"The humble recognition of our own ignorance is the beginning of wisdom.” (Christou, 2008).
To summarize my research findings, culturally responsive pedagogy is more than just getting to know our students, their cultural, and ancestral background on a surface level. Understanding that our students bring different lived experiences and values is something to be cherished and appreciated, both inside and outside of the classroom. Rather than viewing our students’ backgrounds as challenges, we need to adopt a teaching pedagogy and practice that responds to their learning styles through a curriculum that represents them. Educators need to reflect frequently on their biases, understandings, and learnings. “Pedagogical assumptions that are unchallenged and unwarranted, similarly, are monuments to ignorance … Educational modesty entails realizing and acknowledging the limited scope of our understanding.” (Christou, 2008).
As I have researched, taking an innovative and creative inquiry-based approach is the key to making this accessible for students. The 21st Century Classroom aims to integrate technology, foster opportunities for creative expression, use problem solving methodology, reflect and use metacognitive learning practices, and encourages the teacher to act as a facilitator. (Goertz, 2015). But in order for our students to achieve all this, they must first feel safe and supported so that they can express themselves freely and achieve academic success. If we do not foster this learning environment, students will not feel a sense of belonging or feel encouraged to be present in the learning. Educators must come from a place of empathy and understand that there will be generational differences between us and our students. “Digital Age students are profoundly different than those who graduated only 10 to 15 years ago ... Student brains are different than those of their teachers, administrators, parents and employers – most of whom graduated before the digital age. To harness their current gifts – gifts deemed necessary to compete in the global economy – we must change how we educate on every level.” (Kelly et al., 2008).
Furthermore, the generational gap also applies for teacher education programs, which in my opinion, has made some progress in curriculum and teaching practices, but still has immense room for improvement. “Society has evolved; education needs a revolution. Teacher education … [is] called to abandon “traditional” notions of teaching and learning. Teachers who serve as mentors for teacher candidates are the exemplars of tradition. The implication is clear: professional development should concentrate on technology, and educational institutions should “rush” to embed technological resources into their infrastructure. Thus, the generational gap is not only one that separates specially-evolved children who are in the classroom today from their teachers, but it also divides teacher candidates from practicing teachers.” (Christou, 2016). This particular quote resonated with me, as seen in my practicum experiences I described in my “Fear and Learning” post.
Embracing new shifts in pedagogy and having these conversations is the first step to dismantling systemic racism in education. But we cannot approach them with a sense of entitlement or hubris. “We live in a world of ideas, rather than of facts. These ideas are elusive and mutable. They need be approached humbly. Arrogance in pedagogical orientation is dangerous. It limits reflexivity. Educators, who assume to know and venture to teach, do so blindly.” (Christou, 2016).
There is no straightforward answer or simple solution to my research question. But we must be open to learning and mindful that like many things in education, culturally responsive teaching is a work in progress. We must strive to know what it is that we do not know. Let us embark on this journey of lifelong learning and be a positive change for our future leaders of tomorrow.
References
Christou, T.M. (2016). 21st- century learning, educational reform, and tradition: Conceptualizing professional development in a progressive age. Teacher Learning and Professional Development, 1(1), 61–72.
Christou, T.M. (2008). Satan or socrates: the perils of excessive pride in pedagogy. Encounters in Theory and History of Education, 9, 175–181. https://doi.org/10.24908/eoe-ese-rse.v9i0.1746
Goertz, P. (2015, February 27). 10 signs of a 21st century classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved August 8, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/10-signs-21st-century-classroom
Kelly, F., McCain, T., & Jukes, I. (2008). Teaching the digital generation: No more cookie-cutter high schools. Education for the 21st Century: Here, Now and Into the Future, 47(02). https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.47-1000
Kingston, October 2020
Comments