ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

Annotated Bibliography

Amanda Brown

Dominican University of California

With growing diversity in schools today, the need for education in culturally responsive

teaching practices becomes more prevalent. Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) considers the

factor that students come from different cultures, and implements ways in which educators can

incorporate students’ different cultures into the curriculum to create an equitable learning

environment. In choosing this topic, I felt that it was important to understand more of the ways

in which an educator could create a learning environment that acknowledges and celebrates

the differences amongst students by providing them with a safe, and welcoming environment.

In researching this topic, I wanted to address the question; what are the strategies for

educators to implement culturally responsive teaching practices? Through my research, I found

that there are numerous ways in which educators can best support their students. The articles

outline different settings such as Urban schools, elementary and high schools, Early Childhood

Education, and music curriculum. Each article identifies numerous strategies that the authors

argue as being of importance in creating a culturally responsive classroom. Many of the articles

reinforce the same or similar teaching strategies which further the validity in implementing

these strategies. Overall, the topic of culturally responsive teaching, is relevant in education

today as it gives educators of all experiences the opportunity to best support their students,

and further develop their learning.

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Brown, D. F. (2003). Urban teachers’ use of culturally responsive management strategies.

Theory Into Practice,​ ​42​(4), 277-282.

In examining the strategies used for implementation of culturally responsive strategies,

David Brown found that were three consistent themes that were beneficial to students

in Urban schools. The interviews Brown conducted were voluntary from 13 teachers

from grades 1-12. The themes identified include, caring for students, being assertive and

acting with authority, and communicating effectively with students. First, in caring for

students, all of the teachers interviewed stressed the importance of getting to know

students on a personal level. Some students come to school and their family background

is not as nurturing as it could be. Therefore, when the teacher creates these

relationships with the students beyond strict teacher-student, it gives students a sense

of belonging in the classroom. The second theme, being assertive and acting with

authority, the article argues that being an Urban teacher, one must have a strong front

otherwise, the students will not respect the teacher. The key factor in asserting

behavior included the need for students to understand that the teacher was there to

teach them. The teacher wanted to see the effort that they believed their students

could put into the work, and when that effort was not being put forward,11 out of 13

teachers agreed that they needed to assert more authority towards the students. The

last factor that the article addresses is communicating effectively with students. Brown

argues that communication is a large factor in creating a culturally responsive

classroom. He states that educators must be aware of both verbal and nonverbal
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communication styles amongst different cultures, as this can create either a sense of

security in the classroom for students or not. This article is relevant in that it provides

specific strategies that can be used in an Urban teaching setting. It outlines key factors

that can be more relevant and necessary in Urban settings across numerous grade

levels.

Bunner, T. (2017). When we listen: Using student voices to design culturally responsive and just

schools. ​Knowledge Quest​, ​45​(3), 39–45.

In her article, Teresa Bunner outlines her struggles in teaching with the growing diversity

of students in the classroom, and the implementation of Culturally Responsive Teaching

(CRT) practices. Bunner experienced the diversity in her own classroom and wanted to

explore how to best reach all her students. In doing this, Bunner and her colleagues

involved high school students in their “Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program”, to

discuss CRT, and what that would look like for them. In the interviews, there were six

factors that were identified as being of importance for students to feel welcomed and a

sense of belonging in the classroom. The factors include, visibility, proximity, connecting

to students’ lives, engaging students’ culture, addressing race, and connecting to the

larger world and students’ future selves. This article is relevant as it gives the viewpoint

of numerous students and how they best felt supported by their teacher. Hearing

student voice helps educators best understand the effective ways in which we can adapt

our teaching practices to support them.

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Price, C.L., & Steed, E. A. (2016). Culturally responsive strategies to support young children with

challenging behavior. ​YC Young Children​, ​71(​ 5), 36.

The article from Price and Steed outlines the five specific strategies for implementing

CRT practices to help students who exhibit challenging behavior. In addition to

challenging behavior, the authors express the need for support for students who also

live in poverty as they are twice as likely to be at risk for developmental delays in the

future. The five strategies they list include to “learn about children and families, develop

and teach expectations, take the child’s perspective, teach and model empathy, and use

group times to discuss conflict. The first strategy, learning about children and families,

stresses the importance for educations to be able to use information learned about the

child to best assist in their learning. The authors give the suggestions for educations to

invite families to visit the classroom, or visit the home, as to have informal discussions

with families to learn more about the students likes, dislikes, home language, and more.

