1 of 23

Culturally Responsive Teaching

2 of 23

Marisol Moreno (Diaz)

2

As a Mexican child in school I had all kinds of labels, "at-risk", "low SES (socio-economic status)", "undocumented" and "LEP" (limited English Proficiency). I am the eldest of three; we grew up in El Paso, TX, moving constantly from one apartment to the other. My mom, a single parent, did her best to provide for us. Although society might have constructed us as "poor" economically, our family was very rich in cultural and linguistic wealth. Though our linguistic and cultural wealth was never seen as a valuable asset in school systems, it was this wealth that united my small family and fueled me through school and college. Therefore I can honestly say that for me what made a difference in my life was my family's cultural capital rather than the content I was forced to learn in school. I did not learn how to overcome adversity through textbooks or handouts, I learned this at home.

3 of 23

3

How does Marisol demonstrate Culturally Responsive Teaching?

Relationships

Relevant curriculum & knowledge frameworks

Intellectually challenging and meaningful

Socio-cultural, active learning processes

4 of 23

4

“Using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them. It teaches to and through the strengths of these students.” (Gay, 2000, p. 29).

“Students of color come to school having already mastered many cultural skills and ways of knowing. To the extent that teaching builds on these capabilities, academic success will result ” (Gay, 2010, p. 213)

What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?

Gay, G. (2000, 2010). Culturally responsive teaching. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

5 of 23

5

What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?

Geneva Gay

6 of 23

6

  • Treat students as competent
  • Build on students’ real life experiences, constantly scaffold new, more complex learning
  • Broad conception of literacy that includes literature and oratory
  • Class time used for instruction
  • Students whose futures seem most tenuous cultivated as leaders in classroom
  • Teachers and students engage in collective struggle against status quo

What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The Dreamkeepers. Jossey-Bass.

7 of 23

Exemplary Teachers of Latino Youth

  • 10 teachers (5 white, 3 Latino, 2 African Am.)
  • Living with, learning from Latino families central to their own learning.

“It’s important to try to tap into the students and figure out who they were and talk to their parents, and visit them in positive ways, not ‘your son or daughter is in trouble.’ Then you get kind of invited to social events, quinceñeras and things in the community. . . .A large part is just listening to them, and asking questions and talking with them.”

  • Bringing el barrio into the classroom
  • Learning students’ language and other assets

7

Irizarry, J. & Raible, J. (2011). Beginning with El Barrio. Journal of Latinos in Education.

8 of 23

Household Funds of Knowledge�Luis Moll

8

9 of 23

Household Funds of Knowledge

9

“Our analysis of funds of knowledge represents a positive (and, we argue, realistic) view of households as containing ample cultural and cognitive resources with great potential utility for classroom instruction. . . This view of households, we should mention, contrasts sharply with prevailing views of working class families as disorganized socially and deficient intellectually.” (1992, p. 134)

Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice 31(2): 132-141.

10 of 23

Household Funds of Knowledge: What families may describe

10

  • Planting crops, taking care of soil and irrigation
  • Taking care of animals
  • Hunting and tracking animals
  • Fixing mechanical things
  • Bible study
  • Childcare
  • Telling family stories
  • Reading print advertisements and notices & family letters
  • Herbal medicine & first aid procedures
  • Playing various games
  • Folk music
  • Carpentry and other forms of woodworking
  • Textile design
  • Renting, selling, managing income
  • Shopping for best values, budgeting money
  • Local history
  • Where immigrant relatives came from, immigration routes,

11 of 23

Household Funds of Knowledge: Mapped against subject areas

11

Science

Crop planting, animal management, hunting, tracking animals, soil and irrigation, fixing mechanical things, etc.

Literacy

Bible study, family stories, print advertisements and notices, family letters, etc.

Math

Renting, selling, loans, managing income, shopping for best values, budgeting money, etc.

Social studies, history, geography

Local mapping, local history, building codes, where immigrant relatives came from, immigration routes, etc.

Health, PE

Herbal medicine, first aid procedures, games, childcare, etc.

Arts

Folk music, carpentry and other woodworking, textile design, masonry, etc.

