Page 54 - October.indd

Research Report

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy developing social relationships, and their conceptions of
Including the descriptor responsive within the term knowledge.
11
culturally responsive pedagogy connotes a pedagogical and According to Ladson-Billings, “the goal of cultur-
ethical response to particular learners’ knowledge, al competence is to ensure that students remain fi rmly
strengths, prior experiences, culturally based assets, and grounded in their culture of origin (and learn it well)
learning needs. This term therefore implies a learn- while acquiring knowledge and skill in at least one ad-
12
er-centered approach as well as a “dynamic or syner- ditional culture.” For students who have been mar-
gistic relationship between home/community culture ginalized by systemic inequalities based on race, class,
and school culture.” Geneva Gay defi ned culturally and ethnicity, the additional culture will typically be the
4
responsive teaching as using “the cultural characteris- dominant culture emphasized in schools. Students are
tics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse then equipped to navigate societal power structures as
students as conduits for teaching them more eff ectively” they currently exist, but not by denying or sacrifi cing
and identifi ed five of its essential components: connections to their own culture(s) of origin or refer-

ence. Ladson-Billings further emphasized that all stu-
Developing a knowledge base about cultural di- dents, including those who are White and middle class,

versity, including ethnic and cultural diversity benefit from developing multicultural and/or multilin-
content in the curriculum, demonstrating car- gual competence.
ing and building learning communities, com- Ladson-Billings defi ned sociopolitical consciousness as
municating with ethnically diverse students, “the ability to take learning beyond the confines of the

and responding to ethnic diversity in the deliv- classroom using school knowledge and skills to identi-
13
ery of instruction. 5 fy, analyze, and solve real-world problems.” Culturally
relevant teachers work with students to pose questions
Scholars have continued to develop the theory of cul- about how schools and society operate, to identify so-
turally responsive pedagogy, and illustrate its applica- cial issues that hold importance to them, and to take
6
tion in varying choral contexts. 7 action toward solving these issues. This does not mean
that teachers impose partisan politics or their own po-
litical views upon students. Rather, as students identify
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy issues that impact their lives, teachers can help them de-
Gloria Ladson-Billings developed the theory of cul- velop ways to research these issues, communicate their
turally relevant pedagogy, which grew from her sem- positions through writing or presenting, or collaborate
8
inal research with educators who were recognized for with individuals who hold power to bring about change
their teaching success with African American learners. 9 (e.g., school officials, school boards, or representatives of

She defined culturally relevant pedagogy as that which community agencies). Through processes such as these,
“empowers students intellectually, socially, emotional- students hone their critical capacities and develop skills
ly, and politically by using cultural referents to impart to be active participants in democracy.
knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These cultural refer-
ents are not merely vehicles for explaining the domi-
nant culture; they are aspects of the curriculum in their Selected Studies Exploring
own right.” Her theoretical framework encompasses Culturally Responsive and
10
six components, three of which describe outcomes of Relevant Pedagogies in Choral Settings
culturally relevant pedagogy: promoting high levels Ruth Gurgel’s research illuminated the phenomenon
of academic success and student learning, developing of culturally relevant pedagogy within a racially diverse
students’ cultural competence, and promoting their so- seventh grade choral classroom, foregrounding the per-
ciopolitical consciousness. The remaining three com- spectives of one choral teacher and eight adolescent
ponents describe commonalities in these teachers’ con- singers. One key fi nding was that students’ experienc-
14
ceptions of themselves and others, their approaches to es of deep engagement often occurred as the teacher

52 CHORAL JOURNAL October 2022 Volume 63 Number 3