Throughout time, there have been many individuals that have made significantly positive contributions to the way education is structured and delivered. One of those individuals is Professor Geneva Gay, who has displayed a strong focus on culturally responsive teaching. She has unearthed many revelations and ideas on how to cater to culturally diverse student populations in a world where populations are becoming increasingly diverse.
Dr. Gay has focused much of her career on researching how to teach to multicultural groups of students. In one of her writings, she explains that the first crucial component of multicultural teaching is gathering and applying accurate information about multicultural groups to student bodies and classrooms appropriately (Gay, 2013, p. 49). Beyond having accurate information about teaching multicultural groups, Dr. Gay has developed her focus over the years to being responsive to diverse student groups. She has continuously emphasized that that education of diverse groups should “…connect in-school learning to out-of-school living…” in addition to promoting equality, creating community, and empowering the students (p. 49). She has delivered empirically successful methods and techniques concerning curriculum design, staff development, instruction, and interactions between the educational system and diversity (UWCE, 2018, para. 1).
What Dr. Gay has contributed to the world of education is not just a more effective way of teaching, but a way to leverage diversity to empower students to live their best lives. Bassey (2016) states that teachers that utilize some of the methods that Dr. Gay has developed concerning culturally responsive teaching “…see culture as a strength which can be used effectively to enhance academic and social achievement” (p. 1). Beyond research and writing, Dr. Gay has been an international consultant for teachers and educational administrators around the world including Canada, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Australia (UWCE, 2018, para. 2).
- Bassey, M. O. (2016). Culturally responsive teaching: Implications for educational justice. Education Sciences, 6(35), 1-6. doi:10.3390/educsci6040035
- Gay, G. (2013). Teaching to and through cultural diversity. Curriculum Inquiry. Retrieved from: https://www.wou.edu/~kaguzman11/curi12002.pdf
- University of Washington College of Education (2018). Geneva Gay. Retrieved from: https://education.uw.edu/people/faculty/ggay
