Culturally Responsive Education: Developing Lesson Plans for Vietnamese Students in the American Diaspora.

AbstractThis article focuses on the application of the philosophical principles of John Dewey and Culturally Responsive Education in the creation of lesson plans for Vietnamese students in the American Diaspora. Through a Fulbright-Hayes Program a group of teachers from the New York City Public School System and Long Island spent six weeks in Vietnam studying the language and culture in order to develop lesson plans that would address the needs of Vietnamese students in their classrooms. This study demonstrates the importance of teachers connecting with their students through the incorporation of sociocultural elements that translate to a culturally responsive curriculum, not just for students in the Vietnamese Diaspora but for all students.Keywords: Culturally Responsive Education, multiculturalism, diversity, language learners, identityIn the past couple of decades in the New York City Metro area, there has been a gradual increase in Vietnamese students in the public school system. It has been challenging for educators to develop lessons that are culturally responsive for this cohort. Educators must understand the background knowledge and histories of these students in order to develop lesson plans that succinctly connect to their lives in order to make what is being taught meaningful.This article looks at the connection of Dewey's philosophical ideals about education and its linkage to culturally responsive lesson plans created by a group of New York City and Long Island educators. John Dewey, father of Pragmatism, stated that, "I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of a child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself...he is stimulated to act as a member of a unity" (Dewey, 1897, p. 1). He believed that education "concentrates on means in education, believing that it is the ability of the individual to question through experience that is most important for the human community" (Glassman, 2001, p. 3). In a culturally responsive classroom, the tools of instruction (i.e., books, teaching methods, and activities) are incompatible with, or worse marginalize, the students' cultural experiences, a dis-connect with school is likely (Irvine, 1992). In essence, the inability of students to succeed may be seen as underachieving or the total rejection to perform at all through attrition.Literature ReviewEducators must utilize methods of Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) in order to make learning an accessible and significant experience that advances the opportunities of their students in a global society. Gay (2000) describes culturally responsive teaching as having characteristics that acknowledge cultural heritage that in turn impact student dispositions and attitudes about their education; culturally responsive teaching is purposeful in connecting student experiences to school through varied strategies. CRE is not the trivial celebration of cultural elements/icons from a minority community. It goes beyond the thin social function of multiculturalism in the classroom that might materialize as a day or month long acknowledgment of a particular subgroup of American society. CRE relates to students' linguistic and cultural elements so that the curriculum and classroom objectives are accessible.Banks (2013, p. 3) states, "multicultural education incorporates the idea that all students - regardless of their gender; sexual orientation; social class; and ethnic, racial, or cultural characteristics- should have an equal opportunity in school." Banks states that because of these characteristics some students will have more of an opportunity to learn and students identified in the "Other" category may be unfairly disadvantaged due to the present structure of the school. Bhabba (1995) disclosed the contradictions inherent in colonial discourse in order to highlight the colonizer's ambivalence in respect to his position toward the colonized "Other". …