Adopting Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

the matrix and download a blank version to guide you in designing curriculum that is both rigorous and culturally relevant.

Culturally relevant pedagogies promote a foundation for students to acknowledge their own strengths to become independent learners, feel included and represented in the classroom, and grow into strong learners and leaders.

Although culturally responsive pedagogy is similar to culturally relevant pedagogy, it is different in that it is a powerful tool for accelerating student learning with the direct purpose to move students from dependent learners to independent learners (Hammond, 2015). Dependent learners are those students who struggle and then shut down because they do not have the emotional or cognitive skills to tackle difficult tasks. A dependent learner is a student who relies on the teacher to carry the bulk of the cognitive load, is unable to complete a task without scaffolds, waits for the teacher to intervene, and struggles to retain information (Colton & Shahid, 2018). By contrast, an independent learner is one who uses various strategies to complete tasks. The independent learner does not just complete tasks with ease, rather, when they encounter complex and difficult tasks, they figure out how to solve the problem. Let’s take a closer look at what culturally responsive pedagogy aims to do and how it looks in practice.

Culturally responsive pedagogy is an asset-oriented pedagogy. It suggests that students’ identities, skills, and values create unique opportunities for them to flourish rather than barriers to conforming them to the status quo. The Educators Team at Understood (n.d.) explains:

[Culturally responsive teaching] connects students’ cultures, languages, and life experiences with what they learn in school. These connections help students access rigorous curriculum and develop higher-level academic skills. . . . Students bring [background] knowledge to the classroom every day. But for students of color, English language learners (ELLs), and other underserved student populations, those assets are often overlooked. When that happens, educators miss the chance to use them to support learning.

To develop and nurture independent students, teachers must demonstrate that what the student knows is important, recognize and respect student experiences, and incorporate the student’s individualized abilities into instructional strategies (Gay, 2018). Teachers must begin to see their students through the lens of asset thinking rather than deficit thinking. Culturally responsive pedagogy allows teachers to see that students and their

families are not to blame or somehow deficient. Instead, it insists that teachers name and hold accountable the harmful systems that continuously damage students through systemic structures rooted in sexism, racism, homophobia, elitism, and ableism.

When the teacher celebrates students’ diverse cultures, rather than silence or deem them deficient, students’ daily lives and their education become linked in the classroom. Students should be free to use a variety of forms to express themselves as independent learners rather than remaining dependent learners who must assimilate into the dominant culture before they can demonstrate proficiency (Ladson-Billings, 2009).

Let us take Chris for example. Chris is a Black sixteen-year-old student in eleventh grade and a struggling reader. Chris refuses to read anything you give him and is always talking about unrelated activities that happen at school, at home, or in the community. He enjoys Marvel movies and other action-packed films. Chris thrives when he is the center of attention, and when you ask for his attention, he causes a scene. What is Chris’s asset? He has a strong ability to tell an engaging and captivating story.

As his teacher, you could use the following strategies to nurture Chris as an independent learner. • Ask Chris to write or record one of his narratives. • Use the transcribed or written narrative as an opportunity to teach a new skill or reinforce skills. – Analyze the impact of the author’s choices when introducing Character A versus Character B. Explain what the author wants the audience to feel toward each character. How does this impact the central idea of the text? – Determine the meaning of . Why would the author use this word instead of ? How does using this word rather than transform the tone of the text?

Not only have you provided Chris with attention but you have also demonstrated that his knowledge, experiences, and learning are valuable to you. He feels appreciated, heard, and empowered to connect the standards-based instruction to his experiences. This also illustrates to other students that they can bring their full selves into the classroom without being stigmatized or ostracized by educators. Empowered students are accountable students.

Creating a classroom and school environment of awareness, trust, and learning partnerships requires that teachers mind their interactions with students in the way they act, look, and speak to them. Hammond (2015) shows that the brain has negativity bias and will remember and respond to “negative experiences up to three times more than positive experiences” (p. 113) that respond to not just explicit biases, but implicit biases and microaggressions (statements or actions that intentionally or unintentionally communicate

hostile or negative attitudes). Negative interactions with students create a culture counterproductive of learning. Students should feel as if they belong to an academic community that values them, one where they can succeed and grow (Dweck, 2016; Hammond, 2015).

Teachers should strive for holistic educational aims to: • Create an environment in which every student is understood • Respect students’ individualized identities • Provide students with skills to deepen their learning • Celebrate students’ successes

Professor of education Geneva Gay (2018) determines that scaffolding, contextualizing, and bridging information in a culturally responsive classroom addresses several principles of learning (see table 1.2). These principles of learning assist in creating and nurturing relationships with students to garner understanding, meet their needs, and promote independent and collaborative learning. The use of these principles also assists in cultivating knowledge and ensuring information is accessible to all students with a focus on challenging students to high expectations, diverse information, and inquiry. When interpreting the principles of learning, teachers should understand the role of differentiation in making modifications, changes, and alterations.

TABLE 1.2: Principles of Learning

Principle Characteristic

Similarity Sees that student knowledge is best for introducing new information Discover what students are interested in. Learn about their experiences. Use music; grocery shopping experiences; journaling; quotes; photographs, memes, and artwork; sports; and other interests to connect to their lived experience.

Efficacy

Uses previous successes to create more successes (This demonstrates to students they are capable of achieving goals and provides them with motivation, scaffolds, and strategies to engage in challenging tasks.) Provide diverse opportunities for students to meet high expectations: collaborative tasks, dialogue, creative tasks, and graphic organizers.

Classroom Application

Congruity Ensures new knowledge is maintained when connected to various frames of reference

Familiarity Reduces the threat students may feel when they encounter new material

Transactionalism Creates learning structures for students to feel empowered and become independent learners

Cognitive mapping

Confidence

Maximizes student learning through the organization of information Use a standards-based graphic organizer: three-column charts, story map, or spider map.

Provides students with competent support systems to ensure learning

Holistic education

Looks at school achievement as representing cognitive, cultural, psychological, ethical, and emotional developments

Scaffolding Incorporates knowledge students gain outside school as assets to learning in school Use diverse opportunities to reinforce a skill: fiction, nonfiction,

storytelling, illustration, poetry, dance, and music.

Teach students how to chunk information into smaller pieces, talk to the text (questions, underlining, or symbols), and engage in multiple interactions with the text.

Teach students metacognitive strategies and practice them regularly: previewing; identifying purpose; paragraphing; using graphic organizers, outlines, flashcards; taking notes; teaching the material to an imagined audience; working collaboratively; creating practice exams.

Allow students to talk through difficulties, use tiered questioning to solicit stronger answers, and gather specific feedback.

Determine student motivation or goal. Ask students how they would like to improve each of the categories to achieve that goal. Create a rubric that monitors and assesses personalized growth.

Ask students to engage in their own inquiry-based projects; allow students to create products to demonstrate learning.

As teachers adopt culturally responsive pedagogy, students become empowered toward justice, equity, and rapport. Next, let’s look at how another cultural pedagogy, culturally sustaining pedagogy, pushes this work one step further.