Culturally responsive teaching is defined as “Using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them.” It is a means for improving achievement by teaching diverse students through their own cultural filters.
This comes across as an interesting essay review, by Professor Geneva Gay.
Some of the recurrent resistance to culturally responsive teaching might be more about difficulties and anxieties associated with embracing change in general, than cultural diversity specifically. Another resistance that has profound implications for implementing culturally responsive teaching is evident in the instructional materials most readily available and used by teachers. Such as textbooks, mass media, trade books, Internet, and other electronical resources. In addition, comes personal experiences. Even at their best, these resources still provide incomplete portrayals of ethnic and cultural diversity in textbooks and other instructional materials.
Since culture and difference are essential to humanity, they should play a central role in teaching and learning.
Link to Essay Review by Professor Geneva Gay http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1111/curi.12002