Culturally Responsive Teaching- Standard 5

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Standard 5:

Establish a culturally inclusive learning climate that facilitates academic engagement and success for all.

Standard Aligned Classes:

EDU6525: Culturally Responsive Teaching

Reflection:

I think of myself as having a decent idea of what make a successful multicultural classroom.  This has not always been the case.  Growing up in a community that lacked a significant level of diversity did not prepare me for my student teaching at Garfield High School or my first year as a teacher at Renton High School.  Through the Culturally Responsive Teaching class I have learned that although I am immersed in a multicultural environment every day, I still have a long way to go until I have a full understanding about what makes a quality multicultural education.  Throughout the quarter in EDU6525, I learned new things about myself as a White educator.  The two major areas of growth I see in myself are recognizing and making known my biases as a White educator and how to create a space of equity and access for all of my students.  This class taught me I have innate biases that I need to address and that although I am moving in the right direction, I have not quite created the equity and access in my classroom I hope for.

Biases as a White Educator

I grew up in a predominantly white community.  I was in the majority race in all of my schools and sports teams.  Even when I went to college, I was still the majority race.  I did not have much experience with a multicultural environment until my senior year of college in my student teaching placement.  At Garfield High School, I was faced with a challenge I did not expect.  I did not know how to reconcile what I knew from my upbringing with what I was learning about my students.  Banks said it best when he said, “Facing reality is the beginning of liberation.  As White Americans, we can face honestly the fact that we have benefited from racism” (Howard, G., 1996, p.329).  I had to come to terms with the fact that I had benefited from racism.  I did not think about racism being something that had an impact on my life, but getting to know my students proved otherwise.  From the “What is Culture” lecture, the visual of the cultural iceberg helped me understand more of the biases I have and the depth of the culture my students possess.  It put into perspective the fact that you see the surface parts of a person’s culture first, i.e. music, dancing, literature, food, clothing, etc.  You really have to get to know a person to understand the depth of their culture, for example, how a culture handles emotion, tempo of work, ordering of time, notions of modesty, etc.  Ruth Benedict put my feelings into words, “Culture provides us with a lens through which we view the world…and we are so close to it, we cannot see this lens through which we look.”  I did not realize the lens I was looking through.

            

Growing up in a predominantly White society, the lens I bring to my classroom comes from a stereotypical whitewashed background.   I was taught the two key points that Banks brings up when he is talking about how knowledge is constructed, "(1) the arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks was the cause of the boycott; and (2) Mrs. Parks refused to give up her seat when asked by the bus driver because she was tired from working hard all day" (Banks, J.A., 1996, p. 340).  I did not realize how biased my education had been until I started interacting with my students who came from different cultures than I did.  I also did not realize how biased the education they were receiving was until I compared it to my own and found little to no difference.  This was when I knew I needed to take a deep look at the biases I possess, where they come from, and how they are impacting my students.  This class pushed that thinking even further.  From the Personalizing Cultural Diversity lecture, the Stages of White Racial Identity you used from Helms put into perspective the stages I have begun moving through since my first day of student teaching.  According to Helms there are six stages of White Racial Identity, contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudo-independence, immersion/emergence, and autonomy.  Once aware of the impact my upbringing had on my lens I saw the world through, I began stage one.  I was aware of race and how that impacted my students and me.  It did not take long for me to begin questioning race and for it to become a thought at the forefront of my mind.  At this point, I believe I am in between stages five and six.  I think that I have abandoned the missionary quest and am working towards autonomy.  I am still learning new things every day about myself and my students.  I am also looking to continue growing in my understanding of what it means to identify with my white race and upbringing.

            

My personal biases affect my classroom every day.  As I learn my own personal biases better, I am able to communicate them to students and be held more accountable.  Thinking of ways, I can continue to grow, I am looking for ways to hold myself accountable for being transparent about my biases and how to overcome some of the barriers my biases cause.  Some tangible actions I can take are, telling students my background, letting them know where I come from, being explicit about my expectations while still giving room for student voice and input, and learning the lenses my students see the world though.  I am also planning to have other teachers look over my assessments to avoid biases, get student feedback on assessments to make sure questions aren’t biased, and work on incorporating more diversity into my lessons.  The biggest challenge for me is incorporating more diversity into my lessons.  As a math teacher, the curriculum is relatively set and not much can be done but there are some specific strategies I plan to try.  I am planning on working student cultures into the curriculum more.  Being aware of where they come from is important.  For example, I have many students who are Muslim.  Before this class I did not know that, “During the prior evening, make an intention of keeping fast the next day. On the day of the fast, rise an hour before sunrise and eat a small meal; say a prayer asking God to help you with this deed of fasting and asking Him to bless you and those around you” (Mvududu, 2008, p.1).   I will keep this in mind when planning during Ramadan.  I also plan on using more pop-culture references to help engage students.  I have done this sporadically and have gotten positive feedback when I incorporate the things their daily lives revolve around.  Finally, I am going to look at the different ways a single math problem is solved in different countries.  This will not only broaden my view of math but my students view of math.  By no means, have I overcome my biases as a White educator, but I am working towards identifying my biases every day.

