A Message to Teachers - Part I

Teachers - what is your role as a literacy teacher?  Some teachers believe that because they teach math, business education or any given high school course that they are not literacy teachers.  Some teachers are wrong!  Literacy encompasses the foundational skill set that makes all other learning possible.  Students with weak literacy skills are destined to struggle.

There are several factors that are imperative in literacy classrooms of highly effective teachers:

• A culturally responsive approach
• A reading and writing rich environment; and
• High expectations for all students

What does it mean to be culturally responsive?  Please do not correlate culturally responsive teaching with just another education catch phrase or as just "one more thing" that teachers have to do.  Being culturally responsive means that, as a teacher, you have a student-centered approach to teaching whereby the students' unique cultural strengths are identified and nurtured to promote student achievement and a sense of well-being.  Arguably, I believe that it is vital that teachers connect and develop relationships with their students.  How can this happen if you do not truly know your students?

To know your students, you must acknowledge their culture.  Culture is the totality of ideas, beliefs, values, activities and knowledge of a group or individuals who share common backgrounds.  Think of culture as an iceberg.  Many cultural attributes are obvious on the surface.  Yet about 9/10 of what makes a person who they are is seen beneath the surface.

 

So what are teachers to do?  Teachers must be intentional in their efforts to learn about their students and then respect and honor the cultural differences that students bring into the classroom. Before that can happen, a teacher must first know who he/she is.  With which racial/ethnic group do you most identify?  What about your upbringing defines who you are?  What biases do you bring into the classroom with you each day?  How comfortable are you with students who do not look like you or who identify with a different racial/ethic group?

 

Needless to say there are large bodies of research on the topic of culture and culturally responsive teaching.  Next month I am reading How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You by Bonnie Davis.  I will share my thoughts and address the other areas mentioned above in a future post.  In the meantime, I encourage all teachers to look within and then pick up a book and read.  Are you doing all that you can as a literacy teacher?  Remember, all teachers are literacy teachers!  Happy Reading!