in the curriculum by
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a certain time we flip that in our head
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and so I spend the first week of school
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doing nothing but behavior teaching my
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expectations teaching my classroom
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routines teaching and building community
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and I teach absolutely everything and
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assume nothing so we agree every morning
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and I teach them why and the purpose and
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all of that
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all right ladies during our greeting to
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our mindfulness meditation get this day
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started are you done
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you are amazing human beings thank you
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so very very much would you guys like a
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piece of gum for helping me out or just
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like a piece of candy for helping me out
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one thing I live on was 20 live she's
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very open about herself and like she's
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like she is not afraid to tell people
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who she is like she openly told us that
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she was
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okay and I actually really liked that
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because when this morning he was telling
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us all about her I got to know her
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better and like know what kind to
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specialize in she showed me that like I
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shouldn't be afraid to like show who I
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really am she's a really cool teacher
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and I feel like I can just trust her
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with anything like earlier today when I
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was mad and I was I did not want to get
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in trouble with my other teacher because
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I did not want to do anything stupid I
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just went to her classroom and she gave
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me a piece of gum and let me draw in her
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classroom calm down and it really helped
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she's good in that way and she
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understands us you know my name is Lily
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I'm in this morning he's morning class
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for homeroom class and I've just always
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noticed since the beginning of the year
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that she always tells her students that
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they're smart and that they shouldn't
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like cut corners and that they're better
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than what they think that they are and
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that they are smart and stuff like that
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and I think it's really helped a lot of
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the students in our class know that they
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can trust her and I know that I can
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trust her and I really enjoy being in
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her classroom and I think I my ground
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students in the purpose of why that we
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do the things that we do and I really
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establish by the fact that this is a
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public school
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we service the public that means
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everybody from the public is here people
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that we might not necessarily spend time
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with in our normal everyday lives are
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here in this classroom so I have the big
