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Gay (2010) defined culturally responsive teaching “as using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Smith & Lewis, 2025)

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Gay (2010) defined culturally responsive teaching “as using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Smith & Lewis, 2025)

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Instead of moving directly from unit goals to lesson objectives, multicultural lesson planning includes a step in which the teacher identifies one or two multicultural principles to be addressed (Howe & Lisi, 2023).

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Instead of moving directly from unit goals to lesson objectives, multicultural lesson planning includes a step in which the teacher identifies one or two multicultural principles to be addressed (Howe & Lisi, 2023).

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Language Arts: Introduce literature from diverse writers

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Language Arts: Introduce literature from diverse writers

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Incorporate books or poems of writers from diverse backgrounds and those who have different perspectives on history, life, etc, throughout the curriculum. Some examples are, "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros or "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. Afterwards a discussion could be lead about the various themes and cultural viewpoints of the authors.

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Art: Present artwork and art themes from diverse artists

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Art: Present artwork and art themes from diverse artists

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Throughout the year, introduce artists and their unique styles from various cultures, and have students recreate those styles using elements from their own lives or cultures. For example, while teaching a lesson on Frida Kahlo’s surrealist self-portraits students can paint their own self-portraits, including items from their culture or having a unit about Jean-Michel Basquiat’s neo-expressionist, graffiti-influenced art could lead students to create pieces that reflect their personal cultural experiences using his techniques.

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Math: Introduce math concepts and skills from various countries

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Math: Introduce math concepts and skills from various countries

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There are many ways to incorporate diverse cultures into math curriculum. For younger or culturally diverse learners, using familiar objects, names, or phrases in math word problems can make lessons more relatable and inclusive. For example, in a word problem you could say "Maria had 3 tamales for dinner...". For older students, integrating mathematical concepts and contributions from different cultures around the world helps broaden their understanding and appreciation of global mathematics. Such as learning how Chinese do multiplication problems or how the ancient Mayans represented numbers.

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Social Studies: Incorporate varying viewpoints of historical events from different cultures

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Social Studies: Incorporate varying viewpoints of historical events from different cultures

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When teaching a historical event, be sure to include multiple perspectives to provide a more complete understanding. For example, in a lesson on the Vietnam War, present both the American and Vietnamese viewpoints on the causes and long-term impacts of the conflict. Similarly, when addressing topics like race and the history of racial language, you can incorporate case studies—such as Case Study 6.4, Racist Terms of Endearment by Paul C. Gorski and Seema Pothini—to help students explore real-world implications and foster critical discussion.

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Learn about students' diverse backgrounds

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Learn about students' diverse backgrounds

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One effective way to learn about students and their cultural backgrounds is by having them complete an “All About Me” project. This project invites students to share details about their families, cultures, traditions, and personal interests. It encourages students to reflect on and take pride in their identities while giving the teacher valuable insight into each student’s background, helping to foster a more inclusive and responsive classroom environment.

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Use differentiated instructional strategies to accommodate students diverse learning styles 

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Use differentiated instructional strategies to accommodate students diverse learning styles 

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Be able to identify and accommodate every students learning style and offer various ways for them to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of content. For example, if a student is a visual learner, incorporate images, or diagrams during the lesson. Or if there is a student who is an English Language Learner, when teaching vocabulary, pair the word with a picture and use it in a sentence.

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Being a culturally responsive educator involves reflecting on your own biases and working to eliminate discrimination and prejudice. This helps foster positive attitudes and high expectations for all students. For example, if an Asian student is quiet in class, a teacher might assume the student is disengaged, struggling with English, or uninterested. In reality, the student’s cultural background may value speaking only when addressed directly, which influences their classroom behavior.

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An effective way to engage students and their families is by hosting a school-wide Family Night. The event can include a variety of interactive stations where students and their families participate together in activities like bingo, reading, painting, or playing board games, helping to build stronger school-home connections in a fun and welcoming environment.

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Promote respect for students differences

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Promote respect for students differences

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Promoting student differences means creating an environment where all cultures, identities, learning styles and backgrounds are celebrated. Some ways that this can be accomplished is by encouraging students to share their personal experiences, include diverse perspectives into lessons and by creating activities that allow each student to feel accepted and special.

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Communication between students and parents is essential. By creating a daily communication log, teachers and classroom staff can communicate with parents or family members about how their childs day was, if there were any behavioral concerns, checklist items or events that will occur in the future.

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Promote parent volunteer opportunities in the classroom

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Promote parent volunteer opportunities in the classroom

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Offering parent volunteer opportunities within the classroom is a benefit to both teachers and students. It allows students additional support with assignments, during lessons and with small group activities, while building a relationship between educators and families. This could enhance the students confidence and bring additional perspectives to the classroom environment.

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Student led community projects offer numerous benefits to both students and their local community. Service projects teach students about the importance of giving back to their community, allows them to develop leadership skills and teaches them how to work on a team. It also helps them build empathy and strengthens the relationship between the school and the community it serves.

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Integrate multiple perspectives into classroom experiences

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Integrate multiple perspectives into classroom experiences

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Engage students in opportunities to practice different perspectives. One way to accomplish this is to take any historical event, for example, the Trail of Tears. Then divide students into groups and have students research and present different perspectives on the event. This allows them to think critically and develop empathy while understanding history and its varied human experiences.

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Engage in Professional Development opportunities 

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Engage in Professional Development opportunities 

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Fostering a multicultural classroom environment is not just about students, it is also about the teachers. Engaging in multicultural professional opportunities helps educators expand on their cultural competencies, understand the needs of all students, and practice multicultural teaching strategies. Consider joining an organization that focuses on and supports multicultural education like NAME (National Association for Multicultural Education).

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Celebrate and Honor students cultures and traditions

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Celebrate and Honor students cultures and traditions

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Students that see their cultures represented throughout the classroom feel valued included and respected. This fosters not only a sense of belonging within the class, but the school community. Incorporating diverse books, music, art, traditions and recognizing their cultural holidays promotes inclusivity and mutual respect in the class.

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Establish classroom norms that promote respect, kindness and inclusivity

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Establish classroom norms that promote respect, kindness and inclusivity

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It is essential to set classroom norms at the start of the school year. Setting norms is essential because it creates a safe, respectful and structured learning environment. One way to ensure that the students can be reminded of the classroom norms are by incorporating a school-year long activity, such as "Kindness chains". At the end of each week, the students are given a strip of paper and must write about one act of kindness, respect or inclusivity that they did throughout the week. They then create a "chain" and display it within the class. At the end of the year, they can see how big the chain grew and read through all their acts.

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Fostering a multicultural classroom environment is important because it creates an inclusive and respectful place where students can thrive. It also helps students develop empathy and appreciation for different perspectives.

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Fostering a multicultural classroom environment is important because it creates an inclusive and respectful place where students can thrive. It also helps students develop empathy and appreciation for different perspectives.

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When families and community members are involved in student learning, students improve their academic performance and gain a stronger support system, helping them feel more confident at school (Top Benefits of Family and Community Engagement, 2023)

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When families and community members are involved in student learning, students improve their academic performance and gain a stronger support system, helping them feel more confident at school (Top Benefits of Family and Community Engagement, 2023)