Culturally Responsive Practices That Support PK-12 Student Social-Emotional Learning
Every student brings with them a complex set of social and cultural experiences that inform their behavior within the school and classroom community. Teachers and school leaders who implement culturally responsive practices and positive behavioral supports create school and classroom environments where students feel empowered to take responsibility for their behavior and learning—whether it’s a remote, hybrid, or in-person setting. This panel discussion facilitated by Dr. Vicky Karahalios addresses:
- What it means to implement culturally responsive practices and positive behavioral supports in PK-12 school and classroom contexts
- Ways to respond to disruptive student behavior and repair classroom and school communities with restorative justice practices
- Tactics to validate and affirm each student
- Strategies to build relationships, engage, and collaborate with young children's caretaker(s)
Speakers
Vicky Karahalios is a bilingual school psychologist at Winston Campus Junior High within Community Consolidated School District 15 in Palatine, Illinois. In her role, she is involved in systematically supporting student needs across all tiers of PBIS, and further leads efforts at the universal tier 1 level as a co-coach of the school's Climate & Culture Team. Dr. Karahalios is an adjunct professor at National Louis University and teaches classes within the school psychology and special education departments. Additionally, she practices as a licensed clinical psychologist within the Chicagoland community.
Sarai Redmond is an artist, educator, and Restorative Justice (RJ) Practitioner from Chicago. She comes from a community organizing background, where she was first introduced to RJ and has been coaching on RJ with Alternatives Inc. for two years. Sarai brings a Black feminist and abolitionist lens to this work and sees it as a tool of both individual and community transformation.
Miguel Rodriguez leads the Restorative Justice (RJ) team that facilitates youth leadership development programs and RJ capacity building in over 20 schools and community organizations every year. Miguel joined Alternatives, Inc. in 2016 and quickly became a highly effective Restorative Practices Coach. As a supervisor, he led the coaching team in developing rigorous coaching techniques, interactive formative assessments, and our team coaching model, which is based on the premise that Restorative Practices are more likely to be sustained with fidelity when school staff learn as a team to support each other's development even after the coach is gone. Born and raised in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, Miguel brings a deep knowledge of the communities we serve.
Harry Ross, Associate Professor of English Education in NLU’s Secondary Education Program, has taught high school and college literature and writing, received a Distinguished Teaching Award from Northwestern University’s College of Continuing Studies, and co-authored a book, 13 Steps to Teacher Empowerment. He has presented nationally on teacher leadership, multicultural literature, and urban teacher preparation. Most recently, he wrote the opening chapter of Building and Maintaining Collaborative Communities: Schools, University, and Community Organizations.
Lee Tate is an Assistant Professor in the Early Childhood department and is the Program Coordinator for the Teach For America partnership at NLU. Lee has been in the field of Early Childhood Education since 1994. His experience as an educator includes titles such as teacher of prekindergarten through primary grade levels, Education Coordinator, Disabilities Coordinator, Curriculum Specialist, Director of Education, cooperating teacher, new teacher mentor, adjunct professor, and Educational Consultant. He has also written and presented many professional development trainings for teachers of children from birth to age eight.
Additional Resources
- Classroom Management - What Does Research Tell Us
- Culturally Responsive Questions
- Culturally Responsive Teaching
- Effective Classroom Management
- Effective Classroom Management and Positive Teaching
- Positive Discipline as Part of Effective Classroom Management