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rule that we do not have to like each
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other I have 26 kids in my morning 30 in
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my afternoon block
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we're not the expectation that we're all
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going to be friends is ridiculous but we
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will respect each other as colleagues
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and then I spent a significant amount of
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time talking about code-switching what's
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the purpose of this class I was the
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purpose of coming to school who are we
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as a student who are we as a learner
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were the difference between those two
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things and why are we here who are we
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going to be when we're in this room
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because who we are in this room is not
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who we are
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hey buddy you tap out okay you all right
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do you need to talk to me you just wanna
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take a break okay who we are in this
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room is not who we are would we're hold
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their parents or hanging out or
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grandparents or cousins or our
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at the park so we do a lot of work on
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identity in the beginning as
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eighth-grade staff teaching American
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history as our curriculum we kick it
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also by diving into privilege and what
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does that mean
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and we put all the kids on a privilege
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walk so the entire eighth grade in the
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morning block and afternoon so it's half
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hour standing on the blacktop and we do
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a privilege walk we built to that we
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don't just watch but by the third day of
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school we did that activity you did a
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privilege walk where we all lined up and
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then took steps forwards or backwards
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depending on if this applied to you to
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show like the different versions of
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privilege it was like have you ever
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taken a family vacation and then people
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who have done that took a step forward
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do you feel like safe expressing
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yourself in public like you do that and
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then you could see where people say in
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the line of the spectrum like with how
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they feel and the privilege that they
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have not because they earned it by just
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like their race their gender their
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sexual orientation stuff like that no
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this was new to me and I think everybody
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in there we weren't really used to like
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talking about it like that it was but it
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was good yeah we had like a whole unit
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on privilege so for that we did a lot of
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talking about privilege and the
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different types of privilege so we made
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posters there's gender there's racial
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there's aesthetics social and it's
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always such a great eye opener kind of
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breaks down those barriers of assumption
