Culturally Responsive Instruction

Reader Response #7

Culturally responsive teaching is an area that has become very important in education and most schools seem to be struggling with incorporating it into the curriculum. Most teachers use supplemental materials to create a more diverse curriculum. I have been doing my field experience at Johnson High School in Saint Paul. It is a very diverse student body comprising of African-American, Asian (mostly Hmong), Latino and Caucasian students. The teacher I am visiting has a textbook, but does not use it except for choosing certain short stories or poems from it. She mostly uses trade books and professional journals to find stories that the students can connect to. She says that the textbook has very little in it that the students can relate to, especially with such diversity in her classroom. It does not seem very difficult for her to find material that the students are intrigued by and challenged by, but for whatever reason the curriculum that is planned out for her is lacking in this area. We are told that to get students excited about reading we have to hook them and activate their prior knowledge. This is impossible if they are reading something they have no connection to. This chapter has great ideas to help teachers be aware of the holes in the curriculum and how to fill those holes.

The biggest challenge for me will be figuring out how to actually teach to each culture to make sure all my students are learning. The textbook says that we have to adjust teaching styles and assessments to accommodate the different cultures in our classrooms. The textbook also tells us to learn the background information and cultural expectations to motivate the students. What I take away from this is that we have to know our students to become effective teachers. This understanding will also help teachers know what these cultures bring to a learning situation. Every culture can be tapped to enhance what is being learned in the classroom because each culture has different values.

I anticipate that my biggest challenge will be having ELL students in my class. This is a very unfamiliar situation for me because I did not go to school with any ELL students until I was in college and most ELL students are no longer struggling when they get to college. This is an area I will need a lot of guidance in and I am hoping my school is adequately staffed to help me in this new position.

This chapter helped me know what to look for in a classroom, in my curriculum and my students to help me become a culturally responsive teacher. I want to be a teacher because I want to experience learning with my students, all my students. I believe every student is capable of learning and I want to include all my students in the learning experience.