Culturally Responsive

Teaching
Kelsey Ross

Overview
Culturally responsive teaching is very important in the classroom. Students have
so many different backgrounds even when in rural, suburban, and urban areas.
Teaching should be a reflective and an outward experience. The concepts that we
teach should build on our students perspectives and expose them to cultures that
are not their own. When teachers do this, students become more knowledgeable
about the world around them.

Student-Centered Instruction
Student-centered instruction means that the students are the focus in the
instruction and not the teacher. In student-centered instruction, students are
constantly working together, communicating, and cooperating together. Through
this way, students are self-directing their learning through projects and
assignments that are culturally relevant to them. This type of instruction is
important because it allows for students be proactive and confident in their
learning.

Example of Self-Centered Instruction

An example of self-centered instruction would be a book club for students to group
together, read a certain book or novel over a course of time, and ask each other
questions about the content.

Culturally Mediated Instruction

Culturally Mediated Instruction focuses mainly on making the classroom draw
upon multicultural aspects. This includes exposing students to diverse ways of
knowing, learning, and representing information. This is important because in a
classroom, students have a diverse set of needs. Consequently, if a classroom
has only one way of teaching information only a handful of students may
comprehend the content. If we allow for various ways of understanding the
information, we can allow for all of our diverse student needs to be met.

Example of Culturally Mediated Instruction

When teaching ecosystems in 3rd grade, a teacher may have different stations
where there are diagrams (1), text (2), stimulations (3), and videos of ecosystems
(4). Students will group up and rotate to each center and participate in learning
more about ecosystems.

Teacher as a Facilitator
Teacher as a facilitator simply means that students learn proactively with the
guidance of a teacher to help facilitate the learning. Teaching should not be onesided and most of the talking should not be from the teacher. Students need
opportunities to discuss, listen, write, and read about their own culture and
cultures that are not their own. Being a teacher as a facilitator is important
because you want to act as a guide in students learning. Being this guide will help
students make more meaningful discoveries and help students become more self
confident in their learning.

Example of Teachers as a Facilitator

An example of a teacher as a facilitator is an ongoing writers workshop. During
Writers Workshop, the teacher may give a prompt to write about and the students,
brainstorm, construct, edit, and publish their writing. Teachers during this time
conference with different students each day to talk and discuss on how the
students are doing. The teacher is merely acting as a guide and suggest a few
teaching points during the conference.

How differentiation aligns with CRT

Differentiation simply means accommodating your instruction in various ways
based on your students needs. With CRT you draw upon your students
backgrounds. You use the same information through background information and
ongoing assessments to construct a flexible and respectful learning environment
for your students. Keeping the instruction and content relevant is another aspect
that differentiation aligns with CRT. Students need to understand the material on
their own level. We shouldnt try to form our students into one mold, but form our
school into a mold that fits to our students.