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Diversity

Every student in any classroom comes from a different background, has different prior

knowledge and different experiences that have led them to this point in their lives. This diversity

can be a challenge in a classroom, but it can also be a wealth of opportunities. The first thing

that needs to happen in a classroom is for students to feel safe and respected in order for them to

do the risk-taking needed to gain new knowledge. As Brookfield (2000) states, students who do

not trust their teachers, “are unwilling to submit themselves to the perilous uncertainties of new

learning. They avoid risk. They keep their most deeply felt concerns private. They view with

cynical reserve the exhortations and instructions of teachers” (p. 162). In order to help all

students feel welcome, it is important to practice culturally responsive teaching. As

Ladson-Billings (1994) describes, culturally responsive teaching is, “a pedagogy that empowers

students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural references to

impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (p. 17-18). I created a ​website​ to inform other educators

about what culturally responsive teaching is and how they can implement it in their own

classrooms. By creating a website, I could spread my learning with a wide community of

teachers.

The first place that all teachers have to start at is building trust between their students and

them. As Hammond (2015) describes, there are five main ways teachers build trust: sharing

moments where they were vulnerable, being a constant figure in their students’ lives, finding

shared interests, showing concern, and demonstrating the desire and ability to help their students.

Without this established bond, some students won’t feel safe enough to take the risks needed for

learning. After these relationships are created, then true learning can begin.
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It is also important to make sure that different ways of learning are valued and

incorporated into the teaching environment. Often, our curriculum is set up in a way that uses

the strengths of the dominant culture. However, there are other ways of learning that can be

incorporated into the classroom to level the playing field for all the cultures represented in the

classroom. For example, Barnhardt and Kawagley (2005) state that, “While western science and

education tend to emphasize compartmentalized knowledge which is often de-contextualized and

taught in the detached setting of a classroom or laboratory, indigenous people have traditionally

acquired their knowledge through direct experience in the natural world” (p. 8). Finding ways to

use other methods of knowledge acquisition in the classroom can help meet the needs of all the

students.

It is important to note that culturally responsive teaching is not just teaching about

different cultures. It’s about using the strengths of the different cultures represented in the

classroom as pathways to learning, accessing students’ prior knowledge, recognizing different

displays of meaning making, and using cultural knowledge as a scaffold to build on new

concepts and ideas (Hammond, 2005). As the Alaska Standards for Culturally-Responsive

Schools (1998) state, “By shifting the focus in the curriculum from teaching/ learning about

cultural heritage as another subject to teaching/learning through the local culture as a foundation

for all education, it is intended that all forms of knowledge, ways of knowing and world views be

recognized as equally valid, adaptable and complementary to one another in mutually beneficial

ways” (p. 3). It is a framework for how to engage in teaching and learning, not merely a subject

area to address.
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My artifact is broken into four sections: what is culturally responsive teaching, why is a

culturally responsive classroom important, who is involved in creating a culturally responsive

classroom, and how do I make my classroom culturally responsive. By going through these four

sections, I hope that other educators can learn more about how to approach, respect, and learn

from the diversity in their classrooms and help their students feel respected and safe in their

classrooms.
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References

Alaska Native Knowledge Network. (1998). Alaska standards for culturally-responsive schools,
3.

Barnhardt, R., & Kawagley, A. O. (2005). Indigenous knowledge systems and Alaska Native
ways of knowing. ​Anthropology and Education Quarterly​, 36(1), pp. 8-23.

Brookfield, S. (2000). ​The skillful teacher.​ New York: Jossey-Bass, 162.

Hammond, Z. (2015). ​Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic
engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students​. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin, a SAGE Company.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). ​The dreamkeepers​. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishing Co,

17-18.