ABSTRACT
This chapter explores practical implications of themes that emerged from students’ accounts of their experiences, offering recommendations for choral music educators who seek to practice culturally responsive teaching (CRT). CRT is an approach to teaching rather than a prescriptive method. CRT is also an asset-based pedagogy, meaning that teachers build on the knowledge, perspectives, experiences, and strengths learners contribute to the classroom community rather than viewing education as a process of remedying supposed deficits. Broadening students’ horizons might involve a degree of personal discomfort as they acquire knowledge and skills beyond the realm of their prior experience. Teachers’ and students’ perspectives shed light on underexplored possibilities for CRT that could inform future research and practice. The fact that CRT evolves in response to particular students’ cultural backgrounds, identities, and learning needs precludes the possibility of offering a definitive “how-to” guide that can guarantee culturally responsive practice with any students in any context.
