Challenging Assumptions: Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Instruction

Challenging Assumptions
Culturally Responsive Instruction
for Diverse Learners
Dr. Catherine Collier
www.crosscultured.com
catherine@crosscultured.com

Percent of K-12 ELL
© 2015 Dr. Catherine Collier
All Rights Reserved

HS Completion Rates 2006-2012
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Completion four years after enrollment
White 06
White 12
Black 06
Black 12
Hispanic 06
Hispanic 12
AmerIndian 06
AmerIndian 12
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Percent Scoring Proficient on State Math &
Language Arts Assessments
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
100.00%
California Texas Florida Washington Oregon
Migrant Students
All Students
Low-Income
Students

Behavior Suspensions in Preschool 2011-2012
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Black NonBlack
Enrollment
Suspensions
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2014 Teachers in US Schools
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
White NonWhite Female NonFemale
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5.80%
2.50%
.6%
12.90%
4.40%
.10%
LD EBD AS
NonELL ELL
Disproportionality WA

Disproportionality ASD
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Am Ind/AK
Nat
Asian Black Hispanic Nat HI/Pac Isl Two or more White
District Enrollment LD Autism

Definitions
The concept of
things that
particular people
use as models of
perceiving,
relating, and
interpreting their
environment.
Difficulty in
perceiving and
manipulating
patterns in the
environment,
whether patterns
of sounds,
symbols,
numbers, or
behaviors.
The process by
which individuals
perceive, relate to,
and interpret their
environment.
Culture CognitionLearning Disability
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What we know
 We need to know
more than what
works…..
 We need to know
what works with
WHOM

