Other thoughts...just because I currently have no ELLs in my classroom, I should not think that the CREDE standards do not apply to my situation. In reviewing the standards and Dr. Garcia's 5 R's and 1T, I realize that there are many strategies that I can utilize to ensure that my students are receiving the education that they deserve and that they have the feeling of "belonging". The standards relate to all not just culturally diverse students. I need to reevaluate my teaching strategies and try to implement the CREDE standards and incorporate Dr. Garcia's strategies.

CREDE-Blog

A little background about where and what I teach: I teach business and computer application courses at a very small school in southeastern Ohio. Our school is one of the poorest school districts in the state of Ohio. On a daily basis we deal more with socioeconomics than anything else. Currently we have no ELLs.

The assignment for me relates more to how I can maximize learning for my students more so than ELLs due to not having ELLs in my school district. In reviewing the CREDE standards and Dr. Garcia's characteristics of culturally responsive teaching I noted that my strengths from the assessment checklist for culturally responsive teaching practices would be:

• participating with students in joint productive activity
• monitoring and supporting student collaboration in a positive way
• listening to students talk about familiar topics such as home and community
• provide frequent opportunities for students to interact with each other and the teacher during instructional activities
• listening carefully to assess levels of student understanding

Some of my weaknesses would include:

• providing more challengin activities for students to complete
• designing instructional tasks that advance student understanding to move complex levels
• planing jointly with students to design community-based learning activities
• providing opportunities for parents and families to participate in classroom instructional activities

I believe that I am a really good listener. My students know that I care about them. I am always available to discuss their concerns or their triumphs. I believe that I show them and their parents respect. As Dr. Garcia stated, "children learn to see themselves as others see them." I believe that I treat my students the way that I would want to be treated and the way that I would want my children to be treated by others. I believe this is very important in my school because many of my students feel as if they have very little to look forward to in the future. Self-esteem is very low. I try to show them that their opinions matter and that they "belong." From doing so I feel that is boosts their confidence and gives them the extra motivation to accomplish goals that they have set.

Some things I need to work on would be to make lessons more challenging so students will push themselves and utilize higher level thinking skills. In some of my classes, I feel that I am providing challenging lessons; however, on an overall basis I don't believe that I am utilizing this approach as it should be. Another area that also would need improvement would be becoming more involved with the community. It would be great to work with students to design a community-based learning activity. This would work very well in my business courses. I believe that it would be very interesting and fulfilling to work with the community. It is definitely something that I will work to accomplish.

I know that I have a long way to go to effectively implement all of the CREDE standards; however, I do believe that I have effectively implemented standards #1 and #5. I will be working to effectively implement all other standards into my classroom.