How do we prepare our students to become agents of change in their classrooms, schools, and communities? Teachers make countless instructional decisions daily that have the potential to empower students and cultivate their sense of agency through learning opportunities. We can fulfill our role in this process by implementing the three C's: collaboratively establish the learning environment, consider how we ask students to process content, and create spaces for multiple narratives.
1. Collaboratively establish the learning environment.
Classroom environments communicate the values, narratives, and expectations teachers seek to promote (Hammond, 2015). Teachers should create asset-oriented classroom norms: positively stated expectations that focus on what you do want to see, rather than what you don't.
Collaboratively creating these norms with students models the process of setting expectations and goals, thereby enhancing self-regulation. In Differentiation and the Brain: How Neuroscience Supports the Learner-Friendly Classroom, authors Pete Sousa and Carol Ann Tomlinson argue that self-regulation allows learners to more effectively identify methods for achieving learning goals and tracking their progress (p. 73). The collaborative process also ensures that the classroom environment reflects all participants' cultures and values.
Try This: At the beginning of the year, ask students to brainstorm characteristics of a safe and academically successful classroom. For example, students may say that respect is a characteristic they value. However, respect can present itself in different ways across various cultures. You may want to ask students what "respectful" means to them or what they think respect looks like. Once the class has generated multiple ideas, collaboratively sort ideas by the core values they represent and write a list of norms and expectations together.
2. Consider the ways in which we ask students to process content.
Teachers can lead students to autonomy by providing opportunities for student choice. For students to make informed choices, they need to be able to process content using a wide range of higher-order thinking skills, such as critical analysis and problem solving.
Try This: One way to incorporate higher-order thinking and analysis is to have students critically examine and take a stance on an issue using an issues continuum. First, ask students to examine their personal beliefs about a topic, such as immigration, healthcare reform, or inclusivity in the workforce, and place themselves physically on a continuum (students with opposing views stand on opposite sides, students who are neutral stand in the middle). Once all students have chosen a place to stand, examine the range of beliefs as well as students' proximity to one another. As a whole class or in small groups, ask students to reflect on their personal choice and how the exercise made them feel. Students might write a journal entry about how these choices can motivate their actions or influence their relationships with others.
3. Create opportunities and spaces for multiple narratives in classrooms.
Implementing culturally responsive instructional practices creates opportunities for multiple narratives, so all students can see their personal experiences as legitimate (Ladson-Billings, 1999). Dominant narratives commonly presented in classrooms are constructed by people with power and privilege and fail to acknowledge the contributions of women, people of color, and other groups. These narratives make it difficult for culturally and linguistically diverse students to see themselves in the curriculum and, as a result, may limit them from accessing the content. Teachers should create lessons for students to consider multiple perspectives and examine how these perspectives can change the narratives in their lives. For example, when planning a unit, consider how texts from a variety of voices could help students conceptualize how perspective and context influence interpretation of a given historical event.
Try This: Ask yourself if the readings in your lessons represent multiple diverse perspectives and voices. Do students see themselves in the content? Consider applying structured academic controversies or Socratic seminars to facilitate respectful discussion within a safe learning environment. In a structured academic controversy, students pair up to examine both sides of a given issue. Once they have argued for one side, they switch sides and try to defend the counterargument, then come to a consensus together and select a specific stance.
In a Socratic seminar, students have a large group conversation facilitated by the teacher about a closely examined text. During the discussion, students use the text to defend their responses to the teacher's prompting questions before a debriefing period and time for reflection. For example, students can read a text about whether Civil War monuments should be removed and use either of these strategies to engage more deeply. Through these discussions, students can begin to analyze whose voices are present in the curriculum and whose are silenced.
In her article "Preparing Teachers for Diverse Student Populations: A Critical Race Theory Perspective," Gloria Ladson-Billings stated that "the high stakes of teaching include practitioners who are either helping students become better academically, socially, culturally, and emotionally or contributing to their continued disenfranchisement" (p. 19). Implementing the three Cs in partnership with students will prepare them to become thoughtful changemakers in their schools and communities.