Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

“Language is powerful. When you are able to name a thing, it moves out of the realm of mystery into concreteness.”

Hammond argues that explicitly naming culturally responsive teaching removes its abstract mystique, bringing it to the necessary forefront of academic discourse.

“One of the goals of education is not simply to fill students with facts and information but to help them learn how to learn.”

Throughout the book, Hammond argues against rote memorization and passive input, which are unaligned with the goals of education. Students must be guided towards metacognition, which “includes a critical awareness of a) one’s thinking and learning and b) oneself as a thinker and learner” (Chick, Nancy. “Metacognition.” Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, 2013).

“School practices that emphasize lecture and rote memorization are part of what Martin Haberman calls a ‘pedagogy of poverty’ that sets students up to leave high school with outdated skills and shallow knowledge.”

Hammond again emphasizes the limitations of rote memorization, linking this classroom practice to social injustice; often students who simply regurgitate information never learn how to think creatively and critically.

“Too often, we think of the physical set up of our classroom as being culturally ‘neutral’ when in reality it is often an extension of the teacher’s worldview or the dominant culture.”

Hammond addresses the misconception that classrooms don’t have cultural charges or connotations. To eliminate cultural bias, she argues that setting up the classroom environment must be an act of intentional, strategic thinking.

“Culture, it turns out, is the way that every brain makes sense of the world.”

Hammond links cultural identity to neuroscience, as the human brain interprets the world through a cultural filter. Thinking, of any kind, does not happen in a cultural vacuum.

“Most families are trapped in poverty and do not embrace it as a way of life.”

Here, Hammond dispels the notion that poverty itself has a culture, arguing instead that families are often stuck within cycles of poverty. Families do not choose to be poor.

“Culturally responsive teaching isn’t a set of engagement strategies you use on students. Instead, think of it as a mindset, a way of looking at the world.”

More than a toolkit, culturally responsive teaching is a fundamental paradigm shift. The essential premise is that people learn best when prompted to learn through a deep connection to their cultural context.

“The true power of culturally responsive teaching comes from being comfortable in your own skin because you are not a neutral party in the process.”

Hammond wants to empower teachers to take ownership of their role within the culturally responsive classroom. This requires profound self-reflection and present mindfulness.

“The old adage we usually hear is that “practice makes perfect.” Based on what we know about neuroplasticity and deliberate practice, we should rephrase that to read, “practice makes permanent.”

Repetition of a particular skill establishes neural pathways. The goal is not perfection, but to engage more meaningfully in practices that are culturally relevant and responsive.

“Take an inquiry stance. Collect some data on a small group of students rather than trying to assess the class as a whole all at once.” 

Hammond argues that building trust and rapport with students requires truly understanding them as individuals within a group context. Otherwise, a teacher’s default assumption may be that everything is fine, without really homing in on the particular needs of students.

“Often we misinterpret a student’s self-doubt or negative mindset as a lack of engagement or motivation when we see him exhibiting those common symptoms—zoning out, acting up, or shutting down in class.”

Hammond reminds the reader that the root of the problem for many students is a narrative they have told themselves about their own academic potential and capability. Once they are able to confront their own self-doubt, the goal for students is to become self-motivated.

“Too often, we think of a student’s academic mindset as a personal choice or an extension of his family’s failure to value education.”

Hammond emphasizes how systemic factors influence a student’s mindset. She argues that school structures often perpetuate inequities that lead to a student internalizing a narrative about their own academic aptitude.

“The internal scripts students develop that turn into a negative academic mindset or low engagement in the classroom are a result of the everyday microaggressions they encounter.”

Microaggressions “are the thinly veiled, everyday instances of racism, homophobia, sexism (and more) that you see in the world. Sometimes it’s an insult, other times it’s an errant comment or gesture” (Limbong, Andrew. “Microaggressions are a big deal: How to talk them out and when to walk away.” NPR.org, 2020). Although microaggressions can seem innocuous, they leave an indelible mark on the students they affect. Hammond explains that microaggressions contribute to long-term negative biases in students.

“Our ultimate goal as culturally responsive teachers is to help dependent learners learn how to learn.”

Hammond summarizes the vision of culturally responsive teaching, emphasizing the importance of culturally responsive practices in establishing long-term intellectual habits.

“Think of the brain like a power plant that takes raw material and moves it through a series of filters, blenders, and applications in order to turn that raw material into something useable.”

Hammond sets the stage for describing the three stages of information processing. She uses the analogy of the brain as a power plant that helps sort and categorize information. The three stages of information processing are input, elaboration, and application.

“Attention is the first step in learning.”

Hammond argues that it is impossible to learn, remember, or understand a concept if we do not give it our full attention. For this reason, educators must intentionally employ culturally responsive attention-getting strategies.

“Music is a common multicultural attention-getting cue.” 

Hammond lists musical cues as powerful tools for setting the stage for learning through sensory stimulus.

“It turns out the brain is wired for stories.” 

Hammond explains that the brain’s neurons are stimulated in a variety of ways when we tell or listen to a story, which is the justification for “story-ifying” content whenever possible.

“For new neural pathways to consolidate, the learner has to apply their new understanding within 24 hours.”

This is a more sophisticated explanation of the “use it lose it” idea, the notion that the brain will not retain information it is not actively applying. Consistent practice, therefore, is necessary for developing a student’s intellective capacity.

“The ethos in the classroom has to support students to adopt a positive academic mindset.”

So much of a student’s learning depends on the classroom environment. Hammond argues that the classroom ethos must consist of frequent opportunities for lifting a student’s spirits and emotions.

“We learn more when we are in conversation with others.”

Hammond emphasizes the power of talking in the classroom as a conduit for learning. However, teachers must monitor their own airtime and allow students to verbalize their understanding and questions.

“Remember that even as educators, we are subjected to the same amygdala hijack as our students.”

Hammond encourages educators to explore culturally responsive teaching practices in an authentic way, realizing that for many teachers these new practices will push them beyond their comfort zones.

“Leadership doesn’t always mean being out in front of a group.”

Hammond reminds the reader that leadership is defined not only by “having the mic” but by demonstrating an open learning posture that invites others to learn by example.