Culturally *blank* Pedagogy
culturally relevant, responsive, sustaining, proactive pedagogy
There are so many different methods of how to have a culturally *blank* pedagogical approach to teaching. With all the different ideas and evolving words, how do we know which word to use -- or are they really any different?
Culturally proactive pedagogy: "by using the word 'proactive,' we mean to build respectfully on the work that has gone before us and to acknowledge its impact on our own teaching practices..." (Garcia & O'Donnel-Allen, pg. 19)
How is culturally proactive pedagogy different?
The chapter mentions that by instilling culturally proactive pedagogy in one's classroom, it is not about finding an end goal, or reaching a point of accomplishment. However, the chapter mentions that this type of pedagogy is an ongoing learning journey for both the educator and the students. The authors also mention the importance of joining with others to create a community of proactive learners and teachers. I think this proposal is vital for the success of this pedagogical approach. In order to allow the opinions, thoughts, ideas and practices of other teachers within this approach to grow, we need to work together. By borrowing lessons/practices of other teachers, it allows us to bring techniques and ideas into the classroom we never would have thought of otherwise.
"we
will not enter the classroom as all-knowing experts, but as learner with and
from our students, their families, and their communities," (Garcia & O'Donnel-Allen, pg. 19).
In
Bomer & Bomer, Katherine brings up so many good ideas and examples on how
to simply be a proactive teacher. Most of her examples come from the discourse
her and the students have daily. Katherine created an environment and community
in her classroom for her students to feel comfortable speaking about
difficult topics. She makes sure to allow the conversation to happen
openly with the students, but still asks the tough questions to make them
understand the issues brought up.
In this Ted Talk, Isael Torres challenges this bias and seeks to create educational programs that incorporates diverse perspectives. He says we are attempting to create spaces to allow for equitable education, "...all in the hope of evolving our school systems to better meet the needs of our students, rather than expecting our students to be continuously be meeting the needs and standards of our traditional school systems."
Great post Tori! You have a great quote from Garcia & O'Donnell-Allen about being proactive. When it comes to culturally ______ teaching, no matter what you want to call it, you have to be proactive and not reactive. The bullet points on page 19 about being proactive really stuck out to me. "An ongoing vigilance" "a sense of intentionality" "an awareness we must initiate this work rather than waiting for someone to tell us it should be done." This is really important because students can see if you are being reactionary and might feel that you're not genuine with your intentions and you might not be if you are reactionary.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your point about working together as a community of teachers and students. I feel like in our own class, the 12 of us have brought so many different perspectives and ideas that we have all shared and made us better teachers. The key is to bring this community idea to our school. Dr. Taylor mentioned that one school she worked at, the staff was not on the same page as her ideas and didn't want to hear them. We have to do our best to find schools that support a culturally proactive community.
I like how you brought up being genuine with the intentions we have in the classroom. I think that is so important to remember. We have all of these ideas about what we want to implement in a classroom, but we have to show the authenticity behind our reasoning for the students to understand. Great point.
DeleteTori, I love your title of the blog: “culturally *blank* Pedagogy. It seems every course teaches us a new phrase and meaning, but culture is at the for front.
ReplyDeleteAs our cohort struggles with the concept of being cultural relevant first-time teachers this quote by Knaus resonates with me. Knaus shared “caring, responsive curriculum and teaching approaches are still limited by my own capacity to reflect on and address race, gender and class-based privileges that shape everything I do within a classroom (Garcia & O'Donnel-Allen, pg. 20). The phrase of the moment( Culturally proactive, Culturally relevant, Culturally sustaining) is still embedded in the mask “by my own capacity to reflect….” (Knaus). I have definitely become more culturally aware in the last six months because this program has embraced the “amalgam of 21st-century demands that teachers face in working with a growing culturally and linguistically diverse student population (Garcia & O'Donnel-Allen, pg. 19). The thought of walking into a classroom and opening a book to lesson 1.1 has long vanished. Weeks before, we have to read the entire book while asking and questioning its cultural relevance. Only after this is done could we start to think about the lesson plans for our students. With a deeper understanding of the curriculum, we can then augment the lessons and provide a more culturally sustaining education.
Thanks for sharing this, Jay! I completely agree that it is first our job to research and understand cultural relevance before bringing the ideas in the classroom. I agree that because of this program, my mind has been opened to the extra work that goes into planning and preparing. However, these classes have taught me that even though it will be hard, it is so necessary to constantly be thinking and assessing ourselves as educators.
DeleteGood post Tori! I like how you and Garcia & O'Donnel-Allen bring up being a proactive teacher of culturally relevant pedagogy. We have learned all year about culturally relevant teaching but were just beginning to learn on how to do it and KEEP DOING IT. Just like we encourage our students to be proactive in the classroom and in life, we as teachers must show the same passion and initiative to provide a cultural relevant environment. One factor of culturally proactive teaching is “Anticipating students’ needs within your classroom and adjusting your practice to their interests, developing identities, and cultural experience.” (Garcia & O'Donnel-Allen, pg. 18). In my professional experience and in my personal life, someone who is proactive has a much greater chance of being effective to the cause at hand. I also believe we must develop a strong awareness of everything around us and our students. We know our curriculum, but do we know how to adjust it to our current setting in todays world? For myself, I will try to focus on the relationships I have with my students. Garcia & O’Donnel-Allen on pg. 18 also mentions “using the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of your students as resources for their learning.” When I look at this, I see me and the relationships I have with all my students. How well will I get to know my students? I hope very well so I can use our relationship to provide a comfortable environment where students can show their true self. Above all, show initiative and inquiry about topics that interest them, despite being an issue that nobody wants to talk about.
