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paisleygreen's review
5.0
Honestly, a genius book--compact, research-based, and clear. There are many people at my school who agree with the cognitive neuroscience principles Hammond lays out here but may be defensive when they hear "culturally responsive teaching." Hammond deftly combines the two to show how best practices--ones grounded in evidence about how people process information--can also be culturally sensitive ones. If you work in education in any way, this is a must-read.
csquaredreads's review
5.0
Every educator needs to read this book, especially those that teach underserved populations. Very clearly written with invaluable information. Get your hands on it ASAP. It will play an integral role in your teaching career.
cocoonofbooks's review
4.0
I can see why my organization has made it a priority to get our staff up to speed on Zaretta Hammond's work, as she goes over a lot of the same ground that we cover in our Opportunity Myth report; namely, the achievement gap is actually an opportunity gap caused by not giving certain students (those she calls "culturally and linguistically diverse") the opportunity to do challenging, grade-level work.
I was not familiar with culturally responsive teaching (CRT) prior to the conversations at our organization, but Hammond clears lays out what it is and is not. It's not a matter of bringing in the superficial aspects of culture (dress, food, music) to make education more "interesting"; it's looking at how elements of collectivist cultures mirror what we know about how the brain functions and how learning happens, and capitalizing on that knowledge to make learning stick. She also spends a lot of time explaining how and why to help students who may be dealing with poverty, racism, and other life challenges feel safe enough in their classroom that they can focus on learning. And that doesn't mean physically safe, as in using metal detectors; it means making sure that students don't experience microaggressions, that their life experiences are validated, and that they're made to feel capable as an equal partner in their learning.
I had a few small but persistent frustrations with this book. One was that Hammond repeats "facts" that have either been disproved or are true in a specific, limited context that's not mentioned, such as that 70% of communication is nonverbal or we can only hold seven pieces of information in our heads. She also casually references a number of different people (researchers or education leaders) and classroom techniques (like "Three on a Pencil") with the assumption that the reader knows who/what they are. Maybe most readers, if they're classroom teachers or school leaders, would recognize all the names and terms she references, but I did not. Finally, the book is just poorly edited on a sentence level, with a lot of missing commas and non-parallel sentence construction where I had to read things multiple times to understand them. This may have been a fluke of the Kindle version — which I don't recommend anyway because all of the tables are embedded as tiny graphics.
On the whole, this is a very strong guide to culturally responsive teaching that's grounded in extensive research and brain science. I would highly recommend it for all educators.
I was not familiar with culturally responsive teaching (CRT) prior to the conversations at our organization, but Hammond clears lays out what it is and is not. It's not a matter of bringing in the superficial aspects of culture (dress, food, music) to make education more "interesting"; it's looking at how elements of collectivist cultures mirror what we know about how the brain functions and how learning happens, and capitalizing on that knowledge to make learning stick. She also spends a lot of time explaining how and why to help students who may be dealing with poverty, racism, and other life challenges feel safe enough in their classroom that they can focus on learning. And that doesn't mean physically safe, as in using metal detectors; it means making sure that students don't experience microaggressions, that their life experiences are validated, and that they're made to feel capable as an equal partner in their learning.
I had a few small but persistent frustrations with this book. One was that Hammond repeats "facts" that have either been disproved or are true in a specific, limited context that's not mentioned, such as that 70% of communication is nonverbal or we can only hold seven pieces of information in our heads. She also casually references a number of different people (researchers or education leaders) and classroom techniques (like "Three on a Pencil") with the assumption that the reader knows who/what they are. Maybe most readers, if they're classroom teachers or school leaders, would recognize all the names and terms she references, but I did not. Finally, the book is just poorly edited on a sentence level, with a lot of missing commas and non-parallel sentence construction where I had to read things multiple times to understand them. This may have been a fluke of the Kindle version — which I don't recommend anyway because all of the tables are embedded as tiny graphics.
On the whole, this is a very strong guide to culturally responsive teaching that's grounded in extensive research and brain science. I would highly recommend it for all educators.
sarahilliger's review
I appreciate the emphasis on the fact that tapping into the background knowledge of all students is essential not only to make lessons relevant and interesting, but also because that's what students' brains need in order to remember the material and make sense of it. If we use stories and lessons that are always based on the same set of background knowledge, the same students will always succeed.
daschneider's review
5.0
If you teach, read this book. If you are white and work with anyone of another race, read this book. If you are middle class or above and ever interact with anyone in the working class or working poor, read this book. If you have read Buddha's Brain and want to know how to apply it to ed work, read this book. If you are working on mindfulness, read this book. If you want to build productive relationships with students so they can learn more with you and succeed in college and/or career, read this book. If your students ever make you feel angry, stressed, disappointed, or like you're losing hope, read this book. If you want or need to be a more effective teacher of every single one of your students, read this book.
mikolee's review
4.0
Excellent break down of culturally responsive teaching and specifically the impact on the brain.
dungeonmasterteacher's review
5.0
This book was genuinely useful. It provides practical guidelines and strategies as well as neurological explanations behind them. There's a focus on applying this to diverse groups, but pretty much everything in this book would be best practice even if all your students were clones. There were several good reminders about how to structure lessons and increase engagement, as well as an emphasis on including and celebrating your students' backgrounds and cultures. I found this very helpful.
sarahjuanablack's review
4.0
Really informative and eye-opening read, and definitely a book to keep on my teacher’s shelf. I was a bit confused in some of the middle chapters so it’s bound to be a reread, but I like how Hammond scaffolds rather than directs us in our teaching practices.
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