Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Culturally responsive pedagogy

I like Jacqueline Jordan Irvine’s description of culturally relevant pedagogy as good teaching with a cultural perspective. She talks about building on students’ prior knowledge and experiences, in this case cultural, making connections between what is known and what is to be taught and understood.  As a teacher it is easy to plan and include tangible culture as described by Geneva Gay but the intangible culture; world views, beliefs, values, feelings, opinions and perspectives are more dependent on the classroom culture that is developed by the teacher and students. If the classroom culture is inclusive and respectful, the ‘unseen’ culture of individual students will be welcomed and shared.

Culturally responsive communication methods

Te Toi Tupu’s (n.d.) resource, “Pasifika: Participation, Engagement, Achievement tool”, can be used to reflect on my school’s practice by asking the question,  “How does the school involve parents, families and communities in supporting their students' and the school's activities?”

Our school uses the usual methods of communication such as newsletters, emails, letters, school website and parent meetings. The school website and newsletters provide the wider communication and celebration of students achievements. These include cultural, sporting and academic achievements. The appearance of the school is another way of ensuring that parents and the community feel welcomed and included. New signage including Te Reo and English has been installed on offices and specialist classrooms. Early in the year whanau are invited to a “Meet the Teacher”. This allows whanau to meet teachers and see their child’s classroom and become familiar with key locations such as the library, hall and office. Parents are invited to meet in the cafeteria for supper and this provides an informal setting for them to ask questions. I think that secondary schools don’t make it particularly easy for parents to talk face to face with teachers, other than at this introductory meeting and after reports are sent home. Communication is distanced and limited by the use of email or phone. A greater effort is made for those students who opt for the whanau class with numerous meetings at school as well as home visits, cultural events and kapa haka.

Culturally responsive learning activities

Te Toi Tupu’s (n.d.) resource asks the question; “How do you plan activities and lessons to support diverse cultural backgrounds and languages?” In my own practice I know that I can improve in this area. Cowie et al (2011) describes culturally responsive pedagogy as using the funds of knowledge and lived experience that students bring from their homes and communities. Sharing of knowledge and experience does happen through discussion at the beginning of a topic, asking questions like; “What do you know about this?” “Who has had an experience like this?” The next step would be to use these experiences and knowledge in a more significant way to allow students to more easily build on their prior knowledge. I would need to factor in time to allow this to happen and plan to encourage more parental involvement. This will become easier now that our class is using Seesaw learning journal as parents can add comments using their phones or other devices.

References

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011).Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki. Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9268_cowie-summaryreport.pdf

Savage, C., Hindle, R., Meyer, L. H., Hynds, A., Penetito, W., & Sleeter, C. E. (2011). Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: Indigenous student experiences across the curriculum. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39(3), 183-198.

Teaching Tolerance.( 2010, Jun 17).Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8

Te Toi Tupu. (n.d.). Pasifika: Participation, Engagement, Achievement tool. Retrieved from http://www.tetoitupu.org/pasifika-participation-engagement-achievement-tool