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Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students’ Cultural Strengths

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Here's some great information about engagement.

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Increasing Engagement by Using Culturally Responsive Curriculum

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Including Students with autism in Sports 

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Including Students with autism in Sports 

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Physical education classes are a great opportunity for fun, exercise, cooperative learning, and social skills practice for all kids, with and without disabilities. So what can you do if you're a phys ed teacher looking to make your class more inclusive in the new school year-or a parent advocating for the full inclusion of a child with autism?

Today I'll share some specific tips from author Gary Barber, a physical education teacher with more than 30 years of experience coaching kids with and without disabilities. Gary has real-world insights on how to include students with autism in physical education classes, strategies teachers can start using this year and parents can share with their child's school. (It's important to note that autism is a broad spectrum. Every student with autism is different, so what works for one child might not work for another. But these tips are a good starting point for a teacher getting started with inclusion.)

Keep instructions brief and clear.

Introduce new concepts to your class clearly, using visual demonstrations of the skills and movements you're targeting. Keep instructions brief and to the point-the best way to teach your students with AND without autism!

Ready to jump into phys ed inclusion-or expand the good work you're already doing? This checklist from Gary Barber can help you get started. Click the button below the preview image to download it!

EXPLORE THE BOOK

Gary Barber's book, Different Speeds & Different Needs, also includes tips on inclusive physical education for students with other disabilities, plus general strategies on teaching diverse phys ed classes.

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7 Tips for Including Kids with Autism in Physical Education - Brookes Blog

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Physical education classes are a great opportunity for fun, exercise, cooperative learning, and social skills practice for all kids, with and without disabilities. So what can you do if you're a phys ed teacher looking to make your class more inclusive in the new school year-or a parent advocating for the full inclusion of a [...]

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One of the online resources is a six week guide that will help you lower social anxiety, start the year off right, develop skills, empower your groups, and grow strong relationships within your classes.

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This video is a great way to teach diversity to students. It's short, fun, and cute! I use it in my WEB Leadership class every year.

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6 Tips for Teaching Students With Autism | Teach For America

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With a growing number of children who have autism in school, here are some steps teachers can take to help them learn, academically and socially

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Brown Digital Repository | Collection | The Education …

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There are many amazing resources that help to build and cultivate relationships among diverse learners.

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Spanish/Bilingual

Teaching Activity. By Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 14 pages.
A role play on the Constitutional Convention which brings to life the social forces active during and immediately following the American Revolution with focus on two key topics: suffrage and slavery. An elementary school adaptation of the Constitution Role Play by Bill Bigelow. Roles available in Spanish.

Time Periods: 18th Century, Revolution & Constitution: 1765 - 1799

Themes: Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Slavery and Resistance, Women's History

The U.S. Constitution has been called one of the great documents of human history. In my own schooling, however, I recall the study of the Constitution as a source of great boredom. Sterile descriptions of the three branches of government dominated much of the study of that period each time I was cycled through American history — in 5th, 8th, and 10th grade. U.S. history textbooks gave the Constitution considerable space and probably share blame for the lifeless rendition of what was undoubtedly a very exciting time in our nation’s history.

It was only years later when I returned to the classroom as a teacher that I realized the Constitution’s importance and its potential as a learning tool. In fact, the study of the American Revolution and the struggle over the Constitution in my 5th-grade classroom helps set the basis for the rest of the year. I pose questions such as: Who benefited most (and the least) from the American Revolution? Who wrote and ratified the Constitution for the new nation? Who benefited most (and least) from the Constitution? Since the Constitution was finally ratified in 1787 how have people struggled to expand the democratic impulses of the American Revolution?

NOTE: This lesson is currently being updated. Complete this short form if you would like to be notified when it is available again.

This lesson was originally published by Rethinking Schools in Rethinking Our Classrooms, Volume 2: Teaching For Equity and Justice. For more lessons like “Rethinking the U.S. Constitutional Convention: A Role Play,” order Rethinking Our Classrooms, Vol. 2 with a rich collection of from-the-classroom articles, curriculum ideas, lesson plans, poetry, and resources — all grounded in the realities of school life.

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Rethinking the U.S. Constitutional Convention: A Role Play - Zinn Education Project

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Teaching Activity. By Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 14 pages. A role play on the Constitutional Convention which brings to life the social forces active during and immediately following the American Revolution with focus on two key topics: suffrage and slavery. An elementary school adaptation of…

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Also see "Better than Carrots or Sticks" for a great companion book

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About

"Required reading for seminary students, pastors and teachers, and any who teach. . . . This book challenges us to understand the culture that impacts how and what we preach and teach. . . . [It] contains a wealth of research in the area of teaching and learning."--Equip for Ministry

Teaching Cross-Culturally is a challenging consideration of what it means to be a Christian educator in a culture other than your own. Chapters include discussions about how to uncover cultural biases, how to address intelligence and learning styles, and teaching for biblical transformation.

Teaching Cross-Culturally is ideal for the western-trained educator or missionary who plans to work in a non-western setting, as well as for those who teach in an increasingly multicultural North America.

Endorsements

"Applause for an interestingly written teaching guide that encapsulates an extraordinary amount of scarce information under one cover! Drawing on decades of research and experience, the authors identify sources of bewilderment for both teachers and learners, then suggest a wealth of practical techniques with which to meet the challenges. Lessons learned during my years in non-western classrooms confirm the wisdom of these recommendations. Here is a 'must read' book for all cross-cultural instructors, whether novices or seasoned practitioners."--Patricia M. Davis, international literacy and education consultant, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), Dallas, Texas

"What a delight to read a book that helps to address one of the most important and most neglected needs in world missions. Christ's Commission is much broader than reaching the unreached. Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations through teaching. Each person teaching in another culture will benefit from the principles and examples in this book."-Jim Plueddemann, international director, Serving In Mission (SIM)