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that people make about one another based
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off of skin tone or hair texture a lot
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of times it's the kids who are in the
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back that we don't expect
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and it's the kids in the front who we
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don't expect so it's a great way to
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start that dialogue of diving into who
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where we are as a community and really
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working on that sense of identity of
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ourselves in a classroom with that I
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most of my anchor charts have had to
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come down because we don't need them up
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anymore but I really build a lot of
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anchor charts that Bruce and our
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behaviors ruin our routines reserve our
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expectations through all of that work
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and listening because I run my classroom
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on a circle was it sort of like a
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lopsided circle but in the first week we
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actually had tables against walls and a
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circle where everything was kind of it
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you know like a restorative such a
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circle the kids to start to share you
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just start to pay attention and you just
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start to just ask you know you just get
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to know you know you just start to
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listen to who are your kids and how do
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they react I greet my kids every morning
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I mean I might not always be at the door
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but if I mean here we're like good
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morning good morning good morning how we
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doin you read their body language I mean
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the great thing about middle schoolers
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is they wear their emotions on their
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sleeves
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they're full of hyperbole and they're
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they just want to be said but like all
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kids they want the structure they want
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to know what they're supposed to do and
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how they're supposed to do I think
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that's just people I think people like
0:09:08.250,0:09:13.490
structure and so I do that I'm very very
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clear on my expectations and I I
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remember two of my morning students came
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to me the first week of school said this
0:09:20.550,0:09:23.820
Marty you're a really really good
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teacher thanks guys I really appreciate
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that and kind of blew it off like no you
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get kids who are normally pushed out of
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the classroom and you keep them in the
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room and I think that's the key is kids
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blip in a classroom for a reason they're
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not you know there's no such thing as a
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bad kid there are kids who make bad
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choices there are kids in bad situations
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but there's no such thing as a bad kid
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so community and I stress with both of
0:09:48.839,0:09:52.800
my classes that we are a community and
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when the community is not doing well
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when certain individuals are not doing
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well in the community we're all in it
