When it comes to culturally responsive teaching, it is worth noting that teachers do not have to explicitly mention race or reference culture during every lesson. (Ruckner, N.W., 2019). Rather, culturally responsive teaching is about making sure that all your students are participating, practices are not targeted at minority students, and students have a diverse set of cultural learning tools. This is not to say that educators should never have these difficult conversations with their students, but it is less so about utilizing racial pride as a motivator, and more so about consistently incorporating and celebrating students’ cultural learning styles and tools.
Teachers should be considering what type of material they are presenting in the classroom. What books are the students reading? What music, analogies, and media are you showing to the class? Do students see themselves represented in the material? Fostering a safe, student-centered space will be achieved when students can answer the question: “How will we be together?” (Rucker, 2019).
No group of students are going to be the same, and it is essential for educators to take the time to reflect on their curriculum, classroom, students, and their own personal bias and views. They have to consider their past and current practices and be willing to put in the work. We must provide the sociopolitical context schools operate in, for our students to understand the system. This means breaking down decades of educational system histories and philosophies, challenging those depictions, and using those understandings to move forward and create a more inclusive classroom environment.
Meaningful methodology not only effectively meets students needs, it encourages them, holds them to high expectations, and invites student collaboration. (Singhal, M., & Gulati, S., 2021). Examples of collaboration include; providing opportunities for discussion, experiential learning, inquiry-based learning and assessment. Culturally responsive teaching not only bridges the gap between teacher and student, it breaks down student achievement barriers. Even for those students who may not feel connected to their culture, we are creating learning opportunities for all students to understand and honour the differences of their classmates. By applying these classroom strategies on the daily and continuing to reflect on our own practices, we are valuing each student’s behaviours, beliefs, and all the characteristics that make them unique.
References
Rucker, N. W. (2019, December 10). Getting Started With Culturally Responsive Teaching. Edutopia. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/getting-started-culturally-responsive-teaching
Singhal, M., & Gulati, S. (2021, March 25). Five Essential Strategies to Embrace Culturally Responsive Teaching: Faculty Focus, Magna Publications. Retrieved July 18, 2022, from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/equality-inclusion-and-diversity/five-essential-strategies-to-embrace-culturally-responsive-teaching/#:~:text=Culturally%20responsive%20teaching%20is%20an,Ladson%2DBillings%2C%202014).
Toronto, February 2022
Hi Lilac,
I completely agree with your main points that students need to see themselves represented in the curriculum! I come from a small town that lacks diversity, so it's also really important for students to see diverse peoples represented along with themselves. The more we show diversity in our curriculum, the more "normal" students will see diversity as, and the less hostile they may become when diversity is showcased. For example, during Black History Month, one of my students asked why we don't have a White History Month. I hope that by making diversity celebrations more frequent, students won't see it as such an unusual thing to incorporate diversity into their learning and won't feel the need to ask…