Week 11, November 7th
Culturally Responsive Teaching, Community-as-Text Education, and Healing Centered Engagement
A common theme of this week’s articles is community engagement within school curriculum through culturally responsive teaching. The authors of these three articles describe the importance of involving students in their community in order for them to see a purpose for their learning. It can also serve as an opportunity for emotional healing for those who have experienced trauma.
In the first article, “Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers”, Villegas and Lucas call for the infusion of multicultural issues throughout teacher education curriculum and introduce six different characteristics of a teacher who is culturally responsive. A culturally responsive teacher understands their own sociocultural identity and recognizes how modern schools still pin different cultural identities against one another and perpetuate a system of discrimination. They hold the belief that all children are capable of learning and have unique experiences and knowledge that can be built upon and that “schools can be sites for social transformation even as they recognize that schools have typically served to maintain social inequalities.” (24)
In order for a teacher to be culturally responsive, they need insight on the lives of their students outside of school. They need to know their hopes, wants, and dreams, as well as their likes and dislikes, in order to connect the content to their lives and make learning meaningful to them. Teachers must practice instructional strategies that engage their students by connecting the content to their lives and involving them in their community.
The second article, “Community as text: Using the community as a resource for learning community in schools” by Blank, Johnson, and Shah, examines the “community-as-text” model of education which “helps students become motivated and engaged in learning and builds strong connections between the school and community” (109). The authors identify four models of the community-as-text approach: service-learning, academically based community service, environment as an integrating context for learning, and place-based education. These four models are similar in that they all promote a curriculum connected to the natural and sociocultural context of the community. Students are able to collaborate with organizations such as food banks, universities, senior centers to work through community issues and implement critical thinking and problem solving skills to solve real life problems. A connection with the first article can be seen at the end of the reading where the authors call for community-as-text to be included in teacher preparation programs, which aligns with Strand 5 of the characteristics of culturally responsive teachers.
Another benefit of students’ participation in the community is an opportunity for “healing centered engagement”, which is the focus of the third article, entitled “The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement” by Ginwright. Healing centered engagement is a holistic approach to treating youth that have experienced trauma. It is focused not just on treating the symptoms of the specific trauma, but also highlights the strengths of the youths and encourages positive thinking about the future. Healing centered engagement is culturally centered and “uses culture as a way to ground young people in a solid sense of meaning, self-perception, and purpose.” Ginwright describes how part of the healing process includes community action-- “collectively responding to political decisions and practices that can exacerbate trauma. By taking action, (e.g. school walkouts, organizing peace march, or promoting access to healthy foods) it builds a sense of power and control over their lives.”
The benefits of culturally responsive teaching, community-as-text schools, and healing centered engagement are numerous and include but are not limited to: high expectations for all students, the development of skills such as problem solving and critical thinking, improved attendance, increased test scores, healthier families and communities, a decline in discipline issues, and improved attitudes towards school. What more can we want for our students?? It seems like a no-brainer that these concepts need to be implemented immediately and indefinitely. Unfortunately, it is never that simple, as the policy makers and stakeholders need to be convinced first. In the meantime, what are steps we can take as individual teachers in our own classrooms that promote these ideals? Ginwright mentioned the South African philosophy of "ubuntu" or recognizing the humanness of all people, which I think is the first step towards the ideals we read about this week.
A common theme of this week’s articles is community engagement within school curriculum through culturally responsive teaching. The authors of these three articles describe the importance of involving students in their community in order for them to see a purpose for their learning. It can also serve as an opportunity for emotional healing for those who have experienced trauma.
In the first article, “Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers”, Villegas and Lucas call for the infusion of multicultural issues throughout teacher education curriculum and introduce six different characteristics of a teacher who is culturally responsive. A culturally responsive teacher understands their own sociocultural identity and recognizes how modern schools still pin different cultural identities against one another and perpetuate a system of discrimination. They hold the belief that all children are capable of learning and have unique experiences and knowledge that can be built upon and that “schools can be sites for social transformation even as they recognize that schools have typically served to maintain social inequalities.” (24)
In order for a teacher to be culturally responsive, they need insight on the lives of their students outside of school. They need to know their hopes, wants, and dreams, as well as their likes and dislikes, in order to connect the content to their lives and make learning meaningful to them. Teachers must practice instructional strategies that engage their students by connecting the content to their lives and involving them in their community.
