How to Teach Students Who Don′t Look Like You: Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies

Like so many good how-to books, _How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You: Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies_ delivers more than it promises. While it does indeed include many strategies for teaching students whose background and culture differ from the teacher's, many of the strategies -- such as building relationships with students and creating an environment where students interact positively with each other -- are beneficial in *any* classroom. Author Bonnie M. Davis has given us something all too rare: a book that is thoroughly researched (with a bibliography of 8 1/2 pages) yet easily readable. No doubt this follows naturally from Davis's own experience: Her Ph.D. in English is complemented by thirty-seven years teaching in a variety of classrooms. _How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You_ is a valuable resource for any teacher. It provides opportunities for readers to reflect and respond, to examine their own thoughts and feelings, to set goals. The book can be used by one person, by a school group for professional development, or by a class of preservice teachers. In the Facilitator's Guide at the end of the book Davis suggests particular chapters that would be appropriate for 60- or 90-minute workshops with various groups. Using the book with a group (even a group of two) including people from different cultures adds a new dimension to the study. Davis gently leads her audience, first inviting readers to examine themselves and their own culture. Once we recognize that we look at the world through a "unique lens," we are more likely to recognize that others do, too. The better we understand people's culture, the better we can understand and relate to (and teach) them. Davis includes many practical, concrete suggestions for valuing other cultures. She challenges educators to consider how far into their school students must walk before they find someone who "looks like them" or find other evidence of their culture. If a student is not validated by his or her academic environment, is it realistic to expect that student to succeed academically? About one third of _How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You_ includes specific teaching strategies, indicating appropriate levels and subjects for each. Davis devotes several chapters to the development of literacy skills, collaborative projects, and multidisciplinary experiences. _How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You_ is likely to encourage and inspire teachers who are frustrated or overwhelmed. Its practical, concrete approach provides educators with suggestions they can implement immediately so that they begin to see a difference in their students.

Written by a professional who has successfully trained hundreds of teachers, Bonnie Davis' How To Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You: Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies is a straightforward guide especially for schoolteachers instructing classes with students whose ethnic and cultural background may predispose them to see the world in an entirely different way. Chapters cover how improve one's background knowledge about different cultures and learning styles, how to create an environment that supports diverse learners, researched-based teaching strategies including how to inspire a love of reading and writing in diverse learners, and much more. Written in plain terms, often concentrating its key ideas into easy-to-follow bullet points, How to Teach Students Who Don't Look Like You is a singularly valuable resource especially for teachers struggling to close "achievement gaps" in the classroom.

This collection of things to do to promote cultural understanding within oneself and inclusion in the classroom is essential for every teacher's library, teacher education classes, and for all educators interested in preparing our children for a diverse universe. Filled with practical suggestions, intrasprective honesty and sensivity to a wealth of differences, this could be a text for methods classes dealing with ways to create safe classroom environments, as well as culturally proficient students living in our multicultural world.