Addressing the Needs of
Gifted Students through
Responsive Teaching
Presenter: Kandice McLurkin
Coordinator; Academic English Mastery Program
LAUSD
Introduction by: John Charles Pero
Coordinator; Psychological Services
LAUSD
What is Responsive Teaching?
“The use of cultural knowledge, prior
experiences, frames of reference, and
performance styles of ethnically
diverse students to make learning
encounters more relevant to, and
effective for, them. The pedagogy
teaches to and through the strengths
of these students.”
Dr. Geneva Gay
Why is Responsive Teaching
Necessary?
• Obviously, students present with vast amounts of Diversity
(more to come)
• Individual student diversity plays a significant role in their
response to instruction
• Effective teaching (all students learning to their full potential)
must consider individual student characteristics
Types of student Diversity
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Language
Academic skills
Cognitive skills
Gifted Special Needs
Learning Styles
Motivation
Cultural views
There are others
The Key to Effective Teaching
with Diverse Populations…
…An In-depth look at Responsive Teaching
Line Up Activity
Decide where you place in a line up from novice to expert
Instructional Strategy:
Line Up Activity
Cooking
Dancing
9
Meaning
Making
Language
Development
Content
Knowledge
Effective
Expression
Foundational
Skills
Conduct a Close Reading of excerpts of Chapter 2 of
ELA / ELD Framework
Motivating and Engaging Learners pgs. 19 –
21
Focus Question: Why must educators keep issues of
motivation and engagement at the forefront of their work
to assist students in achieving the CA CCSS for
ELA/Literacy and CA ELD Standards?
Respecting Learners
pgs. 21 – 24
Focus: Cite evidence from text that can be used to
support why using one of the 5 Instructional Areas of CLR
is vital for culturally and linguistically diverse students to
have equitable access to the CCSS ELA/Literacy and ELD
Standards.
Text Coding Symbols
Five CLR Pedagogical Areas
When looking at instruction from the what and the how perspective there are five general areas that we have identified where CLRcan have
immediate impact by increasing student motivation and engagement.
Increasing Student
Engagement and
Decreasing Classroom
Management Challenges
(Responsive
Management)
Expanding Academic
Vocabulary
(Responsive
Vocabulary)
Using all types of Texts
Culturally and
Linguistically
(Responsive Literacy)
CLR
Infusing Situational
Appropriateness with
Language and
Behavior
(Responsive
Language)
Creating an
Inviting Learning
Environment for
Student Success
(Responsive
Environment)
Learning Behaviors Spectrum
TRADITIONAL SCHOOL NORMS
FOR BEHAVIOR
*teacher-centered approach
*standardized/rule-driven
*quiet
*stationary/low movement
*time specific
*competitive
*deductive
*turn-taking
*mainly verbal communication
*teacher-centered and led
*field independent
*intrapersonal
CULTURAL BEHAVIORS SPECIFIC TO
UNDER-SERVED YOUTH
*student-centered approach
*preference for variation/
spontaneity
*sociocentric
*high movement
*cooperative
*inductive
*overlap
*many ways to communicate
*purpose-driven
*affective
*field-dependent
*interpersonal
Cultural Learning Behaviors
Strategies
Sociocentric/Interpersonal
Protocols for Discussion, morning song (while they socialize and prepare for
the day), non-volunteer Participation Protocols (equity and inclusiveness)
High movement
Give One/ Get One, Tea Party, Silent Appointment, Musical Shares, Inner
Outer Circle, Corners, Circle the Sage
Cooperative/Interdependent
Numbered Heads Together, Put Your Two Cents In, Three Step Interview,
Jigsaw, Team-Pair-Solo, Partners, Send-a-Problem, Roundtable, Round
Robin Brainstorming, Whip Around, Train, Give a Shout Out, Call and
Response, non-volunteer Participation Protocols (equity and inclusiveness)
Highlighting/Performance
Corners, Roll ‘Em, Train, Pick-a-Stick, Circle the Sage, Numbered Heads
Together, Whip Around, role plays, poetry slam, speeches
Musical/Auditory
Call and Response, Musical Shares, Give a Shout Out, chants, rhymes
Overlap
Give a Shout Out, Numbered Heads Together, Corners, Tea Party (some
greetings)
Purpose-driven
Participation Protocols, visual organizers depicting unit activities, Thinking
Maps, explicit direct instruction, Morning Report/Daily Agenda, real-world
connections and applications
Inductive
Visual organizers, Thinking Maps, frontloading
Field dependent
Visual organizers, Thinking Maps, frontloading, accessing prior knowledge,
personal connections, culturally and linguistically responsive
literature/text/content, Personal Thesaurus, Personal Dictionary, thematic
instruction
Create Instructional Range
16
Collaborative Learning Across the
Curriculum is a Required Skill!
