51 pages • 1-hour read
Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
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Part 3, Chapter 8-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary and Analysis
Hammond reminds the reader that culturally responsive teaching practices exist primarily to help dependent learners learn how to acquire knowledge independently. To move toward this goal, teachers must find ways to build students’ intellective capacity, which relies on an understanding of how the brain processes information. Hammond explains that the brain processes information in three stages: input, elaboration, and application. During the input stage, the brain filters information according to perceived importance. During elaboration, the brain “makes material memorable and meaningful” (125). Finally, in the application stage, the brain creates neural pathways when an idea is reviewed or a skill practiced.
Hammond explains four culturally responsive techniques. These are filtered through four macro-level instructional strategies: ignite (a strategic attention-getter), chunk (giving students a limited amount of content at one time), and chew (providing students with dedicated time to actively process new information). Hammond emphasizes the importance of implementing cognitive routines in the classroom, which allow them to move toward independent learning. Hammond identifies two factors in determining whether or not a cognitive routine is effective: first, a strong cue—often sensory—that indicates the start of the activity, and second, the routine’s steps must be passed on to the students, so that they can eventually engage with them independently.
Hammond highlights one of the book’s central themes: the constant disparities caused by the achievement gap. By naming the consequences of the achievement gap, Hammond connects the rest of the chapter to the book’s broader premise. Understanding how the brain processes information shows how science and a call to social justice, framed by the responsibility of consciousness, fundamentally intersect.
Chapter 9 Summary and Analysis
Hammond focuses on the importance of establishing a classroom environment that supports culturally responsive teaching practices. According to Hammond, the environment serves as a second teacher, as the “classroom is a critical container for empowering marginalized students” (142). Hammond argues that a classroom’s ethos plays a significant role in establishing the environment. The environment must be reflective of values that demonstrate the educator’s priorities. According to Hammond, the ethos of a culturally responsive classroom environment also consists of routines and rituals that provide students with emotional stability—students grow accustomed to the environment, which increases their sense of belonging. Hammond cites rituals such as the use of music or a call and response routine, or reciting a phrase or verse as a daily classroom ritual.
In addition to routines and rituals, Hammond highlights the importance of student agency and voice in establishing a culturally responsive classroom ethos. When students have the opportunity to speak in class, they contribute to community building. Discussion must take cultural and linguistic diversity into account; the way people talk to each other varies across cultures. What a teacher may consider rude or chaotic may be a natural style of communication within the students’ cultural framework. Hammond argues that instructional conversations, in which students “talk about their own thinking and learning process” (149), are vital to developing a strong classroom ethos.
Hammond refers to the work of bilingual literacy educator Kris Gutierrez to emphasize the role of the classroom environment as a “sociocultural third space” (143). In this space, students can express themselves in ways that develop their values while strengthening their academic skills. Once teachers have realized the importance of establishing a strong classroom ethos, they must keep in mind the multicultural classrooms that they lead.
Epilogue Summary and Analysis
Hammond offers her own perspective on a call to action. Having established the theoretical and practical framework for culturally responsive teaching and its relationship to brain science, she encourages teachers in their next steps. She suggests that they reframe paradigms, primarily in the following three ways: rethinking how classroom time is spent to prioritize information processing, formative assessments that lead to cognitive insight, and feedback that results from instructional conversations. Hammond acknowledges that her book is not a how-to guide for lesson planning with cultural responsiveness in mind, and that teachers may be frustrated by lack of prescriptive specificity.
She encourages teachers to “embrace their conscious incompetence” (153), the natural awkwardness and potential discomfort of trying something new or unfamiliar. Hammond discourages the pursuit of instant perfection. Instead, she focuses on the value of inquiry and reflection as a conduit for constant improvement. She makes a point of referring to school leaders. Teachers, she says, cannot simply be told to be more culturally responsive if there is not a structure within the school that allows them to take risks. Finally, Hammond calls teachers to be champions of equity, to lead more by example than by speechmaking. This will allow teachers to expand their influence while educating students in an equitable way.
In this final section, Hammond highlights two major themes—the disparities in public education and the responsibility of consciousness. Hammond focuses on the larger implications that accompany the call to action she proposes for teachers. In order to truly practice equity, teachers must internalize their role in addressing historic achievement gaps and respond with cultural awareness. Hammond pleads with teachers and instructional leaders to fully commit to the work of culturally responsive practices.
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