How Do We Teach so EVERYONE Gets It?
April 24, 2024
April 24, 2024
It’s an age-old classroom challenge: How do we take what we understand to be good theory and translate it into good practice? In the case of culturally responsive teaching in today’s multicultural schools, how can we be prepared to reach and teach such diverse cross-sections of young people?
According to the School of Education at American University, putting culturally responsive teaching into practice in your classroom means taking a student-centered approach that seeks to understand that every student brings unique cultural strengths. Recognizing and nurturing those strengths not only promotes better outcomes but, in addition, helps create an open-minded, supportive environment that celebrates cultural differences.
Such an approach has become increasingly important in recent years, as the majority of the student population in U.S. public schools is now made up of young people from racial and ethnic minority groups.
Coining the term “culturally responsive teaching” has been credited to Geneva Gay, who began her education career as a high school social studies teacher and ended it as an internationally-known professor and researcher at the University of Washington. “When academic knowledge and skills are situated within the lived experiences and frames of reference for students, they are more personally meaningful, have higher interest appeal, and are learned more easily and thoroughly,” she wrote.
Armed with this information, how are teachers in Virginia incorporating students’ cultural identities and life experiences in their classrooms, and doing so in such a way that it’s an asset to learning? We asked some of them, and here’s what they had to say:
I check myself often about cultural responsiveness because as a White teacher with primarily Black students and recently, many non-English speakers from all over the world, it’s on me to do so. My students need cultural dexterity. They have expressed that sometimes they feel oppressed by their grandparents’ stories about the struggles of being Black in America. This tells me that foundational but traumatic stories must be placed alongside newer, differently hopeful texts. I deeply admire Frederick Douglass, enough to take my classes’ study of his first autobiography on the road during the pandemic, teaching live from locations important to his life in D.C. and Rochester. I believe he should be required reading, but alongside other voices. Stories need each other like people do. We need to see ourselves, touch our origins, and imagine new ways of being.
Diversity is reality, so as soon as I began teaching where I do, I worked on my own critical consciousness first, reading Black scholars, important works of Black literature, and Black cultural histories. Learning through the lens of teaching is powerful medicine. I make mistakes, so it is a practice, focusing on curation, language, and demeanor. A high compliment paid by one of my students early in my career was, “I [expletive] hate your class, but I love being in here.” This told me I was doing something right, that the environment was welcoming and challenging.
I have to remind myself to meet new students at the bleeding edge of their awareness, which is not only where they are in relationship to reading, writing, and critical thinking, but who they are as humans, citizens, and teenagers figuring themselves out. I constantly adjust, experimenting with approaches and grappling with what students are willing to attend to. Just as I hope my students find a sweet spot for their work, somewhere between avoiding thinking altogether and paralyzing perfectionism, I stress that I miss small windows of opportunity to connect with students because of high expectations that hover slightly above understanding, or lose a fight to make content more entertaining or essential than the flattening, controllable, and ever-scrolling screen.
A new challenge is teaching students when there is no language in common. Right now, with few supports, I am teaching through Google Translate—a wonderful tool but not enough. Creating a collective, responsive culture means anticipating needs and caring ahead and putting resources in place, so while learning is always up to students, schools are ready for learners.
Andrew Maples, Richmond Education Association
I begin by creating a welcoming environment for all students. When the school year begins, I place eight large portraits of children from many different cultural backgrounds on my classroom walls. These portraits remain there all year. This sets the tone for our classroom’s culture, helping students from any cultural background feel valued. My students have made comments such as, “Do you know these children?” and they also try to guess where they are from.
Second, as a strong proponent of children’s literature, I use children’s books as a strategy to listen and learn about people of various cultures. I have a huge classroom library of all genres, each labeled and easily accessible to students. In addition, I keep books on the chalkboard ledge as well as in the classroom windowsill. I recently published a book for teachers, Children’s Literature by Black Authors: A Culturally Responsive Approach to Reading Instruction Pre-K Through Grade 5, annotates 106 books on themes related to Black History and contemporary Black issues. Reading these stories to African American children, or children of all cultural backgrounds, can provoke heart-warming discussions, bridge cultural gaps, and increase understanding. In addition to books by Black authors, I strive to expose my students to books from all cultural backgrounds because it helps them to see themselves and others in a realistic fashion.
Finally, I use writing to advance math skills, specifically solving word (or story) problems. For many children from diverse backgrounds, solving word problems can be problematic if they can’t relate to the scenarios or how it’s written. To increase relevancy, I like to ask students to make up their own math story problems using their own experiences, their own names and names of their family members. Teachers can also promote this method by using student names and experiences when developing math story problems.
Sandra Pierce Mathis, EdD, Chesapeake Education Association
I am an ESOL teacher, so culturally responsive teaching is something I hold close to my heart. All cultures, languages, abilities, and perspectives are seen and encouraged in my classroom because we understand there is a lot to learn from each other’s similarities and differences. We celebrate the holidays and customs of all students and use them as a learning opportunity to understand more about the world around us. Two examples include Diwali and El Día de Los Muertos: During Diwali, my students that celebrate can give a small presentation to the class and we make little lights for our classroom; during El Día de Los Muertos, students give a short presentation on how they celebrate and we make calaveras (sugar skulls).
