I found this quote by Milne confronting. Before reading this, I would've said that I am definitely a culturally responsive teacher. Through the writing of this post, I will hold a mirror up to myself, and test that assertion.
Who are the children in my class?
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| Data from the culture parents identified when they enrolled their children |
As you can see, the children in my class come from a variety of different cultures, with 23% of them being born overseas.
International Baccalaureate Organisation and Culture
As an International Baccalaureate school, we must subscribe to the tenets of the organisation. In the Primary Years Programme's core document, Making the PYP Happen (2009), teachers are reminded: This is the kind of student we hope will graduate from a PYP school, the kind of student who, in the struggle to establish a personal set of values, will be laying the foundation upon which international-mindedness will develop and flourish. (p. 2) We are often reminded that we are creating open-minded, global citizens.
Second Language Teaching (2LL)
As a part of my 2LL teaching, I adhere to Newton's Principles for intercultural communicative language teaching. As a part of these principles, I work to encourage and develop an exploratory and reflective approach to culture and culture-in-languages, and foster explicit comparisons and connections between languages and cultures.
So What?
After reading Milne's quote, I began to wonder whether I was seeing culture as the way people look, or how they don't fit in. I then looked at Bucher's (2008) nine megaskills that contribute to our cultural intelligence, and I realised that no, I don't look at students as colour and difference, I look at it as way of being, that are similar in some ways and different in others, but all good, something we can learn from.
How do I demonstrate emotional intelligence?
As a part of my 2LL teaching, I have stopped asking students, 'How do we do/think about _____." I realised that there is no 'we' in terms of us having one way of doing something, but that is not true, there are as many ways of doing things or thinking about things as there are people in the classroom.
What next?
Research has shown that no one teaching strategy will consistently engage all learners. The key is helping students relate lesson content to their own backgrounds. (Wlodkowski, R. and Ginsberg, M. 1995).
How will I relate lesson content to their backgrounds?
Wlodkowski and Ginsberg advocate Four Conditions Necessary for Culturally Responsive Teaching:
1. Establish inclusion
This includes being collaborative and cooperative, whilst sharing ownership with all students.
2. Develop positive attitude
Here I need to relate my teaching and learning activities to students' experience or previous knowledge.
3. Enhance meaning
Here, I can relate my teaching and learning activities to students' experience or previous knowledge.
4. Engender competence
There are three ways to engender student competence, regardless of their cultural capital:
- Connect the assessment process to the students' world, frames of reference, and values.
- Include multiple ways to represent knowledge and skills and allow for attainment of outcomes at different points in time.
- Encourage self-assessment.
It was interesting to reflect on my attitudes and cultural responsiveness. I feel that this area is a strength of mine, so I guess I may have been complacent in this area. My research this week made me question whether this area really is a strength; I think it is something I do well because I take joy in students' cultural backgrounds and ways of thinking, but like all areas of teaching, there definitely is room for improvements. I can improve by implementing Wlodkowski and Ginsberg's four conditions necessary for culturally responsive teaching.
References
Making the PYP happen: A curriculum framework for international primary education. (2009). Cardiff, Wales: International Baccalaureate Organization.
Milne, B. A. (2013, August 18). Colouring in the White Spaces: Reclaiming Cultural Identity in Whitestream Schools. Retrieved June 11, 2017, from http://hdl.handle.net/10289/7868
Newton, J. (2010). Intercultural communicative language teaching: Implications for effective teaching and learning: A literature review and an evidence-based framework for effective teaching. Wellington, N.Z.: Ministry of Education.
Wlodkowski, R. J., & Ginsberg, M. B. (1995). A framework for culturally responsive teaching. Educational Leadership,
53(1), 17.
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