Teaching Philosophy
In my first year of teaching and Johns Hopkins University coursework, I was introduced to Culturally Responsive Teaching, a teaching philosophy developed by Gloria Ladson-Billings who “explains that culturally responsive teaching develop[s] intellectual, social, emotional, and political learning by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (In Time, n.d.). I learned that becoming a culturally responsive teacher was not something that would happen overnight and would not be as simple as piecing together the CRT Frameworks one by one. I quickly realized that before I could actually implement CRT in the classroom, I first had to evaluate my own biases and micro-aggressions and truly strive to practice cultural sensitivity – and to do this, I had to commit to learning the cultures of my students and the community in which I taught.
In that first year, I set three goals for myself in an effort to be more culturally responsive for my students and for myself:
Speak up and engage – I committed to speaking up “when other people use biased language and behavior” and also to “demonstrat[ing] my commitment to social justice in my personal life by engaging in activities to achieve equity” (Anti-Defamation League, 2007).
Become involved in the community – I committed to utilizing parents and community members to offer insights into my students’ surroundings and their families.
Develop growth relationships – I committed to “form relationships with individuals whose backgrounds differ from [my] own, whether teacher colleagues or community members, [so I could] benefit from honest feedback and discussions that help to expand self-awareness” (Diaz-Rico, 2013, p. 253).
What I realized as I continued to grow as an educator, was that the goals I set were very selfish and actually detached from the classroom. My focus in that first year was to become more culturally aware so that I could learn more about my students and be responsive to their cultures, so that I could correct others in their own biases or micro-aggressions, and so that I could feel like I was the best teacher I could be — and then “I” shifted to “them.” My focus shifted from me being the best teacher to me being the teacher my students needed me to be. My students need a teacher who can teach them to self-advocate, who can provide them access to information and resources they do not have, who can empower them “to construct new, meaningful knowledge” and to actively engage “in the teaching and learning process” (Bird, 2011, p. 20), and who can teach them to appreciate and value all the diversity that the world offers.
Now, in my fourth year of teaching, I have new set of simplified, intentional goals:
Teach students to be curious, analytical, and open minded in what they read, in what they learn, and in the people they meet.
Teach students to develop empathy toward those who are different and learn to embrace and appreciate those differences among peers, cultures, and socio-economic groups.
Teach students to understand how to advocate for themselves and how to access resources and opportunities they deserve and need to achieve their goals.
I have worked to accomplish these goals by building intentional, authentic relationships with my students, by developing a rigorous curriculum that exposes them to diverse cultures and characters while also holding them to high academic standards, and by giving my students control and ownership in the classroom. I believe that if my students emerge from my classroom as curious, analytical, and empathetic, along with a passion to advocate for themselves and the knowledge of how to gain access, then I am setting them up for success in the real world. This belief has required me to become the best teacher I can be, the teacher I thought I set out to be in my first year. I have carefully developed my curriculum so that it is student-centered and “includes issues and topics related to the students’ backgrounds and cultures and challenges the students to develop higher-order knowledge and skills” (Education Alliance, n.d.). I strive on a daily basis to communicate high expectations to my students, and together we have created a safe, positive, healthy classroom culture wherein the students know they will be challenged, but also know they can succeed.
I still know that I want to be a culturally responsive teacher, and with the experience of almost four years in the classroom now, I have a much better idea of what that looks like. The goals I have set for myself will hopefully help me achieve what I originally set out to do: To prepare students to face a world that is not designed for them to succeed, armed with curiosity, confidence, empathy, and analytical thinking.
References:
Anti-Defamation League. (2007). Personal self-assessment of anti-bias behavior. Retrieved from http://www.adl.org/assets/pdf/education-outreach/Personal-Self-Assessment-of-Anti-Bias-Behavior.pdf
Bird, M. V. (2011). Exposing cultural bias in the classroom: Self-evaluation as a catalyst for transformation. Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, 32(1), 18–21. Retrieved from http://journal.viterbo.edu/index.php/atpp/article/view/891
Diaz-Rico, L. T., & Weed, K. Z. (2013). The cross cultural, language, and academic development handbook: A complete K–12 reference guide (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Education Alliance, Brown University. (n.d.). Culturally responsive teaching. Retrieved August 8, 2013, from http://www.brown.edu/academics/education-alliance/teaching-diverse-learners/strategies-0/culturally-responsive-teaching-0
InTime. (n.d.). Culturally responsive teaching. Retrieved July 22, 2016, from http://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/teaching.htm
