Sustaining Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices

Just as the design, delivery, and development of culturally responsive teaching are constantly informed by di-unital, both/and, mindfulness, this, then, means that restorative practices are, also, capable of developing a similar intersubjectivity. Moving restorative practices beyond the dichotomous underuse of being designed, delivered, and developed apart from conveying academic instruction allows this body of work, presented here, to instead evoke cultural responsiveness to inter-subjectively filter restorative practices within instructional planning, instructional preparation and instructional delivery. Doing so conveys academic content “through” restorative practices while restorative practices simultaneously happen “with” learners of color.

Developing Cultural Competence in an Occupational Therapy Program in a Border Institution in South Texas

While strong consensus exists for preparing culturally competent occupational therapists as the national minority population grows, scholarship in this area continues to evolve. Conversations and explorations of best practices and perspectives add the practical component related to this phenomenon. Perspectives will be shared for leveraging culture to promote respect within communities from asset-based ideologies from the vantage point of a Latino clinician in a predominately Latino underserved community. The authors provide a brief review of the related literature, unpack the definitions of cultural competence, and discuss the pedagogical approach used by an occupational therapist educator. Framing the conversation from an asset-based pedagogical perspective, the use of culture as resources will be depicted. By honoring community values, beliefs, and assets for developing cultural competence, the authors explore the use of culturally relevant pedagogical approaches in a Hispanic-serving university graduate program situated in the border region of South Texas.

Student Teachers' Experiences of Cultural Diversity During Student Teaching

Multicultural education and culturally responsive pedagogy training should be within the core curriculum and begin in teacher preparation programs. This could be accomplished by providing opportunities for teacher candidates to research and acquire knowledge regarding cultural characteristics and cultural contributions of diverse students, pedagogy, instructional strategies, methods, and resources that support diverse student populations. This chapter presents the results of a mixed-method study that examined student teachers' perceptions and understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy and instructional strategies observed and utilized in classrooms during student teaching in diverse classrooms. Findings revealed that student teachers were inexperienced in terms of being culturally responsive educators. The authors suggest that educators engage student teachers in class projects within the scope of culturally responsive practices. The chapter concludes with a list of reflection questions for K through 20 educators.

Developing a Community of Learners From Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds With Social Justice and Inclusive Critical Literacy Practices

This case study is an investigation of cultural and linguistic diverse perspectives among parents, children, teachers, and teacher candidates. Survey and interview data were collected and analyzed to determine how these diverse perspectives affect teachers' application of culturally responsive literacy practices to develop a community of learners. Findings suggest that teachers and teacher candidates knew little about their students' diverse backgrounds. Their participation in the study and initial discussions among teachers, teacher candidates, children, and parents had a positive effect on experienced and novice teachers' knowledge of students. This knowledge included the ability to begin planning and managing instruction, as well as determining appropriate assessments and instructional strategies. Findings also suggest ways these teachers could engage students, families, and teachers in social justice practices.

Making Literacy Culturally Relevant

In this reflective chapter on culturally relevant teacher preparation, the authors begin by discussing early childhood literacy and how it has traditionally been conceptualized. They offer an overview of a balanced literacy model, including its history, structured development, and critiques. They then consider culturally relevant pedagogy as foundation to reconceptualizing early literacy and teacher preparation. To bring such reconceptualization to life, they share their work with early childhood pre-service teachers, aiming to reconceptualize early literacy. They conclude the chapter with suggestions for moving beyond balanced literacy in culturally relevant ways.

Culturally-Connected Integrated STEM Instruction

This chapter provides an overview of integrative STEM instruction through the lens of culturally connected practices as a foundation for elementary learners. The integrative STEM model can be a catalyst for increasing the number of culturally diverse, competent contributors to the STEM field. At the heart of an integrative approach to STEM instruction, students are exposed to rich science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content in ways that propel culturally diverse students to dive into these once exclusive bodies of knowledge with zeal and confidence. The only way this can occur is by having teachers whose belief systems 1) support the importance of rigorous learning, 2) are willing to challenge the status quo, and 3) who are adequately versed in culturally responsive teaching approaches. Additionally, this chapter highlights the implementation of Wheel Instruction for Integrative STEM through two professional development cycles within an urban school district in the New York State Capital Region.