"Incarnational teaching is truly the strength of this book. It allows readers to reflect from both a teacher's and a learner's perspective. The books provides a deeper understanding of the importance, as Christian educators, of taking culture seriously. Readers will be challenged to reflect in ways that bring growth as a teacher as well as a Christian. Administrators will find that this book brings wisdom about creating an institution that includes persons from different cultures-international students as well as national ethnic groups. A book for faculty group discussions."-Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, assistant professor of religious education, Claremont School of Theology

"What an eye-opener for someone who thought himself quite informed in teaching cross-culturally! The contents of this book must become functional knowledge for everyone who seeks to disciple the nations. Teaching Cross-Culturally provides step-by-step, doable actions to create the best learning environments. I have been in a formal education setting for twenty years and have been developing ideas of my role as a teacher. After reading this book, I need to do a U-turn!"-Julius Wong Loi Sing, Moody Graduate School

"Written with power, grace, and a wealth of wisdom, Teaching Cross-Culturally is essential reading for all Christian leaders who are called to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ in an ever-dynamically changing world. This is vintage Lingenfelter!"-S. Steve Kang, Wheaton College

"Whether you teach in the culturally diverse classrooms of North America or in a Bible college or seminary worlds away, Teaching Cross-Culturally may make the difference between frustration and success in your educational ministry. Don't hang on by your fingernails when you can enjoy the experience of learning and teaching effectively in other cultures. Your own cultural experience and assumptions about learning won't automatically work when you are teaching students from other cultures. The Lingenfelters link sound educational technique with timeless biblical example to make teaching a ministry in intercultural contexts."-Michael Pocock, chairman and senior professor, world missions and intercultural studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

"Looking for a text to prepare students to teach effectively in diverse cultural contexts? Teaching Cross-Culturally is the tool you need! Those of us who have used the Lingenfelters' earlier texts on intercultural living and ministry welcome the arrival of this new work. It goes beyond educational technique in showing the teacher how to learn from students about how to teach them more effectively. Using sound missiological principles and timeless biblical truths, the Lingenfelters provide a truly Christian approach to teaching successfully in intercultural contexts."-Michael Pocock, chairman and senior professor, world missions and intercultural studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

"Cross-cultural teaching is going on in almost every corner of the globe. Teachers everywhere in the world need this book--and this includes missionary teachers. This is an important, unique, and useful book. Though missionaries have taught cross-culturally for more than two centuries, almost nothing has been written on the subject. This book is a practical handbook that can help cross-cultural teachers communicate more effectively. The authors are both excellent teachers and superb writers. Readers will find their suggestions immensely helpful, no matter the cultural context in which they are called to teach."-Charles Van Engen, Fuller Theological Seminary

"This engaging book helps westerners understand just how western they really are, in most cases, in their educational and pedagogical assumptions. The authors show that learning styles and kinds of intelligence may look quite different in non-western cultures, posing unforeseen challenges for would-be teachers. They question the 'culture of questioning' so common in the west, point out that rote memorization may be an appropriate and effective learning strategy in some contexts, and show that in teaching, low-tech is sometimes more effective than hi-tech. Very useful for anyone engaged in transcultural ministry, whether at home or abroad."-Howard A. Snyder, professor of the history and theology of mission, Asbury Theological Seminary

"Much is said today about contextualizing the gospel but little about the ways in which we communicate it. This is particularly true of teaching, which is what many of us do much of the time. Judith and Sherwood Lingenfelter do us great service by helping us to teach the gospel in culturally appropriate ways that enable people to truly understand it."-Paul G. Hiebert, Distinguished Professor of Mission and Anthropology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

The Authors

1. Judith E. Lingenfelter

Judith E. Lingenfelter (PhD, University of Pittsburgh) is associate professor of intercultural education at Biola University. Sherwood G. Lingenfelter (PhD, University of Pittsburgh) is provost/senior vice president, dean of the School of World Mission, and...

Continue reading about Judith E. Lingenfelter

2. Sherwood G. Lingenfelter

Sherwood G. Lingenfelter (PhD, University of Pittsburgh), a senior statesman among evangelical anthropologists, is provost emeritus and senior professor of anthropology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He has written numerous books,...

Continue reading about Sherwood G. Lingenfelter

Reviews

"I would like to recommend this as required reading for seminary students, pastors and teachers, and any who teach. . . . This book challenges us to understand the culture that impacts how and what we preach and teach. . . . [It] contains a wealth of research in the area of teaching and learning. . . . Good to use in a teacher training or homiletics class."--Equip for Ministry

"Educators and practitioners alike will rejoice over the appearance of Teaching Cross-Culturally. . . . It is popularly written and well illustrated, with many practical examples drawn from the authors' teaching experience in a variety of cross-cultural settings. . . . The authors combine expertise in both anthropology and education to address this topic competently. . . . This volume is simply must reading for missionary and cross-cultural teachers of all kinds! . . . [It] provides an irresistibly helpful overview of the key issues. Teaching Cross-Culturally is destined to become a standard introduction to the topic if for no other reason than that there is no other book like it on the market."--Craig Ott, Missiology

"The Lingenfelters apply many years of experience as cross-cultural missionaries and educators to this small but engaging book. . . . This book is an easy read and would be useful for anyone who is doing ministry with people from different cultural backgrounds."--John P. Hartwig, Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly

"A readable combination of scholarship . . . and story. . . . The Lingenfelters are right on target. Those planning to teach cross-culturally--especially those who wish to do so from a Christian perspective--would do well to carefully study this delightful and useful volume." --Nancy Jean Vyhmeister, Andrews University Seminary Studies

"Teaching Cross-Culturally fills an important void in Christian mission literature. . . . The Lingenfelters provide a valuable contribution to all seeking to minister cross-culturally--whether at home or abroad. Highly readable, this book will interest both the seasoned and novice missionary. . . . Its insights are invaluable for anyone seeking to communicate the gospel in a cross-cultural context."--Rhonda M. McEwen, Evangelical Missions Quarterly

"This is a helpful book. In a pluralistic world in which all contexts have become more or less cross-cultural, not only is Teaching Cross-Culturally geared toward those teaching overseas, but it is also an essential resource for those who desire to teach effectively in the changing North American context. . . . The Lingenfelters have provided an excellent primer on teaching cross-culturally through an incarnational model. These insights and wisdom provide a solid foundation of the questions and practices teachers need to address if they are to become learners of a culture in order to teach effectively within it."--Roland G. Kuhl, Review and Expositor

