Culturally Responsive Teaching

Reflection

From the literature that was assigned, I got a genuine view from the outside in. I realized that there is a huge connection between language and literacy and the misrepresentation of a dialect is detrimental to student’s success in a classroom and professional setting.  It is vital that a teacher understand just what these dialects are. The first thing any educator must understand before they  can generate any real improvement in a child’s writing and communication skills is that they are not uneducated or unintelligent, the Appalachian dialect is simply part of their upbringing. “Again and again we conclude that in developed countries and in third-world countries, learners from impoverished and low-status groups fail to develop as fully and productively literate as compared to learners from sociocultural groups that hold sociopolitìcal power and favor” (Purcell-Gates, 2002). If a teacher understands the foundation to their speech, than he/she can teach more effectively.

As an educator, understanding what you may be doing incorrectly is the first step to correcting the problem with today’s literacy instruction. One way a teacher or school can contribute to poor literacy instruction is to focus on correction rather than adaption; this is synonymous to the Cultural Deficit Perspective. As this perspective suggests, some teachers or schools believe that “there is one correct version of English; Standard American English. It is this belief that fosters negative attitudes toward minority dialects and leads to dialect discrimination” (Rowland & Marrow, 2010). The Cultural Difference Perspective, however, fosters the belief that students will be adept to learning if they are able to read and write in their own dialect and by embracing this perspective, teachers and schools will be more successful in teaching their students the needed verbal and writing abilities. 

One way to overcome the Cultural Deficit perspective that teacher may already harbor is to “tap into the hidden home and community resources of their students” (Moll, 1994). By researching and making the connections between the students’ home life and school life, a more successful lesson can be built. The extensive field research that was done by Luis Moll proves how powerful your understanding of your students’ backgrounds is.

Once the negative attitudes toward the non-Standard English Speaking students have changed, certain techniques can be used to improve literacy instruction. Understanding which dialectal patterns are misconstrued as “lazy” or “ignorant” is a jumping point for understanding how to tailor instruction (Moll, 1992). Also, according to the National Council for the Teachers of English, a teacher must know what their students cultural capital, or what students have available, is highly important. Knowing also what they are learning and exposed to at home, or their Funds of Knowledge, is also important.

The Where I Am From assignment is an excellent example of Culturally Responsive Teaching. First, it showed an example of teaching cultural heritage as worthy content; it was never debated on whether or not your culture was worthy of sharing, you just shared regardless. Second, it successfully encouraged students to share their Funds of Knowledge and they did so in a safe and inviting atmosphere. By requiring everyone to comment on 10 videos, it created a collegiate sentiment and showed that everyone can find some sort of connection with their classmates.

I trust that teaching students of non- Standard English is not something that is going to be easy but I accept the challenge. I also believe that a “corrective manner” is not the way to approach the subject. I would implement this in my classroom in two ways; (1) assign a Where I Am From activity. Since I will obtain a social studies specialization, I will do this in a mapping activity followed by subsequent research as to dialects and customs. (2) I will include many multicultural artifacts and discussions in my classroom.

References

Epstein, P. &  Herring-Harris, L (2011).Honoring Dialect and increasing Student         Performance in Standard English. Retrieved October 12, 2012: http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655

Moll, L. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to
connect homes and classrooms. (1992). Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-41.

National Council of Teachers of English (2008). National Council of Beliefs About Writing. Retrieved October 12, 2012: http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/writingbeliefs

Purcell-Gates, V. (2002). “...As soon as she opened her mouth!” In L. Delpit & J.K. Dowdy (Eds.), The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language, culture and power.

Rowland, J. & Marrow, D. (2010).  Dialect Awareness Education: The importance of Watching Our Words. USC Undergraduate Research Journal vol 3.