Brandon Fincham, Manassas City Education Association
Culturally responsive teaching in my classroom means giving my students as much voice in their learning as I can possibly plan for in a particular lesson. For example, if I’m covering someone else’s culture, which happens frequently when teaching world history, there’s often an expert in the room on a world religion like Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. I encourage these students to share their experiences as we go over state curriculum, which normally covers basic beliefs and founders. Other students and I have learned about cultural nuances related to religions like Hinduism and Islam that we would not have otherwise known. It even led to a conversation in our building about finding a place for students of any faith to pray or worship throughout the day.
It’s also important to celebrate our own cultures more; sharing our experiences can make content real to students, as well as provide ways to explore topics connected to the curriculum. As a woman who appears White, I make it clear to my students that I’m also Hispanic, even if I’m not as fluent as I wish I was in Spanish. When I share stories about growing up with an immigrant mother and grandmother, students in turn share their experiences navigating being a first generation American. I think there is power in this because finding out someone has gone through what you have can really help an educator build relationships. Over the years, this has broken down barriers between me and most of my students because more of them feel safe coming to me for guidance. They know I may “get” what they’re going through because I’ve shared enough that they feel more connected to me. When it comes to teaching personal finance, this connection is especially crucial because many of my students are navigating balancing cultural expectations, financial responsibility, and establishing their identity as young adults. They’ll ask me follow-up questions unique to their situation they might not ask others because I’ve told them that no question is silly and because I’ve made our classroom a safe place.
The careful use of language promotes a more tolerant learning environment, as well. I make sure to use the preferred terms for areas of the world, such as referring to the Middle East as Southwest Asia or by the country name. To promote LGBTQIA+ inclusivity, I am very cautious about using words that are overly gendered. As they come up, we discuss terms that are overly used and are inappropriate. I challenge my students to realize that words carry power and encourage them to reevaluate how they use them with each other.
Gen Z and Alpha students have their own unique culture compared to those of us who went to school during the 20th century. For this reason, I often try to include my students in designing new activities, taking their cues to see what is relevant to them as well as giving them the chance to explore their own passions while learning. UDL really offers my students freedom to express their culture and interests in ways a more traditional assignment would not allow.
Angela Trerotola, Prince William Education Association
We use classroom connections, expectations, and representation throughout the day in class to promote cultural awareness. For example, when students arrive, I connect by saying good morning and expecting the same response from them, which leads to our morning breakfast Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) talks. There, we share previous and upcoming family dinners and other activities, finishing by asking students to complete their wellness/feelings chart before beginning the day’s work. All students participate in this discussion.
Another example of culturally responsive teaching in my classroom is the intentional questioning of students on what topics (current or future) they would like to learn about, while allowing them to make connections between what we are learning and a personal experience, seeing themselves, or being able to make a connection with a character(s). For example, during Black History Month we learned about two amazing but little-known African Americans each day who have made valuable contributions in STEM areas, as well as sports, music, the arts, politics, and social consciousness.
Finally, I develop culturally responsive classroom activities/instruction based on my understanding of my students’ learning styles to include differentiating and scaffolding instruction, using their strengths and weaknesses, and exposing them to new and unfamiliar concepts by utilizing diverse academic materials.
Claudette Pierre, Education Association of Suffolk
A student’s origin is not a deficit; it is a strength! Culturally responsive teaching simply ensures every student feels a sense of belonging. I am currently an instructional coach, so my “classroom” looks different now. When I was in the classroom full-time, one strategy I used was to give each student a folded index card on day one. They’d write their names, enabling me to pair names and faces quickly, and as I learned names, I practiced them until I could pronounce them correctly. The next activity with those cards involved getting to know the students’ hopes and dreams. Inside the folded card, they answered these questions: Who do you want to become? What do you want to change about the world you live in? and What do you hope people say about you someday? I kept the cards all year/semester. When I was frustrated with a student or they seemed out of sorts, I reread their card to regain perspective and remind myself that their grades in my class were just tiny blips in their lives, but my relationship and compassion toward them would stick with them forever. It is much easier to understand students when we aren’t “othering” them. I looked at every student as a person first and a student second; modeling this person-centered approach for my students showed that all aspects of their lives mattered to me, not just their success in my class. When they saw diverse literature or varied perspectives in content resources or were asked to give an opinion or to discuss something, the appropriate, inclusive response had already been modeled. It was the culture of the class. As an instructional coach, I encourage other teachers to find ways to build connections but keep expectations high. Our students do not need more “saviors.” I have to finish with a sentiment from Harry Bosch in Michael Connelly’s book, Black Echo, “Everyone counts, or nobody counts.” I had this on a poster in my classroom, which now hangs in my office. It is my daily equity reminder.
Tammy Potts, Manassas City Education Association
VEA members attending a breakout session at the recent Educators of Color Summit were also given an opportunity to share some quick thoughts about culturally responsive teaching. Here’s a sampling of their responses, including a very honest first item, when asked to describe such teaching:
According to a poll conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University, 66% of Virginians say public schools do not have enough funding to meet their needs.
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