Warren, C. A. (2018). Empathy, teacher dispositions, and preparation for culturally responsive pedagogy. Journal of Teacher Education, 69(2), 169-183.
Summary. Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) is a mix of empirical and theoretical concepts being utilized in a way that allows an instructor to teach using empathy and respect to a wide range of students from varying cultures. In Chezare Warren’s article, “Empathy, Teacher Dispositions, and Preparation for Culturally Responsive Pedagogy,” (2017), argues that there is currently a lack in instructor training and development in CRP, and that preparing instructors in this way, will make their teaching more engaging. Warren believes that in order to use CRP in the classroom, instructors need to utilize skills in empathy (2017). According to Warren, “empathy acts as an instructional mechanism that teacher educators might use to help teacher candidates notice patterns in their own beliefs,” and “one modeled, practiced, and discussed during their professional preparation to teach, the process of applying empathy” may be employed to “expand their first-person knowledge” of a specific student’s cultural background (Warren, 2017, pg. 1). Through Warren’s literature review, he finds a lack in teacher preparedness in terms of empathy, and in-turn a lack in CRP being practiced in K-12 settings. Warren then uses knowledge gained from this literature review to develop a model for an instructors who utilize CRP and how to practice it within teacher education.
Evaluation. Many research articles based around pedagogic concepts most effective for diverse classrooms are more often than not written by Caucasian individuals with very westernized research practices. It was refreshing to find that this article’s author does not fit the typical mold, and thus may have fewer biases that other articles of a similar nature may have. With that being said, many of the articles cited in this writing for the literature review are older and fit very neatly into the box of Westernized writing with little inclusion or diversity of writers, however, this is not the fault of the author but an example of the lack of diverse voices within the writing community. The main strength of this article is that it is accessible, easy to follow, and readers can possibly develop their own models for teacher education using the information outlined within the article. What could have made this a stronger article is the inclusive of research outside of literature review, perhaps a survey of some form would have been interesting and desirable.
Application. This article is related to my own area of interest in terms of research because it addresses the need for more training and development on teaching to a diverse classroom. Prior to reading this article I had not been aware of CRP, and think it will be a useful concept to help guide my own research throughout my doctoral program. I want to find more research like this to help develop my own theories and pedagogy for teaching, mores specifically, to indigenous students within the United States. Given the negative connotation that Westernized education practices currently have within the Native American community, I think it is vital to provide meaningful training to educators to be more effective and respectful when teaching at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs).
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