Executive Summary of the Whole Article The article of Preparing For Culturally Responsive Teaching written by Geneva Gay

which has been published in 2000 is mainly focused on a study in improving multi-ethnic school to succeed through culturally responsive teaching which been carried out within "atino and #ative merican students$ frican! sian! t the same time! this article ob%ective is to promote

&nowledge! attitudes and s&ills needed for teachers on how to carry and implement the curriculum successfully in ethnically diverse school$ Culturally responsive teaching can be defined as a pedagogy that recogni'es the importance of including students( cultural references in all aspects of learning )"adson-*illings! +,,-.$ /t is a method on how to embed cultural elements within the school curriculum$ The approach is to ensure that students can improve their &nowledge! attitudes and s&ills socially! intellectually! emotionally and politically based on the culture they are in$ 0hile Geneva Gay has defined culturally responsive teaching as using the cultural characteristics! e1periences and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively )Gay! 2000.$ s people live in culturally diverse world or country and wor& in a culturally diverse community! a methodology and pedagogy of teaching need to consider culture elements and bac&ground in school curriculum in order to ensure the teaching and learning process to be meaningful! easy and thoroughly learned$ Three main elements that compromise in culturally responsive teachings are the institutional! personal and instructional elements$ /n these dimensions! institutional element replicates more onto administration and how they are going to carry out their policy$ /n term of personal! it reflects the emotional process on how the teachers deal within themselves to be culturally sensitive and responsive$ Teachers acts as a main role in ensuring each student to succeed not only in their study but also to maintain the diverse cultural identity and heritage$ Therefore! teachers must have wide cultural sensitivity! prior to e1periences and performance style of diverse students to ma&e learning more appropriate! meaningful and effective )Gay! 2000.$ The other main element is how the instruction is being wor&ed out during the teaching process$ /nstruction includes materials! strategies and activities that can engage the diverse cultural students to learn within culturally mediated instruction$
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The strategies identify ways to remove discriminatory biases and barriers to students( achievement and well-being that relate to ethnicity and race! faith! family structure and also socio-economic bac&ground$ Thus! the writer of this article has narrowed the topic into five vitals elements of preparing culturally responsive teaching which highlight2 developing a cultural diversity knowledge base, designing culturally relevant curricula, demonstrating cultural caring and building a learning community, cross-cultural communication and cultural congruity in classroom instruction )Gay! 2002.$ 3ach element has been e1plained in details in every subtitle to reach the ob%ectives of improving schools achievement and instilling &nowledge among the teachers especially those who are in training colleges and institution to be more s&illful and wellprepared mentally and emotionally in handling diverse ethnics and cultural classes$ This is due to a great challenge for the teachers to handle multi-cultural individuals with different bac&grounds and positions in sociology! anthropology! psychology! sociolinguistic! communications! multicultural education! 4-college classroom teaching and teacher education )Gay! 2000.$

Developing a Cultural Diversity Knowledge Based ccording to 5ntorio(s 36uity and /nclusive 3ducation 7trategy )200,.! in Capacity 4+2 *uilding 7eries )20+8.! diversity means the presence of a wide range of human 6ualities and attributes within a group! organi'ation or society$ 9ence! cultural diversity can be defined as a wide range of culture 6ualities in society such as ethnics! psychology and sociology bac&ground$ The writer of this article has pointed out her opinion that too many teachers are inade6uately prepared to teach ethnically diverse students and some professional programmes failed to include multicultural education that has led to poor performance of students of colour )Gay! 2000.$ The situation happens due to lac& of cultural diversity &nowledge and sensitivity towards the multicultural values! tradition and bac&ground$ This issue is very crucial because teachers are the one who bring huge implication during the teaching and learning process as the curriculum and instruction are handled by them$ Therefore! educators need to have very strong basic cultural diversity &nowledge in order to implement e6uity in classroom instruction$

part from that! they also need to ac6uire factual information in particular and specific about the ethnic group$ The main aim of this re6uirement is to ensure that the schooling process will become more e1citing! interesting and meaningful for diverse cultural students$ :a%or educators have neglected their diverse ethnically students( need in learning core sub%ects such as in mathematics and science because they thin& that the students unable to blend and ac6uire the concepts and formula$ Gay opposed the theory and believed that there must be an alternative and creative innovation by using multicultural instructional strategies by adding multicultural content and values to the curriculum$ Teachers must build a deeper understanding of multicultural theory! research and scholarship )Gay!2000.$ 3ach and every teacher obliges to have a faith and positive views of their students to succeed academically$

