The session began with Constance Collins, sharing the ideas behind culturally responsive teaching.
As an introduction to this work we explored the following video:
Following this, Naomi Augustine, introduced the eight competencies for culturally responsive teaching. Naomi shared her own experiences of teacher training and the prescribed expectations in teaching in London. One example was how she was not encouraged to recognise the language assets of the children, such as the informal use of English.
Thinking back
We took time to think about our own experiences of teaching and learning with both students, parents and teachers sharing their experiences. This included both stories of inclusion and affirmation as well as those where students did not feel affirmed and included.
Voices from the students
A small group of students were able to share their experiences of why culturally responsive teaching and learning is so powerful:
- Maya (G3) - shared how important learning about her family and her cultural heritage has helped her understand and appreciate her family and culture.
- Karl (G11) - shared examples from the Global Politics course in the DP and how the teachers allow students to explore issues from diverse perspectives
- Alba (G11) - shared examples from the English language course and type of texts used that exposed learners to different writers and perspectives.
- Harper (G11) - shared some examples of how practices are changing to more diverse texts and perspectives from non-western contexts.
Karl and Harper concluded by sharing the different areas that we are continuing to grow in teaching and learning at ISU including areas of growth and progress that we’ve made towards being culturally responsive.
We finished the session with examples from the curriculum with nine teachers from across the school sharing culturally responsive practices.
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