The Responsive Classroom

In the last blog, we discussed how to create a responsive physical classroom environment that focuses on both cultural and academic features. If you missed that one, you can find it here. But what about the feeling of the classroom? What? Classrooms have feelings? Well, not exactly, but students certainly do. We all have an…

I originally wrote this blog during the COVID shut down, but the practices are absolutely true for summers as well! I know it’s hard to keep students engaged during summer, but it’s worth it! There are 5 things I want you to remember that will keep your students moving forward during this time: Read to…

And why is it so very important? As we are finishing up the 2022-2023 school year, and starting to think about the next school year, we can’t deny that this year was incredibly hard, for teachers and students alike. Did you feel like you were constantly putting out fires this year? As you are trying…

Right now, we are in the process (the very slow, tedious process) of shifting our name from Pressing Onward to The Responsive Classroom. I’m so excited about the change, and I know that the name is much more descriptive of what our passion is. When we were brainstorming the name change, the term ‘clarity’ came…

If you are a teacher in the south, Spring Break is right around the corner, so I sincerely hope you get the rest and recharge you so desperately need and deserve! But with that being said, if you teach an assessed grade level and subject, the big fat elephant awaits you when you return from…

In the last blog, we talked about the importance and incredible impact the teachers’ understanding of the proficiency level descriptors can be towards students’ linguistic growth in the classroom. If you haven’t read that one, I encourage you to go back and read it, and if are in a position to work with teachers, share…

With everything else that is going on in the education world right now, TELPAS is probably the LAST thing you or your teachers are wanting to tackle in the month of February. But it’s here. And it’s actually really important. I want to take the next couple of blogs to talk through a few of…

Teachers have the unique challenge of meeting kids at so many different levels! This strategy is one of the best ways to get students talking and thinking – and the best part is…it’s very little work on the part of the teacher! Try a T-A-C-O! TACO is the simple abbreviation I’ve given to an easy-to-implement…

As the 2021/2022 school year gets underway, the academic gaps that we have been so warned about will surely start to surface. Out of the goodness of their hearts and their passion for teaching, many teachers will be tempted to want to reteach the entire last year! While I completely understand where they are coming…

The school year is about to begin, and as you finalize schedules and teams and duties and all things logistical, I want to ask you -How will you lead instructionally? While the coming school year will look a whole lot differently than last year (I’m speaking it out there), there will still be a lot…

How are you feeling? Are you excited? Still tired? Anxious? Ready? The last year and a half have been unspeakably hard, and you weathered it. I sincerely hope that you took some time this summer – if only a week or two – to turn your brain off and rest! But now it’s time to…

Yep, that’s right. I’m going to brag for a minute. My 11-year old son, Tate, scored “Masters” on all 3 of the state assessments he took this past year – during the 2020/2021 school year. In Texas talk, that’s the highest level. That’s an improvement over his scores from the previous year! Now, as much…

I was discouraged today. And bored.  I sat in an ELA classroom of 11th graders, and was bored.  So were the kids.  They weren’t challenged.  They didn’t learn.  They weren’t disruptive.  But they were bored.  They were on their phones.  They were sleeping.  They were copying.  But they weren’t learning. And then there was Jose.  He…

If your district is blessed with a lot of English Learners, then you are probably more than familiar with BICS and CALP, but if not, I encourage you to keep reading! There are two basic types of language that teachers need to be familiar with – social and academic, or BICS and CALP. BICS stands…

First of all, take a deep breath. You are either finished with students for this school year, or you are probably finishing in the next week or two. You deserve a pat on the back, a drink of your choice, and probably a nap. You fought for your teachers and your students. You balanced academics…

How do we become culturally responsive as a teacher? For the past two articles, we’ve been diving into building alliances, specifically using the TESA interactions put together by the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Building alliances is a key foundational component, and in my opinion, the first step towards becoming culturally responsive. There’s no…

This week, we are going to continue our discussion on building alliances. One definition of an alliance that I really love from dictionary.com definition is “a merging of efforts or interests by persons, families, states, or organizations.” I think that beautifully describes what we want to accomplish between teachers and students and teachers and their…

How do you feel when you know that you and your boss are on the same team, working towards to the same goal? Are you inspired? Do you work harder? Do you push through even when you’re tired or worn down? Do you stay positive, even when the work is difficult? Do you give grace?…

