Culturally Responsive Teaching
Geneva Gay, a professor specializing in multicultural education defines cultural responsive teaching as “using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively." (DOE.gov, 2012). According to her, it must be able to meet the following six characteristics to be considered as cultural responsive: “validating, comprehensive, multidimensional, empowering, transformative and emancipatory” (InTime.uni.edu, 2013).
Validating in the sense that the students should not be disconnected from their culture while on the process of learning. In fact, what they have in their culture, what they actually do in their environment and their ways of living must be used as a conduit in teaching them so that they can relate and feel the importance of what they have. For example, when making illustrations for common concepts, examples to be used must be those which they can see around them or validate. Culturally responsive teaching should not focus on only on one aspect of learning, but it must be holistic. This means that the teacher must be able to touch the whole child, may it be emotionally or socially, thus it must be comprehensive. They must also be able to see that you care and are concern for them. Multidimensional, such that the learner should see the coherence of all the cultural concepts being taught, and these must be inclusive in every subject. In fact, they must be able to see these may it be physically or by way of their lessons are presented and their teachers teach them.
It is empowering because the students must be able to feel their importance, thus promoting self-esteem and later on would result to initiative and leadership. It must be able to identify the good in the student or must be able to turn the bad in the student into good to be able to make a better man out of that student. Culturally responsive teaching must also be able to capitalize on the raw skills of a person and further develop them to meet its characteristic as transformative. If a teacher found out that he is good in drawing, then he can let him express his ideas through drawing. In that way, he has not only been able to get a grade but also improve his skills which he can later on use for a living. Culturally responsive must also be able to initiate critical thinking from the students and help them understand that although there are existing ideas, they are free to develop and voice out their own which will satisfy the emancipator characteristic.
References:
Gay, Geneva (2006). Culturally responsive teaching in special education for ethnically diverse students : setting the stage. Retrieved from http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ppg/partnerships/ccresources/gay.pdf
InTime.uni.edu (2013). Culturally responsive Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/malicious/worm-propagation-countermeasures_1410
Wlodkowski, Reymond (1995). A Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/teaching.htm
DOE.gov (2012).Cultural Competency and Culturally Responsive Teaching. Retrieved from www.doe.in.gov/improvement/cultural-competency-and-culturally-responsive-teaching
