Summer Reading-Part 1

Now that my assessment course has come and gone, I finally have some free time to enjoy some summer reading. I previously posted about two books that were on my summer reading agenda, but I ended up reading a third book that I am excited to talk about. 

It's called Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

For the past few years, my personal bible on culturally responsive practices has been Geneva Gay's Culturally Responsive Teaching

I recently came across another great resource that is a very teacher friendly guide to culturally responsive practices.  

What's new about Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain is pretty evident in the title. This text connects the research on culturally responsive instruction with "cutting-edge neuroscience research" which is really impactful and interesting. 

I majored in Psychology at Villanova University, so the content of this book brings me back to those days of learning about neural pathways, dendrites, axons, and myelination. I remember writing my first cover letters for education jobs after graduation and trying to leverage my degree in psychology by mentioning how connecting new content to students' background knowledge resulted in the activation of more neurons and therefore increased the likelihood students would remember the new content. 

It's been awhile since I have actively studied the brain or research on brain functioning, so this book has been very interesting to read. 

"Neural pathways are important because when we go back and forth along this pathway when thinking or problem solving, it helps drive new learning deeper into long-term memory until it becomes automatic or deeply understood."

I think the idea of background knowledge is pretty basic to teachers, yet the idea of funds of knowledge is more specific to the literature on culturally responsive instruction. We don't just need to have access to what students have experienced, we also need to understand their cultural knowledge and ways of thinking and learning in order to ensure that we are not putting forth culturally biases curriculum and assessment. When we fail to truly relate to students or activate their prior knowledge/background knowledge/cultural knowledge, they are certainly at a disadvantage in remembering the content due to the way in which the brain connects new information to already stored information. 

Another key point is that strong memories are highly charged by emotion because of the way that the brain responds to emotional experiences (particularly emotionally negative experiences). Our brain utilizes the fight or flight function and the stress hormone cortisol then inhibits all other cognitive functions such as learning, problem solving or creative thinking. 

What this means for teachers is that we need to put forth our best effort to connect with students. 

"Too often though, we ignore the quality of our interactions with students and instead focus primarily on the curriculum."

I am guilty of this....anyone else? 

"In culturally responsive teaching, the relationships are as important as the curriculum."

I have read Geneva Gay's work extensively and I have even published a few articles myself on the topic of culturally responsive instruction. I know how important it is to build relationships with students in order to generate trust, but reading specifically about how these relationships affect the brain is fascinating! 

"Neuroscience tells us the brain feels safest and relaxed when we are connected to others we trust to treat us well."

The brain will certainly be more productive and ready to learn when being flooded with feel-good Oxytocin rather than stress-induced Cortisol! 

The book's author, Zaretta Hammond also identifies 6 principles she calls 

"Culturally Responsive Brain Rules"

1. The brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with others in community. 

2. Positive relationships keep our safety-threat detection system in check.

3. Culture guides how we process information.

4. Attention drives learning.

5.All new information must be coupled with existing funds of knowledge in order to be learned.

6. The brain physically grows through challenge and stretch, expanding its ability to do more complex thinking and learning.

I have not quite finished reading this book, but I plan to do so as soon as I am done writing this post. I think the concept of culturally responsive instruction is definitely worth reading up on, but this book in particular has been very informative and motivating.