Designing Culturally Relevant Curricula /n designing a curriculum! it involves a lot of decisions about what students should learn in a program which is being guided by wor& at the national and state levels$ #evertheless! the responsibility is upon individual districts! schools and the teachers to design a program or lesson to achieve the outcomes which have been listed ):cGraw-9ill! 200,.$ /n diverse cultural schools! teachers need to adapt and adopt the curriculum contents very well to suit the environment! students( needs and bac&ground and suitable to be carried out through culturally responsive teaching strategies and pedagogy$ /n this article! Gay )200,. has promotes three types of curricular that can create different activities in teaching cultural diversity classrooms$ The first one is formal plans which is the main guideline created and approved by the policy! administration and governing bodies in educational systems or ministry and the other sta&eholders li&e state educational departments and professional associations$ This formal curriculum guideline is normally standardi'ed to be used and implemented for each school in a country$ This standardi'ed document emphasi'es the outcomes and ob%ectives that need to be achieved by the end of the year of schooling$

9owever! the writer did not really agree with the effectiveness of this standard document if teachers fail to find out and highlight the multicultural strengths and wea&nesses of curriculum designs and instructional materials that have been set up by the education ministry$ Therefore! teachers have to ma&e some changes! adapting the curriculum contents by ad%usting and modifying fittingly in order to ma&e suitable to re6uirements when they teaching multicultural or diverse ethnically students$ /f teachers able to amend some strategies definitely the students will be able to improve e6ually among themselves and at the same time teaching and learning sessions will have more 6uality$ There are many issues pertaining teaching and learning process in multicultural schools where most of the teachers are evading sensitive issues li&e racism! politics! historical atrocities! powerlessness and hegemony$ The curricular focus usually centrali'es on high-profile individuals or society and ignoring less-achievement ones$ 7o! teachers have to play their role to do a guided curriculum transformation by doing cultural analysis of the curriculum! te1tboo& and any instructional and revise them in order to have a better presentation of cultural diversity$ The writer also stated symbolic curriculum as a second type of curricula that usually used in diverse ethnically schools$ Symbolic curriculum can be defined in forms of images! symbols! icons! motto! awards! celebrations and any other artifacts that can create and build students( morals! values! &nowledge and s&ills$ s culturally responsive teachers! there are lots and variety of activities and strategies that can be held to let the students to appreciate and build their respects to the other ethnics! gender! social class and positional diversity$ Programs such as cultural wee&! e1hibition and cooperative learning can help the students to learn on how to value what is present in their daily life$ The classroom environment should be filled with artwor&s and photos representing a wide range of humanity! cultures and daily life$ Teachers can ma&e authentic &nowledge about different ethnic groups accessible to students by sharing cultures through story telling activities! provide authentic reading and audio-visual materials$

s cited by Cort;s )+,,+! +,,<! 2000. in writer(s article! the third type of curricula is societal curriculum. /n this &ind of curricula! society and mass media such as television
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especially give an effective impact on how diverse cultural curriculum can be learned easier and memorable compared to the lesson which is learned from te1tboo&s$ This is because! mass media is more influential and what is seen on the television is more realistic and convincing about the facts and history$ 9owever! much of this indirect &nowledge from the media is inaccurate and fre6uently pre%udicial )Gay! 2000.$ This will lead to a problem where the minority ethnics affected by the images presented through the media$ They may feel pressured and have less confidence to cooperate and to assimilate into the ma%ority culture$ This &ind of negative images can disturb their emotion! cognitive development and might cause into school failure$ Richard! *rown = Forde )200>. also agreed that community involvement invites a great impact in structuring culturally responsive curriculum$ They believed that community is e1pected to find ways to be involved in the educational curricular$

