RTL – Assignment 2

CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY:

There are ways in which culturally responsive education can be integrated into lesson plans.

For example, culturally responsive education is one which takes into consideration the

cultural background of students. As demonstrated by Vavrus (2008), culturally responsive

education uses culturally appropriate approaches to ensure inclusivity.

Interventions to integrate culturally responsive education will allow teachers to ensure that

their minority students can experience a positive learning experience. Through reflection

upon Lewthwaite’s (2017) study, the comments by Indigenous students imply that there is a

critical need for culturally responsive education to ensure inclusivity and engagement. For

example, a students’ comments in Lewthwaite’s (2017) study suggested that conventional

teachers use language that is difficult to understand. This issue mainly arises in conventional

classrooms where teachers do not differentiate the curriculum to meet the needs of language

diverse students. Instead, the classrooms are designed to only meet the needs of white

middle-class students. As a result, “Other cultural, racial, and economic histories and

community backgrounds are overlooked or degenerated” (Vavrus, 2008). Therefore,

culturally responsive education perceives that there is language diversity, and aims to

accommodate to the different needs. The study by Savage et al, (2011) demonstrates an

example of a lesson where a teacher promoted cultural knowledge. The lesson treated

students as contributors to the construction of knowledge. Furthermore, the study

demonstrated a correlation between high implementation of cultural knowledge and student

engagement. Through comparison of moderate implementation and high implementation

classrooms, one can see the different levels of student engagement. Through this study, it can

be identified how the use of culture in teaching can contribute to students’ feelings of
belonging. As a result, students are more likely to engage in classroom activities as they can

perceive their value in the educational system. So, it is evident that by focusing on culturally

responsive education, both educators as well as Indigenous students are benefitted. While

culturally responsive education can be applied in any KLA, the focus on meeting the needs of

linguistically diverse students can be particularly applied in English lessons.

MODIFICATION & JUSTIFICATION:

The recommendations are suggested through the results, and can ultimately be applied in the
lesson plan ‘The Power of the Pen’ located in the Australian Curriculum Lessons. This lesson
plan focuses on written texts and requires students to reflect upon a text that has had a large
emotional impact upon them. While the lesson plan gives students the opportunity to choose
any text that they have read, this element of the lesson plan can be modified to implement
culturally responsive pedagogy. In this case, it can be modified in a way in which cultural
education is promoted. To exemplify, this aspect can be modified by also providing students
with a recommended Picturebook of Dolumyu and Sandaloo’s ‘The Bat and the Crocodile:
An Aboriginal Story’. Students can be asked to reflect upon the differences and similarities of
their chosen text and recommended Picturebook. Students can then be asked to demonstrate
the different forms of narrative. This can be discussed as a class, where discussions are
student-lead but teacher-directed. Throughout this discussion, students can reflect upon the
way in which Indigenous cultures differ from Western texts in their ways of narration, yet
still convey messages in an impactful way. It has been stated that “Children learn to speak,
read, and write within their own cultural contexts” (Wearmouth, 2017). With respect to this,
Indigenous students will have the opportunity to participate in class discussions in a way in
which their knowledge of their own culture is transferred to the wider class and teacher.