Becoming Culturally Responsive: 6918 Course Reflection

According to the program standard rubric Growing and Developing Professionally, a distinguished teacher seeks out feedback. Teachers need to seek out ways to improve their teaching and outlook, which takes practices. When it comes to culturally responsive teaching, Elizabeth Kozleski discusses in her article “Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters!” that teachers can work to create a culturally responsive classroom through a variety of practices, including: having high expectations for all students, engaging students in learning by calling on their personal knowledge and skills, learning about the cultures and families of students, seeking out new ways of teaching from other teachers, and reflecting on beliefs and interactions with students. One of the most important ways a teacher can become more culturally responsive is by becoming aware of the differences between themselves and their students: “By embracing the sociocultural realities and histories of students through what is taught and how, culturally responsive teachers negotiate classrooms cultures with their students that reflect the communities where students develop and grow” (Kozleski, p.1).

On a personal level, I have begun reflecting more on my own life-experience in contrast to the experiences of others. For example, during the recent presidential election I became aware of a deficit in my awareness and understanding for people who live in small, rural, homogenous communities. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and later moved to Seattle, both of which are large, culturally diverse cities. I have visited other types of communities, but always as an outsider. It is difficult for me to imagine the point of view of someone who has a different existence than the one I know. After this realization, I decided to learn more about the history and experience of this population. This is just one example of an area of growth for myself, but it is a good start for self-reflection and movement towards becoming a more culturally responsive person and future teacher.

Throughout this quarter I have started to learn how to identify areas where I need to grow, specifically my knowledge and understanding of diverse groups and my ability to use this knowledge in my teaching practices, but now I need to learn how to effectively address these areas. Before I begin teaching, I need to learn more about the cultures represented among my future students: their histories, values, and problems through art, music and literature, cultural experiences, and especially talking to people from those cultures. As a later step I need to learn how to use this knowledge to create a culturally responsive classroom.

From "Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters!" by Elizabeth B. Kozleski