Online Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies

 

In the craziness of the pandemic, some educators may lose sight of prioritizing issues related to cultural responsive teaching. Gina Laura Gullo describes four culturally responsive teaching strategies that can be applied to students at any level and will help to ensure equity and inclusion for English Language students. The four strategies include: getting to know students on their terms, engage students in critical self-reflection, create multimodal learning stations, and use counter-stereotypic exemplars. 

Teachers can use online forums which allow students to introduce themselves on their own terms. When teachers introduce themselves, it's important to start by including culturally meaningful aspects of self-identification. Students should then be assigned to complete the same task of introducing themselves. Differentiation may be necessary for different ages of students. Younger students may post a photo or video while older students may chose to type an introduction. This allows students to tell you about themselves while defining who they are in the context of the classroom environment.

Critical self-reflection allows students to relate their own experiences and perspectives of the world to what they are learning. Students can learn material during online sessions, reflect before class, and then discuss the material to help others reflect on the culturally contextualized material (Ferlazzo, 2020). 

Learning stations offer a variety of learning materials in different formats in order to meet the learning styles of all students. Online hybrid learning offers an opportunity for this kind of learning in a variety of different ways. Gina Laura Gullo explains a great example: “a science lesson on dinosaurs might include a reading, a video lecture, an educational game, an online museum visit, an at-home craft, and a face-to face discussion.” This lesson seems like a great way to integrate learning stations into online learning. It seems like it would keep the students attention and also very engaged!

Counter-stereotypic exemplars are simply images that represent individuals that are not consistent with stereotypes. By including these pictures, students can view themselves and others in different manners (Ferlazzo, 2020).

I found these four strategies to be very interesting to read. I believe they are very important to include in online responsive teaching. The strategies seem like they allow the students more opportunity to be themselves and  become individuals. 

The article continues to discuss “sheltered instruction” to support diverse learners. The most effective culturally responsive teaching strategies to incorporate into online lessons are interactive games. Interactive games get the brain’s attention, require active processing, and include cultural tools.  Culturally diverse stories also allow for students to learn content more effectively and boost vocabulary. And, it is extremely important to include the element of inclusion. The goal is to have all students and their families feel included in learning and build a community among one another. This will allow for engagement and opportunities to share experiences. I strongly believe that developing a classroom community of learners will go a long way in the learning progress of students. 

Ferlazzo, L. (2020, October). Strategies for implementing online culturally responsive teaching. Retrieved from https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2020/10/strategies_for_implementing_online_culturally_responsive_teaching.html