FOR-PD Literacy Blog

FOR-PD has just posted a new audio interview from Dr. Gerald Campano, assistant professor in Language Education at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. A former classroom teacher, his research and teaching interests focus on practitioner inquiry, (im)migrant identities in the context of schooling, and new literacies.

Below you will find a key question from the interview.

If you would like to listen to or view the rest of the interview questions, please visit: http://www.forpd.ucf.edu/resources/campano.html

Q: In your book, Immigrant Students and Literacy, you reflect on the importance of culturally responsive teaching. What does this mean and how can teachers successfully incorporate into the K-12 classroom?

A: There are many scholars including Geneva Gay, Gloria Ladson-Billings and Sonja Nieto who have written deeply and eloquently about cultural responsive teaching. I might begin by honoring the famous words of the intellectual and writer from Martinique, Aime Cesaire, who recently passed away. He said, “No race has a monopoly on beauty or intelligence or strength.” If we truly begin with this premise, and I do, then we can view the robust diversity of many 21st century classrooms, not as the problem as it is too often framed, but as an incredible and mutually edifying opportunity – an opportunity to learn about one another, ourselves, and our shared world and collective wellbeing. These opportunities can only be realized however if we as educators build literacy curricula that honors our student’s rich experiences, cultural legacies, and their potential to learn from others. It happens when we look at our students, their families and communities as deep intellectual resources. This can and should happen at any point across the educational trajectory. I have taught first, fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth, twelfth grades, undergraduate and graduate students. A culturally responsive and engaged pedagogy is valuable for all students in any learning context.