Today’s column is the latest in a yearlong series on how to avoid common mistakes made in the name of culturally responsive teaching.

The political environment in which we live and teach has substantially changed since this series began. Nevertheless, the need our students have for this kind of teaching has, if anything, increased.

The challenge to educators is how to meet these needs and, in many communities, to walk a narrow tightrope at the same time. Our students and their families are not served by any educator getting fired for doing what’s right.

‘Beyond Superficial Strategies’

Laura Franco-Flores is a Bilingual and ESL coordinator in Texas’ fourth-largest school district, where she advocates equitable, inclusive, and asset-based practices that unlock the academic potential of all students:

Culturally responsive teaching had gained significant traction in education, especially before the spate of assaults on such practices. Yet, many teachers still grapple with misconceptions about its implementation. It must move beyond superficial strategies like token gestures and instead focus on the power students bring--their unique cultural backgrounds and identities.

Misconception #1: Confusing Decoration with Depth

A frequent misstep is equating culturally responsive teaching with mere cultural decorations or token gestures. Displaying flags or incorporating occasional holidays might seem like a step toward inclusivity, but it does not capture the essence. Gloria Ladson-Billings, a pioneer in the field, emphasizes culturally responsive teaching as a philosophy that centers student experiences within the curriculum. This means understanding their cultural knowledge and perspectives, not just their national origin.

Misconception #2: National Identity vs. Lived Experience

Another common misconception views culturally responsive teaching solely through the lens of national cultures. While a student’s national identity holds great and important significance, it doesn’t fully encompass their cultural background. Class, ethnicity, language, and family structures all contribute to a student’s cultural tapestry. Imagine a classroom with a Korean student from a wealthy Seoul neighborhood and another from a rural farming village. Their experiences within Korean culture will differ significantly.

Misconception #3: Deficit Model vs. Asset-Based Approach

Teachers often mistakenly assume culturally responsive teaching focuses solely on addressing students’ deficiencies. Inversely, asset-based learning focuses on identifying and building upon the strengths students bring from their cultural backgrounds. For example, the Korean student from the farming village might have a deeper understanding of traditional agricultural practices, and therefore their experiences can be used to enrich a science lesson on plant cultivation. Most importantly, remember that not speaking the English language does not equate to students’ lack of knowledge.

Moving Beyond Misconceptions: Practical Steps for Teachers

Now that I have addressed some common pitfalls, here are some practical steps to effectively implement culturally responsive teaching in your classroom:

• Build Relationships: This is crucial for fostering trust and a sense of belonging. Organize culturally sensitive welcome events or virtual home visits. Encourage open communication through student-led discussions about backgrounds and learning styles.
• Fostering a Welcoming Environment: Create a classroom that celebrates all cultures. Display student artwork and artifacts that reflect the children’s heritage. One of my favorite welcoming strategies is an Our Classroom Family display. This collage features pictures of each student with their family. It fosters a sense of community and belonging by showcasing the diverse family structures that make up your classroom.
• Leverage Multilingualism: Don’t shy away from students’ home languages. Encourage peer tutoring or collaborative projects where students can share their language skills. Explore online translation tools to support comprehension … Remember that by tapping into students’ home language, you are unlocking an entire world of knowledge and lived experiences!
• Culturally Relevant Curriculum: Audit your curriculum for potential biases and actively seek out diverse perspectives. Incorporate folktales, music, and historical figures relevant to your students’ backgrounds. Additionally, advocate and seek opportunities for curriculum writing or resource vetting committees.
• Differentiated Instruction: Recognize that students may have different learning styles shaped by their cultural experiences. Explore project-based learning, group discussions, and kinesthetic activities to cater to diverse learners.
• Community Partnerships: Connect with local cultural centers, ethnic organizations, or multilingual parent groups. Invite guest speakers or organize field trips to connect classroom learning with students’ cultural backgrounds.

A Continuous Journey of Learning

Culturally responsive teaching is not a destination but rather a journey of discovery. Embrace it by reflecting, seeking feedback, and adapting your approach to celebrate your students’ unique backgrounds. As you weave their cultures into the classroom instruction, a tapestry of learning unfolds, empowering all students’ voices to be heard and valued regardless of their language, cultural background, or how long they’ve been in the country.

By moving beyond misconceptions and focusing on students’ unique cultural assets, we can create classrooms where all students feel valued and empowered to thrive!

Celebrating Holidays Is Not Enough

Esmeralda Cartagena Collazo is a doctoral student and adjunct at Texas Woman’s University, specializing in the preservation of Indigenous languages. She currently serves as a content-based-language-instruction specialist for the world-languages department in the Arlington Independent school district where she supports ESL elementary teachers and newcomer students:

One misconception that I observed in classrooms is that teachers believe that simply celebrating holidays from students’ backgrounds or hanging flags from different countries around the classroom is sufficient. While this is a good step toward being culturally responsive, these teachers are only scratching the surface of what culturally responsive teaching truly entails. This effort might help students feel welcome and foster a sense of belonging, but it simply is not enough.

Take the time to get to know your students, ask them what they celebrate, ask them about their traditions, or what they like to do in their home countries, etc. Learn from them and incorporate all that knowledge they bring to the classroom in your instruction. Make them feel that you are interested in their cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Another misconception is assuming that all students are from a particular background, have the same experiences, share the same customs and traditions, or speak the same language. For instance, students from Spanish-speaking countries, which number 21, are often grouped together under a single cultural identity, but there are significant differences among them.