The role of culture
Educators have become
increasingly aware in recent
years of the central role that
culture plays in learning and
teaching.
Teachers and children bring to
the classroom values about
education, work habits,
interaction norms, and ways of
knowing that were learned in
the home and community.
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Culture and teaching
Neither teachers nor
children leave their
cultures at the classroom
door. It is, therefore,
imperative that teachers
gain greater awareness of
how their culture affects
their teaching behaviors,
and how the intersection
of diverse cultures can
impact classroom
dynamics and outcomes.
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A definition of culture
Culture is what people know, what they do, and
what they make and use. Everything we do is
influenced by our culture. Culture pervades our
ways of thinking, behaving, and believing. How we
spend our time, where we work, who we visit, and
what we do for fun are all affected by culture.
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Culture is always both (1) explicit–that which
people can describe, such as foods, festivals,
dress and (2) implicit or tacit - that which people
know and do unconsciously and would have
trouble describing.
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Explicit culture
Explicit culture is easier to
see and talk about. People
can describe what kinds of
food they cook, their
holidays, their dances,
their religion, their kinship
relations, and the cultural
rules for appropriate
behavior among kinsfolk.
Tacit cultural knowledge,
which remains hidden, is
harder to uncover.
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Tacit cultural knowledge
Our culture has a large body
of shared knowledge that
people learn and use.
Although tacit cultural
knowledge is hidden from
view, it is of fundamental
importance because we all
use it constantly to generate
behavior and interpret our
own and others’ experience.
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Culture is the human form of
adaptation to the environment.
People all around the
world have
developed
customary tasks,
activities and tools
that enable them to
utilize the available
resources.
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Culture is Diverse
Cultural diversity is the
result of differences in
environments, historical
symbolism in human
life. People in all
societies pattern of
facing change and the
importance of face
similar challenges but
have many different
cultural solutions to the
types of problems.
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Culture is Dynamic
Cultures are constantly
changing through
inventions, improvement
and borrowing from other
societies.
For example, all of these
processes have influenced
the development of
various means of
economic exchange. Many
different forms of money
function in a wider range
of cultural environments.
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Culture is Symbolic
People live in a world of symbols. A
symbol is any object or action to
which meaning is attached.
Members in a society share those
symbols which may have a
profound impact on behavior.
The meaning and importance of
one’s society symbols may not be
obvious to members of other
groups.
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Members of the dominant culture
(‘Anglos’ in the United States, for
example), often believe that they do
not have a “culture.” Culture is
considered something that belongs to
members of minority cultural groups
and people of other countries.
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Reading
 Reading is based on
symbols and symbolic
relationships between
sounds, symbols,
meaning, and
understanding.
 Reading is an example
of a cultural activity.
 Reading depends on
many cultural artifacts.
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Know yourself, know your
students
 Know your culture, the
culture you bring to
teaching
 Understand how your
culture fits into the
culture of the larger
society
 Be aware of the culture
of the school and how
this impacts your CLD
students
 Be aware of the context
you create in your
classroom
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Know Your Students
 Know the individual’s
qualities, interests,
aspirations, and areas
for growth
 Know the sociocultural
contexts the student
brings to learning, and
how s/he reacts to the
instructional contexts of
the school and your
classroom
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Know your students
Effective teaching
involves activating the
conceptual frameworks
that children already
have and building on
them to expand the
children’s knowledge
and introduce new
concepts.
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Reflective teaching
Good teaching
involves an ongoing
process of self-
reflection, including
critical examination of
your culture (ethnic,
class, regional,
religious, national),
your assumptions
about your students,
and your role as a
teacher.
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Self-reflection helps you to:
 Be aware of the assumptions made about
the knowledge and experience by you, your
students, and the mandated curriculum you
are implementing;
 Be clear about the cultural values being
transmitted through you via the curriculum
and your pedagogical practices; and
 Be cognizant of your impact as a human
being on the development of the children or
youths in your care.
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Reminder
All students do not share the
experiences and background
knowledge that teachers,
textbooks, and curriculum
standards may assume.
Children from culturally and
linguistically different
backgrounds have different
experiences and knowledge
than mainstream teachers
and children.
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Become aware of the contexts
shaping CLD student learning
Knowing your students involves becoming
familiar with the sociocultural contexts that
help shape students’ ways of learning. It also
involves understanding the dynamic
relationship between group culture and
individual difference. Individualizing
curriculum and instruction for CLD students is
a critical component of the adaptation process.
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Be aware of cultural productions
Sometimes it is easier
to understand students
in terms of group
attributes.
But individuals are
constantly negotiating
their identity and their
culture within their peer
groups and their
community culture is
not static.
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Cultural productions
Individuals create their
own cultural norms
that often challenge
the status quo. At the
same time, there are
pressures on the
individual to conform
to the culture, both to
the minority group
culture and to the
dominant mainstream
culture.
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Cultural productions
School personnel need to change their
perceptions of culture, from something that is
shared by all students from the same ethnic
or historical background to something that is
actively constructed by the individual in a
given social setting.
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What can teachers do about cultural
productions?
1. Get to know each student as an
individual;
2. Understand why the student
accepts and rejects the various
aspects of the school’s culture
that he or she does;
3. Work with her students to
transform those aspects to the
social and academic setting that
she believes are hindering their
successful growth and
development; and
4. Help students learn to question
and explore their own reasons
for resisting and conforming in
the ways that they do.
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Krashen’s Critical Elements for
Language Acquisition
1. Provide Comprehensible
Input in Target Language
2. Lower the Affective Filter
3. Maintain Subject Matter
Education
4. Maintain and Develop
Student’s Base Language
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Growth in Native Born LEP
40%
40%
20%
First Generation Second Generation Third + Generation
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LD Behaviors SLA Behaviors
Difficulty following directions Difficulty following directions in
English
Difficulty with phonological
awareness
Difficulty distinguishing between
unfamiliar sounds
Slow to learn sound/symbol Confusion with sound/symbol
correspondence in English
Difficulty remembering sight
words
Difficulty remembering sight
words when unfamiliar with
meaning
Difficulty retelling a story in
sequence
May understand more than can
say in English

