Validate, Affirm, Build & Bridge
Cultivating a CLR
Learning Environment
What is VABB?
Being culturally responsive means that you plan to validate, affirm, build, and bridge your students (or people in general) when you talk to them, in how you relate to them, and in how you teach them. We all have different cultural behaviors based on who we are and how we got here.Â
We want everyone to understand and know when to use the most appropriate cultural and linguistic behaviors for any situation, without losing who they are culturally and linguistically.
Validate & Affirm:
Make culturally and linguistically legitimate and positive, that which has been illegitimate and negative by the institution of education and mainstream media; understanding the complexity of culture and the many forms it takes (including age, gender, and social class), which will then create opportunities for making meaningful experiences in school.
Build & Bridge:
The cultural knowledge that needs to be developed and connected to academic use, within the school context, after students’ cultures have been validated and affirmed.
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London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom with an amount of about 9 million people. It is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city with a rich history, a diverse culture, and a multitude of landmarks and attractions. Some of the city's most iconic landmarks include Big Ben, the Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace. London is also home to a wide range of museums, galleries, theaters, and parks.

Moscow is the political, economic, and cultural center of Russia, with a very population of over twelve million people. It is a city with a long and rich history, dating back over 850 years. The Moscow city is home to a number of iconic landmarks and cultural attractions, such as the Kremlin, Red Square, and the Bolshoi Theater. Moscow is also known for its vibrant nightlife and dining scene, with a wide range of restaurants, bars, and clubs.

Welcome to New York City the most populous city in the United States and is a global hub of commerce, finance, art, and entertainment. It is located in the northeastern United States and is made up of five boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island. The city is home to numerous iconic landmarks and attractions, such as the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and Times Square.

Welcome to New York City the most populous city in the United States and is a global hub of commerce, finance, art, and entertainment. It is located in the northeastern United States and is made up of five boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island. The city is home to numerous iconic landmarks and attractions, such as the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and Times Square.
Becoming VABBulous in the Classroom
BeYou
The explicit validation and affirmation of your students, around their cultural behaviors, is the key to CLR. VA-ing your students triggers the building and bridging and by extension, your students buy-in to being situationally appropriate. Your VA has to be intentional and purposeful, consistent and authentic, and proactive and reactive (i.e., using teachable moments). When do your students have the opportunity to be who they are in the instructional context? BeYou is the acronym that I share with teachers to actively encourage their students to view their cultural and linguistic behaviors as assets and not liabilities, in school.
BeYou, as a concept, is a challenge to us all to ensure that students can be who they are at school. It is a direct rebuttal to the often used SLANT protocol (Sit up tall, Listen, Ask questions, Nod your head, and Track the teacher) that has become ubiquitous in schools. Note that there are many variations of SLANT. We want students to BeYou (VA) and to SLANT (BB) situationally. As it stands now, the use of SLANT is imbalanced when looking through a CLR lens. Its overemphasis on the alignment with school cultural behaviors and expectations can be limiting or detrimental to efforts to embrace students’ home cultures. BeYou is not meant to counter efforts to build and bridge toward situational appropriateness; it is intended to create more structured opportunities at school for students to be themselves culturally and linguistically.
RESOURCES
Be Apart of the CLR Community
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