4 Steps from Creating Independent Learners through Culturally Responsive Teaching.

Bringing Clarity to the 2021 “Buzz Words” As we are moving into the planning phases of the 2021/2022 school year, cultural competency, culturally responsive teaching, and equity have all been “buzzwords” floating around. While each of these concepts is extremely important, the question remains: What do each of these mean? I wanted to take a…

Another week closer to summer, and another week less with your students! We’ve been talking about ways to finish the year strong by re-engaging your students. The first blog was entitled Get Movin! and the second blog was entitled Connecting to Relevancy in Content! Please check those out if you haven’t had a chance to!…

We are another week closer to summer, but again, there is still quite a bit of school left! If you’re finding yourself or your students shutting down, don’t give up! Although there may need to be a shift in focus, you can do this! In the last blog, we talked about the first strategy of…

You are on the downhill slide of the 2020-2021 school year, and it has been exhausting! Unfortunately (or fortunately – depending on how you look at it), you still have a few weeks to go! This is a very pivotal time in the school year. You have two ways to finish the year up: weak…

Now is the time, historically, when teachers and students rightfully so start the “end of the year” struggle – now add in the 2020-2021 school year chaos. The problem is that there is still quite a bit of the school year left. The blog is going to look a little different this week, because there’s…

Re-Engage and Re-Connect Ya’ll – this time of year is STRESSFUL. You are tired.  The students are tired.  You are feeling pressure of the state assessment- whether there is a accountability attached to it or not.  Your students are feeling the pressure.  If your district is like my son’s district and the last 3 I…

The more I work with schools and school districts, the more I’ve realized how isolating it can be to be a campus administrator. The weight of implementing initiatives and taking care of staff and students is great, and sometimes there’s not a whole lot of support in the background. I also realized how many great…

I was recently challenged to figure out my story…not what I do, or what Pressing Onward does, or even what problem we are trying to solve, but why I am so passionate about that problem – and then put it into words. Sometimes I don’t feel equipped to have to have the conversations I’m having.…

As if you weren’t already stressed and overwhelmed enough, we just had a week of weather (in Texas and Oklahoma, and I know across the country) that left many people without water, power, and food. This morning was trash pick up day in my neighborhood, and the streets were littered with sheetrock, flooring, ruined appliances,…

When I first started teaching almost 20 years ago, I taught Special Ed. This was before STAAR, and we gave our students the SDAA test. Now, I’m going to preface this with the understanding that I really had no idea what I was doing instructionally at this time. I had 6th-8th grade levels all in…

Have you ever walked into a place – any place – and thought, “The people here really love their job!”? We were on vacation last year in Colorado, and we went in this pizza place. The guy standing out the counter calling out our name to let us know our food was ready was doing…

A lack of language is one of the main hurdles the students we are targeting with culturally responsive have to face. Be it a lack of the English language (academic or social) as an English Learner, or a lack of vocabulary as a student living in generational poverty often experiences, this lack of language, and…

So without putting blame, pointing fingers, or feeling bad about yourself in any way, shape or form, data and experience is revealing pretty clearly that virtual learning (at least virtual learning planned in a matter of months or weeks -for some, days even) is not best practice for the majority of students -especially those who…

Most of us started out 2020 with a lot goals. Having “2020 Vision” seemed to be a very popular theme, and we felt ready to take on the world. And then March hit. And 2020 became a year of reactivity instead of proactivity. Many of you within the education world barely kept your head above…

I know that many of you hardworking, dedicated teachers will start thinking about your lessons towards the end of the week. Your brains will start turning again, your creativity will start to flow, and you’ll start thinking about how you can adapt lessons for virtual or face-to-face. You’ll be prepared. You’ll be ready. Because you’re…

Last year, I hit an adult milestone that I’ve been striving for for many years – two Christmas trees. A “Family” tree and a “Pretty” tree. I don’t know why this was such a goal, but it was, and it was achieved. (Small celebration here). So as I sit in my home office, where my…

Most of you are in your last week of school before a much-deserved winter break. Many teachers claim that this week is one of their favorite weeks of the year, and I hope that you are able to find joy and holiday connection in this week, regardless of if you are virtual or face-to-face. But…

