Implementing SEL
LET'S TALK
ABOUT
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING
Implementing Transformative SEL through Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Along the same lines of collective self-efficacy, the school functions as a unified support system in implementing promising approaches, including fostering a supportive learning environment, including explicit instruction that integrate restorative discipline, and implementing instruction that includes inquiry-based and student-led approaches (such as Project Based Learning), scaffolding, and individualized support. This can be promoted through culturally responsive classrooms that emphasize cultural well-being, identity, and safe learning environments.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY
1
1.
Connecting academics and student cultural assets
2.
Curriculum that invites personal and societal reflection
3.
Cultural competency that facilitates learning about individual and other cultures
4.
Pursuing social justice and critiquing the discourses of power
Culturally relevant pedagogy, coined by scholar Gloria Ladson-Billings in the early 1990s, which is also known as culturally responsive teaching or multicultural education, focuses around the idea of empowerment and transformation, which reflects the ideals of Transformative Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). This student-centered approach incorporates the ideas of cultivating meaning, identity, and community in the classroom. When teachers lack this awareness of student cultural assets or behaviors in the classroom, deficit thinking approaches may develop towards students of different backgrounds; however, in the lens of culturally relevant pedagogy, cultural behaviors are emphasized as assets rather than deficits. The graphic below describing culturally responsive teaching was drawn from African American teachers actively engaged in culturally responsive teaching.
2
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING IS...
BELIEVING IN ONE'S TEACHING ABILITY AND INFLUENCE
CARING FOR THE WHOLE STUDENT
​
DEMANDING THE BEST OF STUDENTS (HIGH EXPECTATIONS)
EDUCATORS ENGAGING IN KINSHIP TOWARD STUDENTS
A CALLING AND HAS A SPECIAL PURPOSE
CALL FOR CULTIVATION
"CULTIVATING GENIUS"
When considering the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy, literacy is a foundational element in practice, because language is intricately intertwined with culture. In order to develop literacy in a culturally relevant manner, history must be carefully involved in the process. The intentions of a culturally responsive curriculum require the inclusion of multiple perspectives, especially marginalized or oppressed groups. When students are engaged in learning through the significance of history integrated with literacy, students become involved in a framework that supports belonging, equity, and empowerment. Click on the image to the left or the button below to learn more about teaching culturally relevant pedagogy through a historical lens:
3
Footnotes
Jagers, R. J., Rivas-Drake, D., & Williams, B. (2019). Transformative social and emotional learning (SEL): Toward SEL in service of educational equity and excellence. Educational Psychologist, 54(3), pp. 162-184.
​
Harmon, D. A. (2012). Culturally responsive teaching through a historical lens: Will history repeat itself?. Interdisciplinary Journal of Teaching and Learning, 2(1), 12-22.
​
Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic.
1
2
3