On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
Culturally responsive classrooms intro
1. What are the key terms or ideas from this definition.
Acknowledge their presence and need for these
students to find relevant connections
In summary culturally responsive classrooms
acknowledge the presence of culturally diverse
students and find way to make the content and tasks
relevant to students.
The key idea her is that it is not just acknowledging
the differences but finding relevant connections
amount themselves and with the subject matter and
tasks.
Brain storm what this might look like in a classroom?
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3. Some specific areas that we can focus on to support
all student in a culturally responsive classroom is to
look at factors from various levels of a classroom or
school environment
Environmental and cultural factors are based on the
classroom and school environment
Instructional factors are the how we instruct
students in the classroom
Curricular factors are related to what we teach – last
semester we looked at curricular factors. For
example who is the curriculum written for or from
what perspective. Think about sexual health do some
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5. One thing that is very important is having clear
learning goals with examples of what you want
students to know and be able to do.
Be thoughtful when grouping, give some choice, for
groups of 4 have students pick someone they want
to work with then you choose the second pair to
form the group. Use homogeneous grouping by
ability sparingly. Start with individual work then
group based in interests or form diverse groups
based in interest.
Based on your clear defined goal develop formative
assessments that allow for adjustment in teaching as
needed. All assessment should lead to a clear goal
use performance assessments when appropriate.
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6. We will discuss DI in depth later this semester.
Content- What students learn (Essential vs. Nice to
know)
Process- How students learn (what processes will
you use to get to learning, Decision Making Model,
some students can learn this through working in a
group, others can learn it individually, another option
might be to do individual work then grouping.
Product - Provide varied formative assessments that
give students an opportunity to engage with the
content.
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7. When we look at the curriculum that we are teaching
it is important to be sure that the curriculum is
adapted to ensure that it is relevant, real, and right
know.
Involve student in the construction of knowledge
don’t give provide opportunities for students to take
what
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9. I would be totally out of line if I didn’t bring Banks back into the discussion here. This
is a key tenant to think about when curricular pedagogical decisions are made from
a multicultural perspective.
Contributions = Adding what a specific race/culture/individuals of a specific culture
have contributed to the content i.e. Cinco de Mayo, Black History Month, in PE look
at sports hero's from a specific country.
Additive = Adding specific examples that are culturally relevant to our students. in a
unit, or adding a section to every lesson that focuses on culture. In a role play using
names and situations that are relevant to students. In PE add a unit on the sports of
a specific country or culture.
Transformative = Viewing a situation from a variety of perspectives. For example
viewing tobacco marketing from the perspective of the tobacco industry then linking
it to how they have changed their marketing to focus on specific racial and ethnic
groups. Look at
Also examining another perspective beyond the traditional view.
For example when discussing disease you might want to give students an
opportunity to research and examine how health officials might have unfairly treated
individuals (Tuskegee Syphilis study,
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10. It is important that we start by looking at our
personal, professional and instructional practices
then identify how we can support an environment,
curriculum and instruction that is responsive to
diverse student needs.
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