A Guide For Getting to Know Your Students Through Culturally Responsive Practices

Description

How can you create a student-centered classroom? By getting to know your students through culturally responsive teaching practices. In this practical and engaging release, Lauren and Maria share tried and true culturally responsive strategies and activities for building a student-centered, positive classroom culture drawn from years of experience. Drawing from games, lesson plans, and adaptive activities, this release is great for elementary and middle school music teachers. Dozens of activities are provided that can be repeated throughout the school year as class rosters change, students develop, and interests evolve.

Getting to Know Your Students will guide music educators to build relationships with their students through music activities and lessons. This will result in the planning of authentic student-centered instruction. Getting to Know Your Students strives to help music teachers authentically implement Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) through practical lessons developed by two master music teachers with over two decades worth of combined experience in the diverse classrooms of New York City. Everything in this book, from lesson plans to worksheets, are tried and true ideas from our classrooms. These were the results of lessons that we tweaked and perfected over the years. These lessons and activities guided us to shape classrooms that are responsive to our students. 

The phrase culturally responsive teaching was coined by researcher Geneva Gay in the year 2000. CRT is a student-centered framework for teaching and learning. It emphasizes leveraging students’ cultural knowledge and experiences to create meaningful and engaging learning which ultimately leads to independence and student agency. By incorporating students’ backgrounds and interests, teachers can build bridges to new knowledge, fostering a sense of connection and agency in the classroom. Through this approach, teachers gain insights into students’ backgrounds, interests, and preferences, allowing for the planning of student-centered lessons and promoting inclusive classrooms that reflect and value students and their communities. Building authentic relationships with students rooted in a deep understanding of who they are and where they come from culturally, creates a classroom environment where students feel seen and cared for. They are then much more likely to engage and thrive within the music classroom.