Speaking out and standing up for kids

Velma Johnson’s parents taught her always to seek and take advantage of educational opportunities. She took their wisdom to heart early on and never let it go. Education became—and remains—her passion.

Thus there is particular conviction in her voice as she says that, when a child does not finish school, “It’s not okay to shrug and say we lost another one. It means we have failed our kids. We need to show them there is a way back.”

For more than three decades, Johnson helped show kids a way back as a teacher, principal, and administrator with Portland Public Schools. She retired from the school district three years ago, but her work wasn’t finished. She enrolled in the first cohort to pursue a doctorate in educational leadership at the Graduate School of Education and Counseling. They named their cohort Endurance, and she earned her degree this year.

She focused her doctoral research on the relationship between cultural practices and student learning. Her own experiences and her research confirm her belief that culturally responsive teaching connects with students in powerful ways, helping all children become excited about learning and achieve academic success.

“When teachers use cultural knowledge, frames of reference, and experiences that are familiar to their students, and incorporate these experiences into their teaching, then students see themselves and their lives as part of the educational process, as being valued. They not only realize they can learn, they are eager and hungry to learn.”

Now, she says, “I want to help teachers develop ways to discover the cultures and values of their students, and to connect what’s happening in the lives of their students to what they want to teach their students.”

So Johnson is reshaping that core lesson from her parents into a legacy for her children, grandchildren, and indeed all of us: Every moment is teachable. Every child can learn. Every child can succeed.

In her own words

Velma Johnson on the transformative power of culturally responsive teaching

• I’m talking about a means of teaching and learning that includes everyone in a respectful and effective way.
• Our responsibility is to help children learn to respect, honor, and care about every culture in the classroom.
• Teachers have to work to find out what’s important. The more cultures there are in their classroom, the harder they have to work. Getting into the community helps you discover its values. It’s not easy, but it is rewarding.
• Teachers are very creative. They’ll find ways to pull diversity together into a symphony.
• Together we can move culturally responsive teaching into the mainstream of educational practices to achieve democracy in education.