Common Core State Standards
recognize that students need to
develop skills to collaborate in
academic work – skills for teamwork,
active and skillful participation in
discussions, and inquiry-based
collaboration.
Culturally Responsive Discussion
Protocols
• Build upon the strengths of the
sociocentric,
cooperative/collaborative,
interpersonal learners
• Opportunities for movement
• Explicit teaching of ways to interact
in a variety of forums for a variety
of purposes, i.e. situational
appropriateness
• Structured and consistent effective
and engaging classroom
management
• Student centered
• Some designed for quick discussion
and others are designed for projectbased
interdependence/collaboration
Culturally Responsive Participation
Protocols
• Used to explicitly communicate
to students how the facilitator
or teacher wants the students
to respond during whole group
instruction. Non-voluntary
forms of responding are
important because they
promote equity and
accountability for learning.
• Decreases cultural
misunderstandings and
validates a variety of cultural
behaviors and practices
• Communicates high
expectations for participation
and accountability
• Opportunities to practice
situational appropriateness
College and Career Readiness
Anchor Standards for Language
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and
phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting
general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.5
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances
in word meanings.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.6
Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words
and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and
career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary
knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or
expression.
New Ways of Talking About Language
Language Diversity Language Deficit
Show What You Know
Four Areas for Infusing CLR Pedagogy
• Responsive Classroom
Management
• Responsive Academic
Vocabulary
• Use of attention signals strategically:
• Use of movement activities
strategically:
• Collaborative opportunities (extended
beyond protocols)
• Evidence of leveling vocabulary words
(tier 2 and tier 3)
• Evidence of reinforcement/practice
activities
• Use of vocabulary acquisition strategies
(word structure, apposition, context
clues, synonym replacement)
• Responsive Academic Literacy
• Responsive Academic Language
• Use of CR text and media
• Connected to the standards and unit
theme
• Use of engaging read-alouds
• Use of effective literacy strategies
• Code-switching opportunities
• Sentence lifting/Retellings/Role
playing/Teachable moments
• Revising (phonetics, markers, syntax, and
vocabulary
Seven Steps to Becoming Culturally and
Linguistically Responsive
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Identify your underserved or bad
customer service.
Turn on your deficit monitor to identify
where your biases may be.
Distinguish between race and culture.
Develop an understanding of the “rings of
culture” and the complexity of culture for
the purposes of instruction.
Become knowledgeable about nonstandard language varieties, their sounds,
rules, and grammars.
Recognize where CLR pedagogy can be
infused into your teaching.
Provide regular and consistent
opportunities for code-switching in your
teaching.
Culturally Responsive Educators Must:
Change in Mindset
• Acknowledge the
legitimacy of cultural and
linguistic
behaviors/practices and
heritage
• Commit to use a wide
variety of instructional
strategies
• Teach students how to
praise their cultural
behaviors and heritages
as a means to
appreciating other
heritages and behaviors
Change in Skill-Set
• Increase CLR strategies and
activities in the five
pedagogical areas
• Infuse CLR into everyday
teaching, beginning with
lesson planning
• Commit to going culturally
responsive, responsive, and
traditional as needed
instructionally