Power Pedagogy Through Cultural Responsiveness

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Power Pedagogy Through Cultural Responsiveness

• By Travis Thompson, Mike Straile, and Pete
  Zaloba

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It is about teaching intellectual, vocational,
and civic skills. Students, especially
underachieving ones, need to learn knowledge and
skills that they can apply in life, and how to
meet high standards of academic excellence,
rather than wasting time on fanciful notions
about cultural diversity (21)
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According to G. Gay, most teachers mistakenly
believe that to treat students differently
because of their cultural orientations is racial
discrimination (21)Is good teaching
transcendent?
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Is it identical for all students and under all
circumstances?The reading calls all these
assumptions into question.
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From Cant to Can

• Standard of goodness in teaching and learning
  are culturally determined and are not the same
  for all ethnic groups.
• Signs and signals have evolved that are
  associated with appropriate attending behaviour
• Nonverbal communication cues (gaze, eye contact,
  and body posture)

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Where do we go Wrong?

• Many teachers fail to recognize, understand, or
  appreciate the pervasive influence of culture.
• They also fail to recognize their students
  attitudes values and behaviours.

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• Too many teachers plead ignorance of Latinos,
  African Americans, Native Americans, Laotians,
  Vietnamese, and other immigrant groups
• What problem does this cause?
• Ignorance of people different from ourselves can
  breed negative attitudes, anxiety, and fears
• It also causes people to want to change others
  into images of ourselves

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Why are Cultures Important?

• Ethnicity and culture are significant ways in
  which people show their identity
• It is important to know that individuality,
  culture and ethnicity are not synonyms, and they
  all have very different meanings.
• Can you define
• Individuality
• Culture
• Ethnicity

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Individuality

• Characteristics that distinguish one person from
  another

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Culture

• The quality in a person or society that arises
  from a concern for what is regarded as excellent
  in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits,
  etc.

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Ethnicity

• Based on a persons ethnic traits, background,
  allegiance, or association

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Deficit Syndrome

• The deficit syndrome occurs when teachers
  attribute school failure to what students of
  colour dont have and cant do

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Example of the Deficit Syndrome

• There is a school district in which 48 of the
  students are Navajo
• Of them one of every four leave school before
  graduation (25)
• The cause of failure for these students were
  classified as deficit by the administration
• Among them were lack of self-esteem, inadequate
  homes, poor parenting skills and low parental
  participation, lack of language development, poor
  academic interest, few opportunities for cultural
  enrichment, high absentee rates, and health
  problems (such as F.A.S.)

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How is this Similar to Other Ethnic Groups?

• The same similar deficits have been attributed to
  underachieving Latinos, African Americans, and
  some groups of Asian Americans

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Whats the Problem?

• People tend to have the mindset of blaming the
  victim and they have a mindset that they can
  just right these students off as a deficit

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What can we do?

• Gain a mastery level of educating these students
• A mastery of tasks at one level encourages
  individuals to accomplish tasks of greater
  complexity
• Learning comes from a students strength and
  capabilities, not their failures and weaknesses
• Help the students achieve goals to help build an
  interest in what you are teaching
• This helps build confidence in the students, and
  gives them a better chance of achieving a higher
  level of learning

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What Else can we do?

• Make slight alterations to the curriculum to suit
  the needs of all the students in the classroom.
• This means that you will have to find ways to
  relate the material to every student so that
  everyone will understand

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Cultural Responsiveness

• Ideological Beginnings

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Ideological Trailblazers

• Abrahams and Troike (1972)
• Teachers must learn about the cultural
  differences of students
• Teachers must regard cultural differences as a
  resource rather than hindrance
• Teachers must reflect upon their own preconceived
  ideas and cultural assumptions
• Teachers must provide minority students with a
  sense of dignity

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Ideological Trailblazers (cont.)

• Chun-Hoon (1973)
• Teaching cultural diversity has benefits for all
  students, minority and otherwise
• It assists Asian Americans in transcending the
  psychological colonization of the mass media
• Psychic space is necessary for intellectual
  freedom, and must incorporate contrasting points
  of view
• These must both be present to maximize school
  achievement

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Ideological Trailblazers (cont.)

• Arciniega (1975)
• The education system needs to ensure that ll
  students can become positive contributors to a
  culturally dynamic society
• Multicultural education enhances problem-solving
  abilities
• Carlson (1976)
• The reality of ethnic differences necessitates
  its acknowledgment in the classroom

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Ideological Trailblazers (cont.)

• Forbes (1973)
• Created educational agenda based on Native
  American values and culture
• Cultural values and the behaviour styles that
  result from them should be the foundation of the
  curriculum and instruction
• Focused on Native American worldview and
  instruction that aligned with spiritual and
  character development

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Ideological Trailblazers (cont.)

