I was fortunate enough to read this text with preservice teachers enrolled in a Multicultural Education class. That said, her work connects well with other scholarship, so I would likely use this text in an education class and pair it with another more traditional text about the subject, such as Geneva Gay’s landmark Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice.
Hammond provides an excellent layout for her ideas, and if anything, I would even love for some of the chapters and ideas to be expanded further.
She doesn’t just say how we can practice this pedagogy, but she tells what is happening in students’ brains when we do and do not use culturally responsive practices. Zaretta Hammond weaves neuroscience with both traditional and contemporary ideas of culturally responsive teaching. I particularly liked this text because it offered a new angle. I’ve read about a dozen professional development texts about culturally responsive teaching because I am very committed to this pedagogical concept. Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
