Table of Contents
Quick Overview:
Before 9/22:
- Explore Unit 3 materials below (we suggest you jot down a few things that stand out to you)
- Add pertinent info to your Padlet for your portfolio
- Entry Ticket: We will let you know what that will be when you arrive to class
- Class meets via Webex on 9/22 from 2-3pm JOIN ORT (Required)
Questions to Keep in Mind
Our ORT discussions, WordPress (WP) post comment sections, and your action plan will require contemplation, which the following questions can help facilitate:
- What have you already been doing (re: current topic)?
- What could you implement (re: current topic)?
- What barriers or challenges might prevent you from implementing (re: current topic)?
Culturally Responsive Teaching
For a deeper look at aspects of the above video, please read Culturally Responsive Teaching
Since Geneva Gay’s foundational work in 2000, cultural responsive teaching and learning has become a burgeoning field of study. Gay continues her work and in 2018 published Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice, Third Edition. 2018 (you may borrow this book from the CTE’s Lending Library, call 517-483-1608). Through my (Lisa) Central Michigan University graduate student status, I am able to access an ebook: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Please click on any chapter you’d like to read.
Chapter 1: CRT to empower indigenous student communities
Chapter 4: Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students in Higher Education
Chapter 5: Narrative Theory as a Pedagogical Strategy for CRT at HBCUs
Chapter 8: The Impact of Culturally Responsive Teaching on Underrepresented Students Persistence in STEM
Chapter 9: The Music Educator’s Unique Sphere of Influence
Chapter 12: Using Student-Centered Engagement in the Classroom to Develop Cultural Intelligence
Intersection of UDL and Culturally Responsive Teaching
As we examine the intersections of UDL and CRT to build a pedagogy of equity and an inclusive community of learners, please skimscan (yes, Lisa made up that word!) the Education and Urban Society article Connecting Universal Design for Learning With Culturally Responsive Teaching. For quick reference, there is a table on pages 1211-1212.
Globalization and Internationalizing Curricula
We will just touch on these terms to bring awareness, keeping in mind that there is an enormous amount materials and research available. At the end of this post, you will find more resources.
In their 2012 article, Using the Universal Design for Learning Framework to Support Culturally Diverse Learners, Chita-Tegmark, et al. wrote, “…If both the increasingly global society made possible by modern technology and the culturally diverse societies in which we live are considered, success in the twenty-first century requires individuals to incorporate more than a single culture’s system of thought. People from different cultures arrive in our classrooms with culturally-based differences that influence how they interact with our courses. This does not mean that certain students (with certain identities) are capable of doing higher level work while other students (with other identities) are not. In other words, UDL and CRT are not about de facto tracking. Rather, by incorporating a range of learning strategies to address multiple perspectives, values, entry points, and opportunities for acquiring and demonstrating knowledge, educators can amplify the benefits of diversity. People from different cultures may learn the same things, but they may learn them differently.”
Chita-Tegmark, M., Gravel, J. W., Maria De Lourdes, B. S., Domings, Y., & Rose, D. H. (2012). Using the universal design for learning framework to support culturally diverse learners. Journal of Education, 192(1), 17-22.
We encourage you to explore scholarly research in your discipline to see if culturally responsive teaching and learning has a presence there.
During Class
In their article, Will and Najarro state: [Culturally responsive teaching] is the kind of teaching that helps students of color see themselves and their communities as belonging in schools and other academic spaces, leading to more engagement and success. Even though Culturally Responsive Teaching has its roots with students of color, other marginalized groups have cultures as well, such as LGBTQ+. With this in mind, our first activity explored ‘belonging’
Stop Telling Students “You Belong” by Greg Walton
Touchstones:
Parker Palmer, an American educator that some of you may know of – and we have one of his books in the CTE library – developed something he called touchstones. A 21st century likely Millennial adapted them to the digital age and made hashtags. Touchstones or the hashtags we’re going to use can guide dialog to create a welcoming space. They help build trust. Think of touchstones like this: what are you going to do to get the most out of this session…this interaction? How are you going to learn best today? They have been used in some of the ODI programs and Lisa has used them for a few semesters in her ORT class sessions. There are many touchstones, but Lisa introduces 4 to 5 of them, telling students to pick one that best reflects their intention during our time together.
- Always invitation, never invasion #Invite
- Speak your truth in a way that respects others’ truths #Respect
- Learn to respond with honest, open questions #KnowThySelf
- When the going gets difficult, turn to wonder #ThinkAboutIt
- Attend to your own inner teacher #SelfReflection
- Trust and learn from silence #SilenceIsGolden
- Observe deep confidentiality #Confidentiality
- Be open to possibility #BeOpen
- I can leave with whatever it is I needed when I arrived here #LearnMore
Supplemental Resources
Larke defines Culturally Responsive Teaching , identifies its place in higher education, provides ways to implement it, and constructs critical questions to what she deems are core principles to implementing culturally responsive teaching.
South Piedmont Community College: Curriculum Internationalization
There was a lot of great quotes from the article by Madeline Will & Ileana Najarro. I really like the concept of interdimensional relevancy. Making the content relevant to the students based on any specific aspects their life experience (rural vs suburban, age, socioeconomic status, etc).
I loved the articles and the “how-to” for making your classroom cultural relevant! I checked off the things I do (so I will keep doing them), and then have specific goals for what I can add now, and in the future!
I really enjoyed chapter 12 ” Using Student-Centered Engagement in the Classroom to Develop Cultural Intelligence.” I’m a huge proponent of involving students in the process of making the classroom experience successful, in terms of learning, and feeling like they are a part of a bigger experience.
I like that chapter the best too, out of the chapters in that book.
Many of the examples seem to address how to include cultural relevance in one’s curriculum. It’s also possible to do this extra-curricular, meaning not just in content (easier for some discipline than others), but also in our interactions with students. I had a student from India ask for a week off (F2F) and we adjusted deadlines for what were due that week. She wanted to celebrate Diwali. I realized that I have Christmas off and don’t have to miss work just because of my religious holiday. I approved the request with the condition that she share pictures with the class. It was an enjoyable experience for all.
I liked the “Stop Telling Students You Belong” article/ idea concept. I teach a course that focuses on communication in part and relationship building in early childhood environments . This aligns much with the importance of nonverbal communication that is the basis for the Positive Verbal Environment a part of the environment that is constructed as intentionally as the rest of the classroom.
“Stop telling students they belong” was an interesting class & side discussions. I had never thought of some of the things that we talked about. I came from a different era or situation and it opened my eyes a lot.
When I grew up playing sports – coaches used to put us down and tell us we don’t belong, not good enough. Then when I got into the State Police academy the “training officers” tried to “wash you out” and told you “you don’t belong” – there is the door, etc.
I obviously took this behavior, because I did not think I had a choice. But i would be very angry if i knew someone treated my family like that.
There has to be a better way to deal with whether a student “belongs” in a class or not, rather than their gender, racial identity, and so on. I am thinking better advising and counseling. I tried to help my nephew with physics a couple of summers ago. He was taking physics as part of his requirements for a mechanical engineering degree at a university that shall remain nameless. He struggled with every concept and was very frustrated, while always seeking a short cut so he could complete the course and be on his way to becoming rich as an engineer. After many weeks of this and subsequent gentle discussions about alternatives, he discovered that engineering is not really what he is passionate about but history is! I guess what I am getting at is the need to help students discover what they are passionate about and then to help them get there. That’s where they belong!