Culturally Responsive Classroom Video Analysis

The five questions Brian Sztabnik poses in this podcast heavily relates to culturally responsive teaching. By asking themselves these questions teachers use culturally responsive pedagogy that relates to classroom management. It follows two parts of classroom management from a critical perspective from Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by Gina Oran, specifically, “recognize that we are all cultural beings, with our own beliefs, biases, and assumptions about human behavior”, and

Einstein said: “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Now imagine the various students that enter the classroom. They come from all walks of life with different backgrounds and stories to tell. If educators don’t recognize that these differences do in fact exist then some of the fish that pass through those school doors will leave the building believing that they are incapable because of the trees presented for them to climb. Enter culturally responsive teaching. This method or pedagogical device is the answer to bridging this gap that students may encounter when they are not given the opportunity to show their particular geniuses or to act as their own agent in their education.

Culturally Responsive Teaching is an emerging field that focuses on student cultural backgrounds and experiences in the development of pedagogy. According to Kea (2013) cultural difference is the single largest difference in U.S. schools and also the most neglected. The goal of Culturally Responsive Teaching is to provide an equal opportunity for all students to learn in school, regardless of their gender, social class, ethnic, racial or cultural characteristics (Banks 2005). Ladson-Billings (1994) suggest that the historic failings of educators in educating non-white students is that educators attempt to insert culture into education rather than insert education into the culture. In other words, educators are not providing an equal multi-culturally relevant education by bringing tokens of culture such as food, national flags, or maps from around the world into the classroom alone. Although these actions promote a sense of multiculturalism, an education that is relative to a diversity of cultures is not necessarily being provided. Culturally Responsive Teaching attempts to bring the various experiences of the student’s cultural home life into the classroom. Schmidt (2005) identifies seven characteristics that must be incorporated into curriculum in order to provide culturally responsive instruction. These characteristics are high expectations,

Public schools are beginning to see a shift in demographics in the United States. There is now a culturally diverse student population and educators need to respond to this shift in order to ensure an equal education for all students. Culture aids in determining how students learn, and culturally responsive teaching is a way teachers can educate culturally diverse students and provide an equal education for all. Culturally responsive teaching is defined by Geneva Gay as using the various characteristics, perspectives, and experiences of many cultures to effectively teach culturally diverse students (2000). Culturally responsive teaching prepares teachers to work with and teach a culturally diverse classroom of students and allows teachers to create a classroom environment that is similar to their students’ home environments so students do not have to assimilate to the dominant culture or change from their home culture to their school culture depending on their setting (Brown). Multicultural education is not only important for ensuring equal education for all students, but also creates youth who will be able to function and be effective citizens in a pluralistic society (Gay 2003). In order to implement culturally responsive teaching, teachers must acknowledge potential biases and reconstruct their attitudes, create a diverse knowledge base, be caring and empowering, and create a classroom environment that is conducive to a culturally diverse

Upon hearing the word culturally responsive classroom one envisions a class where the teacher “emphasizes a comfortable and academically enriching environment for students for all ethnicities, races, beliefs, and creeds.” (Lynch, Matthew 2011) Yet in reality most classrooms and schools are not culturally responsive in my area. Most schools are doing the best they can to differentiate instruction as well as make modifications and/or accommodations. However, as the number of diverse students rises, it our responsibility to educate ourselves on being culturally responsive.

“What does it mean to be culturally competent?” article on the ACECQA website states a culturally competent practitioner respects and shows understanding of different cultures including they own by:

Teachers must learn about their student’s cultures if they want to educate them to the best of their ability. Many of the students in culturally diverse classrooms will want to learn in different ways. Some will want to learn in pairs, groups, as a class, or just alone. If the teacher is educated in their culture then lessons can be adjusted to appeal to every student as much as possible instead of forcing some to forget about their culture and learn like others. Students from

I noticed that many students pretended to not understand and they just wanted to prolong until the class was over. I didn’t think it was necessary to repeat the video maybe more than three times. The teacher gave out the worksheet to the students prior to the video and the worksheet was going to be scored, so the teacher wanted to make sure that the students did ok. Most of the activities the teacher did for the class were limited to one activity and that was to practice with the groups, reviewing and practicing what the teacher just

As an ESL instructor, I teach a diverse classroom full of migrants with a variety of backgrounds. It’s as multicultural as a classroom can be! I try to incorporate my students’ cultures into our lessons. After all, everything we know and understand comes from the lens of our culture. Take for example our own education. Think about how much influence our point of view had on our education. Now, how much is our point of view affected by culture? I try to be as culturally responsive as possible. However, I know that there is always room for improvement.

I’ve always I thought I was a pretty good teacher. I’ve been selected as a STAR teacher and Teacher of the Year. But after reading Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, I had to seriously self-reflect, and I came to the realization that if I had read and implemented the suggestions in the book perhaps I would have touched student’s lives on a deeper level, a long-term neurological life-changing level. My heart and intent were pure, but did I reach as many students as I could have? I have always been focused on getting my students to be interested in their studies and to give it their all. I’ve been told many times by them, “You do too much.” I took that as a compliment because I have always tried to motivate them to want to excel, not just in school, but in life. After reading Hammond’s book, I see that I must overhaul my thinking and my methods. By following the techniques suggested in Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain I can grow in my individual approach to each student and grow more confident that they can each reach and achieve their best.

This week’s devotional cover’s a very important scripture and topic, being culturally diverse is an effective characteristic trait to possess as a human service professional.

As teachers we need to state and continue to follow the classroom expectations, for the students to take us serious. If we aren’t able to support the rules, the students will not support them as well. I believe this was an awesome classroom to observe. I was very surprised to see how the teacher had control over everything, without doing any shouting or saying “shhh”. This is a classroom I would love to continue observing.

The video was created to show educators how different teachers use different strategies to help students learn their educational materials. The video took place in multiple classrooms. Each teacher provided an example of how they help their students learn. For instance, the first teacher used an individual check out to see if her students are progressing with their reading skills. The students read to the teacher and were timed. Another teacher used classroom practice as a strategy for reading. Each teacher gave other teachers helpful strategies that could help other students. Although all of the teachers used different strategies, all of the students were involved and seemed very attentive.

According Charlotte Danielson's Framework for teaching in domain four it touched on professional responsibilities. As a teacher you should be reflecting on teaching, maintaining accurate records, communicating with families, participating in a professional community, growing and developing professionally and showing professionalism. In the video both teachers showed professionalism in how they conducted with one another and how they conducted with the students. In addition they did reflect on teaching and how they could make this an effective lesson for the students. Furthermore aside from the typical professional behavior they also were aware of the learning process of their students. An example of this was when they divided the students

There are three teachers in the classroom, one does reading/lesson circle with a small group of students, another does arts and crafts, and one of them circulates throughout the room helping students with their work-plans. The teacher that circulates around the room all the time appears to be the head teacher and when a conflict arises she is the one to mediate it. The way that the teachers speak with the children is as if they are equals, they aren’t talked down to and the students give the teachers complete respect.