Culturally Responsive Teaching - Literature review Example

Culturally Responsive Teaching Summary and Response of Culturally Responsive Teaching Summary and Response Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is important to the fabric of the American school system. Children learn easier when their classroom is culturally responsive because they feel part of the classroom instead of feeling left out. The process of learning is enhanced and all children are learning together. In most situations, children learn more about the global world through the process of learning about different cultures. This is very important because we live in a global world that provides for many cultures who come to the United States to learn and to grow. Many students come to the United States, stay, and make a living. As they enter classrooms at the K-12 and college levels, they are being trained for work; which can require more global knowledge. The aspects of this paper will provide a synopsis of three articles that are research or theory pertaining to CRT. The articles have been chosen from the university library through various academic journals. Summary of Journal Articles Kozleski (2010) begins this discussion in the article that provides information about why CRT is important. Kozleski makes the point that teachers have a responsibility to set aside their biases about certain cultures and provide opportunities for students to interact with one another. These actions, according to Kozleski, will help students stay engaged in their learning. Another important feature of a cultural classroom is that it helps children become engaged in citizenry. For teachers, this means that they begin to negotiate and facilitate instead of lecture and provide orders of what students must do. Teachers who engage in this type of classroom will take into consideration the culture that the children grow up in and will provide them with activities that promote their culture (Kozlewski, 2010). CRT classrooms allow students and teachers to engage in a variety of perspectives that promote activities from many different lenses. As an example, students may study slavery from the point of the slavers and abolitionists, and then study it from the viewpoint of slave narratives. This action would promote an important piece of the puzzle and create bridges between children and with the teacher. Kozlewski (2010) also promotes the idea of working in communities with children. She states that this takes planning and “explicit teaching around social interactions” (p. 2) which ultimately creates an environment where all students feel comfortable learning. Another important aspect of culturally responsive teaching is that it provides a way for students who do not belong to the dominant culture to show their expertise in academic as well as in other areas. This action allows children from non-dominant cultures to understand how to integrate their knowledge into the school curriculum (Kozlewski, 2010). . This in itself can be a very important way for children to learn to get along together. Kozlewski (2010) also points out that some classrooms believe they are doing culturally relevant classrooms but they are not. As an example, some classrooms assume a position of maintaining discipline. In this classroom, the children and the teacher become color-blind because all students have to adhere to the norm for discipline. Kozlewski suggests that this is the wrong way to manage a classroom because it creates rebellion in students or resistance. This makes sense in many ways, because children are taught different ways of discipline in their communities and some issues may not be understood until the student brings into their awareness the way the system wants them to respond. Kozlewski (2010) provides several ways that classrooms can become culturally responsive and the author describes a variety of ways that schools can change from singular discipline processes to a more culturally sensitive way of understanding and knowing. Another important aspect of CRT is the teacher and their ability to understand what they need to do to become culturally respective and responsive to the needs of their students. Siwatu (2011) suggests that teachers must be trained to understand why culturally responsive classrooms are important. In an explanatory mixed methods study, the author interviewed preservice teachers to ask them whether they experienced culturally responsive teaching in their preservice training and how these experiences effected them. The study was done in two parts. The first part collected quantitative data about the “self-efficacy beliefs” (p. 360) of the teachers who participated in the survey. In the second part of the study, the author conducted face-to-face interviews with a smaller sample of the 192 participants. The author states that he gave priority to the qualitative data. There were several findings that the author found. Many teachers were more comfortable performing general tasks in their classrooms that did not require an integration of culture. Many teachers found that they did not receive culturally responsive teaching methods during their education and that many of the student teacher opportunities did not happen in culturally responsive classrooms that reflected their own cultures (Siwatu, 2011). Siwatu points out that this could be the reason for the attitudes and beliefs that the preservice teachers formed. Siwatu’s study pointed to the various disparities between teachers in that many did not receive training about how to become more culturally responsive and reported they felt they had no understanding of how to proceed in this matter in their future classrooms. What was meaningful to take from the study is that those teachers who had training were more apt to have a high self-efficacy in the study than those who had not received training. Also, teachers responded that they would like to have this type of teaching to add to their knowledge base because this would have helped them prepare for teaching in the day-to-day classroom. In some respects, it would seem that these teachers were not being prepared to be culturally responsive and because of this, they lacked the opportunity to present their children with the best possible instruction. Gay (2002) provides insight into the issues of teacher effectiveness in the classroom. The major point of Gay’s article is that to be culturally responsive in the classroom, teacher’s must have an understanding of many different cultures. Also, teachers must understand different cultures, their values, learning styles and their relational patterns. These