The Extraordinary Educators Podcast

Creating Inclusive Classrooms with Nina Henderson

• Sari Laberis • Season 5 • Episode 49

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Discover how to create a classroom where every child feels seen and heard with insights from our guest, Extraordinary Educator, Nina Henderson. In this episode, we promise to equip you with practical strategies for culturally responsive teaching, all inspired by Zaretta Hammond's groundbreaking work, "Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain." Nina reveals her secrets for integrating cultural diversity into your lessons, classroom displays, and discussions seamlessly, ensuring that each student feels represented and valued. Learn from her hands-on examples, like using a variety of diverse books and organizing student-led cultural sharing sessions, to foster an inclusive environment without adding extra workload. Nina also shares powerful insights on education and the importance of staying true to oneself while striving for excellence. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for educators seeking to cultivate a supportive and inclusive classroom culture.

Read Nina's blog: CurriculumAssociates.com/blog/strategies-to-motivate
Follow us on Twitter: @CurriculumAssoc
Follow us on Instagram: @MyiReady
Have feedback, questions, or want to be a guest? Email ExtraordinaryEducators@cainc.com to connect with us!

Sari Laberis:

Hello and welcome back to the Extraordinary Educators podcast. I am Sari, and this week I am joined by Extraordinary Educator Nina who? I am Sari, and this week I am joined by Extraordinary Educator Nina, who teaches third grade in New York. Nina talks about how she ensures that her students feel both seen and heard in her classroom and that she's really getting to know her students on a deep level and how this impacts their learning and their success with her. She also shares great strategies and resources for you as you start to think about implementing this with your students, and Nina also wrote a blog on an unrelated but super important topic as well, celebrating your students as we close out the school year, and so that is linked in the show notes if you want to hear more from Nina, which you definitely will after hearing her talk about culturally responsive teaching.

Sari Laberis:

So here is my conversation with Nina. Welcome, Nina, it is so great to have you here. Well, thanks for having me, of course. So, just thinking about your third graders and your classroom, what are some things that are top of mind for you as you think about your classroom culture.

Nina Henderson:

That's a good question. I feel like there's some things I prioritize at the top of the list, one of those things being just incorporating some cultural diversity into the classroom, into our content, into classroom displays. I feel like a big part of our district is culturally responsive teaching, so I really try and incorporate as much as I can into our classroom.

Sari Laberis:

That's wonderful. Thank you for sharing. You know that's such a buzzword right now culturally responsive teaching. Can you break it down a little bit what it looks like on a day-to-day for you and your students? So?

Nina Henderson:

I'll kind of backtrack a little bit. Our district does a lot of work with culturally responsive teaching in the brain and we did a book study on Zaretta Hammond's Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain and, if you haven't read that book, I highly recommend it. It's definitely like a tricky read but you can even just read like bits and pieces of it. It kind of just gives you an insight into how your students do so much better when they feel like you're giving them the time to understand them, their learning preferences, their backgrounds, their experiences growing up.

Nina Henderson:

So I feel like one of the big things within our classroom is, just when they come into my classroom I want them to feel represented, seen and heard, whether that, like I said, is on a bulletin board classroom. I want them to feel represented, seen and heard, whether that, like I said, is on a bulletin board. For example, we have a bulletin board just had like all different colored, like race hands. So the second they walk in here they can kind of see themselves and their skin tone and that's kind of more of that like surface level what they see on the walls. And then we kind of dig deeper into different cultures, races, ethnicities in like the books we read and the texts I select, and I like to pick ones that all the cultures in my classroom are represented in.

Nina Henderson:

So, for example, I have a student, two students who are Arabic, who celebrate Ramadan, so I like to, around Ramadan time, teach the other kiddos about Ramadan, what it means to fast, what it means to be Muslim, and then we read some books about Ramadan and fasting. I also have a couple of students who are from Nepali, so they like to share about their culture and different foods they eat and different things they like to wear, and one of my students this year, like, wore a special outfit to school and she talked about it. So I feel like just incorporating opportunities to have a lot of those discussions so students feel safe, welcome and heard.

