Question: 1) [Culturally relevant pedagogy and critical literacy in diverse English classrooms: A case study of a secondary English teacher’s activism and agency]: What will culturally relevant pedagogy look like, sound like, feel like, in your future classroom? 2) [Placing elementary music education: a case study of a Canadian rural music program.]: How will you, as a teacher, contribute to the sense of place for your future students?
What will culturally relevant pedagogy look like, sound like, feel like, in your future classroom?
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is an important factor demonstrated in many Saskatchewan classrooms. In my opinion, educating is not solely based on which subject or topic you are teaching, it is based solely on the idea that you are teaching the student(s) as one; not separately. By introducing culturally relevant pedagogy into our classroom environments, we as teachers are opening the floor to students having the ability to have equal experiences within the classroom setting, or outside of school environments. Furthermore, Canada is becoming a multicultural country, meaning that because our curriculum and education is white-based knowledge, having introduced other cultures into our teaching allows for more learning opportunities, as well as leaning away from the idea that the Canadian Education System as a whole is about white knowledge. This could be demonstrated in a variety of ways, such as; inviting Elders into your classroom to discuss their history, or having podcasts, or videos to help students understand the importance other cultures’ history had/has within our education system. To me, introducing the younger students to this topic/subject allows the students to think of culturally diverse people as ‘normal’ rather than seeing them as ‘outsiders’ or later turning into racism. Another way to integrate culturally relevant pedagogy into the classroom is by doing projects that allow students to research their history. Possibly creating a story for themselves that they are proud of and knowing that the other students will understand them more.
How will you, as a teacher, contribute to the sense of place for your future students?
I know people who were in my classroom, as well as a general friend group that was seen as white but also has FNMI cultural backgrounds. Meaning that if you or any other teacher decide not to teach about treaties and FNMI history, you may be preventing one or more students from the opportunity to learn about their history. For me, I did not truly learn about cultural history within Canada until high school, when I know now that you were meant to be taught it throughout the majority of your elementary years. The topic of Native American history needs to be within more of our education, as well as more involved within communities, cities, countries. Moreover, many schools within Canada are built on top of Native American soil and the idea that teachers decide to ‘skip’ over that part of history is if you look at it, disrespectful to the FNMI cultures that began this beautiful country. Having said this, having students feel safe within a classroom should always be a top priority for any teacher.