Culturally Responsive Teaching

SUMMARY

Explore teaching general music through a culturally responsive lens. Part 1 identifies and distinguishes the different terminology educators encounter in their work.

by Manju Durairaj

Sing, Say, Dance, and Play in a Culturally Responsive Way — Part 1

Manju Durairaj
Posted 9/30/21
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Detangling the Terminology

The ideas, notes, and materials are the intellectual property of Manju Durairaj. Please use and adapt them for use in your music room. However, you do not have permission to share without the express permission of the author.

As I make my journey (which will take my professional lifetime) as a music educator, I find myself encountering various terms and phrases that sound similar or used interchangeably and sometimes erroneously. I am committed to these titles and roles: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) educator, a social justice educator, a culturally proficient educator, and a culturally responsive music educator.

I have added some resources and descriptions below to untangle and clarify the differences between these critical roles. It is also essential to share that my aperture and perspectives on culturally responsive teaching continue to evolve as I continue my education journey.

Multiculturalism:

Celebrates diversity – meaning that the focus is to create positive social interactions across differences.
Exposes the privileged (power and advantages benefiting a group derived from the historical oppression and exploitation of other groups) to diverse literature
Includes multiple perspectives in the curriculum.
Helps students of color see themselves reflected authentically.

Learn the Difference:

If you have questions about the nuances or definitions of terms when learning about or researching multiculturalism, here are two resources to assist you:

Pacific University of Oregon: Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Glossary of Terms
Diversity Best Practices: Glossary of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Terms

Social Justice Education:

An education model based on four anchor standards provides teachers with a “road-map” for anti-bias education for all grade levels.

Identity: Critical consciousness exposes the social-political context that students experience.
Diversity: Raising students’ consciousness about inequity in everyday social, environmental, economic, and political aspects of life.
Justice: Creates lenses to recognize and interrupt inequitable patterns and practices in society.
Action: Strategies for moving from prejudice reduction to collective action.

Learn More:

Learning for Justice – Teacher resources focusing on the Social Justice Standards
Social Justice Standards: The Teaching Tolerance Anti-Bias Framework
Social Emotional Learning Standards for 50 States

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) makes intentional and deliberate differentiations to instruction that tailor learning to aspects of the student’s culture. This approach centers around the affective and cognitive aspects of teaching and learning.

CRT focuses on using familiar cultural information and processes to scaffold learning. Second, it emphasizes communal orientation. Finally, it focuses on relationships, cognitive scaffolding, and critical social awareness.

For me, this involves moving my students from being dependent learners to developing skills and habits of mind to accelerate their learning (that is, they know how to learn new content and improve weaker skills). There is a particular focus on leveraging culturally and linguistically diverse students’ learning systems to close the learning gaps, the opportunity gaps, and the achievement gaps.

Zaretta Hammond, the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain and the facilitator of the CRE by Design PLC, refers to CRT as developing a mindset – a way of thinking about and organizing instruction to allow for great flexibility in teaching.

Zaretta Hammond also offers four strategies to help move students through the brain’s three stages of information processing (input, elaboration, and application).

Ignite: Get the brain’s attention (e.g., Call and Response activity)
Chunk: Make information digestible.
Chew: Actively process new information.
Review: Have a chance to apply new learning.

Why is it important to understand the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between these terms? To answer, I will leave you with the famous quote by Maya Angelou:

I’ve learned that people will forget what you have said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou

Now that we have a better grasp of the terminology, in Part 2: Creating a Learning Partnership we will examine how to build a learning partnership with your students.

References

Adams, J. (n.d.). What critical race theory is and what it means for teachers. Learning for Justice. https://www.learningforjustice.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/TT-Social-Justice-Standards-Anti-bias-framework-2020.pdf.

Equity, diversity & Inclusion glossary of terms. Pacific University. (2021, July 1). https://www.pacificu.edu/life-pacific/support-safety/office-equity-diversity-inclusion/edi-resources/glossary-terms.

Glossary of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Terms. Diversity Best Practices. (n.d.). https://www.diversitybestpractices.com/sites/diversitybestpractices.com/files/attachments/2020/10/dei_glossary_of_inclusive_terms_updated_for_2020_1.pdf.

Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (pp. 128-138). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Social justice Standards. Learning for Justice. (n.d.). https://www.learningforjustice.org/professional-development/social-justice-standards-the-learning-for-justice-antibias-framework.

Additional Resources

Edgar, S., Kelly-McHale, J., & Rawlings, J. (2017). Music Education and Social Emotional Learning. GIA Publications.

Gay, Geneva. (2000). Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. Teachers College Press.

Ladson-Billings, Gloria. (2014). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 2.0: aka The Remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84 (1), 74-84. www.teachingworks.org/images/files/CRP_remix_HER.pdf.

Paris, D., & Alim, S.H. (Eds.). (2017). Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World. Teachers College Press.