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together I also start the year off by
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telling them that I'm the dictator I'm a
0:10:00.930,0:10:05.850
nice dictator I'm a compassionate
0:10:02.820,0:10:07.800
dictator I will listen to you dictator
0:10:05.850,0:10:09.149
but the end of the day I'm the teacher
0:10:07.800,0:10:10.769
you're the student you have to do what I
0:10:09.149,0:10:13.560
say because I'm the teacher a student
0:10:10.769,0:10:17.010
that's why power works which fits really
0:10:13.560,0:10:18.779
nicely into privilege um I go I hate my
0:10:17.010,0:10:20.910
dictators mr. Droog ah I have to tell it
0:10:18.779,0:10:22.980
you know I listen to what he tells me
0:10:20.910,0:10:24.930
right I can't say no and blow him off
0:10:22.980,0:10:27.300
he's my principal I have to do what he
0:10:24.930,0:10:29.490
tells me to do but he's a nice dictator
0:10:27.300,0:10:30.390
right I'm a nice tech Tator but the end
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of the day and there's
0:10:30.390,0:10:35.490
times I look at they can be like
0:10:32.130,0:10:37.350
teacher-student all right you know but
0:10:35.490,0:10:38.940
again they just want to know like they
0:10:37.350,0:10:40.260
wouldn't know their limits you want to
0:10:38.940,0:10:42.780
know what they can and cannot do and
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then once I get all that established
0:10:42.780,0:10:46.710
then when it comes to work
0:10:44.550,0:10:48.180
it's the gradual release lots of things
0:10:46.710,0:10:50.790
that districts are teaching us it's the
0:10:48.180,0:10:52.470
you know model first you know show them
0:10:50.790,0:10:55.020
what you're supposed to do do it whole
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group do it together do it in small
0:10:55.020,0:10:58.640
group and then kind of look like that
0:10:56.490,0:11:03.030
all those PD's that we're getting from
0:10:58.640,0:11:04.590
our experts downtown it's just going to
0:11:03.030,0:11:06.900
be really really mindful in it just
0:11:04.590,0:11:09.570
takes a lot of time just one step at a
0:11:06.900,0:11:11.310
time and just slowly but surely by
0:11:09.570,0:11:12.780
fourth quarter I don't need a model how
0:11:11.310,0:11:14.370
to put your assignments in the area when
0:11:12.780,0:11:16.110
you know how to do that but everyday
0:11:14.370,0:11:17.930
right now it's everybody do is it
0:11:16.110,0:11:20.310
together cuz we're not quite ready I
0:11:17.930,0:11:21.930
also feel really sweet group of kids
0:11:20.310,0:11:24.420
this year and they help each other which
0:11:21.930,0:11:26.670
is awesome it is not easy to be a warm
0:11:24.420,0:11:29.790
demander it is not easy to put on that
0:11:26.670,0:11:31.200
academic press because that's constantly
0:11:29.790,0:11:33.540
something that you're juggling that line
0:11:31.200,0:11:35.490
in that line is not always clear and so
0:11:33.540,0:11:37.800
it's never good to make assumptions
0:11:35.490,0:11:41.160
about that line so it's really important
0:11:37.800,0:11:42.930
to get to know who your kids are and by
0:11:41.160,0:11:44.640
shutting up and listening I think that's
0:11:42.930,0:11:46.440
the key is finding the gifts that they
0:11:44.640,0:11:50.850
bring to the classroom finding the good
0:11:46.440,0:11:53.160
in all kids and recognizing that the
0:11:50.850,0:11:56.760
front that they give you is not who they
0:11:53.160,0:12:00.630
are middle schoolers do not like to be
0:11:56.760,0:12:02.490
uncomfortable and so if the learning pit
0:12:00.630,0:12:05.130
right the falling into that pit that's
0:12:02.490,0:12:06.840
savoring the struggle where they want to
0:12:05.130,0:12:08.280
mislead you they start talking we'll put
0:12:06.840,0:12:09.660
a boop boop boop and they were like get
0:12:08.280,0:12:12.480
the answers from their friends or they
0:12:09.660,0:12:13.890
want me so badly to define exactly what
0:12:12.480,0:12:15.960
they should be doing or they will
0:12:13.890,0:12:17.190
exactly want me to give them the answers
0:12:15.960,0:12:19.440
that they're supposed to write down on
0:12:17.190,0:12:21.180
their paper so the to be a slave ABC
0:12:19.440,0:12:23.100
book right every kid picks a random
0:12:21.180,0:12:24.690
letter they to take that letter and
0:12:23.100,0:12:28.740
connect it to a concept they learned in
0:12:24.690,0:12:31.710
slavery so like S is for slavery W is
0:12:28.740,0:12:34.710
for whippings J is for jumping the broom
0:12:31.710,0:12:36.930
you know whatever that concept that
0:12:34.710,0:12:38.820
resonated with them and then they have
0:12:36.930,0:12:41.040
to do a Melancon paragraph so they have
0:12:38.820,0:12:42.300
to you know find textual evidence they
0:12:41.040,0:12:45.330
have to
0:12:42.300,0:12:50.160
I do the content at least sexual others
0:12:45.330,0:12:51.930
provide the link that's hard that's some
0:12:50.160,0:12:54.450
seriously high level writing and
0:12:51.930,0:12:57.270
thinking about a really difficult topic
0:12:54.450,0:12:58.950
and so when we first wrote you know I we
0:12:57.270,0:13:01.140
of course we model we do things together
0:12:58.950,0:13:02.610
we do things in small group we talk
0:13:01.140,0:13:03.690
about it we have lots of discussions but
0:13:02.610,0:13:05.100
when it comes to the rubber hand the
0:13:03.690,0:13:08.820
room where they they're like I have my
