Making Connections

• Crystal Estey
• Posted 5/2/22
• 0 comments

A Culturally Responsive Teaching Conundrum

I GOT STUCK when I was asked to write a lesson plan that encapsulated Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT). I think this is because I was trying to find music lessons that would be the best examples of CRT that I already use in my classroom or lessons I had gleaned from others. It was like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I have some great lessons, and I have some great ideas about CRT, but I couldn’t get them to go together.  

The problem I kept coming against is that Music is a subject, and CRT is a pedagogy. Each of the communities in which we teach has its own unique culture, so there really isn’t a one-size-fits-all lesson plan that encapsulates the concept of CRT. However, we can naturally incorporate many of the ideologies of a culturally responsive teacher.   

The best pedagogues of elementary music education — Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodály, and Émile Jaques-Dalcroze — knew that good pedagogy starts with what the children already know. Children of every culture learn the best while at play. However, different cultures may play different games and have different songs in different vernaculars or languages. CRT is a way of teaching that honors what each child brings to the music classroom and celebrates cultural differences while bringing our diverse communities together. 

Defining Culturally Responsive Teaching

Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor emeritus from the University of Wisconsin whose focus was on Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, came up with the idea of Culturally Relevant Teaching. She proposed three main components of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: (a) Academic Achievement and Student Learning, (b) Cultural Competence, and (c) Social-Political Consciousness. (13:47-14:20) 

Academic Achievement and Student Learning

The first component, Academic Achievement and Student Learning, examines academics. Dr. Ladson-Billings had noticed that some teachers who taught students from a different culture spent much time being “nice” but not challenging the students academically. (15:00-16:40) 

As music teachers, we have the fantastic opportunity to bring in music from other cultures and explore music worldwide. However, we still need to make sure our students are musically literate, including reading musical notation. Students also require the vocabulary to discuss music using Standard American English.  

As with most specialized subjects, music has its own vernacular. Our job as teachers is to develop our students’ vocabulary, so they have the language to describe the elements they are hearing and understand when others use musical terms. We need to ensure that our students have a well-seated foundation in the musical elements. When they hear unfamiliar music, they can analyze it using musical terms, increasing their appreciation for music of many different genres. 

Cultural Competence

“True cultural competence is the ability to help students grow in the knowledge and understanding of their own culture while acquiring skills in at least one other culture.” (Ladson-Billings 23:21) 

Language plays a large part in Dr. Ladson-Billing’s second component. The latest data shows that 79% of teachers are white, while our student population is much closer to 47% white. It is almost inevitable that you will teach a student with a different cultural background than you. (National Center for Education Statistics). 

Everyone has a cultural heritage, but white European culture is often seen as the status quo. Because of this, many white people have difficulty defining their own culture or even acknowledging that there is, in fact, a white culture. Ladson-Billings clarifies that “nothing about cultural competence speaks to eradicating, replacing or denigrating students’ home culture.”  

If you are teaching a class of majority white students, being culturally competent isn’t going to shame them or make them hate their race. Instead, it will help students of all races, including white students, define and share their cultural heritage while learning about and respecting different cultures. Keep in mind that most students of color will be pretty well versed in their own and white cultures because white culture is so well represented in our society. 

Translate Instead of Correcting

If a student is the first generation from a non-English speaking country, they translate English into their home language and we allow this process. However, are we quick to do the same with students who speak “non-standard” forms of English?  

Examples of non-standard English include Pidgin, Yiddish, Spanglish, and Ebonics, an African American vernacular English. Each of these languages is commonly misnamed broken English or slang. However, each of these forms of non-standard English has clear grammatical rules and can be considered a language in its own right.  

Students must be able to code-switch from one language to another, and it is just as important that the teacher understands the students’ home language. We can practice translating from home language to school language and vice versa by creating a theme and variations activity on how different cultures might say the same thing. (Hollie) 

I use the Orff approach in my classroom. One of my favorite cross-curricular and cross-cultural activities is to use rhythmic building blocks to create code-switching compositions. We use these as ostinati to accompany a song or to build short compositions.  

Cultural Music Share Month

Instead of having a composer of the month or focusing primarily on Western European music as “culturally relevant,” have every student find an example of the music they like to listen to with family, at ceremonies, or at religious events, and have the whole class listen.  

One thing to be aware of is that students do not want to be put on the spot. While some students take enormous pride in their home culture and would love to share, others don’t want to be the spokesperson for their entire culture — especially if they weren’t given time to prepare. It is best to do a little research first so that if there are students who are uncomfortable sharing, you can share things you know about their culture, which will make them feel validated.  

Include your ELL teacher, or if possible, talk to family members or other community members. It is essential that what is shared is authentic and respectful, and the best way to ensure that is to get a firsthand look at how music is used. Go to a worship service with one of your student’s families. Get yourself invited to the barbeque. If you don’t live in the community you teach, go to a community event like a town fair or fall festival. Every community is different and unique, not just based on ethnic identity but also on the region, socio-economic factors, etc. Get to know the community in which you teach.  

Socio-Political Consciousness

“School learning has significance beyond the four walls of their classrooms and the narrow constraints of a standardized test.” (Ladson-Billings 35:50) 

How has music changed for this generation of kids? How do they consume it differently than you did as a kid? We played jump rope games and hand-clapping games, and even if I moved to a different state, the kids all seemed to know the same songs.  

We have had almost two years where kids haven’t been able to play those kinds of games. I noticed students stopped playing these games in my community even before covid. Instead of hand-clapping games, our children are doing TikTok challenges. And like the hand-clapping games, students are learning the same dances across the country and even around the world. How can we incorporate the new normal into our classrooms?  

I’ll admit, I’m an old fogey. I haven’t downloaded TikTok, and I’m not planning to do it soon. I may not have it downloaded, but there are plenty of avenues to watch the short videos people have uploaded, so I am well versed in the most popular themes.  

For some reason, last year, sea shanties became a very popular TikTok. I hadn’t considered teaching my students sea shanties, but they were so into it! I think we sang “The Wellerman” for five weeks straight because they kept asking to sing it! It also allowed me to share my historical-cultural backgrounds with my predominantly African American kids. 

Conclusion

Topics relating to culture are a hot-button issue right now. A large swath of folks get upset just hearing the words “Culturally Responsive” without really understanding what it means. As technology advances, our world gets smaller, and it is impossible to deny that everyone will interact with others from different cultures. Eventually, we will all teach students that come from different cultures.  

Allowing students to bring their currency into the music classroom is a good start. Students are ambassadors of their favorite and familiar musical genres, and sharing them can give the music teacher different pedagogical strategies to make the musical classroom equitable. Being aware of how our cultures are different helps us reach students where they are. At the same time, this awareness can serve to expand our students’ knowledge of the world by introducing them to cultures that are not their own. I hope that future generations will embrace and respect cultural differences and create a more compassionate society. 

References

California Department of Education. (2021) Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Retrieved 11 Feb. 2022, from https://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ee/culturalrelevantpedagogy.asp.  

Hollie, Sharroky. “Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning.” Hazelwood School District Professional Development, 2014, Hazelwood, Missouri. 

Ladson-Billings, Gloria. “Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings.” Youtube uploaded by Education at Illinois 7, Oct. 2013, https://youtu.be/yLBez6XSFTQ 

Lind, Vicki R., and Constance L. McKoy. Culturally Responsive Teaching in Music Education: From Understanding to Application. Routelage Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. 

National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Characteristics of Public School Teachers. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 11 Feb. 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/clr. 

National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 11 Feb. 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cge.