"The authors write about the complex nature of teaching when the teacher is of a western culture and students are not. They give a plethora of examples illustrating the complexities in such teaching, and anyone contemplating teaching overseas would find this book a very helpful preparatory resource. . . . The book helpfully includes tables and diagrams to summarize theoretical approaches used in the text. Another helpful feature is the section at the end of each chapter called 'research/reflection questions.'. . . This book would be most attractive to Christians considering service as missionary teachers in other cultures. It could be a useful introductory text in preparing them for the culture shock they may initially face. It could also develop their sensitivity and respect for the cultural differences they would encounter. The book shares personal experiences and wisdom, and for those who want to avoid the mistake of teaching as if everyone in the world is an American, it offers an alternative vision."--Ann L. Gilroy, Mission Studies

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"Required reading for seminary students, pastors and teachers, and any who teach. . . . This book challenges us to understand the culture that impacts how and what we preach and teach. . . .

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Prayer of the Farm Workers' Struggle/Oracion del Campesino en la Lucha

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Prayer of the Farm Workers' Struggle/Oracion del Campesino en la Lucha

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Show me the suffering of the most miserable;

So I will know my people's plight.

Free me to pray for others;

For you are present in every person.

Help me to take responsibility for my own life;

So that I can be free at last.

Grant me courage to serve others;

For in service there is true life.

Give me honesty and patience;

So that I can work with other workers.

Bring forth song and celebration;

So that the spirit will be alive among us.

Let the spirit flourish and grow;

So we will never tire of the struggle.

Let us remember those who have died for justice;

For they have given us life.

Help us love even those who hate us;

So we can change the world.
Written by Cesar E. Chavez, UFW Founder (1927-1993) Oracion del Campesino en la Lucha
Ensename el sufrimiento de los mas desafortunados;

Asi conocere el dolor de mi pueblo.

Librame a orar por los demas;

Porque estas presente en cada persona.

Ayudame a tomar responsabilidad de mi propia vida;

Solo asi sere libre al fin.

Concedeme valentia para servir al projimo;

Porque en la entrega hay vida verdadera.

Concedeme honoradez y paciencia;

Para que yo pueda trabajar junto con otros trabajadores.

Alumbranos con el canto y la celebracion;

Para que levanten el Espiritu entre nosotros.

Que el Espiritu florezca y crezca;

Para que no nos cansemos entre la lucha.

Nos acordamos de los que han caido por la justicia;

Porque a nosotros han entregado la vida.

Ayudanos a amar aun a los que nos odian;

Asi podremos cambiar el mundo.
Escrito por Cesar E. Chavez, Fundador de la UFW (1927-1993)

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Prayer of the Farm Workers' Struggle/Oracion del Campesino en la Lucha

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Show me the suffering of the most miserable; So I will know my people's plight. Free me to pray for others; For you are present in every person. Help me to take responsibility for my own life; So that I can be free at last.

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An amazing story that shows how we segregate ourselves from one another based on appearances and cultural differences, but then demonstrates that we are all on the same rock.

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The Wrong Rock | A mushroom follows his dreams

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"Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies not only contests the misappropriation of culture in education, but it also contests the idea that attention to culture obfuscates equity work in schools. To the contrary, sustaining culture is the heart and soul of educational justice, because culture is the heart and soul of what it means to be human. CSP moves marginalized youth from object to subject position through fundamentally humanizing approaches, approaches that stand in contrast to the embedded deficit lenses of the racial contract otherwise structuring schooling."

- Teachers College Record

"...this powerful book reflects Paris and Alim's belief in community building and does a phenomenal job in encouraging all readers, particularly those conducting anthropological/ethnographic work in education, to engage critically in discourses around the development of CSPs. Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies allows readers to become part of a community of scholars, educators, and administrators who are actively working together to reimagine the purpose of schooling in a pluralistic world."

- Anthropology & Education Quarterly

"This essential and timely compilation by emerging and established scholars advances critical debates in research and teaching of education, anthropology, linguistics, race/ethnic studies, and related fields...It will be of interest to scholars, students, and practitioners seeking understanding and examples of transformative classrooms."

- Language and Education

"An essential read that asks educators to see young people as 'whole versus broken' when they enter our classrooms."

- Val Brown for Teaching Tolerance

"In this elegant and groundbreaking volume, Paris, Alim, and their colleagues offer a guiding light for culturally sustaining pedagogies to illuminate new ways of teaching and learning that build on the assets of young people of color and their communities. Challenging old conceptions of culture and identity, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies offers a dynamic view of what it means to teach and learn with courage, heart, intellect, and critique. All teachers committed to justice and equity in our schools and society will cherish this book."
- Sonia Nieto, professor emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

"In this cutting edge new volume, Paris and Alim have brought together a collection of insightful essays by a group of scholars who are committed at the most profound level to using education as a weapon of resistance and an instrument of cultural transformation. The reader will learn that culturally sustaining pedagogies are much more than a fancy new piece of jargon or clever academic phrase. The pedagogical strategies described here serve as a dynamic medium for enacting what education must do if it is to empower, revitalize, and elevate the voices of those who need it to serve as a means to counter oppression and affirm their humanity. For educators who are unafraid of using education to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalized, this book will be an invaluable resource and a source of inspiration."
- Pedro Noguera, University of California, Los Angeles

"Paris, Alim, and company highlight critical educational problems affecting students of color, produce insightful analyses, and offer tools to ameliorate these conditions. Leading the frontier of new directions for teaching and learning, this scholarship bends toward the arc of educational justice, calling for deep, effective practices and understanding that center our youths' assets. Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies tells us what is integral to educational equity; and all educators should read and act on its recommendations."
- Prudence L. Carter, dean, Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley

"In Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies, Paris, Alim, and contributors offer a generous invitation. It is an invitation to (re)consider, (re)create, and (re)narrate the role of culture and learning in the futures of students and communities that have been historically neglected. The authors offer a pathway forward in engaging in the work of listening and doing. This volume also offers us a gift of hope, justice, and a belief in a future wherein educators are invited to work with, in, and for children and their communities. For anyone interested in creating futures of possibility, promise, and potential through powerful pedagogies, this volume is a must-read with guidance and encouragement for our work."
- Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, Arizona State University

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"Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies not only contests the misappropriation of culture in education, but it also contests the idea that attention to culture obfuscates equity work in schools. To the contrary, sustaining culture is the heart and soul of educational justice, because culture is the heart and soul of what it means to be human.