0:13:05.100,0:13:10.230
my my graphic organizer and my notes and
0:13:08.820,0:13:14.550
this book and I gotta put it all
0:13:10.230,0:13:16.890
together now they all blow just like and
0:13:14.550,0:13:18.450
so it's just constantly just a lot of
0:13:16.890,0:13:22.350
reassurance for that it's like you've
0:13:18.450,0:13:24.750
got this you have this the expectation
0:13:22.350,0:13:26.370
still is no talking I want your brain
0:13:24.750,0:13:30.090
not your brain in your neighbors brain
0:13:26.370,0:13:33.390
what do you know and they just sir just
0:13:30.090,0:13:36.900
allowing them to be uncomfortable and
0:13:33.390,0:13:38.490
not to save them from their internal
0:13:36.900,0:13:40.470
insecurities or there and there is
0:13:38.490,0:13:42.090
especially this happens a lot with my
0:13:40.470,0:13:43.950
high-flyer learners right that a lot of
0:13:42.090,0:13:46.710
my perfectionist want to be put in the
0:13:43.950,0:13:50.070
box and well how many pages does it need
0:13:46.710,0:13:52.050
to be it doesn't and they're like what
0:13:50.070,0:13:54.720
I'm like you have to have all of the
0:13:52.050,0:13:57.750
skills or that I'm asking you to
0:13:54.720,0:13:59.580
demonstrate but you can demonstrate that
0:13:57.750,0:14:03.180
in a page maybe it takes you five pages
0:13:59.580,0:14:06.780
demonstrate that I don't know so I push
0:14:03.180,0:14:08.250
them out so my rubrics and my assignment
0:14:06.780,0:14:09.480
description if it's not on those two
0:14:08.250,0:14:12.030
things you have carte blanche to do
0:14:09.480,0:14:13.230
whatever you want so that's that's
0:14:12.030,0:14:15.330
always going to start to see them
0:14:13.230,0:14:20.270
grapple with that but I think the big
0:14:15.330,0:14:20.270
also heated ideas I do a lot of student
0:14:21.200,0:14:28.140
interesting curriculum like I connect
0:14:25.020,0:14:30.930
history to current events so when we
0:14:28.140,0:14:32.290
were studying a lot about slavery miss
0:14:30.930,0:14:36.129
Warneke showed us a video
0:14:32.290,0:14:38.649
of Beyonce I think it was her recent
0:14:36.129,0:14:40.509
like showing it the award show I don't
0:14:38.649,0:14:42.910
remember which one it was but it was
0:14:40.509,0:14:43.929
really awesome because it showed exactly
0:14:42.910,0:14:46.600
what we were learning about in class
0:14:43.929,0:14:47.739
like how we represented slavery and it
0:14:46.600,0:14:49.959
was really interesting to see how she
0:14:47.739,0:14:53.169
brought that into the classroom first
0:14:49.959,0:14:54.789
for ela they get to choose what they
0:14:53.169,0:14:57.129
read they get to choose what they write
0:14:54.789,0:15:03.279
about as long as it fits under my
0:14:57.129,0:15:06.519
umbrella of standards they get to do it
0:15:03.279,0:15:08.049
so I believe a big big thing about
0:15:06.519,0:15:09.519
student choice over the narrative
0:15:08.049,0:15:12.609
writing project they could choose to
0:15:09.519,0:15:14.079
write a traditional short story they
0:15:12.609,0:15:17.829
could have chosen to write a humans of
0:15:14.079,0:15:19.779
New York or peoples of Madison blog or
0:15:17.829,0:15:21.789
they could have chosen to write this I
0:15:19.779,0:15:22.929
believe and we laid it all out over the
0:15:21.789,0:15:24.609
different choices and what those three
0:15:22.929,0:15:26.049
different choices would mean and then I
0:15:24.609,0:15:27.910
got to see all the expectations
0:15:26.049,0:15:30.759
everybody has the same running target
0:15:27.910,0:15:31.869
areas the same rubric but just you know
0:15:30.759,0:15:33.999
what do you want to write an imaginary
0:15:31.869,0:15:37.689
story a memoir or something about a
0:15:33.999,0:15:39.009
lesson of values that you have most of
0:15:37.689,0:15:40.600
them choice is a short story which is
0:15:39.009,0:15:42.489
always interesting because my humans of
0:15:40.600,0:15:44.019
Madison kids are like this is so easy I
0:15:42.489,0:15:46.419
don't have to make anything up it's all
0:15:44.019,0:15:48.279
in my head I'm like that's what I think
0:15:46.419,0:15:50.919
but you know some kids want to take on
0:15:48.279,0:15:52.929
the challenge and so that having that
0:15:50.919,0:15:55.989
power of choice and knowing that I have
0:15:52.929,0:15:59.230
a voice and what I get to do it makes
0:15:55.989,0:16:01.600
the engagement so much higher make
0:15:59.230,0:16:03.910
sagacious and then if they are blipping
0:16:01.600,0:16:05.470
well why are they blipping and it's
0:16:03.910,0:16:07.329
flipping because either can't be it you
0:16:05.470,0:16:08.199
know competent or autonomous or have
0:16:07.329,0:16:09.579
really they don't have a relationship
0:16:08.199,0:16:11.679
with me where they're not having any fun
0:16:09.579,0:16:12.819
and as much as I try to make learning
0:16:11.679,0:16:14.079
fun in here there are certain days where
0:16:12.819,0:16:15.939
like guys this is one of those days
0:16:14.079,0:16:17.980
where we just have to learn it's not
0:16:15.939,0:16:19.389
gonna be great but there's gonna be lots
0:16:17.980,0:16:21.309
of things in your life that you have to
0:16:19.389,0:16:25.480
sit through that are not great and this
0:16:21.309,0:16:27.789
is not a rarity for us and I think it's
0:16:25.480,0:16:33.059
I've gotten the feedback from kids that
0:16:27.789,0:16:35.319
they enjoy the topics that we do and
0:16:33.059,0:16:36.850
bringing it like they enjoyed they found