Sari Laberis:

That is so great. I'm sure it is so appreciated not only by them but by their families and, just like adults, want to be seen and heard at work. Right, you want people to know who you are and that's so great that you're doing that with your third graders I'm sure listeners and I'm curious too how do you, in the beginning of the year, how do you kind of put aside the time to actually get to know your students? Because, especially for newer educators, the day is so regimented, right, it's like you have this subject and this and this, so how do you actually find the time to connect and learn about them?

Nina Henderson:

Honestly, that's like a struggle I feel like a lot of us still face. Like you said, our days at least, are like marked to the T. So I'm supposed to be teaching math for like 60 minutes, or ELA for 30 or whatever it is. So it is hard to find the time to like carve out and I feel like it's usually coming out of something. But like I feel like it's a good reminder that it shouldn't be one more thing on your plate, it should be your plate. So everything you do should be grounded in being culturally responsive, just the way you talk, the way you address your students, the way you approach them. Even, for example, one of my students calls me miss.

Nina Henderson:

Some teachers might hear that and think it's disrespectful. The student doesn't know my name, but taking the time to understand that he grew up thinking that's a respectful way to address an adult, a female adult. So it's not something I had to like take extra time out of my day to understand about him. It just kind of came with getting to know him throughout all the subjects of the day. We also like have SEL built into our day. I know some other schools districts have like a morning time, a morning meeting time so that, like morning time, that arrival having like a circle on the rug, is a great time to incorporate some of those prompts and questions, to get to know your students on a more like cultural level.

Sari Laberis:

That's super helpful and such a great perspective. It's not just one more thing to check off the list, it should be the lens that you teach through right, Getting to know them.

Nina Henderson:

Exactly yeah.

Sari Laberis:

Yeah, and I remember when I taught middle school it was making references when there's a word problem about a sport, shouting out the kids who play that and TV shows and things like that. Just what happens in the classroom when you connect with them and learn about them.

Nina Henderson:

I feel like it really depends on the person and I feel like my situation is a little bit unique because I am the NL class in my school, so I have about 13 students who speak another language. So I kind of feel like it depends on the culture and the background of the student. Most of the time I just feel like it makes the student feel more comfortable with me. If I know a student, for example, a student's family is from Jamaica, so if we're like reading a word problem about food or something, I'll be like, oh, do you what's your? Do you like Jamaican jerky? Like what's your favorite food? Or like I feel like I find just ways to connect to that student and it helps them. I feel like be more comfortable with sharing things if that makes any sense and it makes them feel like you care. If you're taking the time to learn about their background, learn about what they eat at home or what they wear, what they celebrate, I feel like they know you care about them.

Sari Laberis:

Yeah, absolutely, and the foundation of trust and belonging is so important. You know they're not going to, you know, care as much about their academics if they don't feel that they belong in your room and that they trust you. So that is so wonderful. Before we end, do you have any tips or advice or anything you want to say to educators who want to do more of this and ensure that they're making sure their students are seen and heard?

Nina Henderson:

Definitely reach out, see if you have professional development in your district or in your school or, like I said, that's Zaretta Hammond's Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain is a great place to start, gather some information. I feel like I'm a forever learner and my work will never be done. I want to continue to learn more about how I can be the best teacher, and through that culturally responsive lens. So I feel like if you're just starting out, know that no one is going to be perfect at it. No one's going to be done. Everyone still has work to do. As we move through the years, there's things to be learned, things to change. So I feel like that's a good place to start.

Sari Laberis:

Yeah, absolutely. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are tons of resources out there and we're all a work in progress, right? And it's such a good model for your students as well, because we don't want them to think that you know they have to be perfect. So thank you so much for sharing all of your strategies and insights, nina. It was really really great having you on the podcast.

Nina Henderson:

Absolutely Like I said, thanks for having me.

Sari Laberis:

Get inspired by following us on social media and please tag us in your posts on X @CurriculumAssoc and on Instagram, @Myi Ready. If you have feedback about the podcast, a topic of interest or if you want to be a guest email ExtraordinaryEducators@ cainc. c om. Please subscribe where you listen to podcasts and if you'd like to help more educators, just like you, join the conversation and please leave a review. Remember, be you be true, be extraordinary. The Extraordinary Educators Podcast is produced by Curriculum Associates, editing by Shane Lowe, social media by Atziri Hannon, guest booking by Sari LaBeris, and production by Hayley Browning. This podcast is copyrighted materials and intellectual property of Curriculum Associates.