ReplyDeleteProactive is the perfect word to describe what we need to be! You make so many good points that match what cultural pedagogy is all about. I think getting to know our students is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to fostering a culturally relevant environment in our classrooms. Thanks!
DeleteTori, I really enjoyed your thoughts on the many different names of cultural pedagogy and really appreciated the ted talk link you shared! Since we’ve been in this program we’ve heard a lot of different types of cultural pedagogy and I’ve always felt a little overwhelmed thinking about the differences and how to implement each within my classroom. It consistently feels like theres new terms with pressure to be up-to-date on all cultural pedagogy in order to provide my students with the best education. I think Garcia and O’Donnel-Allen said it right when they talked about culturally proactive praxis that require “teachers to critique the fallacy of cultural neutrality and the homogeneity syndrome in teaching and learning especially for historically marginalized students” (Garcia & O’Donnel-Allen, pg. 17). Its our job to be conscious and reflect upon past ways of teaching and grow from our lessons as well as our mistakes. I related this to the podcast as Watson talks about how its our job as white educators to be informed and educated on these topics and allow for growth through moments of mistakes. In addition, I enjoyed the idea bullet points on page 24 in Pose, Wobble, Flow. Its important to constantly be working toward be a culturally *blank* teacher and the authors give great tips on methods to include.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the never ending list of cultural pedagogy makes it seem so confusing and unachievable. I think we worry too much about the terms and I think we are all more prepared and aware than other teachers who are in classrooms today. I like your point about being conscious -- huge factor when it comes to having a culturally *blank* classroom. Thanks!
DeleteThanks for the link to that TED talk, Tori. We have discussed the importance of inclusive texts that represent the diversity found in the classroom. It is crucial that kids can see themselves represented in stories to engage them in reading. As students develop a socially critical lens, they can even examine familiar texts for issues regarding race, gender, class, etc. Bomer states books read together as a class offer examples of concrete conversation pieces that deepen children’s ideas (Bomer, 2001). Stories and ideas build on each other to “help deepen the discussion by filling in facts and details (Bomer, 2001, p.47).”As future educators, we must be willing to have difficult conversations if we are to enact culturally sustaining pedagogy. As we have discussed in class, it is important to examine the ‘isms’ with your family or friends so that when these issues inevitably come up in class, you have a frame of reference in place upon which to you can build your argument. If you are not accustomed to having these conversations or have not worked through your own thoughts, you won’t be prepared. The chapter does a good job of showing an example of community built by conversations and interpersonal interactions around social issues.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Tori! I really like your thoughts on the need for us to work together in order for the proactive pedagogical approach. Joining with other to “develop a team to support” us, from the Knaus (2011) passage in Garcia and O’Donnell-Allen (p. 20), is something that is essential for the success of us as culturally proactive teachers and for the success of the culturally proactive pedagogy. “The digital era has ushered in new tools and participatory social networks that allow both educators and students to collaborate and that support and guide teaching and learning practices publicly and asynchronously,” (Jenkins et al, 2009 in Garcia and O’Donnell-Allen, 2015, p. 22). They go on to essentially suggest that while these are great, but teachers are looking for that “holy grail of best practices”, rather than “considering the following questions that are intimately tied to this pose:” (p 22)… [the questions are found there]. But I believe that utilizing the networks, tools/strategies, and connections to provide us with ideas, examples, ways of thinking, different perspectives of teachers/parents/students/etc. from across the country can truly benefit us in this pose (and to “work through wobble towards pose” (p. 22)) –answering these questions for/about ourselves (and continuously expanding our knowledge and refining and improving upon our understanding).
ReplyDelete“Contexts change, students change, even the questions change, and so must we if we are committed to professional growth,” (p. 22). Even though everything is ever-changing and every class, circumstance, and student is unique and requires unique support/etc. I believe your right on point, Tori, that working together, “borrowing lessons/practices of other teachers, allows us to bring techniques and ideas into the classroom we never would have thought of otherwise”. I think of it as paying it forward in a sense. We are borrowing lessons/practices but we are also improving upon them to help drive the pedagogy forward. Also by networking, working together, sharing our improvements, our ideas, our thoughts with others as well as on lessons/practices/experiences etc. we are helping drive the pedagogy forward and helping it evolve appropriately with the continuous changes occurring all the time. Using messaging boards on networking sites/(other sources) we can proactively engage in discourse, debate, education, learning, and so on. We can learn from others on how to learn and educate others as well as ideas/strategies for improving upon and advancing lessons/practices/etc.. Then, we can, in turn, educate others on how to learn and educate others as well as ideas/strategies for improving upon and advancing lessons/practices/etc.. And then they can pay it forward and do the same (and the cycle continues). We can join/create and help grow a community of culturally proactive teachers and by way of that help develop, improve upon and continuously refine/evolve culturally proactive pedagogy. We hear it all the time, since we were little, the old saying about when you invite or tell 5 people and they invite/tell 5 people, who in turn invite/tell 5 people, and so on. Growing the community of culturally proactive teachers can be similar. It would not be easy in any way, but nothing that truly matters ever is.
tilizing the networks and technology available (as well as obviously enlightening teachers/co-workers we teach with to the culturally proactive pedagogical approach) provides us with the opportunity to join a community/team that will support us and recruit others to join. It provides us with a forum in which we can learn and expand our knowledge/understanding by way of borrowing lessons/practices, engaging in discourse, sharing resources, etc., learning of other’s experiences within and outside of their classrooms, ultimately in order for us to adapt, adjust, improve up, and implement what we learned to specific our classrooms and for our specific students. It is also a platform in which we can spread our knowledge, understanding, ideas, and experiences in the same way in hopes to provide guidance and support to other teachers, as well as in hopes to enlighten one/couple/few/several teachers or aspiring teachers to the culturally proactive pedagogical approach.
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