Culturally relevant teaching

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Culturally Relevant Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the diverse cultural characteristics of students from different ethnic backgrounds and adjusts teaching methods to account for this diversity[1] Culturally relevant teachers display cultural competence: skill at teaching in a cross-cultural or multicultural setting.[2] They enable each student to relate course content to his or her cultural context.[3]

The term “culturally relevant teaching” is often used interchangeably with "culturally responsive teaching"[4]

While the term culturally relevant teaching often deals specifically with instruction of African American students,[5] the theories are applicable to other cultures as well. For instance, there is extensive research on culturally relevant teaching among Indigenous American youth.[6]

Contents

[edit] Historical Context

Culturally relevant teaching was made popular by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings in the early 1990s[7] and has become more widely known and accepted in the education field. For example, the U.S. Department of Education's Equity Assistance Centers, such as the Equity Alliance at ASU help states, school districts and schools to establish the conditions for equitable educational outcomes for all students, using cultural responsiveness as one of the measures of the needed capabilities of teachers, principals and school communities as a whole.[8] The theory surrounding culturally relevant teaching is connected to a larger body of knowledge on multicultural education and helping culturally diverse students excel in education.[9] Researchers argue that there are gaps in academic achievement between mainstream culture and immigrants or ethnic cultural groups. Often, culturally diverse students are unnecessarily placed in special education classes simply because of linguistic and cultural differences.[10] In response to these challenges, some researchers and teachers believe that education should be adapted to “match the cultures students bring with them from home.”[11] Many of these researchers and educators support the constructivist theories of education because such perspectives recognize the value of multiple cultural viewpoints.[12]

[edit] Characteristics of Culturally Relevant Teaching

  1. Validating and Affirming: Culturally relevant teaching is validating and affirming because it acknowledges the strengths of students’ diverse heritages[13]
  2. Comprehensive: Culturally relevant teaching is comprehensive because it uses “cultural resources to teach knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes.”[14]
  3. Multidimensional: Culturally relevant teaching encompasses many areas and applies multicultural theory to the classroom environment, teaching methods, and evaluation.[15]
  4. Liberating: Culturally relevant teachers liberate students.[16]
  5. Empowering: Culturally relevant teaching empower students, giving them opportunities to excel in the classroom and beyond.[17] “Empowerment translates into academic competence, personal confidence, courage, and the will to act.”[18]
  6. Transformative: Culturally relevant teaching is transformative because educators and their students must often defy educational traditions and the status quo.[19]

[edit] Suggested Teaching Strategies

In order to be culturally relevant, teachers must create an accommodating and inviting classroom culture, if they are to reach diverse audiences. Teachers must demonstrate that they care for their students, because a genuine attitude of interest is likely to yield positive emotions that empower and motivate students.[20] One way teachers can make their classroom less intimidating is through reciprocal teaching, where students and teachers take turns leading the class discussions.[21] Reciprocal teaching methods give students the opportunity to express the material according to their cultural viewpoints, which is very important according to the constructivist educator.[22]

Similarly, many educators recommend cooperative learning methods as effective teaching strategies to promote culturally relevant learning.[23] Rather than fostering competitiveness among students, group learning strategies encourage collaboration in the completion of assignments.[24]

Games and cross-cultural activities allow students personal interaction with different cultures. For instance, in the three-hour game, “Ba Fa Ba Fa”, students participate in one of two very different cultures and must learn the languages and customs of that cultural group.[25]

Other suggested strategies include family history research where students interview family members and learn about familial cultural influences on their own lives, and reflective writing where students write about their beliefs and cultural assumptions[26] Students may choose to write about their cultural identity and its connection with their educational experiences.[27]

[edit] Challenges to Culturally Relevant Teaching

Not all educators favor culturally relevant teaching. Indeed, there are many practical challenges to implementing culturally relevant pedagogy including a lack of enforcement of culturally relevant teaching methods, and the tendency to view students as individual units only, rather than seeing them as linked inseparably with their cultural groups.[28] In culturally relevant pedagogy, new teachers must be taught how to adapt their curriculum, methodology, teaching methods, and instructional materials to connect with students’ values and cultural norms. Therefore, another challenge for educators is to prepare reflective practitioners who can connect with diverse students and their families.[29] Even though some schools of education acknowledge credibility in training culturally relevant educators, many wrestle with how fit such training into their program and “grudgingly add a diversity course to their curriculum.”[30] One contributor to this reluctance comes from the education professors’ discomfort with or fear of addressing issues such as racism in their courses.[31]

