Culturally Responsive Teaching Final Draft

The “Where I’m From” project is a perfect example of a culturally responsive strategy. It helps us understand the differences between people. We need to use projects like these to get to know students and where they come from. A person’s background has a lot to do with who you are and how they learn.

Language is the main focus on literacy instruction in schools today. Unfortunately teachers are more focused on students speaking and writing in what is known to be the correct way, “Standard English.” Educators need to focus more on using student’s backgrounds and dialect. They can do this by researching where their students come from and how their family’s dialects and cultures come through into the student’s language. Teachers need to show more acceptance to those who may speak differently than what they think is “correct.” Teachers who have students from the Appalachia region especially need to keep these things in mind. Student’s life experiences before school shapes how they learn and are perceived in school, so if their past experiences are incorporated and appreciated by their teachers they will be more successful in literacy development. Quote: “In fact, all children do not behave in ways that let us know that they have learned and are learning about written language when they are very young. That is because not all students learn about written language to the same extent during their pre-formal instruction years.” This reminds me of the thought that all students can learn and bring different experiences to the table. As teachers, we need to be more open to this in our classrooms. There are many successful ways that teachers can overcome cultural deficit perspectives in their classrooms. First, teachers need to have an open mind. They need to be able to work collaboratively with fellow teachers, students, families, and other people in the community. Luis Moll’s research is a perfect example of this. His “sociocultural” approach to literacy instruction seems to be a successful way to teach literacy in a diverse classroom. Quoted in the article, “Moll believes that the secret to literacy instruction is for schools to investigate and tap into the hidden home and community resources of their students.” If teachers take this advice they can get to know their students better, which will allow them to be more successful in teaching by altering their approaches and using new strategies.

Teachers and schools have contributed to poor literacy instruction by not giving students a chance to write about or discuss things they are actually interested in or know something about. Students have constantly been corrected for using what is known as “improper English.”  Instead of teachers thinking in a cultural deficit perspective, by setting lower standards for students who come from diverse backgrounds, they need to base their teachings on more of a cultural difference perspective. Students need more freedom to express themselves and what they are all about during literacy instruction. In a study by Shirley Brice Heath, teachers, parents, and students all gained progress when working together. There are successful strategies available for educators to use for literacy instruction of speakers of non-standard English. These strategies use cultural capital by providing every student with the same expectations of success. Also teachers can gain the funds of knowledge by simply listening to their students and becoming interested in where they come from. They can actually learn from the students.

The Where I Am From project supports culturally responsive teaching in many ways. It allows for students to express themselves and share with others their home experiences, culture, and family values. By sharing these within a classroom it teachers students to know and praise their own cultures as well as those of others. I plan on using all of the strategies I have learned through readings and activities to make my classroom more culturally responsive. I plan on collaborating with my fellow teachers and using community and family resources to learn more about where my students come from. I would love to be able to allow my students to express themselves by sharing their backgrounds and letting them write about what they are interested in. Students working together in groups and discussing with one another freely is another strategy I plan to use.

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.

Adolescent literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Positions/Chron0907ResearchBrief.pdf

Bolima, D. (n.d.). Contexts for understanding: Educational learning theories. Retrieved from http://staff.washington.edu/saki/strategies/101/new_page_5.htm

Epstein, P., & Harring-Harris, L. (2011, September 15). Honoring dialect and increasing student performance in standard english. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print

Funds of knowledge: A look at luis moll's research into hidden family resources. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B38BSV_Zo7aHSGVoMWEtOFRGMVE/edit

O'brien, J. (2003, May 10). Tall tales of Appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html