Culturally Responsive Teaching

In doing this project, I learned a great deal about culturally diverse students, and what it takes to teach them properly and effectively. A connection can easily be drawn between power, language, and literacy, and it's important for teachers to always have this knowledge in the back of their minds, and especially when teaching in an area such as Appalachia. A very good point is made in "...As soon as she opened her mouth!" The author writes, "First, socially and politically marginalized people are held in disdain by those in power. ...There is always a generalized belief that they cannot learn as well as those in power--the middle/upper classes. It is believed that they 'just don't have it' as far as intelligence and/or the will to learn, to achieve, to move out of their impoverished conditions go. This disdain, this general stance of diminished expectations exerts a powerful and insidious effect on the education offered to marginalized people" (Purcell-Gates, 2002). Sadly, it is often true that the people who are put into positions of power are those who display proficiency in language and literacy (especially of Standard American English), while people who aren't as proficient are viewed as less intelligent and therefore undeserving of a powerful position. This belief couldn't be more inaccurate. In fact, the way in which a person communicates has nothing to do with his or her intelligence or ability to learn.

There is a difference between dialects and accents; an accent is the way in which words are spoken, but a dialect is actually a variety of a language, with its own distinct rules, grammar, and vocabulary. A teacher must be aware of this before attempting to "fix" the way a student speaks and force him or her to learn "proper English" (otherwise known as cultural deficit perspective). This only adds to the problems with literacy. Instead, a good teacher will accept and embrace a student's natural language and means of communication, and design his or her instruction to build upon that (also called cultural difference perspective). As stated in Dialect Awareness Education: The Importance of Watching Our Words, "We must work backward from discrimination to discover the underlying causes, beginning with a basic understanding of attitudes toward English in the United States" (Rowland & Marrow, 2010).

There are many ways in which a teacher can overcome a cultural deficit perspective. For example, in A Look at Funds of Knowledge, teachers are urged to "...abandon the standard, drill-based approach so often used with working-class and poor students", "...help students find meaning rather than learn isolated facts and rules", and "...use activities that 'involve students as thoughtful learners in socially meaningful tasks'" (Gonzales, Greenberg, and Velex, 1994). 

It's also a great idea for a teacher to implement new lessons that involve members of the community that the student is familiar with. This cultural capital helps to make learning more relevant for the student. Instead of misconstruing someone who speaks non-standard English as "lazy" or "ignorant" (Epstien & Herring-Harris, 2011), teachers should use the funds of knowledge within the community to help, not hinder, their students.

The Where I Am From project was a fantastic example of culturally responsive teaching. First of all, the digital stories gave us all a chance to get to know a little more about each other, and raised some questions we wouldn't have thought to ask otherwise. I learned that I have quite a few things in common with my classmates. Also, it gave us an inside view into the values, beliefs, and heritages we each hold near and dear to our hearts. Instead of focusing on whether or not something was the right or wrong answer, as is the case in traditional assignments, we were able to bring life to our own stories, where there is no right or wrong.

I believe that speakers of non-standard English learn best when given the opportunity to build upon the foundation of language they already possess. I plan to use this strategy when teaching in my future classroom.

Resources




Epstein, P. &  Herring-Harris, L (2011).Honoring Dialect and increasing Student Performance in Standard English. Retrieved October 12, 2012: http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655



Gonzalez, N.,  Greenberg, J. & Velez, C. Thanks Funds of Knowledge: A Look at Luis Moll's Research Into Hidden Family Resources. CITYSCHOOLS, 1 (1), 19-21, 1994.

National Council of Teachers of English (2008). National Council of Beliefs About Writing. Retrieved October 12, 2012:http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/writingbeliefs



Purcell-Gates, V. (2002). “...As soon as she opened her mouth!” In L. Delpit & J.K. Dowdy (Eds.), The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language, culture and power.


Rowland, J. & Marrow, D. (2010).  Dialect Awareness Education: The importance of Watching Our Words. USC Undergraduate Research Journal vol 3.