Something that has changed my perspective of what would make a good teacher was Zaretta Hammond’s Corwin (2017) webinar about culturally responsive teaching. Prior to watching the webinar, I had only considered what she described as surface level culture as what should be incorporated into a classroom in order to make it an inclusive environment. Looking back on my time as a student, I remember learning about other cultures through artwork, dances, games, and stories that either incorporated elements of the culture we were learning about or were traditional elements from that culture. However, a lot has changed since I was an elementary student. Hammond’s explanation of how shallow culture builds deeper trust and deep culture further develops that trust really changed my perspective on what incorporating culture into a classroom really means. According to Hammond, shallow culture refers to elements of cultures such as how emotions are handled, concepts of time and personal space, and non-verbal communication. I can understand how knowing the ways in which these differ in other cultures and respecting those differences for students would help to develop trust in the teacher-student relationship. Learning how to incorporate all depths of culture into a classroom and lessons is something that I hope to make a priority as a teacher in order to create a safe and inclusive space.

For the week that we observe school cultures for the observational practicums, I hope that some of these elements will be noticeable in diverse classrooms and schools. In relation to this, there are students at the elementary school I currently work at who moved to Canada over the summer. Their religion involves praying at two o’clock every afternoon. Rather than telling them that they can’t because it is not part of the school schedule, the school has provided them with a quiet space and they gather themselves there at the required time for their religious obligation. I hope this has had a positive effect on the new students and I hope to see similar examples of cultural responsiveness in schools we observe.

The focus on culturally responsive teaching has been closely related to discussions about racism in our Thursday class: Aboriginal and Indigenous Education with Marian Kotowich-Laval. We responded to a book talk by Dr. Robin DiAngelo for her book titled White Fragility that was hosted by the Seattle Public Library (2018). One of the points made by Dr. DiAngelo that stood out to me is how white women often put down people of colour in order to get ahead of them in their efforts against sexism and inequalities between white women and white men, rather than trying to work with them to reduce the unequal marginalization that both groups experience. All though the motivation is different, the way towards equality is similar. Relating it to the idea of white fragility, it is as though white women as a whole are afraid of being on the bottom even if being ahead of people of colour means still being below white men within society. After listening to Dr. DiAngelo’s talk, I think these are important things to keep in mind. Patterns of racism that have been embedded in us need to be recognized and reflected on in order to result in fairness in the classroom. When considering teaching students fairly, it is important to address racial inequalities by encouraging Indigenous and non-white students and recognizing cultural differences and systematic racism to make the same opportunities attainable for all students. Cultural differences are not limiters of intelligent or learning abilities.

References

Corwin. (2017, May 4). Zaretta Hammond: Culturally Repsonsive Teaching and the Brain Webinar. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2kzbH7ZWGg

Seattle Channel. (2018, Jul 3). Dr. Robin DiAngelo discusses ‘White Fragility’. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ey4jgoxeU