“We need to focus our teaching on student’s lives, skills, and culture in ways that grant them the respect they need to be effective learners. When you know more about your student’s life experiences, you can tailor questions and projects to their frame of reference, use their own experiences as metaphors to engage them, and connect the themes of reading material to similar themes in their own lives.”

“I call this responsive teaching: Understanding what student’s lives are like outside of school; understanding the skills that each student brings to class; and understanding the nuances and differences that shape a student’s culture.”