My latest piece at Edutopia explores cultural competence:

The act of listening is perhaps the most underrated skill there is in education. As teachers, we are often asked to “do” a lot more than necessary: memorize standards, plan lessons, prepare for various assessments, call homes, provide a warm environment for our students (and visitors), attend faculty meetings with varying effectiveness and relevance, grade mounds of papers, and take what little time we have left to eat and sleep, usually less than we should.

Yet, with the laundry list of things that teachers do, check for, and assess, we might be better off staying still and letting students tell us more about what they need.

Read more here. Share and share alike. Let me know what you think as well. Thanks!