Demonstrating Cultural Caring and Building a earning Community Geneva Gay in her article declared that creating conducive classroom climate for ethnically diverse students as a third vital factor in preparing culturally responsive teaching$ /t involves pedagogical actions on how to carry out the lesson and achieve the ob%ectives during the teaching and learning session$ The approach is not simply doing by following the theory itself$ Culturally responsive teachers must be creative and alert on what strategy that is going to be used for underachieving students$ The writer suggested cultural scaffolding methodology to be used in cultural diverse classroom$ This methodology is a techni6ue where teachers can help to e1pand students( intellectual hori'on by using their prior &nowledge! cultures and e1periences$ /n order to implement this cultural scaffolding approach in a classroom! each teacher must have culturally sensitive caring towards his?her classroom environment$ Therefore! teachers are re6uired to develop a cultural diversity &nowledge base which has been mention earlier in the article$ To be a caring teacher! ones need to have moral imperative and social responsibility$ This is due to the need of respect! honour! integrity! resource sharing and a deep belief in the possibility of transcendence$ These &ey factors are needed in reshaping the curriculum and will allow teachers to wor& out with the students easily and closely li&e a partner$ /f teachers can demonstrate with an ethical and emotionally positive towards the learning process in ethnically
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diverse classroom! there must be chances for the students to perform very well and achieve successfulness in their study$ Culturally sensitive caring need to be integrated with action oriented when handling lessons with culturally diverse students$ They must not ignoring and neglecting students( ethnic and cultural identities$

Cross!Cultural Communication Cross-cultural communication is the fourth pillar of element in preparing for culturally responsive teaching which is suggested by the writer! Geneva Gay$ Cross-cultural communication can be identified as a way of how people from different bac&ground )ethnics! colour of group. communicate each other in a similar and different way among themselves$ /t also focuses on how they struggle and to ma&e an attempt to communicate across their cultures$ The writer stressed her opinion that lac& of communication can be a ma%or factor of failure for some students$ Teachers have to recogni'e and detect students( previous &nowledge and their capability in study areas by communicating well with the students$ Teachers also need to help the students to brea& the chain their culturally coding in order to meet the effectiveness of teaching$ *esides that! as a responsive teacher the responsibility to select appropriate communication approach is very important because communication styles of different ethnics group reflect cultural values$ Teachers have to be wise to modify and ma&e changes of classroom interactions to meet the effectiveness and to create comfortable and secure environment for the students in diverse culturally classroom$

nother component of the communication style is protocol of participation in discourse$ This component discusses on how teacher set up classroom rules and eti6uette on how students should behave during the lesson$ For e1ample! when teacher tal&s students are e1pected to listen attentively and silent$ 9owever! communication styles among the most ethnic groups differ from each other$ :ost of them are active! dialectic! participatory and multimodal$ This &ind of communal communication style might invite problem between the teachers and students as there
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might have some interruption in the middle of the communication$ Teachers have to consider and appreciate their natural way of tal&ing because if not it might affect students( engagement in participating the activity! way of thin&ing and also might lead them to be silent and passive learner$ :utual understanding from the teachers is needed to avoid abusing their cultural values@ teacher can correct them without giving any %udgment and discrimination regarding their cultures$ Therefore! multicultural communication competency is very important for every teacher to have within themselves in order to produce effective culturally responsive teaching$

Cultural Congruity in Classroom "nstruction The last element on preparing for culturally responsive teaching is discussing on the instructional which is the best to be implemented in actual classrooms or lessons$ The writer said that in culture is one of the topics discussed in a curriculum$ *ut! in a diverse ethnically classrooms! the lessons must be multiculturali'ed which teachers have to bridge the teaching methodology and pedagogy by matching the content with the students( ethnic identity and build communication among the students to mingle and sociali'e positively with each other$ There are some e1amples of ideas on how culturally responsive teachers can use to carry out the lesson in multicultural classrooms$ 5ne of the e1amples is cooperative group learning$ This type of learning can be implemented in many ways! such as have students to share their personal histories and cultures and also engaging the students to wor& together in group activities$ part from that! variability of formats! teaching aids and tas& plays an important role in ensuring the students to improve their study$ ctivities that re6uire motion and movement has proven its effectiveness the academic performance of frican mericans )Gay! 2000.) llen = *oy&in! +,,2@ llen = *utler! +,,>@ Guttentag = Ross! +,A2@ 9anley +,,B.$ Therefore! the students will be able to participate actively among their peers$ Teachers can ma&e some changes and alternatives during the lesson but it must integrate and consider ethnic and cultural diversity as a priority in instructional process in order to ma&e cultural congruity teaching can be done effectively$
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The writer also mentioned about pedagogical bridges which means a connection between prior &nowledge with new &nowledge! familiarity and unfamiliarity in a real point of view$ Teachers are encouraged to develop multicultural instructional e1amples by instilling culture values in the lesson$ This can be done in various ways such as providing samples of ethnic literature$ the lessons$ t the same time! students will learn to &now and praise their own and others( cultural heritage$ Respect! cooperation and mutual understanding can be nurtured in indirectly throughout

