Creating Relevant Spaces

What are your students curious about?

Survey students to find out their interests and about their lived experiences.  For learning about poetry, ask students which poets from their cultures they are most interested in reading. For a history class, you might poll students to find out which aspects of wars they are most interested in hearing about.  In response to such a survey, for example, one instructor received a response back indicating the student wanted to learn more about, “The Vietnam War.  My grandparents and parents lived through that harsh time period.  Not only that, I want others to know that Hmong people were forced into battle against Laotians, Vietnamese, etc.  (It’s also called The Secret War) and that is why we, the Hmong people, have no land and are promised and brought to the US to have better lives.”

How do they learn best?

Current research points to debunking the idea of learning styles such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (Furey, 2020). Ask students to share how they learn best.  They could provide examples or  share anecdotes from classes they felt were particularly effective and culturally affirming for them.

Knowles (1980) states in the context of andragogy that teachers are no longer owners of the information, but facilitators of the knowledge.  Emdin (2012) in TedTalk on reality pedagogy takes this one step further, asserting that students themselves are the experts on how to deliver the information to each other.  Emdin suggests letting students teach a particular unit of instruction, creating their own lesson plan (perhaps from a sample lesson plan you provide for reference).  After the student prepares the lesson, they teach it, and the instructor sits where the student would normally sit.  The technique gives the instructor insight into ways that students might prefer to be taught. It also “gives them an opportunity to have voice, to see how difficult it is to be a teacher.  Change the structure gives them agency, because they will inform you on what the best practice is” (Emdin, 2012).

What do they already know?

Students in any class have neither the same background nor experience.  Class content thus has the need to be built on individual and cultural experience as well as prior knowledge.  Activating students’ prior knowledge.

Brain-based research shows that helping students activate prior learning before they set upon a task can benefit their present learning.  And taking time to assess students’ prior learning can help ensure an adequate level of rigor, to keep students appropriately challenged.

This handout outlines techniques for activating and assessing prior knowledge – together with examples and tips for implementation.

Culturally affirming course content

Check your course content, assignments, books, images and so forth to make sure they reflect the students we are teaching.

Bishop (1990) in Mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors  talks about books as mirrors, where students can see themselves and their cultures reflected in course materials.

 

Professional development opportunities

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Additional resources and scholarship

Culturally Responsive Educators Libguide (Highline Library)

Anti-racist Libguide (Highline Library)

APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans) Racial Justice Libguide (Highline Library)

Allison Green presents Becoming culturally responsive educators, introducing the three-tiered framework of knowing oneself, one’s students, and one’s practice.  (Highline login required). video recording   

Bob Scribner presents From pedagogy to andrygogy: Engaging the adult learner, an introduction to adult learning theory and how to leverage best practices in the classroom (Highline login required).  video recording   participant guide

Darryl Brice presents A happening waiting to accident: Students of color and their courageous journey through higher education discussing  how the  histories, cultures, and experiences of students of color are largely omitted from the curriculum (Highline login required).  video recording

Diego Luna presents on Critical race theory.  Diego discusses counter storytelling (the very human need to learn through the experiences of others) as praxis, with an emphasis on how one can use counter storytelling to meaningfully, and sustainably disrupt majoritarian teacher/student relations in ways the move towards inclusive classrooms.(Highline login required).  video recording

 

References:

Bishop, R.S.  (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors.  Perspectives: Choosing and using books for the classroom 6 (3).

Emdin, C. (2012, August 23). Reality pedagogy: Christopher Emdin at TEDxTeachersCollege [Video file].  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y9tVf_8fqo

Furey, W. (2020). The stubborn myth of “learning styles”.  Teachers and teaching, 20 (3).  Retreived from https://www.educationnext.org/stubborn-myth-learning-styles-state-teacher-license-prep-materials-debunked-theory/

Knowles, M. S. (1973). The adult learner: A neglected species.  Gulf Publishing Company.