Introduction

Ms. Lombardo took the time to get to know me. She would talk to me about the books I was reading to connect with me. I gradually began to feel safe around her. I still don't know how she was able to see the loneliness that so many before her had failed to notice, but I do know that she was determined to make it right. She was committed to being that one person in my life who I could rely on and confide in.

-Anonymous Youth Communication teen writer, from the story "My Teacher Saved Me from Solitude"

THERE'S AN adage that says that you can't teach what you don't know. While the origins of the quote appear to be unknown, the idea is that effective teachers must know their subject matter.

But knowing your subject matter is just one element of good teaching. I wrote this book because I believe you also can't teach WHO you don't know.

Over the past few decades, researchers in education and psychology have found convincing evidence that learning is also strongly influenced by students' sense of who they are and their beliefs in their ability to learn. It is also influenced by their experiences at home and their level of cognitive and emotional development. This research has important implications for how we prepare teachers to enter the field and how we support them during their careers. It helps us rethink our notions of what it means to be an effective teacher. Yes, we need to know our subject matter. But getting to know students is also crucial to our effectiveness as educators.

I'm a developmental psychologist. Over the past 20 years, I've worked as a faculty member in the School of Education at Hunter College of the City University of New York where I support the preparation of teachers, school leaders, and counselors. During that time, I've become increasingly interested in how children's experiences inside and outside the classroom influence their learning and engagement in school. As a Black man and father of two Black sons, I've focused especially on how those experiences influence the school engagement of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) youth and other young people who may feel "unseen" in school, including LGBTQ+ students and youth who live in poverty.

As an expert in the field of child and adolescent development, I've worked as an educational consultant at the state level, and with urban, suburban, and rural school districts. My focus has been helping teachers design lessons that address students' cognitive, physical, social, and emotional needs in ways that also demonstrate an understanding of their students' lives and cultures.

One of the most rewarding features of my work with teachers and schools is talking with students about how they're experiencing school. We talk about what helps them learn and obstacles that make learning more difficult. We also discuss what makes a good teacher. I've had the opportunity to ask these questions of more than 1,000 children ranging from age 8 to 18. I've never had a child tell me that their teacher was a good teacher because they knew a lot about a subject area like math or English. What they tell me is that good teachers get to know them. They make them feel like they're cared for. They make lessons interesting and engaging by connecting them to students' lives.

It's a good sign that students expect teachers to know their subject matter. But for students, that's not enough. Good teachers do two things at once: We work to understand our students while simultaneously helping them to understand the content that we are charged with teaching.

But with the increasing ethnic, racial, and linguistic diversity in schools throughout the United States, the challenge of "knowing" our students is ever growing: It's virtually certain that we will have students in our classroom whose life experiences are very different from our own. These differences can present challenges to getting to know them. But they also present opportunities to learn about others, and ourselves, in ways that make us more effective teachers and make teaching more interesting. But what does it mean to "know" students and why is knowing students so important?

Once upon a time, many teachers and students shared similar racial, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds, which made it easier for teachers to "know" their students. That's important because academic research suggests that teachers are more effective when they have knowledge of their students' cultural backgrounds and how they develop cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally. As the evidence base has grown, the field of teacher education and professional development has increasingly emphasized the importance of developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive teaching.

For example, through its Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) framework, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) emphasizes that knowing how children develop and learn, knowing the individual needs of children, and knowing their cultural backgrounds are critical to supporting learning. Similarly, the field of Culturally Responsive Teaching has emphasized the importance of understanding students' cultural backgrounds and understanding how culture shapes their experiences in school. This research has raised awareness of the importance of designing lessons that reflect an understanding of who children are-both developmentally and culturally.

This book is grounded in the understanding that development is shaped by culture. Conversely, to teach in ways that are responsive to children's cultural backgrounds, we need to understand how they develop. Thus, we introduce the concept of Developmentally and Culturally Responsive Teaching (DCRT). That's a mouthful, but the concept is simple: DCRT applies the principles of culturally responsive teaching in ways that are responsive to the developmental needs of students. It is grounded in four tenets:

1. Our beliefs and expectations about children from backgrounds different from our own influence how we teach.
2. Enhancing our knowledge of child and adolescent development makes us more effective teachers.
3. Understanding the relationship between culture and development makes our teaching more effective.
4. Lack of awareness of how schools shape children's perceptions of themselves and their abilities makes our teaching less effective.

Developmentally and Culturally Responsive Teaching is important because when teachers have knowledge of their students they're more effective educators. That knowledge can come from many sources, including colleagues, parents, and school records, and even social science research. But the most important source is students themselves.

That's why students' voices are centered in this book. In each chapter, I summarize key social science research about youth development and culture, and I pair the research findings with true stories by young people that bring the research to life. The young people reflect on personal, developmental, and cultural experiences that influenced their learning and behavior in school. Their stories have an immediate emotional and intellectual effect. They may remind you of students you have taught. And you will learn about the feelings and experiences behind student behavior that we seldom have access to.

The diversity of experiences in the students' stories and their reflections on those experiences are vivid examples of why it's important not to assume that we understand what our students are going through. Together, the academic findings and the student testimonials make a powerful case for the value of developmentally and culturally responsive teaching.

This book will help teachers, counselors, and youth workers who want to better understand their students so they can enhance their practice. It will help administrators and policymakers create school settings that are more likely to advance student achievement. However, this is not a workbook or manual. It does not provide you with a script of everything that you need to know about teaching children from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds. Instead, it is a guide for how to develop a curious, nonjudgmental mindset that will help you: (1) break through superficial assumptions to really get to know your students; (2) see students' strengths more clearly and help them to reveal their strengths; and (3) go beyond the idea that demographic characteristics define your students' possibilities.

The book is divided into eight chapters that are designed to raise awareness, foster knowledge, and enhance teaching skills. Each chapter includes excerpts from stories by several students, plus a discussion of connections between students' experiences and educational and psychological research. And each chapter ends with ideas and resources that teachers and administrators can use to take action, called, respectively, "What Teachers Can Do," and "What Schools Can Do."

In Chapter 1, we provide an overview of Developmentally and Culturally Responsive Teaching (DCRT), explain why it's so important, and discuss resources that teachers and schools can use to enhance their knowledge of child and adolescent development.

Chapter 2 focuses on how our beliefs and assumptions about our students shape our interactions with them. It also explores ways to change negative beliefs and undo bias.

Chapter 3 examines how identity development...