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Ticket Offers Toward a more culturally responsive classroom I
went to elementary school with many other Lao students and we
were able to speak Lao and play Lao games during recess;
however, teachers who were not culturally responsive stigmatized
maintaining that part of my identity. They operated from within
their realm of knowing, one that was often upholding the status
quo. What I’m trying to say is my schooling experience was
negative because of the lack of culturally responsive practices.
We need to develop learning environments in which our kids can
be valued, empowered, and supported. We can achieve that, in
part, through culturally responsive teaching practices. I come
from a time when all students were from Southeast Asia were
aggregated and lumped into English as a Second Language (ESL)
program. While I think that ESL programs were intended to serve
the best interests of the student under the guise that having a
better understanding of Eng