In Part One of my S5E20 Schoolutions conversation, Dr. Michelle Chanda Singh shares how inclusive teaching can profoundly impact the student experience and foster a sense of belonging for all students, emphasizing that education for all hinges on deeply connected learning. She discusses how a Spanish teacher's innovative language learning approach helped her overcome feelings of invisibility in the classroom.
In this part one deeply personal conversation, Michelle reveals:
✨ Why 54% of students feel culturally unseen in classrooms
✨ How invisibility shows up as "silence in the curriculum"
✨ The difference between learning for compliance vs. connection
✨ Gloria Ladson-Billings's culturally responsive pedagogy framework
✨ Why humanizing ourselves as teachers unlocks classroom belonging
Stay tuned for Part Two (on Friday), where Michelle offers digital storytelling tools.
Some resources mentioned:
➡️Storytelling Can Bridge Cultural Gaps
🎤How Cultural Representation Improves Education
➡️ Gloria Ladson-Billings
➡️ StoryCorps
➡️ Smithsonian Learning Resources
➡️ Zinn Education Project
➡️ PBS LearningMedia
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction: What Does Invisibility in the Classroom Look Like?
1:00 Meet Dr. Michelle Chanda Singh: A Year in the Making
1:46 Today's Focus: Storytelling Can Bridge Cultural Gaps
2:13The Research Foundation: Gloria Ladson-Billings & Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
2:53 Taking Us Back: 9 Years Old, Newly Arrived from Jamaica
3:14 Education as Priority: Coming to America for Better Opportunities
4:00 The Adult Lens: Looking Back as an Educator and Researcher
4:44 Invisibility Wasn't Loud—It Was Silence in the Curriculum
5:31 Learning for Compliance, Not Connection
6:04 Succeeding Without Being Fully Seen
6:42 The Shock: When Friends Met Her Indian Family
7:00 The Statistics: 54% Students of Color, 82% White Teachers
7:24 The Representation Gap in Education Today
8:00 Enter Ms. Fernandez: Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade Spanish Teacher
8:51 Education Beyond Performance and Perfection
9:17 Prioritizing Connection Over Transaction
9:42 The Learning That Stuck: Songs, Café con Leche, and Las Tiendas
10:34 Standing Up Out of Respect: A Cultural Moment
11:42 Permission to Be Different While Honoring Culture
12:17 Reflecting on Teaching Refugees in California
13:00 The Equal Playing Field: Learning Spanish Together
13:42 Lightning Round Begins!
14:00 Top Resource for Storytelling: Start with Listening
15:00 Storytelling Requirement: Beyond Textbooks and into Lives
16:00 "When You Share Your Story, You Become Human"
16:42 What Would Ms. Fernandez Say? A Look of Pride
17:00 Wrapping Part I: The Spanish Spelling Bee Memory
17:33 Preview of Part II: Getting Practical with Digital Tools
18:00 Closing: Your Homework—Share One Story This Week
When teachers, coaches, administrators, and families grow together, they create schools where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged, supported, and ready to thrive.
