It is essential to me that my instruction and my classroom are culturally responsive. I need to learn about my student’s cultures, communities, interests, and lives to situate learning in the real world and provide relevancy to my lessons (Cantrell & Wheeler, 2011). I need to pull from my student’s rich funds of knowledge and backgrounds to ensure that I am making my lessons relevant and ensuring that I am building on what the kids already know and are familiar with. I must be willing to learn alongside my students and support collaboration in my classroom. As a culturally responsive teacher, I must pay attention to the factors that can lead to better student learning during collaboration (Cantrell & Wheeler, 2011). By being responsive to the individual cultures and backgrounds of the students in my class and providing room for collaboration, I can ensure that I am reaching every student and lifting them to be the best learner they can be.

There are many ways for teachers to convey the content to our students, but to make the most impact, I feel that instruction needs to be student-centered. My students need to feel in charge of their learning and achievement and see the value in the content they are learning. In student-centered instruction, the traditional role of the teacher has been shifted to the student as it makes them more involved in their learning process by having more choices to learn what they want to and how they do it (AIR, 2010). They are the ones to construct their knowledge and develop their strategies for their learning. The teacher then acts as the facilitator of the learning instead of directly telling students what and how to learn. Student-centered teaching allows students the opportunity to be creative and explore their curiosity.

As a teacher, the partnerships you build with the parents and the support staff in your building will help guide your instruction, ensure you are reaching every kid, be a more effective teacher, and support overall student achievement. Traditionally, we expect parents to be in the classroom in a limited and often expected way. We offer parents to come to parent-teacher conferences, bring needed supplies, or assist in the school. However, we often underestimate how crucial a teacher-parent partnership is to the success of all children. Instead of seeing parents as strictly helpers in the classroom, I want to learn from the parents to serve their children better while they are in my class. Both parents and teachers have a shared responsibility for the success of our students, so we must see them as a partner in the learning process.

I want to ensure parental involvement in my classroom, and that starts with good communication. Far too often, parents associate a phone call from the teacher with bad news. I want to talk to my parents when their child does something great and when there is a problem that we need to discuss. Parents deserve to hear about all the great things their child is doing throughout the whole year, not just on conference day. I want to have volunteer parents in my classroom, assisting all students, tutoring, and reading, and just being an asset in the class. I also recognize that not all parents can spend time like that in the classroom, so I can ensure that parents are involved at home by encouraging students to read to the parents and getting assistance on homework.

Teachers must be a voice for their students. Outside of the family, teachers often know their students the best through the relationship building that happens in the classroom. Therefore, we must advocate for their needs to ensure student success. If a student in my class needs special needs services, I have to advocate for that student to get the services they need to be successful. We can do this in various ways, but the best way for teachers to be advocates for their students is for them to teach their students how to advocate for themselves and others. I want to teach my kids the importance of community and their role in advocating for that community when they need to. Self-advocacy will help better prepare my students for the real world while also teaching them valuable life skills and building confidence.

Teachers are professionals in their field, so they must be treated as professionals and act like one. Being professional means carrying a positive attitude, following certain behaviors, and ensuring proper communication. But above all, teachers need to have a heart for their kids. A caring relationship between the teacher and the student is key to student success and closing the achievement gap. Students will not be able to learn in a classroom where they feel that they are not loved and appreciated (Pierson, 2013).

Part of being a teacher is carrying certain dispositions. Chief among them is believing that every student, regardless of their race, gender, or background, is capable of learning. As a teacher, you are there to ensure that every student learns the content, and you cannot do that. All students have resources that can be used for instruction (Powell, 2011). All students are there to receive help and appreciate the opportunity to give and receive support in their classroom (Rightmyer, 2011). Being a culturally responsive, collaborative teacher means that I help all students learn while they are in my class.

Confidentiality is key in being a professional teacher. Students and families have a right to privacy, and it is important for a teacher to protect their sensitive information. Following FERPA, the federal law that ensures confidentiality in education is essential for the professional teacher. In the same vein, teachers must protect their students. As a teacher, I will have to make difficult calls to authorities so that I can protect my students who are experiencing harmful situations. I am there to protect my students, however, that looks like.