Darlene Sampson,
Ph.D., Director of
Culturally
Responsive
Education/Office of
Post-Secondary
Readiness
Diversity
and
Culturally
Responsive
Practices
In Physical
Education
Today’s Goals
Goals
 To open the equity and
culturally responsive lens
specifically relating to
physical education
 To look at how difference,
bias, and perceptions
impact physical education
programming
 To practice ways in which
to maintain our equity lens
 To push up, out and
through our zones of
discomfort
Our Agreements
This work is hard and intrusive
Give yourself permission not to know….we are all emerging
Work on barriers that may prevent you from experiencing, feeling, and incorporating
Consciously utilize self
Monitor hegemony
Watch power, privilege, and entitlement inhibitors
Push back when you feel resistance
Assume positive intent
Stay present and engaged
 Remember: We all have thoughts that we are uncomfortable with-the key is to
challenge them!
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Any Other Agreements?
Sliding Our Way Out of Our
Comfort Zone
 The Cha Cha Slide
Debriefing Our Teamwork
 How did working together feel?
 What does it feel like to be out of your
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comfort zone?
How does it feel to teach others
something you do or don’t know?
What teamwork did you observe?
What challenges did you observe?
How does all of this relate to your work
with ALL of our Students?
How Do You Begin The Process
Of Becoming Culturally
Responsive Physical Education
Teachers?
ASSESSING OURSELVES
It Begins With An “Inside Out” Process
Cultural
Proficiency
Cultural
Competence
Cultural
Precompetence
Cultural
Blindness
Cultural
Incapacity
Cultural
Destructiveness
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Cultural Destructiveness – Leading in a manner that you seek to
eliminate the cultures of others in all aspects of the school and
in relationship with the community served.
Cultural Incapacity – Leading in a way that you trivialize other
cultures and seek to make the culture of others appear wrong.
Cultural Blindness – Leading where you don’t see or
acknowledge the culture of others and you choose to ignore the
discrepant experiences of cultures within the school.
Cultural Precompetence – Leading with an increasing
awareness of what you and the school don’t know about
working in diverse settings. At this level of development you
and the school can move in a positive, constructive direction or
you can falter, stop, and possibly regress.
Cultural Competence – Leading with your personal values and
behaviors and the school’s policies and practices being aligned
in a manner that is inclusive with cultures that are new or
different from you and the school.
Cultural Proficiency – Leading as an advocate for life-long
learning with the purpose of being increasingly effective in
serving the educational needs of cultural groups. Holding the
vision that you and the school are instruments for creating a
socially just democracy.
Assessing Our Culture
1--------We have a great deal of work to do
2……..We have thought about the process, but haven’t
operationalized it yet
3…….We are emerging in this area
4…….We are making some movement consistently
5…….We are consistently leading, acting, and thinking in an
equitably and culturally responsive manner
Reflection Question #1
How can physical
education teachers
maintain or decrease
stagnant gender-related
roles and racially-based
perceptions?
SOME IMPORTANT
ANCHORS/CONCEPTS
Equity
Equality
Bias
Culture
Culturally Responsive
Teaching
Culturally Responsive Curriculum
Guardians of Equity/Climate Watcher
How Does Bias Impact Perceptions?
Did You Know We Are Wired For Bias?
How Is Bias Demonstrated In Physical Education?
What is your
perception of
this young lady?
What is your
perception of
this young lady?
What is Culture? What is Your
Culture?
 Culture: Implicit and explicit characteristics of a
person that are developed through background and current
experiences, knowledge disposition, skills, and ways of
understanding that are informed by race (the social
construction of one’s skin), ethnicity (history, heritage,
customs, rituals, values, symbols), identity (how one
perceives and represents himself or herself), class
(economic/resource situation), and gender (Milner, 2006).
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE MYTHS
 Big Myth #1: Culturally Responsive Teaching requires that
teachers know all of the cultural aspects about every student in their
classroom.
 Big Myth #2: Culturally Responsive Teaching is a new teaching
technique relevant only to urban Students of Color.
 Big Myth #3: Only same-race teachers can connect and educate
same-race students.
WHAT IS CULTURALLY
RESPONSIVE TEACHING?
