Are+you+Culturally+Responsive?

I presented at the Early Childhood Summit in State College on October 23, 2012. If you attended the seminar, please complete this short surveymonkey survey - []

My topic was as follows and the link for information is here - @https://earlychildhoodsummit.org/:

Are you Culturally Responsive?, K3C3 32 Tuesday 1:15pm - 2:45pm //Dr. Laura Taddei, Assistant Program Director Early Childhood Department, Harcum College// This presentation examines strategies and experiences that early childhood educators and administrators can use with students and families to help them become culturally responsive and provides an avenue for discussion on the topic. Are teachers and administrators creating experiences that take into account the culture of every student they teach? The act of teaching is about maintaining relationships with students and their families that cultivate an environment that enables learning. If faculty are not provided with opportunities to discuss and learn how to be culturally responsive, then students from diverse backgrounds risk going unserved. Through this presentation and discussion and the conversations that arise from it, teachers and administrators can raise their awareness of the importance of being culturally responsive. The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) defines culturally responsive as "the ability to learn from and relate respectfully with people of your own culture as well as those from other cultures" (NCCRES, 2006-2008).
 * Track:** Diversity
 * Age:** Mixed Age



This page provides resources to help students and faculty become culturally responsive and provides an avenue for discussion on the topic. Are you creating experiences that take into account the culture of every student you teach? The act of teaching is about maintaining relationships with students and their families that cultivate an environment that enables learning. If faculty/teachers are not provided with opportunities to discuss and learn how to be culturally responsive, then students from diverse backgrounds risk going unserved. Through this discussion and the conversations that arise from it, faculty and administrators can raise their awareness of the importance of being culturally responsive. The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) defines culturally responsive as "the ability to learn from and relate respectfully with people of your own culture as well as those from other cultures" (NCCRESt, 2006-2008).


 * [[file:anti-bias_curriculum.pdf|anti-bias_curriculum.pdf]]
 * [[file:culturaL_responsive_.pdf|culturaL_responsive_.pdf]]
 * [[file:diversity_adult_education.pdf|diversity_adult_education.pdf]]
 * [[file:examining_bias.pdf|examining_bias.pdf]]
 * [[file:universal_design_retention.pdf|universal_design_retention.pdf]]

During the research for my dissertation, "Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of their ability to be Culturally Responsive Educators" (Taddei, 2012), I created a model of strategies for developing culturally responsive students, faculty, and institutions. This model was created after examining the strategies supported in the literature and analyzing the responses of the preservice teachers to the Culturaly Diversity Awareness Inventory they completed. The strategies recommended to be most effective for developing culturally responsive students and faculty are providing **cross-cultural field experiences, using critical reflection and narrative learning, building community and connecting with families and the community, modeling cultural responsiveness, and continuous professional development on culturally responsive teaching and assessment of teaching and field experience.**

Although faculty can be successful with implementing strategies in their classrooms and in their programs to create cultural responsiveness, **the process is strengthened and more effective when the higher education institution embraces and implements strategies to support cultural responsiveness**. The bottom half of the figure describes how cultural responsiveness is at the institutional level. If the institution creates an environment of cultural responsiveness for faculty, students, and the institution, it improves the likelihood that the top half of the figure will be successful. In the center of the model is the institution’s mission and vision, which should be the driving force behind what is important to the institution, faculty, and students. The other elements in the bottom half of the model are faculty/professional development and assessment on the topic of cultural responsiveness, possessing a culture of assessment and change, striving for cultural responsiveness and intellectual diversity, and reciprocal empowerment and shared voices. Higher education institutions and faculty across disciplines can also use this model as a guide to self-assess and discuss cultural responsiveness. You can view the model here:

Please find below resources I will use to present "How Culturally Responsive Are You":



Resources for Differentiating Instruction in the Preschool Classroom: