Implementing Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices
Results
The results collected after implementation of the unit plan containing CRTP are listed below. Data was gathered from pre- and post-surveys, observations, and student work that was naturally embedded into the lessons. Further discussions and conclusions made from these results can be found on the Discussion & Conclusion page.
Prior to starting the Unit Plan, I gave the students a pre-survey to show if they had any prior knowledge of what culture is. As shown in Figure 1.1, the survey asks three questions as follows:
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Do you know what culture means?
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Do you know what your culture is?
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Do you think culture is important to learn about?
For all three questions, accompanying emojis are below to style the response for "yes" (smiley face emoji with a thumbs up) and "no" (sad face emoji with thumbs down.) However, the third question provides a third option of "I don't know" (shrugging emoji) because it is implied in the the first two questions that if they chose the "no" emoji, then it would mean they do not know what culture means or what their culture is. In the third question, choosing the "no" option does not have the same implication of they do not know; rather it is a response that serves the opinion that they think culture is not a significant topic of acquisition.
Figure 1.1 - Pre-survey (also shown on Methods page)
Figure 2.1 - Pre-survey question 1 results
Figure 2.2 - Pre-survey question 2 results
Figure 2.3 - Pre-survey question 3 results
Pre-Survey
Responses for question 1 asking, "Do you know what culture means?" is shown in Figure 2.1. 16 out of 17 students responded that they do not know what culture is. The one student who responded "yes" was asked a follow up question asking that they think culture meant, to which they had no response.
Responses for question 2 asking, "Do you know what your culture is?" is shown in Figure 2.2. All 17 students responded that they do not know what their culture is.
Finally, responses for question 3 asking, "Do you think culture is important to learn about?" is shown in Figure 2.3. 10 out of 17 students responded that they do not know if the subject is important or not. Six students responded that they do think it is important then was asked a follow up question as to why they think that way. Their responses are listed below:
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"Maybe it's fun"
'I'm not sure"
"Because we learn in school"
"Social studies"
"It's important"
"Because it's social studies"
The two students who acknowledged that culture is social studies were then asked how they came to that realization, to which they both replied along the lines of they got the idea from looking at our class schedule. (I post a daily class schedule listing out what we are going to be learning that day. Social studies was next on our agenda and this pre-survey was given in the block before that. These two students were able to imply that since Social Studies is what we are going to cover next, that's probably what culture is going to be about.) The one student who responded that they did not think culture is important to learn was asked why they felt that way, to which they responded, "I don't know what that is."
This surveys were collected as a formative assessment prior to the exposure of the CRTP framework. This shows the preliminary understanding students have of the content and possibility of activating prior knowledge throughout the lessons.
Student work samples contain assignments that were done in class and sent home for homework to be completed with their families. Class assignments that were collected as data are two journal entries. The journal entries are student produced responses conducted at the end of major assignments.
One of the prompts was given after our Community Partner visit to Foodland Farms Pearl City asking, "What was your favorite part of our field trip to Foodland Farms?" This was collected because it is an example of standard 2 of the CRTP framework stating that CRTP will allow students to "develop language and literacy competence across the curriculum" (Howard, 2021). Additionally, the responses also showed proof of CRTP framework standard 3 stating that the teacher is actively "connecting school to students’ lives by linking teaching and curriculum to students’ experiences at home and in their communities" (Howard, 2021). All students were able to produce a response that was positive and on topic. Some of the student examples are shown in Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1 - Student journal entries answering the prompt, "What was your favorite part of our field trip to Foodland Farms?" Captions are provided under each sample.
Student sample 1
Student sample 2
Student sample 1 written response: "I liek ubut the fichip uv the cukae and the poke."
Teacher dictation: I like about the field trip of the cupcake and the poke.
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Student sample 2 written response: "My favrit part is I get to taast the cupkaac. My
favrit part is I get to chiy the graaps. My favrit part is I get to decrat the cupkaac."
