Article Analysis Essay on Culturally Responsive Teaching

Introduction

The article by Gay provides an elaborate analysis of culturally responsive teaching. It provides some of the reasons cultural diversity should be incorporated into class teachings and the curriculum as well. According to the author, culturally responsive teaching is one of the most prevalent methods that can be used in academic institutions with an aim to improve the performance of students. In addition, the article provides an exciting notion in that, this teaching would be a benefit to a large extent the "underachieving ethnically and racially diverse students (Gay, 2013). For instance, in the United States, the students above are Asians, Africans, and Americans from the Latino section.

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In addition, it incorporates the poor who only access services at the local level. Gay asserts that, once this form of diversity is embedded in the cultural system, all students in the existing academic institutions will have the chance to acquire more knowledge about this topic. Moreover, it would provide an opportunity to enable diverse people to accept other cultures and embrace them in their day to day activities. Undeniably, this mechanism would make them adopt the "cultural heritages, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as instructional resources to improve their learning opportunities and outcomes Gay, 2013)." From this, the author stipulates that teaching through the use of cultural diversity among learners is one of the best ways to improve on learning experiences and understanding.

The other exciting part of this article comes from the idea that culturally responsive teaching is a mechanism to appreciate the knowledge, beliefs, customs, and values that different cultures exhibit. It provides the need to regard the need for racial as well as differences in culture in learning. From this perspective, the ability to incorporate this idea is seen as a way to improve the relationships among students, show them the need to appreciate other cultures and as mechanisms to fight against racial stereotyping. In addition, incorporating this system in learning curriculum, this would provide them with the skills that promote social justice, fight off oppression, end racial cases even at the society level, and accept cultural responsiveness. In short, the author calls for the implementation of this idea to enable students live and promote harmony among learners. In addition, it is seen as a way to end ethnicity and racism that many people have embraced. In his analysis, the capacity to curb these discrimination acts at the lowest level would provide the best platform to breed a society that disregards the vices. To do this, there is need to "replace pathological and deficient perceptions of students and communities of color with more positive ones (Gay, 2013)." It is one of the ways to address the challenges that these diverse cultures face.

In addition, these cultures are linked with specific characteristics that portray them as inferior to their counterparts. Therefore, the capacity to incorporate cultural teaching in the U.S curriculum would make students understand the features of each other. Moreover, it is the best platform to demean the widely held notions that are held regarding different colors. It is noble to understand that this form of teaching crucial in discriminating the marginalization that is exhibited in various cultures. It shows individuals the need to avoid mainstreaming in the society and commit ourselves to promoting the lives of others.

Valuable information from the article depicts that a very different informative and educative approach is required to impact the performance of non-performing students from the standard ethnic classifications. For instance, this information may entail giving them the strength to appreciate themselves as well as their cultures. Additionally, it is an act that makes them feel satisfied with their accomplishment. Therefore, the needed perspective that would encompass all these characteristics among learners is the aspect of culturally responsive teaching. Once this proposal is incorporated in the educational curriculum, the discussed group of students of various cultures and those from poor backgrounds are deemed to find things easy in their educational programs. Gay (2013) asserts that "they filter curriculum content and teaching strategies through their cultural frames of reference . . . [making them] more personally meaningful and easier to master." With this idea, all learning institutions have the opportunity to exercise acceptability and practicality of varied ethnic philosophies in promoting their educational outcomes.

Role of Teachers in Ensuring their Interactions and Instructions with the Children is Equitable and Reflects their Various Cultures

Cultural responsive teaching is a sensitive issue, and however valuable it is, resistance is a likely challenge. In addition, social change is an aspect that encounters confrontations among people while others see the sense of a switch and accommodate it in their lives. Therefore, to ensure the success of incorporating culture in academic and promote teacher-learner interactions, there are specific things that should be done.

Above all, they should be ready to encounter resistance from the outside community and other stakeholders. Some would disregard the need to cover the issue of diverse cultures in the academic programs. In addition, some cultures believe in resisting responsive cultural teaching. The author suggests that "Part of the challenge to culturally responsive teaching is confronting resistance without simultaneously diverting attention and effort away from promoting cultural diversity. The first step is to acknowledge and understand its causes, manifestations, and consequences (Gay, 2013)." Therefore, the teachers should be ready to face this antagonism and ensure there are mechanisms to address or deal with this phenomenon.

In addition, teachers ought to dwell on the "safe" topics on cultural multiplicity that do not steer confrontations and arguments. Such topics may entail cultural celebrations, various garments and costumes prevalent in various cultures, and address the diverse customs that various ethnic groups exhibit. On the contrast, they should avoid and disregard topics that revolve around social injustices, inequalities, oppression, and the marginalization and domination of various cultures in the society. The author explains that "culturally responsive teaching is a developmental process that involves learning over time, and that there is nothing inherently discriminatory about acknowledging the existence of a human difference in its various forms. Furthermore, diversity in teaching techniques and resources is necessary to achieve educational equity and excellence." In this case, therefore, there is need to address personal and ethnic life. From the author's perspective, there is no essence of resisting cultural teachings among learners. In this case, there need to give learners an insight into what the society expects from them and to promote coherence among other ethnic groups. Cultural responsive teaching is an investment to the learners in that racism, discrimination, and ethnicity are social illnesses that will become extinct with time. Therefore there is the need to embed responsive cultural teaching in our school curriculum.

References

Gay, G. (2013). Teaching to and through cultural diversity. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(1), 48-70.