things are important so that teachers can present learning opportunities in the classroom for all students that keep them engaged in the process of learning. Gay suggests that teachers should also have an understanding of different ethnic groups and their contributions to society. Gay also makes relevant the issue that culturally responsive teaching should go beyond a small knowledge of culture and an understanding that different groups exist. Teacher knowledge should include continue across the curriculum. Gay states that many teachers feel that their match class or English class is incompatible with culturally responsive teaching. Gay states that this is a fallacy for those teachers because there are many cultures that have contributed to all school subjects; this just takes research and understanding. Gay criticizes many teachers because they have taken the little information they know is “based on superficial or distorted” information they received from the media, or through popular culture (p. 107). Gay makes another point about how teachers must be able to convert cultural issues into their curricula. Teachers must be able to see the weaknesses in the curricula they are given and substitute these weaknesses with culturally responsive material. This suggests that there are a variety of opportunities for teachers to aid their diverse classrooms so that all children stay engaged and learn. There is no doubt that literature supports the idea of culturally responsive classrooms. Part of the reason that this is important is because many people from different cultures are coming into the United States to learn and to live. Many leave a war torn country, while others just see coming to America as a way to excel. Because of this move, it is important for teachers to have an understanding how to make their classrooms culturally responsive to the needs of these new children. Brown (2007) provides information about how the United States has changed in all these ways mentioned and that there are also linguistic challenges that children face when they enter the school system. Teachers respond positively or negatively to children who are different in their classrooms and this could create more problems for children later. According to Brown, many researchers suggest that there children learn easier when the culture in the classroom is similar to the culture that the child grows up in at home. Brown (2007) also points out that teachers must have an attitude that supports various cultures in order to be effective in the classroom. Brown, like the other authors in this section, states that there are specific qualities that teachers should have in order to become culturally responsive and to provide a culturally responsive environment. There are five specific areas that Brown states should be areas for good student performance. Teachers should have an understanding of different cultural values, attitudes, and ideas. They should also be aware of their own attitudes toward different ethnicities and their practices. This awareness will help them understand their strengths and weaknesses in this area. Brown also suggests that there must be an understanding of how to weave culturally responsive aspects into the curricula, particularly in bringing the accomplishments of different cultures into the classroom. Teachers should also show the power that the curricula has to mold and shape the attitudes and values of people around them. Brown suggests that teachers should also use the concept of scaffolding that helps students increase their knowledge of other cultures and help other cultures learn within a supportive environment. In this classroom, students and teachers would work together to as partners in creating the learning within the classroom. This would mean that the teacher would be more of a facilitator in the classroom instead of lecturing the children or being the head of the class. This guidance would help students work within a framework that encouraged their different attitudes and ideas. Brown’s article provided more strategies for helping children learn in a cultural environment. This is very important so that all children are included instead of the class being geared toward only one or two cultures. This would also mean that the attitudes of some teachers would need to change in order to accommodate new cultures. In researching this topic, it seems that teachers will need to change and school systems would need to move away from the literal translation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in order to be sure that curricula can be changed. Also, teachers would need professional development opportunities through the school so they would have the tools to work across different cultures. In summary, the three articles pointed to the importance of culturally responsive teaching. They provide insight into the skills and attitudes that teachers need and provide a specific understanding of how these skills can be developed. Within the framework of the teaching process, it makes sense that teachers would come to their classrooms prepared to offer an environment where all children can learn and feel a part of the learning. Proposal for a Professional Development Workshop On Culturally Responsive Teaching For Teachers at ABC Elementary In the current working environment, ABC Elementary has been involved with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation for the last several years. During that time, we have seen our classrooms changing in many respects that we need to address. One of the areas in which we have seen changes is with the number of students coming from other countries. As you know, many children from the Middle East have entered our classrooms along with more students from Mexico, Russia and other countries. Many of our teachers are not familiar with these students and other children are not familiar with people who are coming from a more global culture. This is unfortunate and it is our hope as teachers that we need to address these issues. Within this proposal, you will find a variety of issues that are important to consider when considering professional development for our teachers. This is an essential aspect for our school so that all children feel that they are a part of the learning and so that they are able to get along better on the playground and in other classes. This proposal will highlight the needs of our teachers and provide strategies for how to bring this into play. The proposal will also present some of the challenges we have had in describing how to form the process. History of Cultures at ABC Academy As most of the