Teacher dictation: My favorite part is I get to taste the cupcake. My favorite part is I
get to try the grapes. My favorite part is I get to decorate the cupcake.
The second student entry that was collected was given after completing the entirety of the Unit Plan. The prompt asked, "Did you enjoy learning about culture?" Students are to produce a response that gave a clear stand on how they felt about the unit plan and provide an explanation for their opinion. All of the students gave answers in the same manner as "I like learning about culture." However, only 11 out of 17 students gave an explanation that was on topic and showed that they understood what was taught through this process. This data was collected because it is an example of standard 4 of the CRTP framework stating, educators are actively "teaching complex thinking" (Howard, 2021). These responses require students to support and provide evidence on their stance as opposed to just providing a yes or no position. A few quotes taken from student responses are shown below:
"I like learning about other people celebrate their holidays."
"I like learning about culture because it is fun because we learn about cultures and other stuff like people dishes."
"I like culture. It is fun because everyone is in different cultures."
Figure 4.1 - Culture homework assignment 1,
"Where did our family come from?" worksheet
Homework that was collected were assignments that required students to ask parents questions to explore their own culture. These were collected because of its evidence as CRTP standard 3 that allows students to connect teaching and curriculum to students' experiences at home. It also falls into standard 5 stating that teachers are "teaching through conversation, in particular engaging students in instructional conversations." These homework assignments allow students to engage in conversations with their families to further their knowledge about culture.
One assignment collected was a worksheet that students were asked to find out where their family is from. The worksheet was equipped with a map of Hawaiʻi, a map of Oceania, and a world map (as shown in Figure 4.1.) Students and families would talk about where their family originated from then circle the location on the map that best fit.
All students turned in the assignment and was done properly. A lot of the responses were locations (shown in Figure 4.2) that I expected but there were a few that surprised me. 15 of 17 students said their family were from the Philippines. This I expected being that the main demographic of our school is Filipino. 8 of 17 students said their family is from Hawaiʻi. Some specified areas such as Honolulu and the Big Island. They also specifically stated that their parents are from or born in Hawaiʻi whereas their grandparents are from the Philippines. 3 out of 17 students said their family is from Japan. This surprised me because I only knew of one student who is Japanese so learning that there were more students with this background was pretty insightful. One student said their family was from "the mainland" and circle the west coast of the United States so I assume it would either be Washington, Oregon, or California. Finally, one student said their family is from Saipan and that really surprised me because this was a place I was not expecting entirely.
Figure 4.2 - Culture homework assignment 1, results
Finally, the second homework assignment collected was a worksheet that required students to ask, "How do we celebrate special days?" This was collected because it would dive into some of their culture's traditions and customs. All 17 students completed the assignment and gave different types of responses. Some responses are shows in Figure 5.1. With their responses, I categorized it into five main ideas which are having a party, spending time with family, making food, Christmas, and birthday.
5 students stated that they celebrate by spending time with family such as having dinner or eating outside. 4 students stated that they have a party which differs from spending time because they specifically say "We have a party," then further give details such as "they bring food to a potluck," or "dance at a festival," and so on. 2 students stated that they celebrate by making food which was significant because this helps with the remainder of the unit with its relation to a cultural dish. 5 students explained how they celebrate Christmas which is acceptable because it is a special day. They are also activating their prior knowledge being that this assignment was given in March and they were taught about cultural holidays in December. Finally, the one student in the birthday category gave a vague response, "My family celebrate my birthday." This entry didn't really explain how they celebrated but was somewhat on topic with the special day.
Figure 5.1 - Culture homework assignment 2, "How do we celebrate special days?" Captions are provided under each sample.
Student sample 1
Student sample 2
Student sample 3
Student sample 1 written response:"We cook pancit."
Student sample 2 written response: "We celebrate special days bi having dinr with famele."
Teacher dictation: We celebrate special days by having dinner with family.
Student sample 3 written response: "On Christmas we celebrate by opening presents and making gingerbread houses."