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Relationship Centered Classroom: Involving Families 

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Relationship Centered Classroom: Involving Families 

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"I don't feel like we're doing nearly enough to engage our Spanish-speaking families," a principal told me not long ago. "I want to get your thoughts about how I can start doing better."

As director of family partnerships for the Boulder Valley School District, I was glad to get involved. A month later, this principal and I co-led the first Latino Parent Night at Crossville Elementary School (a pseudonym). The gathering consisted of 12 Latino/Latina parents, one white principal, and three staff members. The start was a bit rocky. When I invited parents to share their names and the names of their children, I could feel their reticence. In the rush to get started, I'd failed to tell them about my background as a bilingual teacher and principal and other information that might have made them feel more open to me as a complete stranger in their school.

As I gave a brief overview of what we'd do that night, I caught facial expressions I interpreted as, "Who's this white guy coming into our school from 'the district'? What's he about to ask us to do?" Despite this, I stuck with my original plan. Past experiences have shown me the alchemy that occurs when we make room for family members to open their hearts through fostering positive, fun interactions and welcoming their authentic voices.

We did a team-building activity called "Gotcha," which sparked considerable laughter. The principal shared about himself professionally and as a person, conveying why he cared about deepening the school's connections with all Latino families. For the rest of the evening, the parents, in small groups, explored three questions:

What is the actual experience of your child and your family in this school?

What is going well and what could improve, especially in terms of school communication?

What information and conversation topics would draw you to come to other Latino Parent Nights? What day and time is best for you?

The parents generated at least 10 concrete suggestions for what the school could do next, including texting them an abbreviated, Spanish-translation version of the school newsletter and offering workshops on how to help their children with math homework. After they shared out from their conversations, one mother said, "We want to do this again. There's more we'd like to talk about."

"How about we come back together in a couple months?" the principal responded.

"We'd like to have another meeting like this next month. Could we do that?"

When the principal agreed, I could feel parents stepping into their collective power.

The Primacy of Relationships

This experience, which occurred in my second year as director of family partnerships, confirmed for me that a relationship-based approach to working with families changes the felt experience for the families and expands a school's capacity to collaborate with them in creating change. This is true in secondary as well as elementary schools.

Our school district has been recognized as one of the best in the state but maintains one of the largest achievement gaps between emerging bilingual students and native English-speaking students. My core responsibility in our district is to strengthen the connection between our schools and families who are often marginalized. I've tried to develop an approach that prioritizes underrepresented families, includes a social justice lens, and is overtly relationship-centered.

This emphasis on relationships and on creating spaces for meaningful, reciprocal interactions is essential to partnering with the families of English language learners. Centering relationships leads to a greater sense of collaboration and trust between families and educators and helps marginalized families feel safe enough to genuinely engage and make their voices heard. Research has shown that a focus on ongoing dialogue and fostering mutual understanding are central to engaging Latino families (Delgado-Gaitan, 2004).

But historically, schools haven't promoted two-way relationships in which the families of English learners are elevated as equal partners (Ishimaru, 2018). I knew we needed to work with English learners' families in ways that showed we authentically cared about them and that would develop relational power instead of exercising power over them (Warren et al., 2009). As Steven Covey (2008) has expressed, "Change happens at the speed of trust. Trust moves at the speed of relationship."

Four Pillars

"I've [had a child] at this school for 12 years, and I've never felt as connected as I do tonight," a father shared with me at the end of our Parent Night for Spanish-speaking families. "Tomorrow I will say hello to a teacher that I wouldn't have said hi to today."

What happened in 90 minutes to create this shift for this father and dozens of other parents? The root of the answer lies in four pillars (based on Susan Auerbach's 2011 research) that undergird our work with families:

Cultivating relationships and trust

Engaging in two-way communication

Supporting learning and social-emotional well-being

Sharing decision making and power

Intercultural understanding is the foundation holding up these four pillars. Authentic care requires an understanding of each other's social, cultural, and political context, including power dynamics. The relationships formed at events like the parent night at Crossville and the ongoing communication about parents' interests and needs incorporated the first two pillars. Shared decision making also began to happen.

To honor these four pillars, and to move from the family "involvement" model that has dominated schools' family outreach toward more authentic partnerships, our district made critical shifts. We began focusing on how participating parents feel more than on what they are doing at gatherings, so process would take priority over content. Asking families what they need (instead of guessing) and incorporating time in gatherings to listen to families and spark their interactions with each other, rather than talking to them, was another significant change. We also tried to value all the ways that families can support their children's learning at home, rather than focusing on attendance at events as the main measure of involvement.

Supporting social and emotional well-being is also a key part of our approach. When I became director of family partnerships, I wasn't well-informed on best practices for family partnerships, but I brought expertise around social and emotional learning. Infusing our work with SEL principles and practices has sparked transformative experiences for our families and educators.

Ongoing Action: "Family and Educators Together"

Events like the parent night helped schools in the Boulder district, both secondary and elementary, build relationships and trust. We then asked ourselves how we could ensure that families' connection to schools moved beyond these meaningful but isolated evenings. What might a relationship-centered approach look like in terms of ongoing action? Answering that question led us to develop our Family and Educators Together (FET) groups.

Currently, we have FET teams at 10 of our 50-plus schools. The teams bring together teachers, underrepresented or traditionally marginalized family members, and school leaders monthly to strengthen the school's efforts to forge school-family partnerships in ways that create meaningful change for stakeholders. Teams engage in candid dialogue that ultimately leads to action. Participating families are overwhelmingly Latino, but on some teams there are parents from other underrepresented cultures. Occasionally white parents are there as allies.