12 of 23

12

Community Cultural Wealth

Resistance Capital

Navigational Capital

Social Capital

Familial Capital

Linguistic Capital

Aspirational Capital

Tara Yosso, (2005). Whose culture has capital? Race Ethnicity & Education

Community Cultural Wealth

13 of 23

13

Curriculum

 

        • Culturally and Historically

Relevant

  • Social Justice Centered
  • State Aligned

(honors alignment in most cases)

  • Academically Rigorous +

= Raza Studies Curriculum

Pedagogy

 

  • Critical Thinkers
  • Community Service
  • Critical Consciousness
  • Social Transformation +

= Raza Studies Pedagogy

 

  

+

Student – Teacher – Parent

Interaction

  •  Respect
  • Understanding
  • Appreciation
  • Centered in the Creation of

an Academic Identity +

= Raza Studies Student-Teacher

Relations Model

 

+

Academic Proficiency for

Latino Students

Academic Identity for

Latino Students

=

+

=

Increased Academic Achievement for

Latino Students

The Raza Studies Model:

Critically Compassionate Intellectualism

Cammarota, J and Romero, A, (2006) Latino Studies Journal, and Multicultural Education Journal

13

14 of 23

14

Cabrera, N. L., Milam, J. F., Jaquette, O., & Marx, R. W. (2014). Missing the (student achievement) forest for all the (political) trees: Empiricism and the Mexican American student controversy in Tucson. American Educational Research Journal 51(6): 1084-1118.

Raza Studies: Academic Impact

�“The estimated relationship between MAS participation and student educational attainment was surprisingly strong. Analyses from our initial report had not included covariates for prior academic achievement (Cabrera et al., 2012). We expected the estimated relationship to decline once these covariates were included, but it did not. Instead, the robustness of the coefficient on MAS participation was consistent with the descriptive statistics in Table 2. The MAS students had significantly lower 9th- and 10th-grade GPAs as well as 10th-grade AIMS scores than their non-MAS peers. However, they had significantly higher AIMS passing and graduation rates than their non-MAS peers.”

15 of 23

  • High expectations
  • Cultural knowledge
  • Cultural content integration
  • Language
  • Critical consciousness

15

Lopez, F. A. (2016). Culturally responsive pedagogies in Arizona and student’s achievement. Teachers College Record.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogies

16 of 23

16

“Teachers’ beliefs about Spanish instruction, funds of knowledge, and critical awareness were all positively related to students’ reading outcomes. For teachers reporting the highest level of each of the aforementioned dimensions, students’ reading scores were associated with approximately .85 SD (Spanish), .60 SD (funds of knowledge), and 1.70 SD (critical awareness) higher reading outcomes at the end of the school year.” (p. 27)

“. . . .an increase of about .20 SD for students with the highest levels of ethnic affirmation.” (p. 26)

Culturally Responsive Pedagogies

Academic Impact

Lopez, F. A. (2016). Culturally responsive pedagogies in Arizona and student’s achievement. Teachers College Record.

17 of 23

17

Classroom practice

Knowledge of students, where they come from

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Brainstorm strategies you could use to become familiar with community and household funds of knowledge.

18 of 23

18

Source: Augustus Hawkins High School, Los Angeles

19 of 23

19

Source: Augustus Hawkins High School, Los Angeles

20 of 23

20

Source: Augustus Hawkins High School, Los Angeles

21 of 23

“Neighborhood Walk”

21

Spend some time walking around the neighborhood, observing and listening. If possible, have a child or youth give you a tour. Pay attention to things such as geometric shapes in building designs, kinds of plant life and rocks that are present, kinds of stores that are present, styles of music played, kinds of games children play, and so forth. Then make a list of things in the neighborhood you can build upon, as examples or lessons, to help teach what you are being certified to teach to children from this neighborhood.  Try to identify at least twelve things you can draw on from the students' neighborhood experience, to help them understand concepts in your subject area better.

What you saw Related academic concept Ideas for curriculum

1.

2.

3.

22 of 23

“Community Assets”

22

Select five adults from a community that is culturally different from yours, or from the neighborhood of a school in which you are doing a field placement. Tell them that you are learning to teach, and have been encouraged to get to know the community being served by the school. With their permission, ask questions such as the following:

  • What do you see as the main assets of this community?
  • What are people in this community especially good at doing?
  • Describe how you would like to see the community ten years from now.
  • What assets can help the community reach this vision?
  • What barriers will the community face in working toward this vision? What is being done about those barriers?
  • How can the school serve the community most effectively?

23 of 23

23

“Community Resources”

 

Find out who local residents of the community see as their leaders and/or spokespeople. Be sure you get the residents' perspectives, rather than outsiders' perspectives. Make a map of the community. Find out what churches and organizations people in the neighborhood affiliate with, including both formal organizations (such as NAACP) and informal organizations (such as a group of parents that meets periodically). Identify media (newsletters, newspapers) that serve the neighborhood. Ask about items such as church bulletins, Black or Hispanic newspapers, and community center newsletters, as well as radio stations, magazines, etc. that people in the neighborhood "tune in" to. Below are interview questions that you can use to guide this part of your investigation.

 

  1. Who do members of your community see as their leaders?
  2. What churches or other religious organizations do community members attend?
  3. Are there any particular organizations community members belong to?
  4. What community centers or organizations serve the community?
  5. Are there any particular newspapers or newsletters that people in the community like to read? Magazines?
  6. What radio stations do community members prefer to listen to? What TV stations do community members tend to watch?