board members know, we have had a long history with new cultures moving into our neighborhoods. For quite some time, the neighborhood was comprised of African America and Hispanic children. Many classrooms learned how to teach English to Spanish speaking children and teachers have some understanding of the Mexican and other Spanish cultures. Within the last five years, we have seen an influx of students from countries like Somali, Russia, and several countries from the Middle East. The teachers seem to be scrambling to understand many of these children and the classroom environment has changed and is changing. Because of these changes, many children are falling behind and they are not being served well. The standardized environment is not the best for these children and teachers become frustrated with trying to understand how to teach in such a diverse environment. In the years past, we could adjust easily to the differences in cultures because they were familiar. Today, many of the newer cultures present us with a new challenges because many of the children have linguistic challenges in addition to the other problems with learning English. How we address these differences is crucial to the success of the children and to our success as teachers. As teachers, we would like to address these issues through a workshop that teaches how to create a culturally responsive classrooms. Short Literature Review on Culturally Responsive Classrooms and their Importance As new cultures enter our neighborhood, we have been inundated with new rules and new cultural values. Many of these have been difficult to understand and sometimes children cannot speak the language well or they may exhibit behaviors that we do not understand. This has created a need for a more culturally based understanding. According to Colbert (2010) “culture is integral to the learning process” (p. 15) because it is one of the ways that people communicate with each other. We cannot assume that all children must learn and do as we do in the American culture. There will be a time for that, but we have to be able to integrate the cultures together within the classroom setting to make learning comfortable for all students. Colbert also says that culturally responsive teachers are not only socio-cultural, but they have adopted the attitude that all cultures must be valued in the learning environment. This attitude goes beyond just understanding diversity; it means that teachers are willing to create an environment where children from many different backgrounds will feel comfortable learning. Savage et al. (2011) agree that teachers who attend to the cultures in their classroom have a better learning experience for everyone. The authors created a study in New Zealand and found that those teachers who received professional development in how to become culturally responsive teachers, were better able to set their classrooms for the acceptance of all cultures. Culturally responsive classrooms allow a stronger working relationship between teacher and student and builds the confidence in students who may otherwise have felt they did not belong in their classrooms (Savage et al., 2011). Bondy, Ross and Gallingane (2007) state that culturally responsive classrooms have a different kind of management than other classrooms. In fact, there have been cases where children may act out in one classroom, but be perfectly behaved in a different class with a different teacher. The reason for this is that teachers have a specific way that they feel children should behave in their classrooms and these ways are created by the cultures where they reside. Depending on how the individual teacher understands behavior as positive or negative, as defiant or as compliant, can create problems within the classroom and pit teacher against student. In a culturally responsive classroom, teachers create a bond with students and help them learn different types of behaviors. Within these classrooms, children are taught how to behave in a respectful manner that does not create conflict between student and teacher. Baskerville (2009) studied the relationship between European teachers and the Maori race in New Zealand. The European teachers were provided with professional development to help them understand the Maori and how to integrate their culture into the classroom. Although this was a foreign race to most of these teachers, but once they understood the culture and changed their attitudes from seeing a deficit in the Maori, and accepted their contribution to the classroom, teachers reported that there was a richness in their classrooms. Also, the teachers found new ways of teaching which expanded what they had known in the past. It is our hope that through the process of professional development, our teachers will also find new ways of teaching to enhance their cultural classrooms. Also, they will understand that by creating a culturally responsive classroom, they will be able to enhance the learning of all students. Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies Teaching in a culturally responsive classroom is different that teaching in a classroom with only one race or ethnicity. There are many teaching strategies that have been shown to create a more positive atmosphere than others. The proposed workshop will have two parts. The first part will discuss culturally responsive teaching strategies. The topics for discussion include: Definition of cultural responsive classrooms – this topic sets the stage for our teachers to understand the definition of responsive classrooms and what we are asking them to do. Teacher competencies – Because most cultural responsiveness begins with an understanding of one’s own culture, so that teachers can understand where they are with the concept of cultural responsiveness. A culturally responsive questionnaire will be presented to help teachers self-report as to their current cultural responsiveness. Strategies and tips for the classroom – this will be an important aspect of the process because teachers need to learn strategies that have worked in teaching specific subjects with specific ethnicities. Mentoring—I believe it is important to create an opportunity for teachers to have a mentor, either virtually or in a neighboring school, so that they can have someone who has already created this opportunity in their classroom. Rationale for Workshop Structure In researching the structure for the workshop, it was important to find the various aspects of other culturally responsive workshops that were successful. There were several aspects of successful workshops that will be presented in the one that I