Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is here and no doubt many schools will observe the day with instruction on diversity or Civil Rights. Perhaps it will be a speaker, a cultural heritage celebration, or posters prominently displayed in the hall.

These activities can help students become more aware of race and other dimensions of diversity. But is “awareness” enough to create a more just society—the one envisioned by Dr. King?

Realizing this vision requires culturally competent citizens. Renowned multicultural scholar James Banks conceptualizes a “citizen” as an agent of social change – an active, engaged, and caring individual able and willing to advance democratic goals (2001, 2007). These skills will become even more important as society continues to diversify. 

To get our kids there, education should help them acquire the knowledge, dispositions, and skills needed to:

• Participate in personal, social, and civic actions that will help make our nation more democratic and just.

• Interact positively with people from diverse groups, whether based on ethnicity, race, culture, class, sexual orientation, gender, or other social groups.

• Develop a commitment to act to make their communities, the nation, and the world moral, civic, and equitable.

How can we make this happen?

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) offers a framework to reach the above goals. CRT isn’t necessarily about “covering” cultures. Rather, the larger goal is connecting content in any discipline to students’ cultural frames, experiences, and communities to make learning more appropriate and effective (Gay, 2010). In doing so, CRT creates an inclusive platform for student participation in pursuit of the democratic ideal of equal opportunity. For teachers, CRT means developing a range of skills that impact curriculum, pedagogy, and school climate. Here are a few:

A culturally responsive educator can:

• Identify their own biases and recognize their impacts.

• Challenge the deficit thinking that assumes students of color are less capable and motivated.

• Identify how biases and deficit narratives manifest in disciplinary practices, such as the disproportionate suspensions of Black children.

• Challenge other forms of institutional discrimination within the school.

• Create an inclusive environment that leverages the strengths of students’ cultures, languages, experiences, families, and communities.

• Integrate citizenship, critical thinking, and social justice into the core subject areas.

• Deliver effective learning experiences about race, class, gender, culture, etc.

One way to honor both culture and individuality is by building on students’ “funds of knowledge”: their experiences, abilities, talents, and prior learning as well as their language, families, and community values (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). To do so, teachers must identify authentic connections that can form bridges to academic learning (Delpit, 2006). For example,

• Students’ family histories can provide entry points into geography and social studies content.

• Age-appropriate community data (e.g., census figures, public health information) provide real world examples of math in our everyday lives.

• Students’ home languages and/or favorite music genres can serve as bridges to analyzing other forms of language. For example, in a language arts class, students deconstructed music and lyrics to learn concepts such as beat, rhythm, and stanza before applying them to the study of Shakespeare.

A caveat: While CRT aims to reach students from their vantage points, it’s important to know that there are no hard and fast “ethnic learning styles.” Culture certainly influences learing, but does not determine capability or predict behavior.

These are just a few thoughts on an expansive topics. I’ll be sharing other ideas in future posts. In the meantime, check out my book (including the free Facilitator Guide); read this prior blog post, Celebrating Diversity is Not Enough; or contact me with your questions or thoughts.

References

Banks, J.A., & Banks, C.A.M. (Eds.). (2001). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (4th ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.

Banks, J.A.  (2007).  Educating citizens in a multicultural society (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice.  New York, NY: Teachers College Press.