Diversity - Culturally Responsive Classroom

Culturally Responsive Teaching

By Dr. Melinda ButlerLewis Clark State College

What is Culture?

“Culture is the “glue” that binds a group of people together”Douglas-Brown, 1994

“Culture is an elusive construct that shifts constantly over time and according to who is perceiving and interpreting it.Linda Harklau

Culture is central to learningIt plays a role in conveying and receiving information.

It plays a role in shaping the thinking process.

MULTICULTURALWHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Three Levels of CultureConcrete: This is the most visible and tangible level of culture, and includes the most surface-level dimensions such as clothes, music, food, games, etc. These aspects of culture are often those which provide the focus for multicultural "festivals" or "celebrations.”

Behavioral: This level of culture clarifies how we define our social roles, the language we speak, and our approaches to nonverbal communication. The Behavioral level REFLECTS our values. Aspects to be listed in this category include language, gender roles, family structure, political affiliation, and other items that situation us organizationally in society.

Symbolic: This level of culture includes our values and beliefs. It can be abstract, but it is most often the key to how individuals define themselves. It includes values systems, customs, spirituality, religion, worldview, beliefs, mores, etc.

Hidalgo, N. 1993. Multicultural teacher introspection. In Perry, T. and Fraser, J. (Eds.) Freedom's Plow: Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom. New York: Routledge.

How Do YOU Define Yourself?Concrete Behavioral Symbolic

What is your focus as you teach Multiculturally?Concrete Behavioral Symbolic

How Has Education Generally Tried to Be “Multicultural”?What are the aspects or dimensions of culture that are often the focus of classrooms trying to be “multicultural”?

Is it consistent with how we know people want to be defined?

What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?

Validating – Comprehensive – MultidimensionalEmpowering -- Transformative – Emancipatory

Culturally Responsive Teaching…..

Uses Cultural Knowledge, Prior Experiences and Performance Styles of Diverse Students to make learning more appropriate and effective for them

It Teaches to the Strengths of Students

It Acknowledges the legitimacy of cultural heritages of different ethnic groups represented in the classroom and how this affects student dispositions, attitudes, and approaches to learning

Validating

It builds bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experiences developing positive perspectives on Parents and Families.

It uses a wide variety of Instructional Strategies that are connected to different learning styles – Maintaining HIGH Expectations for ALL!

It creates an environment that encourages and embraces cultural heritages – teaching students to value their own and each other’s cultural heritage.

It incorporates multicultural information, resources, and materials in all the subjects and skills routinely taught in schools

Comprehensive

It teaches to the WHOLE ChildStudent Centered

Sets High Expectations

Culturally responsive teachers realize not only the importance of academic achievement, but also the maintaining of cultural identity and heritage (Gay, 2000).

MultidimensionalInvolving

• Curriculum Content

• Learning Context

• Classroom Climate

• Student-Teacher Relationships

• Instructional Techniques

• Performance Assessments

Incorporating - Integrating

Diverse Ways of

Knowing

Understanding

Representing Information

EmpoweringEmpowerment =academic competence, self-efficacy, and initiative.

Students’ strength in one subject area will support new learning in another

Teachers must demonstrate ambitious and appropriate expectations and exhibit support for students in their efforts toward academic achievement.

Challenge students to develop higher order knowledge and skills

This can be done through attribution retraining, providing resources and personal assistance, modeling positive self-efficacy beliefs, and celebrating individual and collective accomplishments (Gay, 2000)

Transformative

It appreciates the existing strengths and accomplishments of all students and develops them further in instruction.

Respects the cultures and experiences of various groups and then uses these as resources for teaching and learning

Banks (1991) asserts that if education is to empower marginalized groups, it must be transformative.

Emancipatory

Culturally responsive teaching is liberating

This freedom results in improved achievement of many kinds, including increased concentration on academic learning tasks.

Asante, 1991/1992; Au, 1993; Erickson, 1987; Gordon,

1993; Lipman, 1995; Pewewardy, 1994; Philips, 1983

This freedom results in improved achievement of many kinds, including increased concentration on academic learning tasks.

