Teaching Strategies for Building a Multicultural Responsive Learning Environment

     Bonnie Davis discusses classroom behaviors in chapter two of her book, How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You. She writes that students differ in how they begin tasks and view their roles in the classroom. She encourages teachers to state their behavioral expectations for each activity in a classroom.  The guidance of behavior expectations allows students to focus on the academic portion of their day. In the first chapter, Davis discusses the coffee and tea culture of schools. Some schools have coffee for all members of the staff, where others only have coffee available for staff members that pay for coffee, and some schools have no refreshments available to staff. A substitute teacher when entering a new school does not know the norms and expectations of the group. Davis relates this example to students in classrooms. By expressing norms and expectations, students can feel more part of the group and can worry less about how they need to act to “be cool” and fit in with their peers.

     Granted, I agree that firm and consistent behavioral expectations are important to establishing successful classrooms that focus on academic rigor, but I wonder how teachers can create more culturally diverse learning environments when they are expressing these expectations. Are there general manners and rules that need be enforced in all classrooms to increase productivity? How can teachers’ expectations of behavior not be somewhat biased and based upon their own educational experiences? For example, I have very high expectations for my students when they move and interact in my classroom. I expect them to use manners and talk in quiet tones. Am I discriminating against cultures that use more verbal cues and physical movement or am I establishing a learning environment that generates student productivity? Davis writes that African American students tend to be multimodal and work best when they are invested emotionally and physically (16). On the contrary, she writes that a Vietnamese immigrant might feel uncomfortable if a class requires students to work together and ask questions rather than following a formal, traditional classroom style (16). How can teachers establish learning environments which make all types of learners comfortable?

     Davis has some suggestions to establish a multicultural responsive learning environment in chapters seven, eight, nine, and ten. She establishes her platform for developing a learning environment based on high expectations and academic rigor. While Davis believes expectations need to be clear and consistent, she does not want teachers to create long lists. I find one her most interesting points on rules and expectations to be her use of discipline infractions as teachable moments. I will adopt this point of view going forward to use infractions as “opportunities to teach social skills to our students” (67). 

     Moreover, Davis encourages building a classroom community. Welcoming students is important in establishing relationships with the students. She stresses the importance of students taking an active role in the responsibility of their conduct and merit. One way for students to reflect is to share the class mood each day. Other suggestions include working as a class on a community event, writing and illustrating a class book, taking pictures, doing a student of the week bulletin, and posting reading lists for students (70). I have implemented the use of classroom jobs this year in my classroom, and I have found it extremely helpful in creating a positive classroom culture. My students actively participate in the daily routines and maintenance of our classroom.

     Another way to build a multicultural responsive learning environment is to promote academic success. Schools need to send the message that academic achievement is the “cool.” Davis includes some books that can be useful to generate conversations about community building in partnership with parents and students and lists them on page 80. Two other ideas that I like from her relationship building section include “Friday Final Five,” where a student selects a topic to share during the last five minutes of class on Friday (89), and “Snaps and Taps” in which students write positive comments about other students on paper and put them into a bowl. Students get five seconds to snap or tap before the teacher shares the comments from the bowl (89). 

     In conclusion, Davis gives multiple ways to generate a multicultural responsive learning environment. She believes that academic rigor, clear and consistent expectations, and partnership with parents and the community are integral to developing a multicultural responsive learning environment. However, I invite you to join me in a conversation about if there are general guidelines all schools and classrooms should follow to be productive. My school follows the CHAMPS acronym for giving expectations. I explain before each transition how they should talk (Conversation), ask for help (Help), what they are about to do (Activity), if they will be moving (Movement), and what good involvement looks like (Participation) as guidelines for student achievement (Success). How can I include more student input in this process to be a more multicultural responsive educator? Are there norms that need to be followed nationally, locally, and school wide? Or, can each classroom develop their own norms?

Alli

First, Let's Look at Ourselves...

First, Let’s Look at Ourselves…

We’ve now defined culture—or we’ve at least come to a mutual understanding of it—and before moving on to any sort of classroom strategies, Davis encourages us to look inward at our personal experiences with race and culture. This next section will take a look at your life rather than your students, because in order to reach our students we, as educators, must know who we are first. As Davis said, “the more we know about ourselves, the better we can reach and support our diverse learners” (40).

