STCC | Culturally Relevant Teaching
Community of Practice [CoP]
Timely Reads:
As we move into the harvest season consider investigating these Culturally Responsive Ways to Teach the History of Thanksgiving. Included within is a link to Native Land Digital featuring a digital map and Territory Acknowledgement guide. Explore the display of Indigenous territories (official and unofficial) worldwide and learn more about the complex history of the land and each nation, language, or treaty associated with it. These articles and many more are archived on the Professional Development resources page.
2024 February 27 Notes & Handouts
Purpose: The purpose of an Action Plan is to give you a framework for thinking about how you will complete your goal efficiently.
Tasks: After reflecting upon what culturally relevant or equity practice[s] you would like to improve.
Define the goal.
Outline steps to achieve it
Identify needed materials or resources.
Set a timeline for completion.
Describe how you will recognize goal completion.
Specify the Action Step completion
Add any notes.
Making Culturally Responsive Teaching Work_ Zaretta Hammond Corrects 3 Big Misconceptions (Opinion).pdfZaretta Hammond Corrects Misconceptions
Relevant Thoughts from Zaretta Hammond:
Teachers need to develop their understanding of the pro-social cultural ways of interacting rooted in a particular group’s community that go beyond a checklist or one-off strategies.
The goal isn’t to simply have a friendly relationship. Culturally responsive teaching is a holistic approach that uses the relational trust developed between teacher and student to move the student into her zone of proximal development where deep learning happens and students “get ready for rigor.”
The culturally responsive educator assumes the role of “warm demander of students’ cognitive development,” where knowing students well is coupled with apprentice-like supports, not over scaffolding.
We do this by noticing and naming the ways we see students stretching their thinking, making connections between what they already know and the new content being taught in a lesson. The goal isn’t to give a pep talk or cheer them on, but to witness and appreciate the ways they use their brain power as they engage in productive struggle.
Yes, we need a curriculum that is inclusive and provides accurate history and facts. That doesn’t mean it only needs to be centered around social-justice themes. Students of color care about a variety of topics that interest them. They are interested in more than just civil rights.
The more we learn about our students, the more we can contextualize the curriculum in age-appropriate ways.
This begins with teachers asking what matters to their students, what topics get them excited, where is their intellectual curiosity.
We will need to expand our understanding of how culturally responsive pedagogies work. Educators need high-quality professional learning around an interdisciplinary approach to child development in a diverse society. That means recognizing and moving beyond the oversimplified definitions and performative actions too many educators have developed. It isn’t too late to move beyond checklists and motivational engagement strategies to realize the real promise and potential of culturally responsive teaching as a method to help students own and level up their learning.
February 16, 2023
How to practically apply CRT practices to your classroom and use the worksheet to create an approach.
2023 Feb 16 CRT CoP2023 Jan Part Two Application_ Draft of Culturally Responsive Teaching_ Best Practices Share Out.pdfMarch 9, 2023
Worksheet follow up & Precious Knowledge follow up.
Make a copy of the CRT CoP Worksheet
Add notes, thoughts and questions
During our next meeting we will discuss the movie Precious Knowledge.
Watch the trailer below.
Then, log into the STCC Library website, at the middle of the page look for the box STCC Library Discovery Search and navigate to the Films tab. You will be prompted to use your STCC ID to log in. Click Kanopy, search for Precious Knowledge.
Watch the movie and note any questions or thoughts you would like to share next meeting.
The STCC CRT CoP will reconvene in the Fall 2023 semester. If you have interest or ideas for this Community of Practice, please email: mwiseman@stcc.edu
September 15, 2022 Meeting
Culturally Responsive Teaching_ Best Practices Share Out pdf.pdfIn this session Jennifer and Yezenia discussed what is culturally responsive teaching and why it is important to our institution, as an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). They also shared their current practices as well allowed participants to share what they are doing in their own classrooms.
Presenters:
Yezenia Lopez, is an academic advisor and adjunct faculty member with over 4 years of experience working in higher education. Some of the courses that she has taught include general psychology, First-Year Experience, and ECE courses in Spanish. She is currently the Co-chair of the Hispanic Association in Higher Education (HAHE).
Jennifer Wallace-Johnson is a longtime Springfield Technical Community College employee who has served in roles within Campus Safety, Student Support Services, and Academic Affairs. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Social Work, as a co-chair of the Hispanic Association in Higher Education at STCC, and a Board of trustee at the Martin Luther King Charter School of Excellence in Springfield, MA.
Meeting Notes:
October 20, 2022 Meeting
White-Privilege_McIntosh-1989.pdfPeggy McIntosh invites you to reflect on the privileges you bring to your classroom.
Other Resources:
AIA Culturally Responsive Teaching: An Essential Practice for Educational Equity Toolkit
November 17, 2022 Meeting
Notes, thoughts, questions about the movie Precious Knowledge.
Kishimoto, K. (2018). Anti-racist pedagogy: From faculty’s self-reflection to organizing within and beyond the classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(4), 540-554.
During our November 17, 2022 Meeting we will discuss the movie Precious Knowledge.
Watch the trailer above.
Then, log into the STCC Library website, at the middle of the page look for the box STCC Library Discovery Search and navigate to the Films tab. You will be prompted to use your STCC ID to log in. Click Kanopy, search for Precious Knowledge.
Watch the movie and note any questions or thoughts you would like to share at our November meeting.