Here are some encouraging developments happening at Boulder schools as a result of nurturing stronger parent voice and trust through FET:

A mother mentioned her passion for making art out of recycled materials at a team meeting, and shortly after, put up an altar in the school for Dia de Los Muertos. A few months later, she began teaching an after-school art class for students and families. A year later, she was asked to co-lead the FET team.

A father presented at a FET team meeting about his journey from obesity to becoming a marathon runner.

A mother conveyed that transportation is a major obstacle stopping families in one neighborhood from attending parent conferences. The principal offered to arrange for a bus to transport families to and from conferences.

Three schools experimented with holding a World Café for families of language learners. In this structured conversational process, individuals switch tables periodically and get introduced to the previous discussion at their new table by a "table host." I've observed family members eat and laugh as they move from one table to the next, focused around questions like, "What can our school do to strengthen relationships with you?"

After three mothers learned about an important upcoming school event, they took it upon themselves to divvy up the school bus routes and go door-to-door, letting families know about the event and why they should attend.

The impact of these various projects on how participating family members feel is tangible. One father told me at the end of the first year of attending FET meetings, "When we come into school, a lot of us Spanish-speakers feel timid when we see the principal. We try to hide. Even though she doesn't speak our language, I now feel comfortable when I see her. I feel like this is my school too."

A mother at another school shared:

It was very difficult for me as a mother to feel trust with the teachers. FET has broken down the barrier between mothers and educators.... [We] Hispanics are often on the margins, not because the teachers are mean to us, but because our fears keep us there. As a result of the FET team, many parents have had the chance to bring forth their voices and look for opportunities that before they feared to ask about or pursue.

Practices to Empower Families

In planning FET meetings and events, we structure the agendas in ways that prioritize building trust, strengthening relationships, and fostering high levels of participation. For instance, we:

Provide time before events start for families and educators to eat and connect with each other informally.

Always begin meetings with time for connective activities that lead to laughter and team building, whether it's a quick activity or a dinamica. In a dinamica, teachers and family members share on a topic related to their own lives (such as "How were your own parents involved in your education?") with a partner or small group and then reflect as a whole group on how this informs their thinking about family partnerships.

Incorporate talk structures connected to equity and social-emotional learning, such as dyads and community circles, in which participants share about topics that bring out their humanity (for instance, ("What is something that is bringing you a lot of joy right now?") Dyads are an SEL practice because they foster authentic speaking and deep listening.

Monitor the ratio of time that leaders and participants speak to ensure that family members have frequent opportunities to bring their voice to the conversation. We use dynamic structures from organizations like and Passageworks Institute , such as pair-share-square or huddles that energize participants through meaningful dialogue.

Give priority to families' native language in our meetings and ensure that interpreters are available.

We also create meaningful closure for each gathering, often through a closing circle. Each participant shares a word that captures how they feel in that moment or shares their greatest intention before we reconvene.

Positive Communication Systems: "A Ton of Joy"

Two other projects have strengthened the district's school-family partnerships: home visits and positive communications. Home visits have been written about extensively by others-and, since I've found positive communication to be a practice that builds learning-strengthening alliances with families (while taking little time or planning), I'll describe this communication-based strategy in detail.

When I was a school leader, I often had limited bandwidth to think creatively about how to move beyond traditional strategies for engaging families. But one partnership practice that I implemented delivered an astronomical return on investment in reaching families: positive phone calls to students' families. So when I moved to my current role, I brought this system of encouraging positive calls home with me.

Positive calls benefit everyone. The student feels uplifted, their classmates are inspired by seeing them recognized, family members are happily surprised by the call, and teachers feel gratification as the student returns to class with deeper motivation. All without anyone involved spending more than five minutes of their day.

Research shows that, in one analysis, "frequent, personalized phone calls home immediately increased parents' engagement in school, as measured by homework completion, in-class behavior, and in-class participation" (Kraft & Dougherty, 2013). Yet a recent poll showed that 59 percent of public school parents reported never having received a phone call home from their children's school during the previous year (Kraft, 2017).

To bring this practice of positive communication to multiple schools in our district, we made it an expectation that elementary principals would commit to one high-leverage family partnerships strategy, with positive calls home an option I heavily promoted. Positive communication systems were a main component of any opportunity I had to present to principals. I shared with them the impact, the research, brief stories from my own experience in their shoes, and emphasized the outcomes-to-effort ratio. One principal told me a month after such a presentation:

We are in our third week of making the positive calls home. We created a simple form for staff to complete, and then the community liaison helps me gather the students. I make the call to the parent with the student or students present. Wow, what a great thing to do for students and parents. It also adds a ton of joy to the job and is a great way to continue to build positive relationships.

Some principals also began writing positive postcards, others integrated a call system, and another contingent started writing real-time positive emails to families while observing in classrooms.

I told one parent-a mother of four sons-about this new initiative. Her response confirmed its power for me:

My boys have literally had more than 100 teachers since they started in this school system. I've received one positive call in eight years. I still remember that teacher's name. Her two calls in the fall and spring were so meaningful to us. My son told me, "I love that teacher. I could imagine going to med school because of her."

Other Ways to Empower Parents

Our district is taking other steps to form trusting, cooperative relationships between our educators and families, bringing the four pillars to life:

Quarterly, we bring together our Family Partnership Network, made up of two representatives from each school, to deepen their capacity for doing this work at their schools and partnering with principals in weaving a relationship-centered approach into their school culture.

We've launched a Latino Parent Advisory Council so this community has a forum for providing input and engaging in meaningful conversation with each other-and with the superintendent and other district leaders.

We host parent nights for underrepresented family groups at individual schools to get their insights on relevant questions, and equity summits to seek input from underrepresented families and community members on how we can improve our practices.

At superintendent forums, the families of English language learners can candidly share their positive and challenging experiences, ask questions, and make recommendations to the district about how schools could improve their or their child's experience.

