The Principles of Culturally Responsive Teaching

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The Principles of Culturally Responsive Teaching
Culturally Responsive SchoolEnvironments

• Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Ph.D
• New York University
• Metropolitan Center for Urban Education

New York Higher Education Support Center (HESC)
for SystemsChange Fall 2006 Statewide
Meeting Crowne Plaza Albany NY September, 15,
2006
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IntroductionsA brief intro to me

• Education
• Ph.D. Teaching Learning, New York University
• M.A. English Ed., Teachers College, Columbia
  University
• B.A. English Lit., New York University
• Experience
• H.S. English Journalism Teacher
• English Instructor, Adult Learners, The College
  of New Rochelle
• Teacher Educator, New York University
• Assistant Professor of English, CUNY
• Marketing Careers with The New York Times,
  Business Week NYU/SCPS
• Research Interests Race in Education,
  Culturally Relevant Teaching, Adult Reentry Women
  
• Personal Married mother of an 22 month old, and
  loves boxing!

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Workshop Objectives

• To learn (some) principles of Culturally
  Responsive Teaching (CRT) as defined by Gloria
  Ladson-Billings and Geneva Gay
• To learn some principles of Culturally Responsive
  Environments (CRE)
• To assess the cultural responsiveness of our
  schools and classrooms
• To discuss the implications of CRT CRE for our
  schools

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Definitions for our Workshop

• Culture
• Pedagogy
• Culturally Responsive Teaching

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A Definition for Culture
Culture is the shared perceptions of a groups
values, expectations and norms. It reflects the
way people give priorities to goals, how they
behave in different situations, and how they cope
with their world and with one another. People
experience their social environment through their
culture. Culture is transmitted from generation
to generation.
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A Definition for Pedagogy

• The philosophical framework for our teaching.
• The lens in which we plan, carry out and reflect
  on our teaching.
• The art and science of teaching.

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• What is
• Culturally Responsive Teaching?

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• According to scholar Gloria Ladson Billings,
  Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) is
• An approach that empowers students
  intellectually, socially, emotionally, and
  politically by using cultural referents to impact
  knowledge, skills and attitudes.

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Gloria Ladson-Billings, Ph.D.

• In her 1994 book The Dreamkeepers,
  Ladson-Billings, further defined CRT as
  possessing these nine principles
• Communication of High Expectations
• Active Teaching Methods
• Teacher as Facilitator
• Inclusion of Culturally and Linguistically
  Diverse Students
• Cultural Sensitivity
• Reshaping the Curriculum
• Student-Controlled Classroom Discourse
• Small Group Instruction and Academically-Related
  Discourse

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Geneva Gay, Ph.D.

• In her 2000 book Culturally Responsive Teaching,
  Geneva Gay,
• defined CRT as teaching that is
• Validating the values, prior experiences, and
  cultural
• knowledge of students
• Comprehensive
• Transformative
• Emancipatory

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Culturally Responsive Teaching

• Builds on what students already know.
• Helps students understand there is more than one
  way of knowing.
• Encourages students to embrace their culture and
  develop a love of learning.
• Highlights students strengths, and gives them
  confidence to confront their weaknesses.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching

• Gives Teachers
• The opportunity to learn about students
  cultures.
• The opportunity to teach students about the
  behaviors valued in schools.
• Ways to keep their teaching exciting -- they vary
  teaching approaches based on their learners.

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• In our multicultural society, culturally
  responsive teaching reflects democracy at its
  highest level. It means doing whatever it takes
  to ensure that every child is achieving and ever
  moving toward realizing their potential.
• --Joyce Taylor-Gibson

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• To Be A Teacher of CRT, You Need To

• Be willing to reexamine your teaching pedagogy
  and make it relevant to your students.
• Be someone who deeply cares about your students.
• Be a student-centered teacher, which means taking
  an interest in your students community and
  making positive contact with their parents.
• Be willing to learn about cultures other than
  your own.

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What are some of the cultures and languages
represented in your schools and classrooms?
What some of the cultures and languages your
students will encounter in their educational
settings?
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Workshop Activity 1

• Brainstorm about how you might apply some
  principles of CRT to improve the cultural
  responsiveness of your school, classroom or
  teacher education program
• 10 minute individual exercise

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• What Are the Characteristics of a Culturally
  Responsive School Environment?

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Culturally Responsive School Environments

• Use the culture and experiences of Latino,
  African American, Asian American, Native
  American, and White Americans not part of
  mainstream culture as a scaffold to learning
  (Gay, 2004).
• Use instruction that involves matching the
  knowledge of particular groups with the learning
  environment.
• Embraces a strength-based perspective.
• Knows that failure of any children is not an
  option.
• Creates an environment that reflects cultural and
  linguistic diversity.
• Enacts instruction through different learning
  styles.

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Building a Culturally Responsive Environment
requires

• Dialogues on race/ethnicity and culture
• Caring (Noddings, 1986 Valenzuela, 1999)
• Analyzing school climate who feels comfortable
  and safe? Who feels uncomfortable and unsafe?
• Continuously analyzing student achievement data
• Professional Development on learning styles

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Why is a Culturally Responsive Environment
Important in Educational Settings?

• Schooling process operates on cultural nuances
  (e.g., agriculture calendar, giving teacher an
  apple, speaking up in class, calling teacher by
  last name).
• Culture of others has historically not been
  acknowledged in the schooling process and
  resulted in differential outcomes (Banks, 1987,
  2001 Delpit, 1993 Sleeter, 1987).

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A Place to Begin

• Get to know the research
• Be honest about where you are as a school or
  organization
• Let the research inform your decision-making
  process
• Implement realistic (time-bound, measurable
  goals)
• Follow-up and follow through with professional
• development and periodic assessment

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Workshop Activity 2

• Assess if your school environment is
• culturally responsive
• 20 minute small group exercise Discussion

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Discussion

• What are the implications for your school or
  organization to create a culturally responsive
  school environment?
• Obstacles?
• Challenges?
• Benefits?

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• The increasing diversity in our schools, the
  ongoing demographic changes across the nation and
  the movement toward globalization dictate that we
  develop a more in-depth understanding of culture
  if we want to bring about true understanding
  among diverse populations.

-Maria Wilson-Portunando
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References

• Banks, J. A. (1987, 2001) Educating Citizens in a
  Multicultural Society. New York Teachers College
  Press.
• Delpit, L. (1993). The Silenced Dialogue Power
  and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's
  Children" in Beyond Silenced Voices Class, Race,
  and Gender in United States Schools (L.Weis,
  M.Fine, eds).
• Gay, G. (2000). Culturally Responsive Teaching
  Theory, Research, and Practice (Multicultural
  Education Series, No. 8). New York Teachers
  College Press.
• Grant, C. A., Sleeter, C. E. (1987). Who
  determines teacher work? The debate continues.
  Teaching Teacher Education, 3(1), 61-64.
• Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). The Dreamkeepers
  Successful Teachers of African American Children.
  San Francisco Jossey Bass.
• Noddings, N. (1986). Caring - a Feminine
  Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. USA
  University of California Press.
• Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive Schooling
  U.S.-Mexican youth and the politics of caring.
  Albany, NY State University of New York Press.