Part 1:

Culturally Responsive Teaching Questions

1. Identify and discuss one (or two) disposition(s) in which you believe
you've made the most personal growth this semester.
I believe that I have developed a better understanding of how to
infuse culturally responsive teaching into class activities. I
actually believe in order to do this we have to take a
constructivist approach in our classrooms. The two factors work
especially well in a social studies classroom. In the article,
Constructivist Learning and Teaching, the authors writes from
the perspective of a math classroom. However, I feel like math
and history are very similar in the way that people tend to think
that its just a lot of memorization thats needed in order to pass.
However, both content areas are better served if students are
able to create their own connection to the material. The authors,
Clements and Battista, talk about how there is no one reality or
interpretation of the world. I think if we were to translate that to
students, that theres really no wrong answer and that social
studies is what we believe it to be, that it takes away a lot of
stress in class. I would like to use this mindset while teaching to
not only encourage students to create their own pathways to
information but also give students a sense of ownership, for they
are making history.
2. What will culturally responsive teaching look like in my classroom?
How will I embody at least one of the principles from CRT (Academic
achievement, Cultural competence, Critical consciousness)?
I believe culturally responsive teaching parallels a good social
studies classroom. There are so many diverse cultures I have to
tackle in class. So I believe in order to discuss those topics fully, I
have to set my class and students up to be able to examine that
information critically in regards to culture consciousness. For
younger grades, I can see myself teaching them respectful
discussion techniques such as I-Messages when they are
discussing their opinion as it relates to the content. However, I
believe that in order to infuse CRT in my class, it has to be laid in
the foundation of my classroom rules and expectations. By
focusing on critical consciousness, I am able to form that
constructivist type of classroom through student opinions,
background, and newly formed ideas.
3. How will I use professional competencies to drive the relationships that
I have with students, parents, and colleagues? (Please discuss all)
I think incorporating CRT techniques can also apply to colleagues
and parents. In an ideal world, we would like to meet and discuss
with parents about their childs progress in our class. However,

thats not always possible for some demographics. I know right

now in my internship, I have mostly low socioeconomic students
whose parents typically work very long hours. In addition, a lot of
the parents also do not speak English whatsoever. So I think
instead of being frustrated and not communicating with the
parents, we should find alternatives. I think it would be a great
point to send a letter home via mail, maybe in both English and
Spanish, that discusses the students progress. Encourage the
parents to contact the teacher, set up an appointment, or simply
sending a letter back with their reply. I believe CRT also parallels
with empathy. We must be aware that most likely, our life
situations are not anything like those around us. I believe this
applies to colleagues as well. We must engage in a respectful
way to strengthen the bond between faculty. Then, we can
discuss our classrooms, ask for advice and maybe give advice.
But to do that effectively, we must first understand their
background and experience as teachers, so that we do not
impede on that individual. The same behaviors apply to working
with students. If we remain respectful and persistent, we are able
to reach students, parents, and colleagues.
4. Identify two examples within your content where you can create
learning opportunities consistent with Culturally Responsive Teaching.
One area that I think Culturally Responsive Teaching is essential
within social studies is studying current events. Students receive
a lot of information input from teachers, parents, friends, and
others in their community. So its easy for them to form opinions
without fundamental knowledge on the topic. I believe that by
establishing a Culturally Responsive classroom that focuses on
critical consciousness, students are able to not be clouded by
what others believe and are able to form their own ideas within a
respectful, educational environment. Additionally, in history,
educators use the term historical empathy, which has students
focus on contextualizing the information so that they are able to
apply their own knowledge. We must stay away from trying to
have students to empathize with people from a different era or
region; that only devalues the content. However, we must have
students try to put the information into the perspective. I think
this relates to CRT because we must not only teach students the
historical facts, but we must set the premise of what is was like
during the era, what else was going on, how did people behave,
etc. By teaching students past cultures, they are better able to
grasp the content as well as its significance.

Clements, D. H., & Battista, M. T. (1990). Constructivist learning and

teaching. Arithmetic Teacher, 38(1), 34-35.