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Father Saturnino Urios University

Graduate Studies

Butuan City

Practicing Culturally Responsive Teaching

_______________________________________

An essaySubmitted to

Daylinda J. Tampus, Ph.D

In partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the course

PhD 812A Pedagogy in Higher Education

_______________________________________

Sweet Loueljie R. Antigua

PhD StudentSeptember, 2014

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Culturally diverse learners are caught in a cycle of school

failure that contributes to marginal achievement (Schmidt & Ma,

2008). The strengths that diverse learners bring to

instructional situations usually go untapped.

Children in schools are placed in double jeopardyhaving to

master the academic tasks while functioning under cultural

conditions unnatural and often unfamiliar to them. Removing the

second burden is a significant contribution to improving their

academic achievement (Gay, 2002).

This can be done by teachers being culturally responsive

to diverse learners. It is using the cultural characteristics,

experiences, and perspectives of learners as conduits for

teaching them more effectively.

Every individual in school brings his or her own culture.

The term culture represents a complex and multidimensional

concept at best. According to Peregoy and Boyle (2008), it is

the shared beliefs, values, and rule-governed patterns of

behavior that define a group membership. Obvious manifestations

are religion, ethnicity, language and gender while the less

obvious are age, mobility, education. These make the school

environment even more colorful. Thus, educators need to be

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adequately prepared to teach diverse learners. As Howard (1999)

so aptly stated, We cantteach what we dont know.

The above statement applies to knowledge of both subject

matters and the kind of learners the teachers have. It is then

imperative for teachers to know what ethnic group their learners

belong, the religious affiliation of a particular child or even

the gender preferences of the learners. In doing so, teachers

could then understand the experiences and backgrounds of the

children, value the differences they bring into the classroom

and integrate these knowledge of the differences in the

teaching-learning processes.

Culturally responsive teaching does not only require

educators to have knowledge about their learners but also

respecting their heterogeneity. Teachers can take the lead to be

non-judgmental and open-minded about the way of life of every

child. Genuine respect for students must be given and belief in

their capacity be practiced.

Using wide variety of instructional strategies that are

connected to the different learning styles of school children is

one of the ways to practice culture responsive teaching. Make

children feel they belong in the classroom by letting them

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participate actively in the discussions and engaging them in

planning classroom activities.

Moreover, allowing these diverse learners in using their

own language in the class and not forbidding them to express

their thoughts and ideas in their native tongue. In doing so,

cultural scaffolding is usedthat is, using their own cultures

and experiences to expand their intellectual horizons and

academic achievement. This will make learning easy, undemanding

and at the same time enjoyable.

The process of building culturally responsive school

environment is important for educators to know as well. This

pertains to holistic or integrated learning. Teachers need to

make connections between the content that they teach and the

learners cultures and draw on the childrens backgrounds,

languages and experiences to make connections with the

discipline-specific content under study.

For example, children are taught their cultural heritages

and community identity development along with Math, Science, and

Reading. In doing so, learners find that academic experiences

are more meaningful in their lives, and therefore, they become

more interested and focused on content area learning. Children

are preserving their own cultural identity at the same time

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learning the subject matter and gaining knowledge on the beliefs

and culture of others. This would also make way for school

children to learn how to respect cultural diversity and their

schoolmates learning abilities.

As Martin Luther Kings pronouncement, We may have all

come on different ships, but were in the same boat now is

particularly relevant in the classrooms and schools.

Practicing culturally responsive teaching, amidst

globalization, is not a simple process but one that occurs in

small increments. Different cultures are gifts in the

classrooms, in schools or even in the society. They bring

different perspectives and vibrant ideas that have potentials to

improve the quality of life of the people and to create a better

world.

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References:

Gay, G. (2000) Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research,

and practice. New York: Teachers College Press. Retrieved

on August 24, 2014 at

http://www.culturallyresponsive.org/index.html

Schmidt, P.R. & Wen Ma (2008) Culturally Responsive Teaching in

Diverse Classrooms. Le Moyne College. Retrieved on August

24, 2014 at http://www.literacyconnections.com

http://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/T

eaching.htm

http://www.culturallyresponsive.org/index.htmlCenter for

Culturally responsive learning and teaching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw_9z_m6EFQCulturally

Sensitive Child Care

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlMnCHrRM64&feature=related

Global Kids Show First!

http://www.hol.edu/syllabusuploads/CLK-

Culturally%20Sensitive%20Classrm.pdfCourse on CulturallySensitive Classroom

http://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/ESL_Classroom-and-

Cultural_Sensitivity.htmlESL Classroom & Multicultural

Sensitivity

http://hungerlandstudios.com/bh_articles/Multicultural_stra

tegies.pdfStrategies for a multicultural classroom

http://www.sccoe.org/depts/ell/elac/0208/WhatsMxEd.pdfWhat

is Multicultural Education?

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4336

Success for ESL students

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=39List

of articles on Cultural Sensitivity

http://www.culturallyresponsive.org/index.htmlhttp://www.literacyconnections.com/http://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/Teaching.htmhttp://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/Teaching.htmhttp://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/Teaching.htmhttp://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/Teaching.htmhttp://www.culturallyresponsive.org/index.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw_9z_m6EFQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlMnCHrRM64&feature=relatedhttp://www.hol.edu/syllabusuploads/CLK-Culturally+Sensitive+Classrm.pdfhttp://www.hol.edu/syllabusuploads/CLK-Culturally+Sensitive+Classrm.pdfhttp://www.hol.edu/syllabusuploads/CLK-Culturally+Sensitive+Classrm.pdfhttp://www.hol.edu/syllabusuploads/CLK-Culturally+Sensitive+Classrm.pdfhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/ESL_Classroom-and-Cultural_Sensitivity.htmlhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/ESL_Classroom-and-Cultural_Sensitivity.htmlhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/ESL_Classroom-and-Cultural_Sensitivity.htmlhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/ESL_Classroom-and-Cultural_Sensitivity.htmlhttp://hungerlandstudios.com/bh_articles/Multicultural_strategies.pdfhttp://hungerlandstudios.com/bh_articles/Multicultural_strategies.pdfhttp://hungerlandstudios.com/bh_articles/Multicultural_strategies.pdfhttp://hungerlandstudios.com/bh_articles/Multicultural_strategies.pdfhttp://www.sccoe.org/depts/ell/elac/0208/WhatsMxEd.pdfhttp://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4336http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=39http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=39http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4336http://www.sccoe.org/depts/ell/elac/0208/WhatsMxEd.pdfhttp://hungerlandstudios.com/bh_articles/Multicultural_strategies.pdfhttp://hungerlandstudios.com/bh_articles/Multicultural_strategies.pdfhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/ESL_Classroom-and-Cultural_Sensitivity.htmlhttp://www.yourdictionary.com/esl/ESL_Classroom-and-Cultural_Sensitivity.htmlhttp://www.hol.edu/syllabusuploads/CLK-Culturally+Sensitive+Classrm.pdfhttp://www.hol.edu/syllabusuploads/CLK-Culturally+Sensitive+Classrm.pdfhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlMnCHrRM64&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw_9z_m6EFQhttp://www.culturallyresponsive.org/index.htmlhttp://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/Teaching.htmhttp://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/Teaching.htmhttp://www.literacyconnections.com/http://www.culturallyresponsive.org/index.html