 Culturally Responsive: “Recognition of the
diverse backgrounds, knowledge, perspectives,
experiences, and abilities that students, educators,
and families bring to the culture of a school that
result in the use of relevant, research-based
instructional and behavioral support practices, which
are implemented with intentionality, measured with
fidelity, responsive to the needs of each learner, and
systemically valued as a means of promoting equity
and achievement for all students.” DePry, &
Cheesman (2010)
 How does this apply to Physical Education?
 In a Culturally Responsive Classroom, effective
teaching and learning occur in a culturally supported,
learner-centered context, whereby the strengths
students bring to school are identified, nurtured, and
utilized to promote student achievement. Richards, Brown, Forde
(2007)
 Culturally responsive pedagogy has three dimensions:
(1) Institutional; (2) Personal and (3) Instructional
 Institutional refers to administration policies and the
values and climate of the school
 Personal refers to cognitive and emotional processes
teachers must thoughtfully engage in to become
culturally responsive
 Instructional refers to the teacher’s pedagogical
toolbox of skills, materials, activities, and instructional
abilities
Culturally Responsive
Curriculum
 Curriculum that is augmented to include the
experiences/perspectives of children of
difference/color
 Uses cultural characteristics, experiences, and
perspectives of ethnically/linguistically diverse
students as conduits for teaching more effectively
 Takes the “lived experiences” and frames of
reference of students to provide personal and
meaningful curricular stimulation
REMEMBER THE FOUR R’s of CULTURALLY
RESPONSIVE TEACHING:
(Rigor…Relevance…Relationships…Resilience)!
Climate Watchers
Guardians of Equity
• Climate Watcher: A Climate Watcher is
responsible for monitoring the school
climate for equitable and culturally
responsible practices
• GUARDIANS OF EQUITY: Guardians of
Equity practice infusing equitable
practices and consciousness in their daily
lives
Are the concepts the same?
(Both behaviors are not based in privilege)
Other Important Culturally
Responsive Concepts
 Other Mothering/Fathering
 Warm Demanders
Other Mothering/Fathering
(Collins, 2002)
 The concept of Other
Mothering/Fathering is present within
urban elementary schools when
teachers play an integral role in
fulfilling the psychological and
educational needs of the urban child
 What evidence do you have that this
concept is being demonstrated? How do
you document this? How have you made
this a priority?
 Is this concept only applicable to the
urban child?
A Warm Demander Approach
(Ware, 2006)
This educator simultaneously utilizes warmth and
high expectations…they don’t take any______but
also demonstrate great love and respect for
Children of Color/Difference
Have you witnessed Warm Demanding in a Physical
Education Classroom? Have you acted as a Warm
Demander in your current role? If so, what did you
do?
Behaviors of Warm Demanders
(Ware, F. 2007)
 They have highly effective relationships with
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students and instill a classroom of caring
They have no or low behavior problems and utilize
low level interventions
This teacher helps students develop self
discipline (This is no-nonsense but not mean
spirited)
They demand exceptional growth, and reject the
deficit model. “These students can’t..or won’t” is
not a part of this educator’s vocabulary
A warm demander educator practices culturally
responsive teaching that encapsulates
relationships, rigor, relevance and resilience
Warm Demander Behavior
Cont…
 They speak greatness into their students
 They know their content and how to make
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connections to the knowledge and learning styles of
their students
They are nurturing… “I’m going to give you grace,
because everyone deserve grace (i.e., allows
students to save face)
They employ an Ethic of Caring… They provide
multi-levels of caring. This is authentic- not
aesthetic care (Valenzuela, 1999). You care about
kids right where they are at this moment in time
Care is expressed as an action (Grant & Sleeter,
2007)
Care is expressed as academically focused…not
management focused (Townsend, 2000)
Who Benefits From Culturally Responsive
Teaching?