am proposing. Frey, Button, Kelly, and Button (2010) state that most teaches in culturally responsive classrooms spend time building rapport with their students by showing “warmth and affection” (p. 8) to enhance their growth in the classroom. Teachers adept at this teaching style are able to take the experiences that students have and weave the information into the course curricula. This would be very helpful for our teachers because they are struggling with what to do now. Frey, Button, Kelly, and Button (2010) add that culturally responsive classrooms are important today because they are the best way to for classrooms to transform to help all students. However, teaching colleges cannot expect that teachers will learn these skills on their own without specifically teaching these skills. As we know, most of our teachers do not yet have these skills and it is up to our school to encourage and present these skills to transform our classrooms. Another important issue for culturally responsive classrooms is how to transfer this knowledge to teachers so that they can provide an opportunity for all children. Montgomery (2001) points out that teachers are often faced with an undeveloped knowledge of cultures other than their own, which will negatively impact their students. Because of our emphasis on teaching only English in classes, teachers are further justified as not having to learn about other cultures. This does not work today. Montgomery shows that there are several educational approaches that teachers already know, like scaffolding, book corners or journaling that can work in a culturally responsive classroom, but in a different way. Finally, some teachers may be hesitant to embrace culturally responsive teaching for their specific classrooms, but there are several examples of how other teachers have done this in the literature. As an example, Ukpokodu (2011) studied how teachers could promote culturally responsive classrooms in math. Although many teachers think that a subject like math is devoid of culture, Ukpokodu found that this is not necessarily true. What the CRT classroom does is it makes teachers think more creatively about how to approach children from different areas. In math classes as well as in other classes that seem culturally neutral, teachers must look at how children from that culture learn best. In this case, it may be that more collaborative learning and communal learning would benefit everyone. Clearly, there are many issues that can be resolved through an emphasis on culturally responsive classrooms, and these issues can be worked with inside a workshop on this topic. Cost Cost is always a factor in planning professional development but it would seem that the highest cost may be that of hiring a consultant to teach this information. This area would have to be researched and we would need to find people who have written books on the topic who may be more knowledgeable than others in the this topic. Conclusion A culturally responsive classroom is very important today because it is a way that many different cultures can come together and be included in the learning process. Teachers must first learn about their own cultures and their biases with other cultures. By understanding how they understand other cultures now and providing them an opportunity to discover the uniqueness of other cultures, teachers will be able to create a learning environment that is more holistically based. Culturally responsive classrooms go beyond teaching diversity. Instead, teachers find ways to put into practice collaborative and communal methods of teaching, and realize that a new relationship between teachers and students can arise. Teachers have the courage to present this information to each other and to others who need to find ways to connect their students with learning. A workshop is very important to this process because it is one way that teachers can receive professional development credit, but it also provides an opportunity for teachers to get to know the best practices in this area and become aware of how they can use the knowledge they receive to create culturally responsive classrooms in whatever subject they teach. It is my hope that you can see the benefits of this process and allow us to proceed in planning the workshop. I believe that this will help our school maintain the standing of being one of the best schools in the district. References Baskerville, D. (2009). Navigating the unfamiliar in a quest towards culturally responsive pedagogy in the classroom. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 461-467. DOI:10.1016/j.tate.2008.11.015 Bondy, E., Ross, D. D., and Gallingane, C. (2007). Creating environments of success and resilience culturally responsive classroom management and more. Urban Education, 42(4), 326-348. DOI: 10.1177/0042085907303406 Brown, M. (2007). Educating all students: Creating culturally responsive teachers, classrooms, and schools. Intervention in School and Clinic, 43(1), 57-62. Colbert, P. J. (2010). Developing A culturally responsive classroom collaborative of faculty, students, and institution. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 7(11), 15-24. Frey, B., Button, B., Kelly, C., and Button, G. (2010). Preservice teachers’ self-perceptions and attitudes toward culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Praxis in Multicultural Education,5(1), 6-22. DOI: 10.9741/2161-2978.1029 Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106-116. Kozleski, E. B. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching matters!. Online Submission. Retrieved from Eric database at http://www.eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED520957 Montgomery, W. (2001). Creating culturally responsive, inclusive classrooms. Teaching Exceptional Children, 33(4), 4-4. Savage, C. E. , Hindle, R., Meyer, L. H., Hynds, A., Penetito, W., and Sleeter, C. E. (2011). Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum. Asia-Pacific Journal Of Teacher Education, 39(3), 183-198. Siwatu, K. (2011). Preservice teachers culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy-forming experiences: A mixed methods study. Journal Of Educational Research, 104(5), 360-369. DOI:10.1080/00220671.2010.487081 Taylor, R. W. (2010). The role of teacher education programs in creating culturally competent teachers: A moral imperative for ensuring the academic success of diverse student populations. Multicultural Education, 17(3), 24-28. Ukpokodu, O. N. (2011). How do I teach mathematics in a culturally responsive way? identifying empowering teaching practices. Multicultural Education, 18(3), 47-56. Read More