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The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived impact of critical reflection on my cultural competence and practice of culturally responsive caring as a high school choral director. Caring educators establish trusting relationships with students that support them as teachers in identifying their strengths and interests, then employ that knowledge to develop student-centric curricula that generate opportunities for student success (Gay, 2018; Hendricks, 2018; Noddings, 2012). This practice is what Geneva Gay (2018) termed culturally responsive teaching. Gay (2018) also asserted, however, that a teacher cannot not claim to nurture caring relationships without accompanying cultural awareness. Considering ongoing and increasing social and political tensions that lead to societal divides in the United States, educators could benefit from practicing awareness so they can facilitate learning environments in which students are challenged, courageous, and inspired to explore their identities in caring environments. The pursuit of such cultural awareness, competence, and humility demands ongoing, authentic critical reflection—a vulnerable and arduous practice (Howard, 2003). This autoethnographic study considers literature positing that caring relationships in education demand profound and intentional cultural competence. It explores critical reflection as a means for developing such competence. This is an in-depth investigation into my pursuit of a culturally responsive caring practice as a high school choral director and product of the community in which I teach. The implications of this study describe my “cultural experience as it is particularly—not generally—lived” (Adams, et al., 2015, p. 41). The resulting narrative may encourage further research and empower educators and teacher educators to commit to a similar critically reflective practice that can lead to an authentic practice of culturally responsive caring.

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Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) was birthed from the framework of multicultural education. Multicultural Education is a broad framework that focuses on equity amongst race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomics, disabilities, and other groups who identified as marginalized. Culturally responsive teaching encompasses the ability to acknowledge cultural differences, expand diversity of thought, all while having a caring relationship with students. The literature says that both of the multicultural education and CRT, help foster inclusive classrooms and spaces on campus. CRT also notes that a teacher’s ability to care about students influences positive outcomes for learning. For the last 30 years, CRT has been studied from the perspective of K-12 students. While this research is important the researcher argues that culturally responsive teaching is needed at the university. All research questions for this study were created through the lens of multicultural education, CRT, and Nodding’s Caring Theory. Since CRT is typically examined with minority students only, the researcher explored both minority and White students at Mississippi State University to understand if the techniques were equitable and inclusive for all learners. A total of eight focus groups were held between Fall 2017 to Fall 2019 with 39 total participants, undergraduate (n=28) and graduate students (n= 11). Participants included mostly minority students (n=21) and females (n= 21). While there were some major differences between undergraduate and graduate CRT experiences, there were more commonalities that arose when theming occurred. Students from all focus groups were able to identify at least five out of the six characteristics of culturally responsive teaching; however, minority students were able to talk about feelings of exclusion inside and outside of the classroom, as it pertained to the racial and ethnic identity. Minority students were better able to identify what culturally responsive teaching means and what it looks like in practice. Minority students were also more reflective in their responses around feeling included and excluded both inside and outside of the classroom. All students wanted a teacher that cared for them and to make the course material relevant to their lives.

This qualitative study sought to understand community college faculty’s perceptions of and experiences with culturally responsive teaching. Participants were full- and part-time faculty currently employed at community colleges in the Southeastern United States and purposefully selected to provide information-rich data. Data collected from the semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the participants were coded and thematically analyzed. Emerging themes included faculty’s inclusion of varied categories of cultural diversity when describing students; limited knowledge related to culturally responsive teaching; perception that culturally responsive teaching is centered on connecting and building relationships with students; belief in the value of providing students exposure to different cultures; perception that culturally responsive teaching increases students’ employability; perception of numerous challenges with the implementation of culturally responsive teaching; identification of current strategies they believed reflected culturally responsive teaching practice; recognition of the need for more professional development related to culturally responsive teaching; desire for professional development experiences with practical strategies; and identification of the challenges related to professional development. The findings may inform community colleges’ implementation of culturally responsive teaching and related professional development, as well indicate areas where more research about culturally responsive teaching in community colleges is needed.

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