• Banks (1975)
• Advocated curriculum modifications that respect
  the culture and language of minority students
• Teachers should not breed contempt for minority
  cultures by ignoring them
• Cuban (1972)
• Inclusion of ethnic content is not enough
• Focus on inquiry, critique and analysis

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Ideological Trailblazers (cont.)

• Aragon (1973)
• Focused on teacher preparedness as a key reason
  for student inabilities
• Teachers were culturally deprived and did not
  value diverse cultural heritage
• Reform must begin with a change in the attitude
  of teachers about diverse cultures and ethnic
  groups

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Ideological Trailblazers (cont.)

• Gay (1975)
• New conceptions of achievement included identity
  development, citizenship skills, knowledge of
  diversity, and cross-cultural interactional
  competence
• Ethnic content improves instructional value
• Ethnic literacy, self-analysis, decision-making,
  and social activism are essential skills in a
  pluralistic society

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Group Activity

• Get into 6 different groups and wait for
  instruction!!

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Culturally Responsive Teaching is
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Validating

• This uses the cultural knowledge, experiences,
  frames of reference, and performance styles of
  ethnically diverse students to make learning
  encounters more relevant and effective. (p. 321)

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Characteristics

• Acknowledgement of legitimacy of cultural
  heritages of different ethnic groups
• Builds bridges of meaningfulness between home and
  school experiences, and between academics and
  sociocultural realities
• Uses different teaching styles that incorporates
  all the different learning styles
• Teaches students to praise their own cultures as
  well as others cultures
• Incorporate information on a variety of different
  cultures
• This includes multicultural information,
  resources, and materials in all subjects taught
  in the schools

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Culturally Responsive Teaching is
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Comprehensive

• Ladson-Billings (1992)
• Culturally responsible teachers teach the whole
  child
• It is a collective effort that promotes
  excellence like members of an extended family
• Academic community of learners promotes the
  success of all members
• Hollins (1996)
• Education designed specifically for minority
  students incorporates culturally appropriate
  situations for learning
• Developing a sense of community while maintaining
  ethnic identities

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Culturally Responsive Teaching is
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MULTIDIMENSIONAL
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Cultural responsive pedagogy focuses on those
elements of cultural socialization that most
directly affect learning (32)
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Culturally Responsive Teaching is
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Empowering

• It enables students to be better human beings and
  more successful learners.
• It translates into academic competence, personal
  confidence, courage, and the will to act
• Students must show students that they expect them
  to succeed and that the teachers will expect the
  students to commit themselves to this goal
• To do this a teacher should
• Boost student moral
• Provide resources and assistance
• Develop an ethos of achievement
• Celebrate individuality
• Celebrate collective accomplishments

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Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID)

• This uses social scaffolding (___________________
  ____)
• Students can
• Explain problem solving techniques in small
  groups
• Display proof that there are identified as AVID
  participants
• Have an after school group that allows them to
  have their own space only for AVID
• Learn the cultural capital of school success
  (test-taking strategies, study skills, time
  management, etc)
• Get mentored in academics and social skills by
  other students who have completed the program
  successfully

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Culturally Responsive Teaching is
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Transformative

• It respects the cultures and experiences of
  visible minorities and uses these as resources
  for teaching
• It recognizes the strengths of these individuals
  and enhances them
• ie. Verbal creativity prevalent in some cultural
  minorities can be used to enhance writing skills
  (self-recording)
• ie. Small group-work for alike ESL students

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Culturally Responsive Teaching is Transformative
(cont.)

• It makes academic success a non-negotiable and
  achievable goal for all
• It promotes social awareness and responsibility
• It teaches students to be proud of their heritage
  rather than ashamed of it
• It mitigates the tendencies towards learned
  helplessness

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Culturally Responsive Teaching is Transformative
(cont.)

• Banks (1991)
• Education must be transformative to be empowering
• Students must become social critics, bable to
  analyze inequities, and become agents of change
• Two-fold strategy needed to promote plurality in
  the curriculum, and to develop social
  consciousness

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Culturally Responsive Teaching is
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Emancipatory
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Culturally responsive pedagogy lifts the veil of
presumed absolute authority from conceptions of
scholarly truth typically taught in schools. It
helps students realize that no single version of
truth is total and permanent (35)
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These revelations about knowledge and their
attendant skills comprise the heart of the
intellectual and cultural liberation facilitated
by culturally responsive teaching (36)
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The freedom to be ethnically expressive removes
the psychological stress associated with and
psychic energy deployed in covering up or
containing ones cultural inclinations (36)
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Cooperation, community, and connectedness are
also central features of culturally responsive
teaching. Students are expected to work together
and are held accountable for one anothers
success (36)
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THE END

• Now go out and be culturally aware while teaching