Culturally Responsive Teaching

Culturally responsive teaching is an approach that "empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes." (Ladson-Billings, 2014).

We can look at culturally responsive teaching through two lenses: culturally responsive pedagogy as well as critical pedagogy.

Responsive pedagogy goes beyond educators striving to make their classrooms a diverse, inclusive, and safe space for their students. It also seeks to remove the biases and barriers that our education system has held for generations. Barriers in relation to ethnicity, race, gender, socio-economic status, sexuality, ability, language, and family structure.

Removing these barriers is no easy feat and has proven to be a challenge for many educators and institutions. Part of the issue stems from the fact that some educators do not come from these backgrounds. They struggle to know what the next step is to break down these systemic barriers. Or they feel as though they cannot discuss these barriers because there is the "fear of getting it wrong". Through my experiences as a new teacher, and one that identifies as a female BIPOC in education, I have learned that it is just as upsetting to witness an educator who does not acknowledge these barriers or consider how they are affecting their students and community.

This month, I am completing my Primary ABQ certification. We are also looking at culturally responsive educators, and how to meet the needs of all learners. We were asked to recall a time in our schooling when we felt included, engaged, appreciated, and validated in the learning process. Then, we were asked to consider a time when we felt invalidated, excluded, and alienated from the learning process. For me, both experiences occurred during post-secondary education. While I am proud to return to my alma mater for my third degree, I will never forget the hurt and anguish I felt, being so incredibly underrepresented and misunderstood in my own programs. This continued when I stepped out into the workforce. Even though the student demographic at the high school I taught at was diverse in comparison to what I experienced in university, I realized that these experiences were far from over. Not just for my students but for me as well.

Over the course of my next few posts, I hope to research some strategies to get started with culturally responsive teaching in the classroom. Breaking down these barriers is not something that can be done overnight. It starts with our own personal biases and reflecting on the ways that we look at the world. This approach is a practice that we need to constantly be working on. Today, tomorrow, and always.

References

Gloria Ladson-Billings (2014). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the Remix. Harvard Educational Review: April 2014, Vol. 84, No. 1, pp. 74-84.

Toronto, April 2022