 EVERYONE…BUT PARTICULARLY CHILDREN
OF COLOR/DIFFERENCE- AS IT IS ALIGNED
WITH CULTURAL COMPONENTS SPECIFIC
TO THE LIVES, RACIAL, CULTURAL, AND
LINGUISTIC IDENTITIES OF CHILDREN OF
COLOR/DIFFERENCE
 MANY STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING HAS
MANY BENEFITS (Au, 1980, Banks, 2000;
Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 2001; Murrell,
2001; Ogbu, 2003, Brown, 2011)
 Most importantly, student engagement and
academics rise as teachers provide the
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE
EDUCATORS
EDUCATORS WHO DEMONSTRATE
A HIGH REGARD FOR CHILDREN OF
COLOR AND DIFFERENCE EMPLOY
THE FOLLOWING CULTURALLY
RESPONSIVE BEHAVIORS AND
SKILLS IN THEIR TEACHING:
7 PRINCIPLES
(Brown University/ Education Alliance, 2010)
EDUCATORS WHO….
 Have positive perspectives about
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parents/families
Communicate high expectations
Impart instruction within the context of
culture
Utilize student-centered instruction
Culturally mediate instruction
Reshape the curriculum
Teach as facilitators..”Dig out—not fill
up” (with your knowledge)
How Do These Concepts Apply To
Physical Education?
Journal Article: Young & Sternod (2011) Practicing Culturally
Responsive Pedagogy in Physical Education
Within your groups, please read the abstract on the first page.
Now read the area assigned. Pay particular attention to how
each culturally responsive technique applies to physical
education.
Your Group Activity:
Jot down on your large sticky paper: (1) An abbreviated
definition of your area; (2) Indicate two ways in which the
article connects the culturally responsive teaching concept to
physical education and; (3) Indicate 1-2 ways in which this
concept is currently being demonstrated in your schools; (4)
Assign a colleague to report out for your group
Let’s Practice
 Scenario #1
 School Demographics: 40% African
American, 32% Latino & 20% White
The Physical Education Department at
Arthur Ashe IB Academy is struggling
with African American Students who are
only interested in football, basketball,
and track. How can we increase student
participation in organized sports and in a
variety of diverse classes?
Scenario #2
 In many physical education classes, the
7th grade teacher, Mr. Chase, witnesses
the young ladies in the class failing to
dress out, wearing earrings during
class, and telling him they don’t feel
well to avoid involvement. How can Mr.
Chase address this issue with his
female students?
How Can Culturally Responsive
Teaching Assist Our Students?
 It increases self-esteem and student
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engagement
It reduces peer-related disrespect by teaching
respect for all cultures
It is situated within the learning styles and
culture of students
It provides the empathic lens and worldview
that is imperative to students who are
struggling with various challenges
It provides a safe place where students feel
validated regardless of their challenges
It is developmental
How does CRT assist you?
Ways To Infuse Culturally
Responsive Teaching (CRT)
Into Physical Education
In Activities
 Survey your students.
Do they want activities
that connect to their
ethnic/cultural/racial
lives (i.e., dance,
community speakers
who look like them,
etc)?
 Insert real-life
examples from various
cultures within the
existing curriculum
In Consciousness
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Watch for activities that you are
comfortable with, but don’t
necessarily reflect the diversity of
your student population
Develop authentic relationships with
students that go beyond your teaching
role- physical education is an idea
place to get to know your students
Watch for activities in which only a
few students can excel
Monitor your biases for racial, gender,
linguistic & cultural differences that
impact how you view certain students
Pay attention to students with
physical disabilities and “up” their
programming to the highest level
Make sure that children have access
to equitable programming, activities,
equipment, etc. (despite their zip
code)
Teach that skill level is based in
practice and instruction
Ways To Infuse CRT Into
Physical Education Cont..
In Activities
 Connect with
community groups to
come to your class
to discuss health,
nutrition, diverse
cultures, etc. Make
sure that some of
the individuals look
like your students
and can frankly
discusses myths,
culture differences,
etc.
In Consciousness
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Make sure your visuals are reflective
of both male and female activities, and
people of different sizes-including
diverse cultural groups involved in all
types of activities
Watch out for terms like “You guys”
denoting only one gender
Avoid stereotypical phrases such as
(1) Let’s sit Indian Style, “let’s sit
criss-cross applesauce—simply say,
“sit with your legs crossed”
Avoid gender bias, “you throw like a
girl,” “man to man (person-toperson..or defense-to-defense instead)
Refrain from using words such as “you
are a wuss” or any names that denote
sexuality
Make sure one group doesn’t dominate
the other in terms of space
THANKS FOR COMING
This Work Is A Journey!
Let’s Maintain Our Cultural Eye!