Notes
Chapter 3: Culturally Responsive Teaching
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Today: 1 in 10 Americans are foreign born
o Native language of over 30 million Americans is not English
o By 2030, half of all school children will be of color
Multicultural education curriculum versus Eurocentric curriculum
How do teachers teach students with backgrounds different from their own?
Student Diversity
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Demographic Forecasting: study of people and their vital statistics
o Changes in population
Misused terminology:
o Race: A group of individuals sharing common genetic attributes
 Physical appearance
 Ancestry
o Ethnicity: Shared common cultural traits
 Language
 Religion
 Dress
o Culture: Set of learned beliefs, values, behaviors
 A way of life shared by members of a society
 National culture
 Microcultures
 Subcultures
o Ex: Class, religion, sexual orientation
o Carry values and behaviors that differ from others in the
same nation or the same community
o The challenge for educators: Ensure that all students will achieve
Failing at Fairness
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Meeting the needs of our students? Are schools to blame?
o Hispanic, Native American, African American students score consistently lower
on standardized tests than do Asian and Caucasian classmates
o Almost ½ of historically under-resourced students are not graduating high school
 In Houston, 60-70 % of students of color and poorer populations do not
graduate high school
o Students from low income families are six times more likely to drop out of school
Educational opportunity is equal. Student achievement is not.
o Issues outside of school affect what happens in school!
o Poverty takes its toll: Contribute to academic and cognitive problems
 Lower birth weight, poor nutrition, higher incidences of lead poisoning
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 Know fewer words, speak less, have fewer books
Schools are repeatedly asked to solve society’s problems
o Americans expect their schools to ensure that students from all groups are
respected and honored, and able to achieve (70).
Theories of Why Some Groups Succeed and Others Do Not
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Deficit Theory
o Certain students do poorly in school because of their cultural, social or linguistic
background
o Values, language patterns and behaviors learned at home put these students at an
academic disadvantage
 Fewer books, fewer vocabulary words used by parents, little
understanding of the relationship between education and careers
o Old Theory: Genetic and IQ deficiencies of certain groups (color) were the root
cause of academic underachievement
 Today, proponents steer clear of this claim!
Expectation Theory
o Some children to poorly be cause their teachers to do not expect much of kids
from certain racial and ethnic groups
 They teach differently
 Student academic performance suffers
Cultural Difference Theory
o Academic problems can be overcome if educators study and mediate the cultural
gap separating school and home
o The nature of the human experience
The Melting Pot Has Melted
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Many of us live in silence about race and ethnicity
Melting Pot: Groups incorporated into the mainstream culture
o Assimilation or enculturalation
o “Transformed into a new citizen, an “American”
Cultural Pluralism: Maintain heritage and unique cultures
o Group differences should be understood, appreciated and even honored
o “Tossed salad”
How should we educate increasingly diverse students?
Bilingual Education
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Bilingual education in America is hundreds of years old
BE was used at the founding of American
o Then during WWI, it was seen as unpatriotic
 Public pressure to remove German from curriculums (1 in 4 were studying
German)
 Suspicion of anything foreign
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 Some states prohibited study of any foreign language
o Rebirth of BE in the 1960s: Civil Rights movement
 Struggles of disenfranchised Americans
o Bilingual Education Act (1968)
 Part of the Civil Rights Movement
 Federal financial incentives to encourage schools to initiate
bilingual education programs
o Lau v. Nichols (1974): Federally funded schools must “rectify the language
deficiency” of students
 Teaching students in an unfamiliar language was not suitable
 Lau Remedies: Students must be taught in their primary language until
they could effectively benefit from English language instruction
Language submersion: “Speak or Sink”
o Learn to speak English or fail
o Many students left school
Bilingual Education Models
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English Language Learners (ELL): 10% of students in public schools
o They need to learn a new language, culture and ways of interacting with teachers
and classmates
o Teachers can help students with their transition
Models of bilingual education
o Transitional Approach: Uses the native language as a bridge to English
language instruction
 First taught in native language then slowly transition to English instruction
 Cultural assimilation is stressed
 GOAL: Prepare for English-only classrooms within 2-3 years
o Maintenance or Developmental Approach: Designed to help children develop
academic skills in both their native language and English
 Instruction in both languages  Bilingual student
 Develop cognitively in both languages
 Learn about culture and history of both cultures
 Dual language instruction through 12th grade
o Immersion Approach:
 Not truly considered bilingual education, but is used with ELL
 Teachers often understand students’ native tongue but teach in a simplified
version of English
 English as a Second Language (ESL): Supplements immersion programs
 Provides pull-out classes
 Language submersion: “sink or swim” method
The Bilingual Controversy
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Political controversy
Misunderstandings
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Critics of BE:
o Never master English and never fully participate in American life
o BE programs do not work
 Many parents of BE students are critics of BE
 Immersion is the only method
o English-only movement:
 BE threatens the status of English as the nation’s primary language
 English should be the only language used in public
o BE Act of 1968 expired in 2002-was not renewed
 No Child Left Behind: funds language programs that emphasize transition
to English
Advocates of BE:
o America is a mosaic of diverse cultures
o Diversity should be honored and nurtured
o Problem: Not enough competent BE teachers vs. large number of ELL students
Research on Bilingual Education
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What is does research say about BE effectiveness?
