“More than a motivational tool, culturally responsive teaching is a serious and powerful tool for accelerating student learning.”

Hammond establishes the relevance of culturally responsive teaching and explains its connection to neuroscience. Culturally responsive teaching is an attempt to challenge the brain into rigorous thinking and learning.

“Language is powerful. When you are able to name a thing, it moves out of the realm of mystery into concreteness.”

Hammond argues that explicitly naming culturally responsive teaching removes its abstract mystique, bringing it to the necessary forefront of academic discourse.

“One of the goals of education is not simply to fill students with facts and information but to help them learn how to learn.”

Throughout the book, Hammond argues against rote memorization and passive input, which are unaligned with the goals of education. Students must be guided towards metacognition, which “includes a critical awareness of a) one’s thinking and learning and b) oneself as a thinker and learner” (Chick, Nancy. “Metacognition.” Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, 2013).