Gay (2010) defines culturally responsive pedagogy as 'teaching to and through students' personal and cultural strengths, their intellectual capabilities, and their prior accomplishments, and notes that is premised on 'close interactions among ethnic identity, cultural background, and student achievement.' (from Savage, et al).
The educators in the Teaching Tolerance video (define culture as being the 'world views, beliefs, values, opinions, assumptions and filters that help us make sense of ordinary things.' They discuss the teacher's role as the 'cultural bridge', the person who must take the students' everyday lived experiences and help them make connections through their individual cultural lenses to the learning in the classroom.
Bishop (Edtalks, 2012) talks about culturally responsive pedagogy as creating a context where Maori can bring their own cultural understandings to the classrooms, where their values, beliefs and assumptions and the way they make sense of the world, is legitimate and valued. Overall, he states that culturally responsive pedagogy is relationship-centred education.
We all bring our selves to the classroom and that means our backgrounds, our values, our beliefs, our assumptions, our previous and current experiences, our understandings of how the world works. As teachers, we need to ensure that we accept, acknowledge, respect and value the varied backgrounds, beliefs, and understandings of our students. As Berryman states, if we aim to be agentic teachers, then we need to create a learning environment where our students can bring themselves - the whole of themselves and their cultural beliefs and values - to the learning conversation.
1. School Vision, Mission, Charter & Values
My school is predominantly Maori and is located in a town that acknowledges and owes much to the rich, cultural inheritance of its local iwi. Our school charter acknowledges the importance of culturally responsiveness pedagogy through the inclusion of the statement that 'where culture counts, learners bring who they are to the learning.' The school is very clear that one of our foci is 'Maori succeeding as Maori.'
As teachers, we are encouraged to build relationships with our students, to get to know them and their whanau, to understand who they are, where they come from, and what values, beliefs, knowledge and experiences they bring with them. There is a huge emphasis on this in the time we spend with our whanau groups (aka form classes, tutor groups). Whanau time is not just about reading out notices and taking a break between classes, it is about getting to know each other, taking photos of whanau activities and displaying them on the wall, acknowledging birthdays and successes, tracking academic progress and attendance, and discussing any issues that students might have that affect their learning. Moreover, we keep the same whanau every year, so we see the girls grow from year to year and build stronger relationships with them.
Cultural identity is also embedded in our school values. There are four values and they are built around the qualities of a Maori ancestress - Te Ao Kapurangi - a strong woman who exhibited personal qualities that we encourage our girls to aspire to. These Te Ao values are T - the willingness to learn; E - engaging to achieve; A - always shows respect; and O - offers to serve. Under the acronym, Te Ao, they also encompass the Maori view of the world, acknowledging the importance of Maori culture in our school.
2. School-wide activities
Another way Maori culture is celebrated and promoted at our school is through a variety of school-wide activities.
We begin each school year with a school pohiri for all our new students and staff. And all visitors throughout the year are welcomed with a pohiri.
Te Reo is strong at the school and its use by teachers and students is actively promoted. Often, the students know more than us, but they are always pleased when teachers use Te Reo. I'm not fluent, but I always use a little in the classroom everyday.
Our school waiata is in Maori and we sing it at all assemblies and award ceremonies and any other school occasion where singing is appropriate. It's a joyful sounding waiata and fun to sing.
Kapa haka is huge at our school, and we are currently the national secondary school champs. Kapa haka is always a part of our House chants, and our junior school have an annual competition in it at the end of the year.
As a school we actively promote Maori culture through Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori and through Matariki celebrations. As a staff, we practise our pepeha and learn a kupu hou every week. Our Year 9s spend a week on noho marae in Term One of every year and this year, our staff have gone on noho too, learning more about our culture and our city's Maori history.
Create a blog post where you first share your critical understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness. Then, critically evaluate how your practice or your school’s practice has been informed by indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy in two of the following areas (ideally you would be able to evaluate one that is done well, and another that would benefit from improvement):
The educators in the Teaching Tolerance video (define culture as being the 'world views, beliefs, values, opinions, assumptions and filters that help us make sense of ordinary things.' They discuss the teacher's role as the 'cultural bridge', the person who must take the students' everyday lived experiences and help them make connections through their individual cultural lenses to the learning in the classroom.