Other improved achievements can include: clear and insightful thinking; more caring, concerned, and humane interpersonal skills; better understanding of interconnections among individual, local, national, ethnic, global, and human identities; and acceptance of knowledge as something to be continuously shared, critiqued, revised, and renewed

Chapman, 1994; M. Foster, 1995; Hollins, 1996; Hollins, King, & Hayman, 1994; Ladson-Billings, 1992, 1994, 1995a and 1995b; Lee, 1993; Lee & Slaughter-Defoe, 1995.

What are OUR Responsibilities as

Educators in a Culturally Responsive Classroom?To Create a POSITIVE Environment in the Classroom where ALL Students have the opportunity to be successful

To Cultivate a climate of Respect and Dignity for ALL in the classroom

To Be an agent of change

What is Diversity Really About?

DIFFERENCES ?

Or SIMILARITIES?Within the Context of Uniqueness of Each Person?

How are We Different?

How are We Alike?

How Do We Celebrate Diversity?And Create a Culturally Responsive Classroom….

Diverse Learners

Studies have shown that the use of Best Practices in teaching is a significant factor in closing the achievement gap that persist by race/ethnicity, socio-economics, language, and disability

Best PracticesSimplified

DEMONSTRATION OF HIGH EXPECTATIONS

ESTABLISHMENT OF CARING RELATIONSHIPS

IMPLEMENTATION OF CULTURALLY RELEVANT INSTRUCTION

PARENT AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

High Expectations

Expectations are internal processes that arise from our belief systems and values

Low teacher expectations is the MAJOR contributor to the achievement gap.

Educators must be willing to explore our beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions that lead to low expectations and accept responsibility for the influence they have on student learning.

High Expectations1. Students are taught challenging, rigorous curriculum in ways that capitalize on the strengths of their learning style.

2. Students receive praise for their effort to foster motivation to and responsibility for their own learning.

3. Talk in the school reflects the belief that “all children can learn to high levels.” Children are believed to be “at-promise,” not at-risk.

4. Teachers demonstrate persistence in their efforts to help students meet standards by changing instructional approaches to meet the needs of each student.

5. Teachers provide equitable opportunities for students to respond and participate.

6. Provide ample wait time for thinking and responding.

7. Teachers provide specific and timely feedback to students about their work.

8. Students are asked high-level, open-ended questions that require them to interpret, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate

Implementation of Culturally Relevant

InstructionCulturally relevant instruction includes

using the language and understandings that students have acquired in their families and communities to bridge the gap between what students know and are able to do and what they need to learn in school.

incorporating the everyday issues and concerns of families and the community into curriculum and instruction.

actively engaging students in the learning process.

using equitable grouping practices.

Culturally Relevant Instruction

Cooperative Learning

Consistently shown to be an effective teaching strategy in diverse learning environments.

Cooperative learning provides learners with essential opportunities to use language in meaningful, purposeful, and interesting ways, build self-esteem and self-confidence, and develop academic, communication, and social skills.

Capitalize on the funds of knowledge in families and the community

Funds of knowledge refer to the practical and intellectual knowledge and skills found among the social networks in students’ homes and communities.

When this knowledge is untapped and used to plan and deliver instruction, it becomes a social and intellectual resource for teachers.

Cognitively guided instruction

Teaching cognitive strategies scaffolds instruction for students and enables them to self-monitor learning and to know how to navigate successfully through difficult learning situations

Technology-enriched instruction

In technology -enriched instruction teachers use multimedia and other technology to facilitate student learning through active engagement.

Multimedia facilitates auditory skill development of English language learners by integrating visual and auditory input.

Instructional conversations

• Instructional conversations are extended dialogues between teachers and students for the purpose of developing students’ language and thinking skills and to guide the learning process.

• These interactive discussions provide teachers with essential opportunities to know students, assess their learning, and to contextualize instruction to meet students’ academic needs and base of experience.

Establishment of Caring Relationships

• In effective classrooms the strengths of every student are recognized, respected, and valued as students and teachers share the roles of expert, researcher, teacher, and learner.

Parent and Community Involvement

• Parent and community involvement in schools has long been linked as having a positive effect on student achievement.

• Recent studies indicate that effective home-school partnerships increase grades, test scores, attendance, graduation rates, post-secondary enrollments, and homework completion.

“No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.”Dr. James P. Coomer

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