So what can teachers do about
language transition?
 Simplify language of instruction
 Utilize frequent comprehension checks
 Allow for collaborative learning and discussion in primary
language when appropriate
 Break lessons/information into smaller chunks
 Provide hands-on activities and concrete examples
 Use visual aides/physical clues
 Provide outlines and graphic organizers to stress
important concepts and facilitate note- taking
 Proximity seating w/limited distractions
 Provide specific and immediate feedback
 Provide page numbers for answer locations
 Permit the use of bilingual dictionaries or electronic
translating device
 Provide simplified study guides w/answers in advance of
unit or lesson
 Utilize resources in the student’s first language
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More Instructional Accommodations
 Allow student to edit or revise after re-teaching when
appropriate
 Provide a daily or weekly syllabus of class and
homework assignments
 Give alternate homework or class assignments
suitable for the student’s linguistic ability
 Extend time for assignment completion when
necessary
 Allow student an opportunity to give oral responses to
be recorded by teacher or aide
 Utilize alternate reading assignments/materials at the
student’s reading level
 Orient student to expectations through models and
rubrics
 Substitute a hands-on activity or use of different
media for written activity
 Shorten length, not content, of assignment
translating device
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Acculturation
Heightened Anxiety
Inattention
Confusion in Locus of Control
Withdrawal
Silence/unresponsiveness
Response Fatigue
Code-switching
Distractibility
Resistance to Change
Disorientation
Stress Related Behaviors
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The Intensity of Culture Shock is Cyclical
Anticipation
Phase
Spectator
Phase
Increasing
Participation
Phase
Shock
Phase
Adaptation
Phase
Anticipation
Phase
Spectator
Phase
Increasing
Participation
Phase
Shock
Phase
Adaptation
Phase
Highly
Engaged
Level
Moderately
Engaged
Level
Normal
Intensity of
Emotions
Moderately
Depressed
Level
Greatly
Depressed
Level
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A cultural
incident occurs
Causing a
reaction
Which causes a
withdrawal
• Elicits some
type of
emotion
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Fear
• Irritation
• From new
culture &
language
• To familiar
community
• Is
unexpected
• Has a
different
meaning
• Is offensive
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Culture Shock Cycle
Voluntary minorities such
as Chinese immigrants to
America generally
consider education to be
an important route to
succeeding in society and
are less concerned with
prejudice and
discrimination, as
opposed to involuntary
minorities such as African
Americans and Native
Americans.
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Cycle of Acculturation
Of even more serious
long-term impact
upon an individual is
Deculturation or
Marginalization.
Deculturation is the
loss of connection to
the traditional, home
or heritage culture
and language while
not making the
transition to the new
culture or language.
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What students need
 Friends to be
patient and
persevering with
them
 Friends not to take
offense at what
they say or do
 Friends to include
them despite their
odd behavior
 Time from their
teachers
 Help to learn
specific cultural
knowledge
 Patience from their
teachers rather than
referring them to
special services for
their culture shock
behavior
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Person becomes
aware of their
reaction
• Thinks through
why they reacted
as they did
• Recognizes that
not everyone acts
like me
A cultural
incident occurs
Causing a
reaction
And reflects on
the cause so that
the reaction
subsides
• Thinks through
why the other acts
the way he/she
does
Person observes
the situation
Person develops
appropriate
cultural
expectations
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• Learns to see in a
different culture
light
• Learns to live with
something that
may not be morally
okay with them

5 Things that Work in PS/RTI for ELL
1. Adequate
Professional
Knowledge
2. Effective Instruction
3. Valid Assessments &
Interventions
4. Collaboration
Between District
Departments
5. Clear Policies
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Assessment Accommodations
 Provide a word bank for fill-in-the blank or labeling
items
 Allow student opportunity to have test read aloud by
teacher or aide in either regular or ESL class
 Allow fact or formula note cards for exams
 Allow for small group administration of assessments
 Re-write test items at a lower reading level
 Reduce the number of choices on tests/quizzes
 Accept correct answers in alternate form (drawing,
misspelled, lists, graphic organizer, etc.)
 Limit matching questions to 5 – 10 items per section
 Allow extended time if needed
 Allow student an opportunity to give oral responses to
be recorded by teacher or aide
 Require reduced sentence or paragraph length in open
ended responses and compositions
 Allow students to re-do or correct work when
appropriate (may be for partial credit)
translating device
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Thank you! Come visit us at
www.crosscultured.com
 Over 45 years experience.
 Research on impact of
acculturation on referral &
placement of CLD students.
 Research on effectiveness of
specific cognitive learning
strategies for diverse learners.
 Classroom teacher, diagnostician,
faculty, administrator.
 Social justice advocate, author &
teacher educator.
All Rights Reserved

Challenging Assumptions: Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Instruction

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