Indigenous Knowledge & Cultural Responsiveness in my practice

My critical understanding of indigenous knowledge (IK) and cultural responsiveness (CR) ...

Warren (1991) talks about indigenous knowledge being local knowledge and the basis for local-level decision-making. It is knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation. Cultural responsiveness is both visible and invisible ie; it can be visible through music and art or invisible through values, beliefs and feelings (Teaching Tolerance, 2010). It is how we draw out and include culture in our classrooms that make us culturally responsive teachers. The best example that springs to mind is through the use of comprehension strategies in a guided reading group when we as teachers draw out prior knowledge and make connections to the child's world as we learn to read.

How has my school been informed by IK & CR pedagogy in 

• vision, mission and values?

Our School has recently involved the community in a revamp of our vision and values. The parents, teachers and students have been involved in selecting the words that best represent us as a school to define our beliefs of what is important. The opinions were sought via digital survey and via written submission. On reflection some groups may have preferred to orally share their ideas and a meeting could have been arranged to welcome this input from these groups in our community. 

• resources?

Our resources are both tangible in the form of books and digital devices - and also in the form of people as in teachers, teacher aides and other experts. This is an area I think we could do better to improve our practice as a culturally responsive school. Not only in the resources we purchase but by inviting families into our classrooms more often, asking representatives to help transition children from their previous schools, early childhood centres, visiting children in these centres and enabling students to bring their prior knowledge, values and beliefs along with them. 

The Pacifika evaluation tool:

Participation, Engagement, Achievement

The school involves parents and families to support students and the schools activities by:

• encouraging parent helpers in our classrooms and for out of classroom activities
• being involved in 3 way interviews - teacher, parents, child
• having home/school homework links
• regular communication via newsletter, face-book, text message
• inviting whanau 1 every term to be part of our celebration of learning in each classroom

The school ensures it's vision, mission and core values reflect cultural responsiveness by:

• involving the whole community in a review of the vision, mission and core values
• collating data collected and changing signage, in class teaching and learning focus to reflect new vision and values.

References:
Teaching Tolerance.( 2010, Jun 17).Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8

Warren, D. M. (1991). Using indigenous knowledge in agricultural development (No. 127). World Bank.