At family retreats, bilingual parents from different schools come together to learn from teachers and community leaders about topics that they have chosen. And in partnership with community allies, we offer adult learning experiences in which our Latino parents can learn from community leaders how to unlock their power, navigate our school system, and advocate for their children.

We provide educators and families with questions translated into multiple languages, so family members can ask questions at parent conferences.

Trust Is Key

I can't overemphasize how crucial trust building is to this process. As I've learned from leading both thriving and struggling schools, you cannot successfully do the deeper work until you've built a strong community in which each person feels safe, engaged, and valued. The schools that accelerate their trust-building efforts are-not coincidentally-the same schools that make tremendous progress around their goals (Tschannen-Moran, 2014).

I recently crossed paths with the mother of one of my favorite students from my teaching years. Marta had completed dozens of focus groups with under-represented families around their experiences in all sectors of society, and their insights had inspired her to pursue a local political office. Looking back on her conversations with parents, Marta told me that, going into the project, "Our hypothesis was that language would be the greatest barrier. In the end, we learned that trust was actually the largest barrier."

While Boulder Valley School District has a long road ahead before we can call ourselves a truly equitable school district, I know that the path to greater trust and genuine family-school partnerships runs through a relationship-centered approach.

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Involving Families: A Relationship-Centered Approach - ASCD

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"I don't feel like we're doing nearly enough to engage our Spanish-speaking families," a principal told me not long ago. "I want to get your thoughts about how I can start doing better." As director of family partnerships for the Boulder Valley School District, I was glad to get involved.

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Ramon "Chunky" Sanchez was raised in a small farming community in southern California in the 1950s. As was common practice at that time, teachers at his local elementary school anglicized the Mexican American students' names. Here, Chunky remembers a new classmate who proved to be the exception to the rule.

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Ramòn "Chunky" Sanchez tells the story of how the new kid at school became a hero when his name stumped their teachers.

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Culturally Responsive Care for African American Students

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A winter illness left Lotus, a little girl, without a voice and without friends. A hunter's bullet left Feather, a crane, injured and unable to fly. As Lotus nurses Feather back to health, their bond grows. Soon Feather is following Lotus everywhere, even to school! The bird dances to the girl's reed whistle, much to the delight of the other children. One day, when the village floods, Feather helps raise the alarm as Lotus and her grandfather urge their neighbors to get to high ground. Feather is a true friend to Lotus, but the time comes when Lotus must be a true friend to him--by encouraging him to migrate with the rest of the cranes. The next spring, Feather miraculously returns, and that's not all . . . he has brought new life to the nearby lake. Inspired by the true story of a crane that rescued a Chinese village, and graced with sensitive watercolor illustrations, this lovely book about respecting nature offers deep emotion and delightful surprises.

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A winter illness left Lotus, a little girl, without a voice and without friends. A hunter's bullet left Feather, a crane, injured and unable to fly. As Lotus nurses Feather back to health, their bond grows. Soon Feather is following Lotus everywhere, even to school!

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📚 READ ALOUD: Chocolate Milk Por Favor- Celebrating diversity with empathy By Maria Dismondy

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Alma Flor Ada talks about her book

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0:00 / 9:17•Watch full video

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Alma Flor Ada on "My Name is Maria Isabel"

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Happi Sunshine Stories and Learning Corner

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Round is a Tortilla A book of shapes By: Roseanne Thong|Read aloud|Hispanic Heritage [Read along]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZESp-YzsYY

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Teaches acceptance of those who are different - we can be different and still the same.

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Dreamers [Morales, Yuyi] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Dreamers

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0:00 / 3:58•Watch full video

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The Day You Begin [Woodson, Jacqueline, López, Rafael] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Day You Begin

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https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51WW7B3KAPL._SX465_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

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By: Sophie Beer

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Kindness Makes Us Strong (Read Aloud in HD)

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You don't have permission to access "http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/they-call-me-africa-nadine-a-luke/1137847401" on this server.
Reference #18.14a42b17.1653674307.b9f4cc5

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Amiri loves school and can't wait for the first day of third grade. However, when he arrives he is faced with the ugliness of racism and bullying in his class by his classmates. He is heartbroken by the constant taunts about his dark brown skin and his hair that is styled into locs.

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Book
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMatthew+A.+Cherry&s=relevancerank&text=Matthew+A.+Cherry&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

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Hair Love | Oscar®-Winning Short Film (Full) | Sony Pictures Animation

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Extensive Padlet of resources that explores various resources to understand the complexity of Asian American experiences, particularly in light of current Anti-Asian hate

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Inside California Education Episode 204: Restorative Justice

Oakland schools adopt Restorative Justice to level the playing field.

TV Series: Inside California Education
Published Date: 03/28/2018
Season: 2
Episode: 204

Watch the full episode

Inside California Education Full Episode 204 The Great Debate - Restorative Justice - DAY IN THE LIFE: School Secretary - Bilingual Teacher Shortage 26:46

Resource Links:

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Restorative Justice - OAKLAND, CA 07:14 - InsideCalEd- Video Gallery

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Inside California Education Episode 204: Restorative Justice Oakland schools adopt Restorative Justice to level the playing field.

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Restorative Circles in Schools: Building Community and Enhancing Learning is a practical guide to the use of circles in schools and other settings, as well as an in-depth exploration of circle processes. The book includes numerous stories about the way circles have been used in many diverse situations, discussion on the use of proactive, responsive and staff circles, and an overview of restorative practices, with particular emphasis on its relationship to circle processes.

Note about the second edition.
This edition includes several new anecdotes and minor changes to style. Thanks to IIRP Lecturer Mary Jo Hebling for her support and invaluable input.

Excerpts from the book:

"I have used the circle to give direct instruction, summarize lessons, solicit student feedback and discuss various topics. By its nature, the circle allows each student to be part of the group and have direct input. No one hides in the circle."

"The circle represents a fundamental change in the relationship between students and authority figures. It creates a cooperative atmosphere in which students take responsibility for their actions. Students respond because they feel respected and realize that what they say matters."