Using this information educators can best support a students learning, and adjust the

environment to acknowledge student needs. The second strategy, develop and teach

expectations, outlines the need to create positively stated expectations for the

classroom. In doing this, the teacher can use the knowledge learned from the students

to be culturally responsive to students backgrounds. The third strategy, develop and

teach empathy, argues the importance for teachers to engage in self-reflection to

acknowledge their own biases and assumptions about other cultures. Additionally, it is
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stated that students should be able to have their own cultures reflected in the

classroom, and they should be able to “see themselves” in the curriculum. The fourth

strategy outlined is perspective taking. This is the idea that educators should reframe

statements with challenging behavior, to best understand a child’s perspective. The

article states that, “I” statements would be a way to help students through challenging

behavior. The last strategy the article outlines is using group time to discuss conflict.

Implementation of this would be that an educator can take a challenging behavior

and/or situation and use it to create a teaching moment for all. However, in doing this,

an educator must be aware of not calling an individual student out. This article is

relevant as it outlines strategies that have been reinforced in other articles as effective

ways of implementing CRT practices. The article is written for the audience of Early

Childhood Education, however, the strategies and examples provided can easily be used

in an Elementary school setting.

Walter, J. S. (2018). Global perspectives: Making the shift from multiculturalism to culturally

responsive teaching. ​General Music Today​, ​31​(2), 24–28.

Jennifer Walter’s article outlines the shift from multiculturalism to culturally responsive

teaching in regards to music curriculum. Walter’s view is while other subject area

teachers have made that shift, it is important to also include CRT practices into teaching

music. She argues that CRT practices are actually easier for music teachers to

incorporate into their teaching practices than general education teachers. Walter states
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CRT in music offers students the opportunity to learn and play music of other cultures

and gain an understanding of another’s culture in a different way. It also opens the door

for teachers to use more mainstream and familiar music as a way to connect students’

personal lives with their academic music lives. Additionally, she states that the CRT

strategies that could prove to be effective in teaching music include chunking,

scaffolding, exit surveys, and think-pair-share activities. Each of these strategies Walter

outlines as being used in other general education classes, however, they could be used

to support music curriculum as well. CRT practices also offer teachers and students a

way to learn from each other through music. Walter states that incorporating CRT into

the music curriculum can be a bridge that brings together students’ strengths. This

article is relevant in helping educators learn more about the music curriculum, and how

CRT practices can be implemented throughout it. Despite the article being addressed

towards music teachers, it provides necessary information that general education

teachers could use to best support their students who are more musically involved.

Weinstein, C., Curran, M., & Tomlinson-Clarke, S. (2003). Culturally responsive classroom

management: Awareness into action. ​Theory Into Practice,​ ​42​(4), 269–276.

The journal article published in “Theory Into Practice”, argues specific strategies that

teachers can use to best support their students and create a culturally responsive

classroom environment. First, the article points out that in order to best understand

students, educators need to be aware of themselves and their own cultures as to not try
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to inflict their own culture on their students. Weinstein also adds that there needs to be

an understanding that there are differences amongst people and that educators need to

talk about culture and how that affects students and their families. The strategies the

article points out as being of importance include, creating a physical setting that

supports academic and social goals, establishing expectations for behavior,

communicating with students in culturally consistent ways, developing a caring

classroom environment, working with families, and using appropriate interventions to

assist students with behavior problems. The first strategy of physical setting could

include posters or pictures on the wall that accurately represent different cultures

(staying away from stereotypical representations). The second, behavior expectations

should include clear expectations or norms explicitly taught at the beginning of the year.

The expectations need to be clear as different cultures have different norms as to what

is accepted/unaccepted. The third strategy, communication with students, may need to

be done in a modified way so that the communication style is “consistent with students’

cultural backgrounds”. The fourth strategy regarding the classroom environment should

be the establishment of relationships amongst teachers and students. In this

environment it should be respectful of students home language and become a

community environment. Weinstein states that working with families is another key

strategy as it can be difficult when differing cultures are present. There is a large need

for cross-cultural communication due to this. An educator should be aware of cultural

differences in communication as to best address how to communicate with families for

example at a parent-teacher conference. Lastly, behavior problems and ways to address

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it. Weinstein argues this needs to account for cultural norms as a way of understanding

the reasoning behind the behavior. The article makes the point that an educator needs

to be aware of the way that race and ethnicity “influence the use of disciplinary

consequences”. Overall, this article is relevant as it gives six strategies that educators

can use to best support their students and promote a culturally responsive learning

environment. It also gives specific examples as to how/when an educator could

implement these strategies.