There is an ongoing movement in Los Angeles Unified School District toward Culturally Relevant and Responsive Education (CRRE).

Teachers are required to attend six hours of training on the subject which encourages cultural sensitivity and an appreciation of students’ home cultures.

The one area where I believe these trainings miss the mark is that they don’t realize the growing importance of technology on students’ cultures. If you asked students about their cultures I suspect that they would mostly likely identify with video games and television more so than our typical picture of their home cultures might suggest. Students don’t want to be lectured about what their culture is but an appreciation of the digital world from which they’re coming from would be much appreciated. (Even at a low income school, students arrive with camera phones and Gameboy-like devices in their backpacks).

Culture, by nature, is growing and shifting at all times. I think we have to accept this and begin to realize the importance of technology to students’ lives and begin to capitalize on this in the classroom. Project based learning with technology would clearly increase student engagement and provide activities which are culturally relevant and responsive to the individual needs of students.

As always, I welcome your comments.