A week of Culturally Responsive Teaching

This week, we got to explore the topic of Culturally Responsive Teaching. This was somewhat of a new topic to me, as the high school that I came from was mostly white students. This week made me realize that Culturally Responsive Teaching can mean so much more than race, which is a thought that I had prior. My biggest takeaway from the week, is that I want to understand where my students are coming from and what they are going home to. Every student has a different home life, and I want to get to understand that, so that I know how to best help each student. 



To begin the week, we heard from Mia, our Graduate Student as well as her friend Mrs. Libby Vaught. She is an FFA Advisor in Arkansas, and teaches at one of the most culturally diverse School Districts. Hearing about her story was very interesting, as her career started out in Law Enforcement. She also mentioned that if you would have told her that she would be working with kids, she would not have believed you! I think this is very cool, as now she gets to work with kids from all around the world with different backgrounds. 

The second part of our week was attending the The Batschelet Conference on Intercultural and Intersectional Competence for School Leaders held at the Penn Stater Hotel. This was a 2 day conference, but we were able to attend the first two sessions on the first morning. 

The first session was ICC/ Cultural and/ or Ethnic Identity as a vehicle for Inclusive Education. This was taught by Dr. Ann Marie Jackson, from the University of South Georgia. This was a very cool presentation, as we were introduced to the teacher education staff at the University. There were 4 professors, and each one had a different background and reason for being involved in Culturally Responsive Teaching. 

Some of the takeaways from this session were:

1. We need to create safe spaces for students to discuss these issues

2. Students need to form their own opinions on controversial issues

3. Students should be allowed to analyze their interests, and given tools to do so

4. Every Culture makes you strong and weak

The second session was Cultivating ICC through Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Pedagogies. This was taught by Dr. Rhonda Threet & Robyn 'Queen Educator'. I think that this was a very intriquing session.

Some of the takeaways from this session were:

1. Allowing student choice systems

2. Use the background and lived experiences of historically marginalized students

3. Shift from dependent to independent learners

4. Have the ability to communicate affectively and appropriately


After the week of learning about Culturally Responsive Teaching, I am really excited to take some of these ideas into the classroom!

Stay tuned to see what we look into next!



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