I would like to know what exactly are the culturally responsive instruction strategies for teaching urban classrooms filled with African Americans, Mexican Americans, etc.? I already understand that you have to relate to these types of kids for them to respect you and for anything to get done in urban classrooms, but how exactly should I go about this? I need examples.
Unfortunately in most cases, giving any kind of control to students, or trust, usually results in classroom chaos. All throughout my schooling, it never worked. This is mostly because it is very difficult for the teacher to motivate the students enough to put effort into leading the classroom. When a teacher does accomplish this, then giving the students flexibility in making classroom decisions is extremely beneficial to the class’s learning as a whole. A teacher should always make sure that before giving any power to the students that it should be after the first few days of school where the teacher lays down the ground rules and atmosphere for the class. Also during the first few days, the teacher needs to be a good model for the students to imitate. Once the teacher gives some power to the students, they need to be attentive to the student’s decisions and give suggestions and guidelines to follow, and should take back control immediately if things get out of control.
I think two general methods for teaching diverse or urban populations (that may have backgrounds different from your own) are to 1. Be conscious of differences in experience and 2. Create a common ground in the classroom with clear and equal expectations for everyone (without making any material easier).
ReplyDeleteI think you can understand that it's beneficial to relate new information to past experience, so making an effort to do that for every student is important. If your students have very different backgrounds from your own, you should just admit that but try to open up and value their experiences too.
Importantly (and perhaps more difficult), you have an opportunity to create a common space (or common culture) for all of you. Despite very different backgrounds, if you make your own (equitable in the sense that they are not easier for those with a particular background) expectations very clear, and give the students all the opportunities they need to succeed in those expectations.
One criticism of some kinds of 'culturally relevant pedagogy' is important to note here. You should not try to equalize for a diverse population by making the material easier. All of your students should be given the chance to succeed at the highest level. Also, do not spend significant instructional classtime trying to become familiar with your student's backgrounds. This may seem important, but if you're spending time learning their own slang and dance styles (I have a particular video showing exactly that), you are taking away their time to learn the academic content, and creating a disadvantage for them.
A friend and fellow instructor made that argument about this particular video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP2YoZBGWFE
ReplyDeleteIF this is a dance teacher, it's fine. But, I'm pretty sure she's a history or english teacher, etc, and although this is cute, and makes her student feel more comfortable expressing himself, by spending time on dancing rather than critical discussion of academic content, she's giving him and others less opportunity for learning.