Culturally Responsive Teaching
About
Here you will find tools to help design culturally responsive lessons.
Culturally responsive lessons can transform the classroom experience to be more inclusive than would traditional lessons and can promote student academic achievement.
Below is an outline of resources and ideas on how to incorporate culturally responsive teaching into the classroom. Click on section topics to learn more.
Outline
What Is Culturally Responsive Teaching?
Definition
Teaching to and through students' personal and cultural strengths, their intellectual capabilities, and their prior accomplishments.
Overview with Implementation Examples:
Key Takeaways
1) Promote a growth mindset.
2) Communicate that everyone can be good at Math.
3) Facilitate a sense of community.
How to Get Started
The following sections provide an overview of culturally responsive teaching and examples on how it can be implemented.
1) Understand Key Components of Culturally Responsive Teaching
The following are some key terms and a selection of important definitions that inform culturally responsive teaching.
Bloom's Taxonomy
Independent vs. Dependent Learning
Growth Mindset
“Students with a fixed mindset are more likely to give up easily, whereas students with a growth mindset keep going even when work is hard and are persistent…”
Source: Boaler, Jo. Mathematical Mindsets : Unleashing Students' Potential Through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages and Innovative Teaching, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2015.
2) Observe and Reflect
Observing current classroom culture and teaching practices can help highlight opportunities to incorporate culturally responsive teaching.
The following are some example questions to facilitate reflection.
3) Reshape the Curriculum
Below are some sample culturally responsive activities.
Classroom Culture
1) Encourages students to build community by sharing about themselves at the beginning of class (Instructors too!)
2) Invites students to identify as a Math person, setting the tone for a growth mindset.
Growth Mindset
1) Teaches students that mistakes are learning opportunities, not the end of the world.
2) Exemplifies how students can rephrase self-talk to be more encouraging
1) Have students read the linked article.
Encourage discussion on the four types of learning mistakes.
2) Rephrasing Self-Talk
Independent Learning
Encourage students to research answers on their own by making a group activity in which students research a topic and share.
Low Floor, High Ceiling Tasks
Have multiple entry points, making them accessible for many levels. Below is an example of a LFHC task.
Bloom's Taxonomy
Below is an example of how to apply Bloom's Taxonomy to expand entry points for a Math topic.
4) Implement
The following are some examples of how to implement culturally responsive teaching practices.
Example Week-to-Week Culturally Responsive Activities
Explore the following list for more examples of culturally responsive lessons.
To access: Click on the external link icon -> File -> Make a Copy
4) Review and Reflect
The following reflection and observation forms can facilitate assessment on the effectiveness of any implemented culturally responsive lessons.
To access: Click on the external link icon -> File -> Make a Copy
Literature on Culturally Responsive Teaching
Readings
Advice and Strategies for Teachers
***Hammond - 3 Tips to Make Any Lesson More Culturally Responsive _ Cult of Pedagogy***
Burnham (2017) Culturally Responsive Teaching- 5 Strategies for Educators
Big Picture and Theories
***Gay (2002) Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching***
***Ladson-Billings (2014) Culturally Relevant Pedagogy AKA the remix***
Rubel (2017) Equity-Directed Instructional Practices- Beyond the Dominant Perspective
Cautions, Concerns and Critiques