Culturally Responsive Teaching

After review and discussion of the teacher education department's Conceptual Framework, writers will write about what Culturally Responsive Teaching is and how action steps they will take to become Culturally Responsive Teachers. Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning. (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Some of the characteristics of culturally responsive teaching are: Positive perspectives on parents and families, Student-centered instruction, Learning within the context of culture, and Teacher as facilitator.

The following are action steps I will take in order to become a Culturally Responsive Teacher. First, I will begin building relationships with my students by using assessments and questionnaires to learn about some of their likes and dislikes. In other words, being a constructivist I will be finding the students’ interests. When I teach the entire class, I should be able to reach out to all of my students being able to relate to and understand all cultures, using aspects of their cultures to the extent in which I’m comfortable with. In order to make learning fun for each and every student, I will find something that interests the students or what is common to as many as possible students in the class. Furthermore, within my planning of the lessons I will try my best to gamify them. This provides new concepts to the students’ to find what works best for
Because culture also influences how and what children learn, educators can use culture to improve self-image and achievement. Not only must teachers show an appreciation of cultural diversity, they must also incorporate teaching strategies that are congruent with the learning styles of their students" (1989, pp.