A student from Mexico might have different cultural practices, dialects, and educational experiences compared with a student from Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Argentina, Cuba, or Peru. Each of these countries has its unique traditions, accents, and language variations. Within each country, there can be regional variations and distinct Indigenous languages and cultures. It is important that teachers avoid making assumptions and instead strive to understand and respect each individual’s background and experiences.

One more mistake is how comfortable teachers feel with implementing a one-size-fits all curriculum. Unfortunately, some teachers feel more comfortable applying uniform strategies regardless of their students’ various levels of language proficiency or cultural backgrounds. They implement the same strategies and follow the same methods year after year. This often happens due to a lack of professional development, resources, or simply understanding of how to effectively differentiate instruction.

They don’t realize that they are failing to meet the diverse needs of their students. Sadly, this can lead to disengagement and hinder the academic progress of students who require more tailored support. When we ignore the linguistic needs of our students, we can significantly impact their learning experience.

Yet another common mistake is adopting a deficit mindset. Viewing students’ cultures and languages as an obstacle rather than an asset can have profoundly negative impacts on our students’ educational experiences and outcomes.

In my experience as a student, I moved from Puerto Rico to the U.S. when I was in 5th grade, and my language was not welcomed in my new environment. I felt isolated because my language and my cultural practices were never acknowledged in class.

When teachers take the time to learn about their students’ backgrounds and incorporate their language and cultures into their teaching, the dynamic in the classroom totally changes. You see students engage, participating, hungry for learning. Students feel seen and heard, which boosts their confidence and willingness to participate. Their unique perspectives enrich classroom discussions, and they take pride in sharing their cultural heritage.

White Teachers Can Be Culturally Responsive

Alexandra Gorodiski is an instructional coach who is beginning her sixth year in education, all in Spanish dual-language or biliteracy contexts:

As a field, education often finds itself adopting many buzzwords without much clarification about what they mean and how they can support students in the classroom. Culturally responsive teaching is a current example. As a phrase, it often makes teachers believe that we must know about the ethnic culture of our students and families; that the best way to be a culturally responsive teacher is to celebrate diversity; and that as a school, we should host a variety of cultural fairs and include books that represent a wide variety of people on our library and classroom shelves.

While such practices are a great start to becoming a culturally responsive teacher, we must dig deeper and commit to realizing that we will never truly reach the destination of “culturally responsive teacher.”

The first step in becoming a culturally responsive teacher is to know our students beyond the surface level. We must combat our own implicit and explicit biases to ensure all students fulfill their potential. We must not make assumptions but instead remain persistently curious and ask questions of our students, families, and community to build an understanding on the deep culture level.

When we allow ourselves the time to plan for and participate in team builders, revisit interest surveys, communicate positively with families, and have genuine conversations in order to strengthen our relationships with our students, then we are one step closer to becoming culturally responsive.

To continue building upon our cultural responsiveness, we must hold high expectations for all. Research has shown that when teachers believe in their students’ abilities, then students will perform to those standards. In a study, a teacher was told that five specific students had the highest IQ scores in the class, and after the end of the year assessment, those five students did in fact grow the most. While this seems to be a celebration, it was disclosed that the information provided to the teacher was inaccurate and those students were not the traditional “smartest” in the class. The teacher’s ability to hold them to high expectations transformed their learning.

Another misstep is that, as teachers, we believe that we must have experienced injustices or inequities to be culturally responsive; however, that is not the case. As a white instructional coach in a dual-language middle school where more than 50% of our population identifies as Hispanic/ Latino, I often reflect on the ways I incorporate their identities into our building and, most importantly, into our instructional practices without having the experience of being a member of a minority community.

While discussing Día de los Muertos, teaching about independence days of various Latin American countries, or even inviting cultural dance ensembles for an assembly is a great start, that does not truly represent culturally responsive teaching.

Instead, I connect instruction to students’ lives. For example, when 8th grade students are tasked with reading a classic like Animal Farm, we instruct on how various governments of today in Mexico, Central, and Latin America treat their citizens and ask students to reflect on their family’s experiences with government. Through this activity, students see themselves in the classroom, are learning about incredibly challenging topics, and strengthening their critical-thinking skills, and we also invoke their interest in social justice.

As a teacher or instructional coach, we get to learn about their experience to build our own critical consciousness and can take the opportunity to demonstrate how much we value our students and believe in their capabilities. We also work to combat our own biases (Podcast by Sonya Whitaker). Learning is emotional. Do not shy away from conversations regarding culture, race, and inequities that you see in your own classroom, school, or system.

In our classrooms, we must commit to the following actions:

1. Consistently participate in team-building and class-building activities to better know our students.

2. Go beyond the “culture day” and get to know your students’ deep culture.

3. Always believe that all students can learn at high levels.

4. Ask families and students about systems in place in your school to better determine how to better serve them. When conversations seem difficult, have them anyway because that is how we can learn and progress.

Thanks to Laura, Esmeralda, and Alexandra for contributing their thoughts!

Today’s post answered this question:

What do you think are the most common things teachers get wrong about culturally responsive teaching?

Part One in this series featured Zaretta Hammond.

In Part Two, Françoise Thenoux, Jehan Hakim, and Courtney Rose contributed their responses.

In Part Three, Crystal M. Watson, Tiffani Maher, Kristi Mirich-Glenwright, and Keisha Rembert shared their comments.

In Part Four, Gholdy Muhammad, Shondel Nero, and Denita Harris provided their commentaries.

Part Five featured responses from Andrea Castellano and Erica Buchanan-Rivera.

Melanie Battles, Mary Rice-Boothe, and Vera Naputi shared their answers in Part Six.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

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