[edit] Examples of Culturally Relevant Programs

There are many examples of culturally relevant programs: Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) is a program from the San Diego (California) public schools that helps underrepresented students (including those from different cultural groups) by mixing low-achieving students with high-achieving students in college preparation programs. “AVID employs many principles of cooperative learning in its "writing, inquiry, and collaboration" approach to curriculum and instruction.[32] The Russian Mission School in Alaska incorporates Native American culture with the standard curriculum and emphasizes hands-on activities that are relevant to their local lifestyle.[33] Gloria Ladson-Billings, in her book The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children., presents several examples of excellent cultural relevant teaching in African American classrooms.[34]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally Responsive Teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press.
  2. ^ Diller, J., & Moule, J. (2005). Cultural competence: A primer for educators, Thomson Wadsorth: Belmont, California.
  3. ^ Scherff, L., & Spector, K. (2011). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Rowman & Littlefield Education: Lanham, Maryland.
  4. ^ Castagno, A. E., & Brayboy, B. (2008). Culturally Responsive Schooling for Indigenous Youth: A Review of the Literature. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 941-993. doi: 10.3102/0034654308323036.
  5. ^ Ladson-Billings, Gloria (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. Jossey-Bass Publishing.
  6. ^ Castagno, A., & Brayboy, B. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 941-993. doi: 10.3102/0034654308323036.
  7. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press.
  8. ^ Equity Alliance (2011). The Equity Alliance at ASU. Retrieved from http://www.equityallianceatasu.org/
  9. ^ Castagno, A., & Brayboy, B. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 941-993. doi: 10.3102/0034654308323036.
  10. ^ Artiles, A., & Harry, B. (2006). Addressing culturally and linguistically diverse student overrepresentation in special education: Guidelines for parents. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCREST). Retrieved from http://www.nccrest.org/Briefs/
  11. ^ Castagno, A., & Brayboy, B. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 941-993. doi: 10.3102/0034654308323036. (Page 946)
  12. ^ Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G., & Richards, H. (2006). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/
  13. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press. (Page 31)
  14. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press. (Page 32); Hollins, E. (1996). Culture in school learning: Revealing the deep meaning. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers, Mahwah, NJ.
  15. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press. (Page 32)
  16. ^ Lipman, P. (1995). Bringing out the best in them: The contribution of culturally relevant teachers to education reform. Theory into Practice, 34(3), 202-208. Retrieved from: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED374173.pdf
  17. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press. (Page 34); Castagno, A., & Brayboy, B. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 941-993. doi: 10.3102/0034654308323036
  18. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally Responsive Teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press. (Page 34)
  19. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally Responsive Teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press. (Page 36); Ladson-Billings, Gloria (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. Jossey-Bass Publishing;Scherff, L., & Spector, K. (2011). Culturally relevant pedagogy, Rowman & Littlefield Education: Lanham, Maryland.
  20. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press.
  21. ^ Mayer, R. (2008). Teaching by creating cognitive apprenticeship in classrooms and beyond. In Learning and instruction, (pp. 458-489). 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.
  22. ^ Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G., & Richards, H. (2006). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/
  23. ^ Diller, J., & Moule, J. (2005). Cultural competence: A primer for educators, Thomson Wadsorth: Belmont, California.
  24. ^ Mayer, R. (2008). Teaching by creating cognitive apprenticeship in classrooms and beyond. In Learning and instruction, (pp. 458-489). 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education; Ladson-Billings, Gloria (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. Jossey-Bass Publishing.; Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G., & Richards, H. (2006). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/
  25. ^ Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G., & Richards, H. (2006). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/
  26. ^ Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G., & Richards, H. (2006). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/
  27. ^ Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G., & Richards, H. (2006). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/
  28. ^ Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers College Press.
  29. ^ Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G., & Richards, H. (2006). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/
  30. ^ Kea, C., Campbell-Whatley, G., & Richards, H. (2006). Becoming culturally responsive educators: Rethinking teacher education pedagogy. National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. Retrieved from http://www.niusileadscape.org/docs/. (Page 3).
  31. ^ Cochran-Smith, M. (2004). Walking the road: Race, diversity, and social justice in teacher education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
  32. ^ Mehan, H. (1996). Constructing school success. The consequences of untracking low-achieving students. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Abstract)
  33. ^ Castagno, A., & Brayboy, B. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 941-993. doi: 10.3102/0034654308323036.
  34. ^ Ladson-Billings, Gloria (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishing. Retrieved online at http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hhwwRhvsYO0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&ots=RqcAiQlu3h&sig=tluvhFj5R5OeSzFTc77WHWO_NPg#v=onepage&q&f=false

[edit] External links

Coffey, Heather (2008). Culturally Relevant Teaching.[1]

No author identified. Culturally Responsive Teaching.[2]

Similar terms include: Culturally Appropriate; Culturally Congruent; Culturally Responsive; and Culturally Compatible

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