"Circles provide a practical forum for the resolution of underlying feelings that intrude into the classroom and disrupt learning. The circle allows young people to express their feelings, and in doing so, reduce their intensity. The circle creates opportunities for students to recognize that others have similar issues and that they are not alone. By expressing feelings and getting acknowledgment from others, most students are then able to put their problems aside and move on with the school day."

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Restorative Circles in Schools: A Practical Guide for Educators - Second Edition

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Restorative Circles in Schools: Building Community and Enhancing Learning is a practical guide to the use of circles in schools and other settings, as well as an in-depth exploration of circle processes.

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school.

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In Lak'esh Example of Culturally Responsive Routine

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Video Stream: National Teach-In with Mexican American Studies

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Yangsook Choi grew up in Korea. She started drawing at age 4 and loved telling her grandma scary stories. After moving to New York to pursue her art, she has written and illustrated many books for young readers. Her books have been acclaimed as "Best of the Best" by the Chicago Public Library, included on the American Library Association Notable Books List, and have received the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award.

Her past jobs include waiting tables at a Korean BBQ restaurant, flying as a flight attendant, handwriting a message on a life preserver, and drawing tiny pictures on fake nails.

When she is not creating, she loves to spend time with children in her community and around the world. The local children in a shelter, the mountain children in the Himalayas, the Bedouin children in the Arabian desert, the orphans in flooded Cambodia, and the North Korean defector children are among her greatest teachers.

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The Name Jar [Choi, Yangsook, Choi, Yangsook] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Name Jar

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FOR ARRIVAL BY EASTER:

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We cannot guarantee arrival by Easter for items that require additional delivery time and orders going to AK, HI & PO Boxes. Please allow an additional 1-2 weeks shipping time if shipping to one of those locations.

Online orders can only be shipped within the 50 United States. We are unable to ship to US Territories and APO or FPO military address at this time. All orders placed with a P.O. Box as the ship to address will ship via Federal Express SmartPost (4-8 business days).

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Colors of the World 24 Multicultural Crayons | Crayola.com | Crayola

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FOR ARRIVAL BY EASTER: Last day for Ground Shipping: April 6Last day for Express Shipping: April 12 We cannot guarantee arrival by Easter for items that require additional delivery time and orders going to AK, HI & PO Boxes. Please allow an additional 1-2 weeks shipping time if shipping to one of those locations.

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Occupational Socialization, Cultural Studies, and the Physical Education Curriculum

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Occupational Socialization, Cultural Studies, and the Physical Education Curriculum

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Occupational Socialization, Cultural Studies, and the Physical Education Curriculum

https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.7.4.265

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The Veterinarian Fashion Designer - Nadine Luke

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The Veterinarian Fashion Designer - Nadine Luke

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There's no limit to your dreams in life regardless of the color of your skin or socio-economic background.

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The Veterinarian Fashion Designer is the first book in the series, "I Can be That Too!" The Gymnast and The Musician are the second and third book with many more to follow. Nadine A. Luke intentionally wrote books to remind children that there are no limits on their dreams in life. The story is centered around a sweet little five year old girl named Tiara who has a love for fashion and animals. The reader is able to discover through a variety of situations and thoughts, what happens when the love for animals and fashion morphs into one.

Related collections and offers

Product Details

ISBN-13:

9781735063515

Publisher:

Nadine A. Luke

Publication date:

06/30/2020

Series:

I Can Be That Too , #1

Pages:

36

Product dimensions:

8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.25(d)

Age Range:

3 Months to 9 Years

About the Author

Nadine A. Luke is an Educator, Published Author, and Educational Consultant in Southern California. She intentionally writes books that reflect children of all backgrounds and specifically, children of color. Her books remind children that there are no limits to their dreams in life regardless of the color of their skin or socio-economic background. Through her books she encourages readers to embrace who they are, believe in their gifts and aspire to achieve greatness. She has been a featured educational expert on television, webinars and at educational conferences. Nadine has been honored twice in Who's Who in American Education and the Cambridge Who's Who Registry.

Editorial Reviews

Eric Kareem
5.0 out of 5 stars Educational, Entertaining, and Enjoyable!
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2020
Verified Purchase
Excellent book! I ordered five of them, and those with whom I have shared it are just as excited as I am! I will use this book with my STEM program participants as it encourages and promotes a positive "I can do anything" attitude! It provided the young people that I have shared it with an incredibly positive experience! They actually identified with Tiara the main character as they also have dreams of being a part of several occupations and creating their businesses as they grow up! This book shows the value of encouraging children to be multidimensional in the exploration of their future careers. The illustrations are absolutely tremendous and capture the heart and mind of the reader!

I look forward to more works from this author! This book is an excellent tool to reinforce the dreams of any child as they prepare for their future!

From the Publisher

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The Veterinarian Fashion Designer is the first book in the series, "I Can be That Too!" The Gymnast and The Musician are the second and third book with many more to follow. Nadine A. Luke intentionally wrote books to remind children that there are no limits on their dreams in life.

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Learning for Justice (Formerly Teaching Tolerance)

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Learning for Justice (Formerly Teaching Tolerance)

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Great resource for teachers. Lesson plans, webinars, publications, etc.

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Learning for Justice is a community education program of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that centers civic and political action education for everyone.

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by Yuyi Morales

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Becoming a Culturally Competent Clinician 

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Becoming a Culturally Competent Clinician 

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Resource for SLPs

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History

Published in issue: Dec 1, 2000

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© 2000 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

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Becoming a Culturally Competent Clinician

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Perspectives on Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Populations Article 1 Dec 2000

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In Spanish and English. Gives a glimpse into 3 generations' traditions, change and adaptations.

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By Illustrator Narrator Editor Photographed by

By Illustrator Narrator Editor Photographed by

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This collection of quality Scholastic titles was hand selected to provide you with the best books at the best prices. Appropriate titles of equal value may be substituted if any of the listed titles are unavailable at shipping time.