Equity and Access for Students

In George I. Sanchez and Mexican American Educational Practices by Nathan Murillo, it was said, "He saw education as the primary vehicle for effecting changes in society and for progressing toward improved conditions for all its members" (Murillo, N., 1996, p. 131).  This quote is driving my thoughts around equity and access for my students.  Although this portion of the Banks book was talking about Mexican American education primarily, the idea that education can effect changes in society implies that this applies to everyone.  My classroom is currently the least diverse it is going to be.  With the increasing diversity of the United States, my classroom is going to continue to grow in diversity with every year.  The article, As Diversity Grows, So Must We, by Howard, showcased the progression schools and classrooms need to engage in as the diversity increases.  As the diversity grows, “this transformative work proceeds best in five phases: (1) building trust, (2) engaging personal culture, (3) confronting issues of social dominance and social justice, (4) transforming instructional practices, and (5) engaging the entire school community” (Howard, 2007, p.8).  As a school, we have worked on the first four stages extensively and have begun work on the fifth stage.  This year we have held forums for students to voice how they are feeling about the culture of our school.  In these forums, students are the only voices heard.  Teachers are invited to listen but not participate.  I have learned a lot about my students from what they have said at these forums.  Howard also said, “As educators in rapidly transitioning schools, we need to reexamine everything we are doing” (Howard 2007, p. 11).  I try to constantly look at how I am interacting with my students and how my students are interacting with me and the curriculum.  I try to follow the five different essentials to culturally responsive teaching as laid out by Howard, authentic and caring relationships, curriculum, shifting instructional strategies, communicating respect, and holding consistent and high expectations for all.  I also try to use the five dimensions of multicultural education Banks talks about on p. 337.  Banks and Howard overlap on many points and I am trying to align the two ideals to what I do on a daily basis.   I am trying to adopt an equity pedagogy as my mindset.  “An equity pedagogy exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial, cultural, and social-class groups” (Banks, J.A., 1996, p.338).  I am constantly learning and growing as I strive for a mindset that brings equity pedagogy to life in my classroom.

            

Thinking about my classroom and how to achieve a higher level of equity and access for my students, I come back to the five dimensions of multicultural education Banks lays out on page 337 of Multicultural Education Transformative Knowledge & Action.  Over the next few years, I plan to work on the equity and access of the curriculum I present for my students.  I am going to work on incorporating the five dimensions of multicultural education.  For content integration, my first step will be to use examples and content from a variety of cultures and groups.  If I have students who have just moved to the United States I will ask them about the way they were taught and see if I can incorporate some of those methods into my classroom.  For the knowledge construction process, we are working on students constructing their own knowledge about the math content and how that connects to what they know.  For creating an equity pedagogy, I am going to continue on identifying my biases, and figuring out how to adjust my teaching to meet the needs of my students.  For the dimension of prejudice reduction, I am planning on using math showcases from other countries.  When we learn a new math concept, showing how it is done somewhere else so students can begin to see the similarities and differences between math around the world.  Finally, for empowering school culture and social structures, I want to find a way to embrace and empower the diverse backgrounds of my students within my classroom.  I am still growing and identifying how I want to incorporate the five dimensions of multicultural education but my students have given me the motivation and desire to find a way to move towards a more holistically multicultural teaching style. 

            

In order to increase the equity and access in my classroom I want to incorporate different mediums for getting information to students, I want to increase my use of varying strategies to appeal to all types of learners, and continue to build significant relationships with my students.  Dr. James Comer said, “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship”.  Through these relationships, I will be able to figure out what my students strengths are and how to use them in my classroom.  I will also build the trust necessary for students to participate fully.  I also plan to incorporate some of the strategies from the Justice and Caring lecture, (1) Ensure all students have the opportunity to answer questions, (2) Give effective feedback that works like a dialogue conversation, and (3) Create challenging but attainable objectives for ALL students.

Artifacts from EDU6525:
Final Paper
Autobiography

Sources:

• Banks, J. A. (1996). Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action: Historical and contemporary perspectives. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Banks, J. A. (1996). Transformative Knowledge, Curriculum  Reform, and Action. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Howard, G. (1996). Whites in Multicultural Education:Rethinking Our Role. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Howard, G. R. (2007). As Diversity Grows, So Must We. Educational Leadership, 8-12.
• Murillo, N. (1996).  George I. Sanchez and Mexican American Educational Practices. New York: Teachers College Press.