The second article, “Community as text: Using the community as a resource for learning community in schools” by Blank, Johnson, and Shah, examines the “community-as-text” model of education which “helps students become motivated and engaged in learning and builds strong connections between the school and community” (109). The authors identify four models of the community-as-text approach: service-learning, academically based community service, environment as an integrating context for learning, and place-based education. These four models are similar in that they all promote a curriculum connected to the natural and sociocultural context of the community. Students are able to collaborate with organizations such as food banks, universities, senior centers to work through community issues and implement critical thinking and problem solving skills to solve real life problems. A connection with the first article can be seen at the end of the reading where the authors call for community-as-text to be included in teacher preparation programs, which aligns with Strand 5 of the characteristics of culturally responsive teachers.
Another benefit of students’ participation in the community is an opportunity for “healing centered engagement”, which is the focus of the third article, entitled “The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement” by Ginwright. Healing centered engagement is a holistic approach to treating youth that have experienced trauma. It is focused not just on treating the symptoms of the specific trauma, but also highlights the strengths of the youths and encourages positive thinking about the future. Healing centered engagement is culturally centered and “uses culture as a way to ground young people in a solid sense of meaning, self-perception, and purpose.” Ginwright describes how part of the healing process includes community action-- “collectively responding to political decisions and practices that can exacerbate trauma. By taking action, (e.g. school walkouts, organizing peace march, or promoting access to healthy foods) it builds a sense of power and control over their lives.”
The benefits of culturally responsive teaching, community-as-text schools, and healing centered engagement are numerous and include but are not limited to: high expectations for all students, the development of skills such as problem solving and critical thinking, improved attendance, increased test scores, healthier families and communities, a decline in discipline issues, and improved attitudes towards school. What more can we want for our students?? It seems like a no-brainer that these concepts need to be implemented immediately and indefinitely. Unfortunately, it is never that simple, as the policy makers and stakeholders need to be convinced first. In the meantime, what are steps we can take as individual teachers in our own classrooms that promote these ideals? Ginwright mentioned the South African philosophy of "ubuntu" or recognizing the humanness of all people, which I think is the first step towards the ideals we read about this week.
I enjoyed the video you posted regarding culturally responsive teaching. I think it spoke to Villegas and Lucas's article about how to really prepare teachers. One quote from the video was regarding how we determine a child's culture or cultural identity. The woman made the important note that for each student "their attachment and bonds to the group vary". I think it is important to remember in order to avoid some of the pitfalls of poorly implemented culturally responsive teaching - that while we learn about various cultures of groups as a whole, we must also learn about the individual culture of each family and student as well.
ReplyDeleteI think Ubuntu is a fantastic ideal to have in our classrooms. The principles guiding this practice are rooted in the social-emotional learning that we must help our students through. In the video, John Lockley describes the steps of respecting others and seeing them as human, and these clearly translate into how our students interact with each other in the classroom. The skills of social-awareness and self-management are crucial to the success of our students, and will make them not just smarter, but also better people.
ReplyDeleteThe video really helps explain that we are all feeling beings and I believe we have to bring that into the classroom. Too often we separate emotions from classroom, and I think if we brought it in more and students saw us more as humans, they would feel more connection. I think the same the other way around as well. If they are more human and connect with us, we will both progress further. We have to know ourselves to know others, and if we put up that shield and do not let kids in, we are doing a disservice to the connections we could form with our students. Today I participated in restorative practice training and it spoke of these connections. We can help create more of a community feel if we start here.
ReplyDeleteIn Villegas and Lucas article they talked about the limited classes available for students preparing to be teachers to be culturally aware and when these classes are available they are usually an option. It's extremely important to be culturally responsive teachers and as you said we need to have the belief that all children are capable of learning and have unique experiences. I think about a quote from "Smartness as Property" about students capability to learn, "If one cannot imagine capacity in a child, one is unlikely endeavor to educate that child." (2223, Leonardo & Broderick). We need to know who are students are before we can guide them in their education.
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