That being said, teachers continually lead a dual life. One life takes place in the classroom (we’ll call this the Educator Self) and the other takes place outside (we’ll call this the Personal Self). Both are extensions of the other and must be explored before moving on in our discussion.

First, let’s reflect on our Educator selves. Based on the questions that Davis presents, I’d like you to consider the following:

·       

      Think of the physical environment of your school and classroom. Do they reflect diverse individuals? How many steps must you walk before you see a picture of a culturally diverse person?

·       

      Think of your verbal and nonverbal interactions in school. Does your body language change when communicating with some students and not others? Do your interactions with both colleagues and students reflect the sort of interactions you expect back from them?

      

      Think of your relationship with your content. Do you practice it outside the classroom? Do you have a broad understanding of it, and are you continually learning about it? Will your students leave at the end of the year liking your subject more than when they started?

In order to continually improve, any professional must constantly reflect on his or her performance, but I would argue that the reflection questions above are just as valid as those that reflect on lessons or unit goals. After all, students are far more responsive to our actions than anything else. Without even realizing it, we may be communicating certain biases or opinions. Therefore, it’s important to consider the actions of the Educator Self first.

The next step in this reflection is to move beyond the Educator Self and consider the Personal Self. After all, the actions and understandings that go on in your classroom most likely stem from your experiences outside of it. There are several ways in which we can reflect on ourselves, but Davis encourages us to explore our racial identity above all else. This once again proves that this book is targeted to White teachers who are teaching students of other races. In fact, Davis says at one point that in order to “bridge better the cultural gap between the diverse learner and ourselves (if you are a White teacher), we must explore our racial identity” (44). I’m not sure why learners are only “diverse” when compared to a White teacher. I’m quite positive that there are a high number of diverse learners in any classroom, regardless of the skin color of either the students or the teacher. I’m also convinced that in order to be effective, every teacher must consider his or her racial identity and how it affects his or her actions in the classroom and beyond. Davis focuses specifically on this issue of Black and White, which does not (in my opinion) give enough credit to all the types of diversity that exist in our communities and schools. That being said, even though Davis focuses on Black and White racial identities, I feel that these reflections can apply to every person. She even says at one point that in our society “race impacts us 100% of the time, no matter our color” (44). Therefore, throughout the next part of this discussion, I encourage everyone to consider his or her racial identity and how race affects his or her personal life.

Davis presents two stories, the first being her racial history as a White woman, and the second being the racial history of her African American colleague and friend. These stories reveal a lot of insights not only into their personal lives, but also into what it means to be Black or White in America. However, these stories only reflect two people’s experiences; it is impossible for them to represent two racial groups. Thus, I’d like you to take the next few minutes to reflect on your racial past.

Think of how race has impacted (or eluded) you at these various times in your life:

·       Childhood

•       Adolescence
•        Adulthood
•     How might your personal story compare with that of your classmates or your colleagues?

Finally, because Davis focuses mostly on White educators teaching students of color, she brings up a discussion of White privilege, by presenting a day in the life of the two women who shared their stories earlier. Once again, two people cannot possibly represent the experiences of entire racial groups, but the differences in their daily experiences are striking. Think about your own daily life. What or who do you see? What do you hear? How are you treated? How are people who look like you reflected back to you?

Davis refers to the diversity expert Glenn Singleton by stating that “each morning he looks out the window as a Black man, while I, as a White person, look out the window as just a person” (55).

Would you, regardless of your skin color, agree with this statement? Then, whether you agree or disagree, how do you think this could affect our students? How might White privilege be affecting them in their daily lives? How might this translate into the actions and opinions that exist in our classroom?

As you continue on in the future, I encourage you to consider your role in either supporting or eliminating White privilege at your school. What are some ways that you can privilege all children? What are some ways that you can call attention to any oversights that occur at your school? How can you work with your students to ensure that every child feels confident and welcome at your school, regardless of his or her skin color or culture?

I hope you’ve had the opportunity to really look into who you are and how your personal story might contribute to the topic of diversity in America. I also hope that you can continue to use this knowledge as we go on to consider concrete strategies for dealing with diversity in our classrooms.

