Culturally Responsive Teaching Essay

There are educators that have incorporated the practice of empathy into their class structure. Others have used modified an empathy model with a social justice lens inside their school and/or classrooms. In the article Educating Culturally Responsive Teachers: A Coherent Approach by Ana Maria Villegas and Tamara Lucas the duo examines the make-up of teachers in an American public school site and identify ways to promote culturally responsive teaching in classrooms. Gloria Ladson-Billings defines culturally responsive teaching as “an approach that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes" (1992). This use of cultural referents by teachers in classrooms values and recognizes students' own cultures. This link between culture and classroom instruction is derived from evidence that cultural practices shape thinking processes, which serve as tools for learning …show more content…
This study focused on children that were in middle school, specifically, the eighth grade. These eighth graders were captivated by their peers’ stories of immigration which at the core had themes of danger, hardship, but ultimately perseverance. These stories that peers shared with one another were of high interest to students and empathy models were woven into the foundation in which allowed for these stories to be shared. Over all, Pagani and Robustelli concluded that “racist attitudes became more frequent when children grew older and leave elementary school” (pg. 254). This means that by the time students have reached the eighth grade, according to Pagani and Robustelli, it may be too late to reach students. The time to truly teach empathy to children is during their time in elementary