Culturally responsive teaching is a crucial student-centered approach that is critical in today’s multicultural and diverse educational environment. The idea is to recognize that every student brings a unique perspective and strength into the classroom. Furthermore, it recognizes that every student’s learning is different. These differences in learning are related to a student’s cultural background, family structure, social and economic status, communication and language, and social identity (Gay, 2002). Therefore, I use culturally responsive teaching to promote inclusivity that values every student’s cultural background in my classroom. By engaging in culturally responsive teaching, we as educators can sensitively engage our students, discuss culturally sensitive issues, advance academic success, and promote a sense of ownership and belonging among our learners from different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, learning becomes more meaningful, beneficial, and engaging (Gay, 2000, 2002). This article will explore some strategies that I have used to be successful in creating culturally responsive teaching that is applicable across different and diverse student populations.
To establish culturally responsive teaching, you should first fulfill the following four conditions:
- Acceptability: Accept and acknowledge that students are from different backgrounds, so their experiences and knowledge will differ when expressed.
- Empowerment: Allow students to think for themselves. This way, they can be critical and independent thinkers.
- Inclusivity: Consider the opinions and ideas of students as relevant to the overall discussion in the classroom.
- Positive attitude: Remain positive when discussing any issues with students. This will allow them to express themselves freely without reservations.
These five culturally responsive teaching strategies can be applied in any course successfully.
1. Getting to know you
On the first day of class, show students that you want to know about them, their learning styles, and their culture. Distribute a questionnaire to your students:
- Nickname or how they prefer to be called
- Goals and aspirations
- Their hobbies and interests
- Something unique about them and their culture
- Anything that is culturally relevant
Whenever I get this information from my students, I use the information as a lead to communicate with them by asking questions related to their responses. When you get this information from your students, Landsman (2006) says you can act on it by simply playing music that is culturally relevant to your students to demonstrate that you acknowledge their cultural background.
2. Course culture relevance
I connect some of the topics and content in course to their culture. You can discuss how your teaching is relevant or applicable to the students’ cultures (Gay, 2002). For example, many cultures celebrate different festivals. Cultural festivals can be added as a topic in several courses. Therefore, ask students to discuss festivals from their respective cultures and why they are important. Also, ask students to discuss some artifacts, such as arts, crafts, foods/drinks, clothing, costumes, dancing, and other objects or relics from these festivals. By doing this, students can share their unique perspectives, knowledge, and experiences from their culture. I found that this method of connection has enlightened many students in my classes.
3. Check biases
Each of us has biases, and it is easy to express biases and stereotypes unconsciously. As the educator, remind students that it is easy to express biases unconsciously. While taking another student’s perspective may not be necessary, it is necessary to have positive attitudes and judgment. For example, when debating issues in politics or religion, students may not agree with one another’s opinions and views, but the views of other students must be respected and accepted. In other words, negative attitudes, implicit statements and actions, or stereotypes can contribute to a hostile and unfavorable conflict in the classroom (Tobisch & Dresel, 2017). Educate students that every culture and religion should be respected, and that every religion and culture is important.
4. Teamwork and empowerment
Through empowerment, I foster energy from my students. I allow students to be independent thinkers. I facilitate class so that students can connect the content to real-life experiences. For example, when discussing topics like climate, put students into groups and encourage them to investigate whether they believe in climate change, what they believe is causing the change, and what is not. Furthermore, encourage them to provide solutions to this problem by pulling information and ideas from their respective experiences and cultures. Harriott and Martin (2016) state that allowing students to learn cooperatively with other students from diverse cultural backgrounds and heritage can promote friendships, positive interactions, acceptance, and support for one another.
5. Your perspective as an educator
As the educator in the classroom, I accept student perspectives without making judgments because they are the focus of the classroom. This involves me replacing my own point of reference and integrating student perspectives while also understanding where students come from and where students stand. For example, a student might discuss arranged marriage in their culture, and someone could disagree or agree with this cultural practice; however, we should be aware of the cultural framework of where the student is coming from (Rychly & Graves, 2012), and accept it. In your role as the educator, it is important to foster a positive outlook and embrace diverse cultures.
Culturally responsive teaching establishes an educational setting in which educators can integrate diverse cultural content into their curriculum and recognize student diversity.
Culturally responsive teaching strategies allow educators to create a classroom of inclusiveness and engagement, while also building relationships, encouraging diverse voices and participation, fostering equity, differentiating the curriculum, and enhancing the educational experience for all students. Furthermore, by embracing and implementing these culturally responsive teaching strategies, you are contributing to your students’ academic success and holistic development, preparing them for the global stage and seeing the world differently.
Recommended reads related to this article:
Valuing a Listening Culture: Critical Listening in the College Classroom
“If we weigh our educational systems in terms of communication instruction, we find that almost all of the formal attention is given to teaching reading and writing, some is given to speaking and almost none is paid to listening.”—Ralph Nichols and Leonard Stephens, Are You Listening?
Building Student Engagement by Celebrating Culture
Like many of our peers, we are fortunate to work at an institution serving individuals from different ethnicities, nationalities, and cultural backgrounds. In this regard, many of us work on campuses with large international populations coming from all parts of the world.
George Ojie-Ahamiojie, EdD, is an associate professor in the hospitality and tourism management program at University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He is the author of Essential Leadership Skills for Hospitality Supervisors: An Experiential Approach and Upward Mobility: Interviewing and Career Management.
References
Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. Teachers College Press.
Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53, 106–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102053002003
Harriott, W. A., & Martin, S. S. (2016). Using culturally responsive activities to promote social competence and classroom community. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 37(1), 48–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/004005990403700106
Landsman, J. (2006). Bearers of hope: Helping struggling students. Educational Leadership, 63(5), 26–32.
Rychly, L., & Graves, E. (2012). Teacher characteristics for culturally responsive pedagogy. Multicultural Perspectives, 14(1), 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2012.646853
Tobisch, A., & Dresel, M. (2017). Negatively or positively biased? Dependencies of teachers’ judgments and expectations based on students’ ethnic and social backgrounds. Social Psychology of Education, 20, 731–752. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9392-z