Bishop (Edtalks, 2012) talks about culturally responsive pedagogy as creating a context where Maori can bring their own cultural understandings to the classrooms, where their values, beliefs and assumptions and the way they make sense of the world, is legitimate and valued. Overall, he states that culturally responsive pedagogy is relationship-centred education.
We all bring our selves to the classroom and that means our backgrounds, our values, our beliefs, our assumptions, our previous and current experiences, our understandings of how the world works. As teachers, we need to ensure that we accept, acknowledge, respect and value the varied backgrounds, beliefs, and understandings of our students. As Berryman states, if we aim to be agentic teachers, then we need to create a learning environment where our students can bring themselves - the whole of themselves and their cultural beliefs and values - to the learning conversation.
1. School Vision, Mission, Charter & Values
My school is predominantly Maori and is located in a town that acknowledges and owes much to the rich, cultural inheritance of its local iwi. Our school charter acknowledges the importance of culturally responsiveness pedagogy through the inclusion of the statement that 'where culture counts, learners bring who they are to the learning.' The school is very clear that one of our foci is 'Maori succeeding as Maori.'
As teachers, we are encouraged to build relationships with our students, to get to know them and their whanau, to understand who they are, where they come from, and what values, beliefs, knowledge and experiences they bring with them. There is a huge emphasis on this in the time we spend with our whanau groups (aka form classes, tutor groups). Whanau time is not just about reading out notices and taking a break between classes, it is about getting to know each other, taking photos of whanau activities and displaying them on the wall, acknowledging birthdays and successes, tracking academic progress and attendance, and discussing any issues that students might have that affect their learning. Moreover, we keep the same whanau every year, so we see the girls grow from year to year and build stronger relationships with them.
Cultural identity is also embedded in our school values. There are four values and they are built around the qualities of a Maori ancestress - Te Ao Kapurangi - a strong woman who exhibited personal qualities that we encourage our girls to aspire to. These Te Ao values are T - the willingness to learn; E - engaging to achieve; A - always shows respect; and O - offers to serve. Under the acronym, Te Ao, they also encompass the Maori view of the world, acknowledging the importance of Maori culture in our school.
2. School-wide activities
Another way Maori culture is celebrated and promoted at our school is through a variety of school-wide activities.
We begin each school year with a school pohiri for all our new students and staff. And all visitors throughout the year are welcomed with a pohiri.
Te Reo is strong at the school and its use by teachers and students is actively promoted. Often, the students know more than us, but they are always pleased when teachers use Te Reo. I'm not fluent, but I always use a little in the classroom everyday.
Our school waiata is in Maori and we sing it at all assemblies and award ceremonies and any other school occasion where singing is appropriate. It's a joyful sounding waiata and fun to sing.
Kapa haka is huge at our school, and we are currently the national secondary school champs. Kapa haka is always a part of our House chants, and our junior school have an annual competition in it at the end of the year.
As a school we actively promote Maori culture through Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori and through Matariki celebrations. As a staff, we practise our pepeha and learn a kupu hou every week. Our Year 9s spend a week on noho marae in Term One of every year and this year, our staff have gone on noho too, learning more about our culture and our city's Maori history.
References
Bishop, Russell. Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994
Savage, C., Hindle, R., Meyer, L., Hynds, A., Penetito, W., & Sleeter, C. Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigeneous student experiences across the curriculum. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. Vol 39, No. 3, August 2011, 183-198.
Teaching Tolerance.( 2010, Jun 17).Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8
Create a blog post where you first share your critical understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness. Then, critically evaluate how your practice or your school’s practice has been informed by indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy in two of the following areas (ideally you would be able to evaluate one that is done well, and another that would benefit from improvement):
- vision, mission, and core values
- policies,
- goals,
- communication methods,
- decision-making,
- planning and assessment,
- learning activities,
- school-wide activities,
- resources
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