I have a podcast for a totally selfish reason – I get to pick the brains of administrators for 30 minutes straight. I get to hear, from their birdseye view of a campus, what the needs, wants, fears, inspirations, and successes are. I get to hear strategies, experiences, and and stories of students and teachers…

The photo above was his “before pic”. Here is his “immediately after” pic. I lost sleep over it. I had anxiety over it. I had everyone praying for him. I’ve never even had a cavity that I can remember, so my concerns were coming from other peoples’ horror stories. Clearly, from the picture at the…

This year.  What a year.  I know that phrase is getting a little cliché, but it really has been a year like none other.  Educators have been asked to go on the front lines for students like they’ve never been asked to do.  I’ve spoken to countless educators with health problems of their own, battling…

I was recently reading one of Michael Hyatt’s books when I was really hit in the face with this chart. Now, this is a mindset, meaning it seeps into all areas of our lives. I had to take a self inventory of each main part of my life and see where my mindset was resting.…

I just got back from a run. It was hard today. If you run (or work out) regularly, you know that some days are just harder than others. I also did a pretty hard leg workout yesterday, so I felt like my legs were carrying an extra 10 pounds each. And it was pretty hot…

Let me give you two scenarios that I heard this past week in coaching: Coaching Meeting with Teacher A: Me: How’s it going? Teacher A: Great! I mean, I don’t really know what I’m doing, but my lessons are really planned out for me. I just spend my time on the phone with kids. I…

The needs have changed for many. Therefore, the expectations have to change. Here are a few things to remember if you are teaching children in any capacity during 2020. This isn’t your students’ only year of school. Next year will come. More learning will happen. Yes, there will be a residual effect of 2020 for…

I learned a lot of valuable lessons while working with Dr. Shauna Sobers on our Cultural Competence in the Classroom course, but one of the principles that has stuck with me the most is the principle of impact vs intent. I think there is a misconception that people who hurt other people with their words…

This week in our life group at church, we were introduced to the 5 Love Language Quiz for children! I had taken the quiz many years ago for adults (My top 2 are Acts of Service and Quality Time – if you’re wondering), but I hadn’t thought to give it to Tate. What a great…

In true COVID-19 style, our garage is currently turned into my husband’s studio so he can host “huddles” with students all day through his company, which raises funds for schools. While normally, his team would be on a campus hosting these motivational “huddles” in person, his team is currently furloughed and he’s doing the work…

One of the most challenging pieces that I continue to hear from teachers is that they are having trouble connecting to students in the midst of virtual learning and social distancing.  We know how important it is to give a student a smile, hug, high five, hand shake or pat on the back, and we…

We’re back! Unfortunately, we know that as hard as you are working, the way the education system is set up right now is not the best fit for many of our students. Now, more than ever, intentional differentiation is needed – and of course it’s at a time when your plates are already super full!…

Hi friends. Talk about a learning curve. Every day seems to be a new challenge for teachers, administrators and students…and parents for that matter. I know there must be a cloud of frustration hanging over your head as a teacher…knowing that you could do so much more with your students if there weren’t so many…

Hi friends, Today was the first day (again) of my son’s 5th grade year. In a way, I felt like I was sending him to kindergarten again. We’ve been together for oh so many days and weeks and months that I had a little twinge when as he walked to school. I’ll admit it was…

Most of us are 1-3 weeks into virtual or hybrid learning.  It’s tough.  I’m not going to lie.  I’ve written in some of my previous blogs about the positive aspects: more time with Tate, walking him through becoming an independent learner, seeing the way he learns, helping him navigate the responsibility of a schedule…but it’s…

Unmet Expectations = Frustration, Impatience and Shut-Down Hi friends.  “First of all, let’s all take a deep breath.” That’s the way one of the 50 emails that I got from my son’s principal this past week started.  Today is actually Tate’s 10th day of virtual learning.  It’s not easy. For anyone. He’s very energetic. Very…

Here we go! Most of us have started school or are starting this week! Technology may or may not work. Kids may or may not stay focused. They may or may not get resources. They may or may not have help at home. It may or may not work. But we will persevere – parents,…

This whole school thing just might work… So, I’ve decided that my 5th grader is going to have a good school year this year – no matter what that looks like. If he’s home, we will have the opportunity to go on more family adventures, see the learning as it is happening, and have a…