Student Work
After completing the Unit Plan, I pulled students to ask them three questions for our post-survey. The questions are as listed:
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What does culture mean?
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Do you know what your culture is?
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Why is it important to learn about culture?
The results showed that at least two thirds of the class were able to understand what culture is through the lessons that were taught.
The first question concluded that 11 out of 17 students know what culture means. 6 of the 11 students were able to give some elements in their definition such as traditions, customs, beliefs, and interests. Follow up questions were asked to make sure they knew what those terms meant and all six were able to explain the meaning of the terms.
The results of the second question showed that 11 out of 17 students could tell me what culture they identify with. The six students who could not explicitly said they did not know or gave responses
Figure 6.1 - Post-Survey, results for question 3
that were not on topic.
The results of the third question can be seen in Figure 6.1. 12 of 17 students were able to explain why culture is a topic that is significant to have knowledge of. The response stating, "To be smart" was not counted because it did not give sufficient reason as to why it is important to learn about culture. I did count the response, "To share food" because it was an experience that was prevalent in the unit plan and something that they did in their culture. I also counted, "To be with your family" because of the active involvement of family in the lessons and the role that family plays into culture.
Post-Survey
During the unit plan, I did conducted formal observations during three lessons. These lessons were the Senses lesson, specifically the Nature Walk Activity; the Community Partner visit when the children were speaking with Uncle Dante, the poke maker/fishmonger; and the Food Preparation lesson. The Nature Walk Activity and Community Partner visit showed elements of standard 1 and 3 in the CRTP framework. Students were connecting and engaging in instructional conversations with their peers and experts in their community. The Food Preparation lesson showed evidence of CRTP framework standard 1 which states that the "Teacher and students producing together through joint activity" (Howard, 2021).
In the Nature Walk Activity, students are to walk around sections of the school and just observe what they see. Then they find a spot to silently write or draw in a circle map the things that they observed. When this part of the lesson was through, we returned to class and with a partner, they go through their circle map and explain what they saw. This was the section in which I conducted my observations. I wanted to see if students were able to honor each other by taking turns and actively listen to their partners. I also took note if students were able to engage in meaningful conversations using academic language. In observing the students' interactions with each other, I noticed that 10 out of 17 students were able to explain their circle map in complete sentences and provide details of the things they saw. For example, one students stated "I can see Ms. Guzman's red door." Another stated, "I saw a bird flying to the other building." This differs from previous years that I conducted this lesson because students would just list out the things they see such as clouds, tree, grass, etc. I also observed that most partner pairings were able to take turns going through their circle map instead of speaking over each other. A few also respectively shared remarks while listening to their partner such as, "I saw that too!" or "I drew that on my circle map too!"
During the Community Partner visit to Foodland Farms, I observed the students' interaction with Uncle Dante, the poke maker/fishmonger. While he was making the poke for students to taste, a few students ask questions that the class generated together prior to our visit. This was an informal observation as I took note of the students' reactions to Uncle Dante's answers. One question asking "What is your favorite thing to cook?" sparked numerous student exclamations because Uncle Dante's response was "My favorite dish to make is adobo for my daughter." Multiple students felt the need to relate to Uncle Dante saying, "My mom cooks adobo!" or "I like adobo! That's my favorite!" This was notable because the students are actively relating to members of their community and making connections to their own culture.
Finally, during the Food Preparation Activity, I conducted observations of the students' involvement in creating our own recipe as a class. At this point, the students are already know of the class cultural cookbook we are producing and have gone through lessons that would assist in their knowledge of creating a recipe (informative writing lesson.) In a whole group assignment, we were going to make musubis and I made observations of the students who were involved in writing the recipe. I noticed that 11 out of 17 students were actively contributing in the recipe and the others were looking forward to the hands on portion of the lesson.
I also want to note informal observations that were made outside of these lessons and outside of the unit plan altogether that supported the effectiveness of CRTP in the classroom and its lasting effects on the students' lives.