0:16:35.319,0:16:38.289
the privilege work really interesting
0:16:36.850,0:16:41.259
they're ready to be done with slavery
0:16:38.289,0:16:43.480
and I don't blame them it's hard I mean
0:16:41.259,0:16:44.600
I it's raw we read the to be a slave for
0:16:43.480,0:16:47.000
the slave narratives we watched
0:16:44.600,0:16:49.850
Unchained memories it's hard stuff to
0:16:47.000,0:16:53.209
hear and that and we do the same thing
0:16:49.850,0:16:54.800
with Columbus and Zen they get there
0:16:53.209,0:16:57.649
like man america's got a lot of bad
0:16:54.800,0:16:59.990
stuff it's like yeah well how did we get
0:16:57.649,0:17:01.819
here like because they are they're
0:16:59.990,0:17:03.170
opening to the world they're going out
0:17:01.819,0:17:04.640
in the world they have these phones
0:17:03.170,0:17:07.760
where they're getting this sound bytes
0:17:04.640,0:17:08.689
and these little pictures and means that
0:17:07.760,0:17:10.010
you know if you don't have the
0:17:08.689,0:17:12.770
background knowledge you're not going to
0:17:10.010,0:17:15.500
understand let me teach you what that
0:17:12.770,0:17:18.709
means let me teach you why that's
0:17:15.500,0:17:20.270
important let me teach you about our
0:17:18.709,0:17:21.919
government and how it's supposed to
0:17:20.270,0:17:24.559
function so you can be an informed voter
0:17:21.919,0:17:26.270
when you're 18 or you can understand
0:17:24.559,0:17:28.490
then you can make choices that will
0:17:26.270,0:17:30.320
benefit our country because you I don't
0:17:28.490,0:17:32.030
want you to be an ignorant voter I want
0:17:30.320,0:17:33.919
you to understand how our government
0:17:32.030,0:17:36.490
works so that when you can have that
0:17:33.919,0:17:39.530
opportunity you can do that so a lot of
0:17:36.490,0:17:42.470
relating the purpose of why and bring in
0:17:39.530,0:17:44.360
making it personal for that but really
0:17:42.470,0:17:47.929
enhances the curriculum and then they're
0:17:44.360,0:17:49.429
more likely to do the work right that
0:17:47.929,0:17:51.890
one demand or sort of goes away because
0:17:49.429,0:17:55.490
like oh I get to research my status
0:17:51.890,0:17:57.770
student research um he was really into
0:17:55.490,0:18:00.289
gangs and we were doing our research but
0:17:57.770,0:18:02.750
okay so what is some gang prevention and
0:18:00.289,0:18:05.360
he was from Chicago and he like way into
0:18:02.750,0:18:07.100
understanding like and I got like
0:18:05.360,0:18:09.080
community community centers can really
0:18:07.100,0:18:10.490
help keep kids off the street in gangs
0:18:09.080,0:18:12.950
but then he's like but wait community
0:18:10.490,0:18:14.840
centers close at six thirty you know and
0:18:12.950,0:18:16.250
like so he got it so we got to really
0:18:14.840,0:18:19.190
understand like what was going on in his
0:18:16.250,0:18:21.770
neighborhood what was happening and like
0:18:19.190,0:18:23.539
he was way into that work in that
0:18:21.770,0:18:25.100
research because it was a topic he was
0:18:23.539,0:18:28.280
interested in so I didn't have to fight
0:18:25.100,0:18:30.500
him on learning and then I gave him the
0:18:28.280,0:18:32.150
scaffolds and the organizers and you
0:18:30.500,0:18:33.919
know the stuff that can get them you
0:18:32.150,0:18:35.870
know the cop give them to the autonomy
0:18:33.919,0:18:38.630
to do that work by themselves because
0:18:35.870,0:18:42.470
again I have high class numbers so I
0:18:38.630,0:18:44.059
can't sit one-on-one with each kid and
0:18:42.470,0:18:47.390
also then at the same time meet my high
0:18:44.059,0:18:50.179
fliers needs and keep them moving
0:18:47.390,0:18:52.340
forward and going deeper in their box
0:18:50.179,0:18:54.350
when you know ioki if we have some just
0:18:52.340,0:18:56.549
naturally really just smart intellectual
0:18:54.350,0:19:00.929
kids we have smart intellectual families
0:18:56.549,0:19:02.759
add fun you know you got a laugh you got
0:19:00.929,0:19:09.149
a laugh and have some fun play some
0:19:02.759,0:19:10.499
games enjoy each other thanks for
0:19:09.149,0:19:12.029
listening I hope you enjoyed this
0:19:10.499,0:19:13.529
episode if you want to hear more about
0:19:12.029,0:19:14.999
the topics we discussed today in today's
0:19:13.529,0:19:16.919
podcasts check out
0:19:14.999,0:19:18.690
zarayda Hammond's book culturally
0:19:16.919,0:19:20.549
responsive teaching in the brain you can
0:19:18.690,0:19:26.459
also dig into the story a bit more on
0:19:20.549,0:19:28.109
medium.com /at sign mm SD you can find
0:19:26.459,0:19:28.499
these and other resources in the show
0:19:28.109,0:19:40.799
notes
0:19:28.499,0:19:43.559
see you next time black excellence is
0:19:40.799,0:19:45.959
the district's unapologetic stand in
0:19:43.559,0:19:48.479
support of our african-american students
0:19:45.959,0:19:50.359
our first strategic framework helped us put our
0:19:48.479,0:19:53.099
school district on an upward trajectory
0:19:50.359,0:19:54.959
but more important laid the foundation so
0:19:53.099,0:19:57.299
that we can make even more progress in
0:19:54.959,0:20:02.570
the future it starts with believing in
0:19:57.299,0:20:02.570
the potential of each and every student
0:20:03.890,0:20:12.039
[Music]
0:20:16.130,0:20:19.339
[Music]
0:20:22.510,0:20:25.990
[Applause]
0:20:22.840,0:20:25.990
[Music]
0:20:28.810,0:20:32.060
[Music]
0:20:33.200,0:20:35.260
you
0:20:45.420,0:20:47.480
you