Race, Class, and Community Cultural Wealth

Culture has been established as an integral part of the successful parental involvement of Black parents in K-12 public schools. This chapter explores the implications of institutional racism and classism against Black parents and how schools as social institutions perpetuate discrimination through the hidden curriculum, which often upholds the dominant culture's values, norms, and beliefs. This chapter also investigates how schools operate within the dominant ideology that upholds the White middle-class form of cultural capital as the standard form of capital, thereby devaluing the cultural skills that Black parents use to help children achieve academic success in school. In addition, the literature demonstrates that the unique forms of cultural capital Black parents draw from to help their children succeed in school challenge the dominant ideology that Black parents lack the required capital for school success and are not interested in their children's education.

Designing an Inclusive Culturally Competent Classroom for Immigrant Deaf Students in the United States

The population of the United States (U.S.) is changing rapidly across such categories as race, language, culture, and socioeconomics. This growing diversity extends to people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH). The change indicates an increase in the number of immigrant students who are both hearing and D/HH. Today teachers are expected to serve a diverse population of D/HH students, thereby necessitating culturally competent classrooms. However, and in most cases, when educators consider a culturally competent classroom, one cultural group omitted among students, in general, is that of D/HH students and worst D/HH immigrant students. One reason for the neglect of immigrant D/HH students in U.S. classrooms is that most teachers have limited knowledge, skills and resources in designing inclusive culturally competent classrooms that support immigrant D/HH students. This apparent neglect necessitates this chapter. This chapter provides teachers with information and guidelines they will need to create culturally competent and inclusive classrooms with a particular focus on D/HH immigrant students. The chapter begins with brief background information about D/HH immigrant students and a conceptual framework that provides a lens to issues discussed in the chapter. Next, the chapter discusses the process of designing culturally competent classrooms for D/HH immigrant students. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research and implications for practice not only for deaf education teachers but also for mainstream education teachers, deaf education teacher preparation programs, and researchers—among other professionals who interact and work with D/HH immigrant students.

Modeling a Culturally Responsive Mindset

To address the rapidly changing cultural demographic of the United States, educator preparation programs must guide future teachers to create welcoming and equitable classroom communities that establish diverse cultural contexts as the norm and address culture not as an add-on but infused in natural, authentic ways throughout the school year. This chapter provides a rationale for implementing culturally responsive pedagogy by addressing the concept of cultural competence and then offering strategies for creating a welcoming classroom that recognizes and values the whole child and creates an overall positive school culture that promotes inclusion and fosters success for all. Moreover, the chapter addresses the importance of modeling dispositions at the EPP level for normalizing culturally responsive practices so that preservice and beginning teachers will naturally and routinely recognize and employ strategies that make all students feel seen, embraced, and worthy.

Teacher Candidates Fostering Cultural and Linguistic Identities Through Arts Integration

Designing culturally and linguistically relevant and sustaining programs is needed at all levels. Specifically including this approach in teacher education programs is a crucial goal, as what is learned turns into a multiplicative process through new teachers' implementation of this approach in their future classes. This chapter introduces the conceptualization and work of the Teacher Education Collaborative in Language Diversity and Arts Integration (TECLA) program designed to support the development of Elementary Education Teacher Candidates' readiness to teach and work with culturally and linguistically diverse learners through Arts-Integration. This chapter describes five focus areas of the program model in relation to a main event in the program, the Oral History Classroom Museums and we discuss how this process contributed the Teacher Candidates' Identity as Teachers as well as to nurture their pedagogical practices. Examples of each area and affordances and challenges faced in this program are discussed.