diverse communities. Have discussions amongst students about individual differences. While recognizing students' uncertainties about identities that are unfamiliar, promote the importance of curiosity and answer questions they have about different identities when possible. Center the discussion around not only physical characteristics of students and their families, but also family types. Invite any families who are available to come to class for students to see and learn about differences. Family history research encourages students interview family members and learn about familial cultural influences on their own lives. Documenting interviews in reflective writing helps students to explore their beliefs and cultural assumptions. Meta-reflection through these activities is very important to student learning, about themselves and their peers. Students may choose to write about their cultural identity and its connection with their educational experiences, or they may choose to look at a different culture altogether, which they have learned about from a peer. Learning about new cultures through this activity can be very engaging for students. Additional strategies for culturally relevant or responsive teaching are as follows: Create a positive learning environment: attentive skills, teaching skills, and teacher/student interaction (Radical Pedagogy, 2003). Utilize a diverse curriculum (Gollnick and Chinn, 2013). Know, understand, and work with families that come from different race and ethnicities (Gonzalez-Mena and Pulido-Tobiassen, 1999). Expose children to role models from their own culture as well as those from other cultures (Gonzalez-Mena and Pulido-Tobiassen, 1999). Utilize student's cultures to help them learn the subjects and skills taught in school (Gollnick and Chinn, 2013). Start teaching multi-cultural education to students at an early age (Russel, 2007). Use literacy and children's books in the classroom to promote culturally relevant teaching. By using texts that have characters of all different backgrounds, students can easily learn about new cultures (Ladson-Billings, 1992). Maintaining relationships Gloria Ladson-Billings has several research projects and articles where she interviewed educators at diverse schools. She mainly focused on low socioeconomic schools. After identifying several exceptional teachers in public schools in low-socioeconomic, mostly African American school districts, Ladson-Billings spent time observing and trying to explain their success with students who are typically pushed to the margins by public education, finding that all of the teachers shared pride in and commitment to their profession and had an underlying belief that all children could be successful. The participating teachers maintained relationships with their students that were "fluid and equitable" and often attended community events