I read a post yesterday on social media that really upset me.  I know – why am I reading posts on social media right now? Who knows, but I did.  The part that upset me was not that people have different opinions than me or are making different decisions in the midst of this COVID…

Have you ever been in a conversation in which you really felt heard? People listened to your opinion, asked questions, and validated your response. They made agreement statements, and asked clarifying questions, and maybe even complimented you on your perspective or knowledge. How did that make you feel? I love this situation. Especially when when…

After scrolling through social media for a little while on Sunday and realizing the effect it had on my anxiety, I decided yesterday to hop on a FB Live and share one of my favorite resources. I decided it couldn’t hurt to talk through it here too, because I think so many of us are…

So it has been a minute since I’ve put my thoughts down in writing. Like most of you, I have felt that I almost had so many thoughts I was having trouble organizing them. But we have to start somewhere. When the race conversations sky rocketed to the front of everyone’s mind, my first thought…

A letter from a middle school teacher in Texas I don’t think I will ever forget leaving for spring break this school year‒confident we would return to our classroom a week later (because that’s what we always do) and continue our middle school journey together. However, the news coverage of the Coronavirus indicated that it…

What makes professional development meaningful? From a teachers’ point of view? From an administrator’s point of view? From a consultant’s point of view? We all know that being a life-long learner is imperative if we want to continue to grow in any area of life.  Spiritually, professionally and personally. In fact, in Brendan Burchard’s research…

It’s hard to believe this school year is coming to a close. It seems so anti-climactic on one hand, and yet we’re all so exhausted on the other. So before we jump into the meat of the blog, let me say this: Finish strong. Get rest. Invest in yourself. And then be ready! Because (hopefully)…

My husband’s sweet Grandma passed away last week.  She had been sick with pneumonia, but was seemingly on her way to recovery, but then quickly took a downhill turn last Thursday, where I have no doubt that angels came and personally delivered her to God.  She was a precious woman, and impacted so many. She…

So let’s face it…online teaching and learning is hard…for everyone.  I think we can agree that most of us are doing our best.  Teachers are doing their best to get relevant content to the student in manageable ways, parents are doing their best to manage life right now and keep their kids motivated, engaged and…

What are you doing with your gift of time? We have all been forced to stop – whether you are still working, or teaching your kids at home, or working overtime, there are still probably going to be gaps in your time. With no church, restaurants, clubs, sports, parties, etc…you’re bound to have a little…

If you could do any hobby or passion, and make enough money to live on, what would it be? Do you have a solution to a problem? Do you have a way to make peoples’ lives better, easier or more effective in their craft? We are given a very rare opportunity (probably one we will…

…even if you don’t know what you’re doing! Being a teacher is hard. Being a parent is hard. Being an automatic “home-school” parent while trying to figure out the technology and assignments from the teacher is even harder – especially if you are working from home, maybe even still working outside of the home, or…

It’s hard to know what to say during these times, except to share my own thoughts. And to stay true to culturally responsive teaching (because that is my deep help beliefs), I just wanted to throw out a couple of thoughts now, especially when it comes to the new way of learning for students. There…

I’m not sure any of us saw this coming.  We were trucking a long, focused on STAAR or state assessments, and then BAM!  Random virus pandemic and every thing changes.  Everything. So if you were anything like me, you froze for minute, gave yourself a little time to process, and then pivoted. We need to…

If you are a teacher in the south, inevitably you are either on Spring Break, or you are headed to Spring Break next week (YAY!), so I sincerely hope you get the rest and recharge you so desperately need and deserve! But with that being said, if you teach an assessed grade level and subject,…

Re-Engage and Re-Connect Ya’ll – this time of year is STRESSFUL. You are tired.  The students are tired.  You are feeling pressure of the state assessment.  Your students are feeling the pressure.  If your district is like my son’s district and the last 3 I worked for, your students already have a pretty solid understanding…

Writing is power for me.  It is literally the pathway to my best thoughts. I’ve been recently recording some videos for a mini-training we are launching on state assessments (coming in March!- shameless plug). I typically write out a script to the trainings, and then chunk it down and record it bits at a time,…

I had a realization while working in some middle schools in South Texas recently. I was working with several writing teachers, and I kept hearing the same things: “The kids are not developing their ideas”, “The kids are not able to state a claim and back it up with reasons,” “The students aren’t able to…