o Not clear!
o No single approach works best
 Each can be effective
 Schools should carefully select programs and teachers most appropriate
for their communities
Multicultural Education
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Teachers need to bridge possible racial, cultural and language differences
What is the best way tot each multicultural students?
The Multiculturalism Debate
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Against:
o Overemphasizing diversity may pull us apart
o Argue for a uniform national identity
o Urge schools to promote one set of common beliefs (based on English and
European traditions)
o Time spent: should be on traditional academic subjects
For:
o ME is the nation’s future
o Schools cannot ignore or devalue cultural and ethnic differences
o National demographics are changing
 Schools must recognize changes
Approaches to Multicultural Education
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Multicultural Education:
Beginning:
o Fight against racism
o Expanded to gender, social class, disability
Today:
Expanding the curriculum to reflect America’s diversity
Using teaching strategies that are responsive to different learning styles
Ensuring and supporting multicultural competence of teachers
A commitment to social justice
ME means different things to different educators
o Human relations
 Promote cultural and racial understanding
o Single-Group studies
 Black studies, Women studies
o Teaching the culturally different
 Closing the gap
o Multicultural
 Promotes different perspectives based on race, class and culture
 Developing “new eyes”
o Multicultural Reconstructionist
 Mobilize student to examine and word to remediate social injustices
James Bank ME curriculum
o Contributions approach: study of ethnic heroes
o Additive approach: a unit or course is added (but not always during a “special”
week)
 Should not be a respite from the regular curriculum
o Transformation approach: the entire Eurocentric curriculum is changed
 Students are taught to view events and issues form diverse ethnic and
cultural perspectives
 Ex: Manifest Destiny and Native American history
o Social Action approach: Students make decisions on important social issues and
take actions to help solve them
ME seeks to help students develop more positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic,
cultural and religious groups
o Encourage students to become more comfortable with each other
Culturally Responsive Teaching
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Culturally Responsive Teaching: Focuses on the learning strengths of students and
mediates the frequent mismatch between home and school cultures
 Students learn in different ways
o Effective teachers recognize and respond to these differences
 Gloria Ladson-Billings: developed three culturally responsive principles for teaching
1. Students must experience academic success
a. Esteems is built on solid academic accomplishment
2. Students should develop and maintain cultural competence
a. Home culture is an opportunity for learning
3. Students must develop critical consciousness and actively challenge social injustice
 What attitudes do you need to be a culturally responsive teacher?
a. The more voices you hear, the more likely you will be able to appreciate different
life experiences
Stereotypes
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Stereotypes: Absolute beliefs that all members of a group have a fixed set of
characteristics
Ignore individuality and are applied to all members of a group
a. “Exceptions to the rule”
b. Ignores nuances, qualifiers and subtleties that more accurately describe a group
Stereotype Threat
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Stereotype threat: a measure of how social context can influence academic performance
Nobody is immune from stereotype threat!
Stereotypes limit students by teaching them that intellect is a fixed trait
o That some groups are brighter than others
Generalizations
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Generalizations: recognize that there are trends over a large numbers of people
o Members of groups share certain experiences and may share certain similarities
o Offer insights to groups
 Can be useful in teaching
Meet Your Seventh Grade Class
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Complete this activity (page 94)
Teaching Skills
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Recognize the experiences and histories of all students
o Helps create a climate that honors and celebrates diversity
o Teaching behaviors should reinforce your commitment to equity
o All students benefit when they feel safe and secure