Author: Ms. Alexa Rose Pettinari
Date: February 2022
Storytelling is an instructional method that uses the act of telling stories to convey and illustrate sustainability ideas as a form of engaging teaching. The stories can be taken from literally anywhere, including from the students themselves.
This strategy draws on the concept of oral traditions of indigenous societies and folk art (United Nations, 2012). As this practice has been used for generations worldwide, it lends to increasing global competence when combined with diversity and inclusion practices in the lesson (Mwangi, 2012).
Storytelling links to the Education for Sustainable Development pedagogies of:
Links to traditional and indigenous knowledge and passes wisdom from one generation to the next;
Engages learners with cultural heritage and the fourth dimension of sustainability, culture;
Connects with auditory learners, who are not fully engaged in classroom-based on learning from textbooks, to address issues of classroom equity;
Incorporates principles, perspectives, and values related to sustainability (United Nations, 2012).
Storytelling provides the instructor the opportunity to implement culturally inclusive pedagogies and enrich the curriculum with diverse content.
Educational leaders should familiarize themselves with the characteristics of culturally responsive teaching practices for a variety of reasons. Firstly, culture is at the center of how learning takes place in every classroom all over the world (Gay, 2010 as cited in Samuels, 2018). The culturally responsive teaching practices help to facilitate learning through a student-centric approach including references to individual culture and integrating that sort of cultural inclusion into all aspects of learning (Ladson-Billings, 1995 as cited in Samuels, 2018).
Students come into the classroom carrying a diverse set of values and beliefs, they are their own banks of previous knowledge resulting from diverse cultural communities and homes (Ebersole et al., 2015).
Acknowledging these cultural differences is not only necessary but also incredibly valuable to a diverse classroom. Educational leaders are implored to be familiar with culturally responsive teaching practices because it is the duty of the teacher to best educate the individual student per their learning needs and backgrounds.
To disregard home culture and force assimilation into the classroom culture is a disservice to not only the student but to society at large.
Diversity in the classroom comes with many benefits, including but not limited to diverse skills and qualities, as well as diverse motivations and knowledge (Mwangi, 2012). Diversity and recognition of cultural diversity is a central tenet of the culturally responsive pedagogy. Any educational leader can clearly see how necessary it is to integrate native cultures into teaching practices for culturally diverse student bodies.
Culturally responsive teaching is when the teacher puts relationships with students at the core of everything they do (Ebersole et al., 2015). In my classroom, relationships are already at the core of everything I do because I have the privilege of classes under ten students. To eliminate the importance of the student/teacher relationship in this sort of setting would be a grave mistake.
Differentiated instruction is a necessary strategy in my classroom due to the diversity of background, ability, and skillsets my students exhibit. Differentiated instruction is similar to culturally responsive teaching because it emphasizes students as the core of the planning and instruction (Stanford & Reeves, 2009).
Differentiated instruction allows me as an educator to have many options of content, assessment, environment, and activity to accommodate the learning needs of my students (Stanford & Reeves, 2009). Additionally, it offers a framework for addressing learner variances as critical to planning (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006).
References
Ebersole, M., Kanahele-Mossman, H., & Kawakami, A. (2015, November 5). Culturally responsive teaching: Examining teachers’ understandings and perspectives. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 4(2), 97-104. http://dx.doi.org/10.11114/jets.v4i2.1136
Mwangi, M. (2012). 5 benefits of diversity in a 21st-century classroom. Tides Inc. http://www.tidesinc.org/2012/09/30/5-benefits-of-diversity-in-a-21st-century-classroom/
Samuels, A. J. (2018). Exploring culturally responsive pedagogy: Teachers' perspectives on fostering equitable and inclusive classrooms. SRATE Journal, 27(1), 22-30. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1166706.pdf
Stanford, B., & Reeves, S. (2009). Making it happen: Using differentiated instruction, retrofit framework, and universal design for learning. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 5(6), 1-9.
Tomlinson, C.A., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design: Connecting content and kids. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. https://chca-oh.instructure.com/files/3649/download?download_frd=1
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (2012). Education for sustainable development: Sourcebook. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=400&nr=926&menu=1515
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