Tipping the Scales Toward Culturally Responsive Teaching: Teacher Readiness for Accommodative, Biography-Driven Instruction

• In Event: 66.028 - Culturally Responsive Teaching and Pedagogy: Promising Research and Practices

Abstract

Though many teachers agree with the overarching tenets of culturally responsive pedagogy, they struggle to know how to apply it in their classrooms. Other teachers still operate from a deficit perspective. To address the needs of both kinds of teachers, Herrera (2010, 2016) proposed Biography-Driven Instruction (BDI), a communicative/cognitive instructional method that supports educators to make the curriculum relevant, accessible, and rigorous for all students. This qualitative case study explored the perspectives of four elementary teachers who implemented BDI. Using semi-structured interviews, videos of classroom instruction, and student artifacts and debriefings of learning, this study explored the espoused and practical readiness of teachers to accommodate the assets and needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Authors

• Socorro Herrera, Kansas State University

• Melissa Ann Holmes, Kansas State University

• Kevin G. Murry, Kansas State University

• Shabina Kavimandan, Kansas State University