"nstructional Effects of Culturally Relevant #eaching From my point of view! culturally relevant teaching invites great effects on instructional process$ Positive implications can be seen if teachers can narrow down the achievement gap between students from diverse cultural bac&ground$ /t can be happened if the educators are able to combine multicultural education and e6uity pedagogy in the lessons$ Teachers( awareness towards student diversity in ethnics and bac&ground can motivate the students especially the minority groups and less-achievers to improve their life and achieve successful in study$ part from that! the instructional effects of culturally relevant teaching can empower the students to develop the &nowledge! s&ills and values$ effective personal! social! political and economic action$ 9ence! each and every student from diverse ethnically bac&ground will never be isolated and they will be able to sociali'e in their multicultural society$ The teaching and learning session will be more interesting and e1citing because each diverse student is given the opportunity to learn and share their own cultures and the others$ The challenge is huge as students are trying to interact with peers that come from diverse bac&ground$ :oreover! students will learn to have the s&ills on accepting each other positively$ *y giving chances for diverse culturally students to mi1 together! they will have the
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t the same time! through education we

will be able to produce individuals with social critics where they can ma&e reflective decision in

opportunities to be more &nowledgeable about when meeting someone who is different from them$ 9ence! culturally responsive teaching will be able to promote e6uity and mutual respect among themselves$ 3verybody will be treated e6ually regardless to their bac&ground difference and teachers together with the students have to respect with others( difference too$ Teaching acts as a main role model to nurture good behavior among the students by telling them that difference is normal )Richard! *rown = Forde! 200>.$ 9owever! students( difference in bac&ground of ethnically and linguistically will hit a problem of assessment accuracy$ The assessment cannot be measured accurately for every student especially on their &nowledge$ Therefore! multiple measure of assessment needs to be prepared and done fairly by the teachers$ /t is not uneasy tas& as the assessment may be vary than the others and not standardi'ed$

Conclusion s a conclusion! every teacher whether in pre-service or in-service should have the responsibility to ensure the tas& of educating the students is well done without discriminating or denying e6uality in learning for their various bac&ground$ /n handling culturally diverse classrooms! teachers must have cultural &nowledge! empathy and fair %udgment without being racist$ This is because teacher is the transmitter between educational curriculum which has been decided by the authority and transfer the content to their students$ Teachers are facilitators that can ma&e changes in educational outcomes whether to produce e1cellent students or the failures$

References

llen! *$ $! = *oy&in! $ 0! )+,,2.$ frican- merican children and the educative process2 lleviating cultural discontinuity through prescriptive pedagogy$ School Psychology Review! 21)-.! <B>-<,B$

Cort;s! C$ 3! )+,,<.$ 4nowledge construction and popular culture2 The media as multicultural educator$ /n C$ $*an&s = C$ $:$ *an&s )3ds$.! andbook of research on multicultural education )pp$ +>,-+B8.$#ewDor&2 :acmillan$ Eiversity and 9igher 3ducation2 Theory and /mpact on 3ducational 5utcomes Page 2+ of 2> Gay! G! )2002.$ Preparing for culturally responsive teaching$ !"#R$%& "' ()%* )R )+#*%(,"$--%S ,$.("$ +*-! /0)2.! +0>-++>$ Cohn 0$ 7antroc&! )20+2.$ )ducational Psycology 'ifth )dition. :c Graw 9ill! #ew Dor&$ 0iggins! G$! = :ctighe! C$ )200<.$ #nderstanding by +esign )e1panded 2nd ed$.$ le1andria! F 2 7CE

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