Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What do you think “culturally responsive” teaching is? How might it differ from other pedagogical philosophies such as “culturally relevant” teaching?

Teaching Suggestion: Even if students have not encountered either of these terms, they will likely make fairly accurate guesses about their meanings. You may wish to ask students for initial responses, offer them the resources below, briefly discuss the content of these videos, and then ask them to revise their responses to make them more accurate and complete. Some students may wish to read highlights of the first resource in addition to watching the video in class. A transcript of the second resource is also available; after accessing the link, click “more” and then “show transcript” in the video description.

• This 11-minute video features Zaretta Hammond herself explaining culturally responsive teaching.
• This 4-minute video by Dr. Darin Thompson offers an overview of the similarities and differences between culturally relevant and culturally responsive pedagogies.

2. What concerns motivate teachers to adopt philosophies like culturally responsive teaching?

Teaching Suggestion: As with the previous prompt, students are likely to have reasonably solid initial responses. The resources listed below are intended to broaden and deepen their understanding of the issues that spur pedagogical philosophies like culturally responsive teaching. To ensure that all students begin their reading with the necessary background knowledge, consider assigning students the articles below or similar resources in advance, which they may wish to annotate and summarize prior to engaging in class discussion.

• This article from Stanford’s Center for Educational Policy Analysis offers an overview of racial and ethnic achievement gaps in the United States.
• This article from Psychology Today explores how alienation manifests in the Public School System through powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, and social estrangement.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

Reflect on your education. Do you think that the various elements of your cultural background were respected and addressed equally with other cultural backgrounds? Why or why not? How might your personal experiences impact your understanding and reception of a text about culturally responsive teaching?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt is intended as a schema-activation device and a way to heighten students’ awareness of how their answers are relevant to Hammond’s ideas. It is well-suited to discussion; whether students have relatively privileged or less-privileged cultural backgrounds, they will all have something to contribute and will benefit from hearing a wide variety of responses. You might wish to offer students guidelines about how to discuss this sensitive topic in an inclusive and productive manner. If students ask for clarification regarding the “various elements of your cultural background,” you might note that socioeconomic status, language, race, religion, and ethnicity are all relevant factors.