Why do we integrate diverse texts into our English classrooms? We do so because this act is grounded in both ministry and board policies. It is also curriculum driven: “The English curriculum takes into account that students in Ontario come from a wide variety of backgrounds and that every student has a unique set of perspectives, strengths, and needs ... [and] reading activities should expose students to materials that reflect the diversity of Canadian & world cultures, including those of Aboriginal peoples” (English curriculum, 5).
Another reason for integrating diverse, culturally responsive texts is because integrating these texts into our programs offer a way to move to a more student centred approach - it mirrors a critically democratic society where learners leverage personal qualities, experiences and strengths to participate actively in their own interest and in shared community building. Moreover, culturally relevant texts reflect the diversity of our school, local and global communities and centre the lived experiences and identities of students. Drawing on students’ experiences provides teachers with the opportunity to represent students’ knowledge in the curriculum in a way that is meaningful for students because students can see themselves reflected in the learning that takes place in the classroom (Villegas & Lucas, 2002). This integration validates students in the way it represents their identities, experiences and cultures.
At the core of culturally responsive practice (CRP) is one of our board priorities - holding high expectations for learning for all students. This integration holds high expectations for all students while recognizing and honouring the strengths that students develop through their lived experiences and/or home culture. With the integration of CRP, students bring their identities, cultures and experiences to the learning environment of the classroom. Furthermore, this integration engages and validates students - it affords opportunities to make learning relevant, meaningful and authentic for students. It provides rich, engaging material for students and gives them multiple opportunities to share their knowledge and experiences; it encourages students to participate in their own learning and grapple with and find solutions to real world problems.
Cultural responsiveness recognizes that students bring funds of knowledge to their learning communities, and allows educators to incorporate this knowledge and experience into classroom practices. The integration of culturally responsive texts centres students - it lets them know they matter, that their interests, their experiences, their identities matter - that these can be tabled, that these issues that are of concern to them are important enough to be reflected in dominant conversations, that the instruction helps to build cross-cultural understanding and integrates students into the culture of others. This culturally responsive approach articulates the values of Others; it reflects common human experiences; it challenges the values of the elite and ruling classes; it explores and reflects on conflicts; it identifies and addresses issues of concern to the culture; it gives a sense of identity and community; it empowers students. It examines how characters live between two or more cultures in an increasingly diverse world. It exposes students to fulsome and multi-dimensional characters from racially diverse communities and affords opportunities for students to see themselves as they are and how they can be. It grants opportunities to focus on, learn about and celebrate our “differences” even as we learn about the things that bring us together. Culturally responsive or relevant pedagogy allows students to develop higher order thinking skills as they grapple with critical questions such as: Whose stories are told? Who benefits from the telling of these stories? Whose stories are missing? Whose stories need to be told? With which stories, do I identify? “...it emphasizes the use of higher-level thinking skills, including critical literacy skills, to enable students to understand, appreciate, and evaluate what they read and view at a deeper level, and to help them become reflective, critical, and independent learners” (English Curriculum, 5). This approach helps students to develop agency. It promotes critical consciousness among students.
An essential aspect of CRP is the development of critical consciousness and global citizenship. This approach builds efficacy and leverages the knowledges that students bring to classrooms and, it prepares students for global citizenship. It exposes students to multiple perspectives and encourages the development of critical literacy as students read for implicit and explicit meaning. It encourages a critical examination of systemic social injustice and moves conversations away from the blaming of problems on the individual to the ways systems operate and oppress. It allows students to become critical users of language who understand both dominant and marginalized codes. CRP allows for the exploration of issues that many students face like sexism, heterosexism, racism, isolation, sociocultural challenges, and academic obstacles and allows students the opportunity to explore different solutions to these problems. It encourages students to be more engaged in the wider society and to be more reflective about their place within that world. In this approach students are partners in dialogue and discussions to inform programs and activities in the classroom and school that represent the diversity, needs and interests of the student population. The integration of culturally relevant texts enables us to understand the changing nature and the dynamism of our society and the role that all of us have in making it more inclusive and more just. It mitigates against oppressive practices and fosters understanding and empathy for others. It mitigates against learned helplessness and fosters learned efficacy.
Repost - Introduction to the Reflection on Rethinking High School English - Phiona Lloyd-Henry
Phiona