I would venture to say that one of the biggest “misnomers”’ of culturally responsive teaching is that it is solely, or even mostly, built on understanding different cultures and building relationships, and that it has little to do with instruction. This couldn’t be further from the truth, which is one of the reasons why I…

When I met Jacob Chastain, he was a middle school ELA teacher at a Title 1 school. He was eccentric, and clearly brilliant, and he loved his job. He was a high level thinker all the time. He asked great questions of his students, and expected great things from them.  The problem was not all…

As we continue to look at our targeted students in culturally responsive teaching, we have to look at a population where the gap is growing significantly – our Long Term English Learners. These are the students who have been in the US longer than 6 years, but haven’t exited the EL program, and there are…

I was recently asked to write a chapter on the importance of communication in leadership for a book on leadership and entrepreneurship…this was quite comical to me because at this time in my life, I do not consider myself a great leader and certainly not a great communicator within leadership – I’m a doer, and…

I love newcomers.  If you ever have the opportunity to work with them, you will too. But they will probably stress you out first. These are the students that teachers who are not newcomer teachers lose the most sleep over when these kids first arrive in their classroom.  These are the sweet kids who often…

Who are our students? In jumping back into culturally responsive teaching, I want to continue our conversation on who our targeted students are.  Before the holidays, we touched on our students of poverty, and how their brains are wired a little different for learning. I want to move into our English Learners. The topic of…

4 Steps to Building Autonomy in your Students. What is autonomy?  I found a few definitions that I really like. Merriam Webster gives one definition as a “self-governing state.” Another definition described autonomy as “the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision”. When I think of being autonomous, and the importance that autonomy has on…

Today I was driving to a school.  The school is in a high poverty rural school located on a country highway – a fairly busy road.  It was 35 degrees.  On the other side of the road, I passed two kids, probably 10 and 12, or around there.  Neither had coats.  Walking to school. Late.…

I spent last week laughing with friends with family, stuffing my face until I couldn’t eat anymore, buying Christmas presents and sending over lists, and relaxing by the fire at the end of the day. But how many of our students did not have that kind of a week? Over the next few weeks, we…

Ah – the week of Thanksgiving.  I definitely try to live with a grateful heart all of the time, but Thanksgiving definitely makes me a little more intentional about thinking about the blessings that may not be in the spotlight all of the time. After Tate’s kindergarten year, I became very intentional about praying for…

As we move into the depth of November, colder temperatures, the promise of Thanksgiving, boredom in school, and burn out in teachers, these are leading to some pretty ineffective classrooms.  Many students have absolutely shut down.  As I continue to work with these really good, but really tired teachers, I’m reminded of this podcast and…

Teachers are awesome. We just wanted to take a minute and appreciate what you guys do…and also maybe give you a little laugh. Sometimes you have to find humor in things to make it through the next day. Teaching seems to be harder now than ever before, but you guys are rock stars. Please enjoy…

Hi!  We are taking slight break from talking about independent and dependent learners because there is a more pressing issue happening right now: TEACHERS ARE TIRED. And overwhelmed. And understandably ready for a break. I’ve had the privilege of working in several schools lately, and this seems to be a very prevalent feeling going around. …

I’ve been thinking A LOT about independent learners, and this week, I’ve really been focusing on how I’ve seen independent learning benefit my personal life.  Whenever I try to really dissect a new skill that I want to teach, it’s helpful for me to connect it to myself and my own learning. So I’ve been…

The name of my book is Building a Bridge from “I Can’t” to “I DID!”, which if we think about it in terms of the classroom, the theme is pretty evident.  However, what does this actually mean?  How do we move students to success?  How do we actually build that bridge? Well, the subtitle of…

YES! Here is a section from my book, Building a Bridge from “I Can’t” to “I DID!”. “It is what it is.” Traffic, other peoples’ actions, the weather, the way dinner comes out of the oven sometimes. Using this phrase is appropriate to many situations we encounter in life to help us accept the things…

Culturally Responsive teaching is starting to become a more prevalent conversation in the world of education.  Although I think it is often misunderstood as a relationship building or classroom management idea, it is absolutely about moving our students, no matter their background, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or language proficiency level to be their absolute best.  It…