Lindsay

What is Culture?

   I come from an anthropological background, where this question is a constant matter of contention. In anthropology, we must always define our interpretation of the term before we make an argument founded upon it. There are, after all, as many definitions as there are anthropologists. It is impossible to move forward with our work if we are not candid and upfront about our understanding of the term.

   With this perspective in mind, I was happy to find that Davis, too, chose to began her book on culturally responsive education with her interpretation of the culture concept. Culture, to Davis, is "the lens through which we view the world" (3). It is the complicated conversation of our various perspectives. My culture combines my gender, my religion, the color of my skin, the country of my origin, my academic history, my job, my paycheck, my diet, my family structure, and a multitude of other pixels which create my self-image. It is not simply, as I was afraid Davis might argue, a matter of ethnic identity.

   But culture, much more than it constitutes our personal identities, determines the groups we form. Davis reflects upon a definition of culture by Lindsey, Robins, and Terrell as "everything you do that enables you to identify with people who are like you and that distinguishes you from people who are different from you" (4). It creates groups that define themselves in opposition to what they are not. (As I sit in my living room watching Christina Aguilera belt out the national anthem as fighter jets fly over head, and big, burly players wipe tears from their eyes, I think about the SuperBowl as a moment of shared cultural consciousness. And, by the same right, I imagine: how many people look at this event and define themselves as members of a country who would not indulge in such excess. But I digress.) Walls and boundaries are a natural part of the cultural process--they help us understand where we fall in the world order. Everyone finds her place in relation to everyone else.

   With this definition of culture, Davis urges us to move forward. While we may define our unique identity in opposition to cultural others, we must develop the cultural proficiency to learn from, teach, and work with diverse groups. Here, Davis suggests a number of activities through which individuals may begin to develop the self-awareness, and recognize the shapes, tones, and dimensions of their cultural lenses. With this self awareness, she argues, we can recognize "teachable moments" to share ourselves and learn from others (5). We can begin the work that culturally responsive education is all about.

   These activities have helped to inform my prompts. In addition to responding to the obvious questions, "What is culture?" and "How does Davis's interpretation jive with you?", I'd like you to consider the following:

Examine this list of cultural factors. Which do you share with your students and/or colleagues? At which points do you differ?

• Family
• Gender
• Race
• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Language
• Friends
• Religion
• School
• Geography
• Income of family/social class
• Political views
• Ethnicity
• Electronic media
• Social organizations
• Others

What points of contention or convergence had you not considered before, and how do you imagine your awareness of this point may change the way you approach your job tomorrow?

Chloe

Beginning the Conversation

   In a book that reads more like a how-to manual than a critical reflection, Bonnie M. Davis guides us through the steps to teaching children who "don't look like us." Addressing the how of multicultural education, rather than the why, Davis provides concrete strategies for building high expectations, welcoming diverse learners, differentiating instruction, and instilling a love of learning in our students. We welcome these strategies as allies in our efforts to provide transformative education for our students.

   But, before we can productively delve into the strategies that Davis provides, we must address this author's assumptions. Implicit in her title is the expectation that the reader is a white, middle-class teacher, whose "diverse learners" are "the homeless children, the migrant children, the immigrant children learning english, children dealing with gender issues, children with learning disabilities, special needs children, and children from diverse cultures" (x). For a book that aims to address issues of diversity, we find this to be a surprisingly inadequate definition of that term. Nowhere does Davis allow that teachers interested in culturally responsive education--teachers who might pick up this book--might, in fact, look like their students.

   While this assumption is problematic, Davis does not claim to be an expert on the topic of cultural diversity. Rather, she invites a fluid dialogue on the topic, encouraging teachers to take the text, mold it to their interests and situations, and create unique action plans to serve their students. In the coming posts, rather than summarizing Davis's own perspective, we will be reflecting on her ideas as they relate to our own experiences. We will question, converse, and likely disagree. While difficult and controversial, these conversations will form the necessary foundation for honest, productive work.

   We invite you to join us as we begin this conversation.

   All the best,
   Alli, Chloe, Jeff, Lindsay, and Michelle