Conclusions: Moving Forward with Responsive Science
“You pursued learning because this is how you asserted yourself as a free person; how you claimed your humanity. You pursued learning so you could work for social-uplift, for the liberation of your people. You pursued education so you could prepare yourself to lead your people” (Perry, ctd. in Delpit 2012, pp. 38-39).
“If we – and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of others – do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world” (Baldwin 1963).
“If we – and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of others – do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world” (Baldwin 1963).
“Our aspirations are our possibilities” – Robert Browning |
“The best way to predict the future is to create it” – Peter Drucker |
“Be a light in the world. The torch is handy.” – Dr. Carol Pope, 2014 |
Turning Learning into Action:
Culturally responsive teaching for global competence in the 21st century
The result of my graduate studies in the NCSU New Literacies and Global Learning program has been a personal and professional transformation. I owe this transformation to the synthesis, literature, and reflection I have worked through, facilitated by the professors of College of Education. While I am not the same as when I began this journey, I have found an educator within myself that I believe was always present, but undiscovered, and unimagined. Today, I am proud of the discovery of myself as a scholar, a teacher leader, and as a social justice educator. I am beholden to the responsibilities these roles require of me. And I am thankful for the opportunities and insights afforded to me by the mentors and colleagues I have met along the way.
I entered this program with a distinct goal in mind – to harness the tools necessary to build socially conscious global citizens within the walls of my science classroom. I am leaving with the knowledge, skills, and resources that will empower me to put that goal into action.
The compelling question that has guided my graduate studies has been “How can I teach my High School science classes as globally and culturally responsive courses?” The answer I have found through my work with these themes is that culturally responsive pedagogy, empowered by multimodal, digital media tools and texts, and designed to develop students’ global competence, will provide a foundation for learning that is lasting and meaningful for all students, relevant to their academic, sociocultural, civic, and global contexts.
The actions I will take to implement these findings include:
I entered this program with a distinct goal in mind – to harness the tools necessary to build socially conscious global citizens within the walls of my science classroom. I am leaving with the knowledge, skills, and resources that will empower me to put that goal into action.
The compelling question that has guided my graduate studies has been “How can I teach my High School science classes as globally and culturally responsive courses?” The answer I have found through my work with these themes is that culturally responsive pedagogy, empowered by multimodal, digital media tools and texts, and designed to develop students’ global competence, will provide a foundation for learning that is lasting and meaningful for all students, relevant to their academic, sociocultural, civic, and global contexts.
The actions I will take to implement these findings include:
- Designing lessons that reference the diverse experiences, values, and cultural legacies of my students.
- Designing lessons that place science content in real-world, social and global contexts that are of interest and value to my students.
- Designing lessons that utilize new media tools that will contribute to students’ development of digital competence.
- Designing lessons that engage students with rigorous, diverse text resources and appropriate support strategies.
- Designing lessons that call attention to issues of social justice, and provide students with opportunities to act on inequities in all of their contexts.