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Resource for Language / Speech Specialists

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Culturally Responsive Practices in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences is the only textbook that provides an innovative perspective on cultural competence in the field of communication sciences and disorders. It is imperative for speech-language pathologists and audiologists to be aware of diverse aspects of globalization, how these aspects may affect their own knowledge, strengths and biases, service provision, their clients lives, as well as their clients relationships to service providers. The purpose of this text is to facilitate the creation of knowledge, and the development of attitudes and skills that lead to culturally responsive practices.

The text presents a conceptual framework to guide speech-language pathologists and audiologists towards cultural competence by becoming critically engaged users of culturally responsive and globally engaged practices. The text is focused on speech-language pathology and audiology, but also draws from theoretical frameworks in other disciplines for an inter-professional, transdisciplinary and macro practice perspective, and would be appropriate for other allied health professions. This information will help students and professionals build their own conceptual framework for providing culturally and linguistically responsive services, and to engage with others globally.

Key Features:

Case studies to facilitate students and professionals knowledge and skills regarding culturally and linguistically responsive practices

Journal prompts and discussion questions that challenge individuals to use critical and dialectical thinking

Real-life activities that can be completed inside or outside the classroom or therapeutic setting

Suggested readings from the current literature in cultural and linguistic responsiveness, cultural competence, and global engagement in order to build knowledge and skills, and to affect student attitudes

A PluralPlus companion website with supplementary resources for students and instructors. For students the website includes study guides for each chapter, flashcards for concepts used throughout the text, and suggestions for additional readings. For instructors the website includes PowerPoint lecture slides outlining chapters and learning activities to use with students, designed to support class preparation and teaching the content in the text. Such learning activities include:

Case studies including decision making and planning for culturally responsive assessment and intervention processes

Journal prompts designed to strengthen critical and dialectical thinking

Identifying challenges and proposing solutions to providing culturally responsive speech-language pathology and audiology services

Exercises to facilitate clinical observations, ethnographic interviewing skills, and working with an interpreter

This textbook is intended for courses on cultural competence in speech-language pathology and audiology programs. It is also appropriate for general multicultural courses in speech-language pathology and audiology, and such courses in allied health programs. Students in speech-language pathology and audiology programs are required to gain knowledge and skill competencies pertaining to culture, cultural competence, cultural bases of normal and impaired communication development, cultural correlates of various developmental and disordered categories, and cultural/linguistic backgrounds and influences of clients and their families. This textbook may also be used as supplemental material in language acquisition courses in communication sciences and disorders programs, and in special education courses that teach special education teachers about working with children who have communication disorders.

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Culturally Responsive Practices in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

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Culturally Responsive Practices in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences: Hyter, Yvette D.: 9781597568678: Books - Amazon

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Reading this with my second graders, our librarian also used this book with my kindergarteners a few years back. <3

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Reviewed by Breanna McDaniel

Review Source: Shelf Awareness
Book Author: Matthew A. Cherry

Matthew A. Cherry wears many hats as a film director, producer and editor. With his debut picture book, Hair Love, he can now add children's book author to that list. A colorful collaboration with illustrator Vashti Harrison ( Little Leaders), Hair Love was inspired by an animated short of the same name created by Cherry to spotlight the lack of appreciation for African American textured hair in animation. He's transitioned the story from film to page, and the result is an ode to the incredible versatility of African American hair and the charming resilience of a dad dedicated to his daughter.

Zuri is a young African American girl who introduces readers to her fabulous hair, which "kinks, coils, and curls every which way." Harrison's dreamy digital artwork showcases Zuri's different styles, including a 'fro that literally sparkles, intricate braids and afro puffs that look as soft as the curling clouds that border the page. There's even a nod to the "magic" of shrinkage, when stretched or straightened hair curls up tight and "shrinks" after getting wet. Using before and after visual vignettes, Zuri explains, "From large to small it went. Presto! Just like that! There is nothing my hair can't do!" Continue reading.

Publisher's Synopsis: "I love that Hair Love is highlighting the relationship between a Black father and daughter. Matthew leads the ranks of new creatives who are telling unique stories of the Black experience. We need this." - Jordan Peele, Actor & Filmmaker

It's up to Daddy to give his daughter an extra-special hair style in this ode to self-confidence and the love between fathers and daughters, from former NFL wide receiver Matthew A. Cherry and New York Times bestselling illustrator Vashti Harrison.

Zuri's hair has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Zuri knows it's beautiful. When Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he LOVES his Zuri, and he'll do anything to make her -- and her hair -- happy.

Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to loving your natural hair -- and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere.

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Reviewed by Breanna McDaniel Review Source: Shelf Awareness Book Author: Matthew A. Cherry wears many hats as a film director, producer and editor. With his debut picture book, Hair Love, he can now add children's book author to that list. A colorful collaboration with illustrator Vashti Harrison (Little Leaders), Hair Love was inspired by an animated short of the [...]

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While many educators recognize the value of creating a culturally responsive classroom, for many teachers it is difficult to imagine what a culturally responsive classroom looks like in practice. This tool, developed by members of the Re-Imagining Migration team and researchers at UCLA, is intended to help make the concept of a culturally responsive classroom concrete and to provide an opportunity for reflection and self-assessment.

This checklist is adapted from "Integrating the Curriculum with Ethnic Content: Approaches and Guidelines", pp 189-207 in J.A. Banks & C. A. McGee Banks (Eds.), Multicultural Education: Issues & Perspectives, Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Desdemona Cardoza, PhD and Margaret Fieweger, PhD developed a version of this checklist for the 4th Annual All
Campus Faculty Symposium, (1990). "Communicating, Advising and Teaching in a Multicultural University", California State University, Los Angeles, April 24.

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While many educators recognize the value of creating a culturally responsive classroom, for many teachers it is difficult to imagine what a culturally responsive classroom looks like in practice. This tool, developed by members of the Re-Imagining Migration team and researchers at UCLA, is intended to help make the concept of a culturally responsive classroom concrete and to provide an opportunity for reflection and self-assessment.

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A book about showing pride of your heritage and culture.

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Esperanza Rising joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!

Esperanza thought she'd always live a privileged life on her family's ranch in Mexico. She'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home filled with servants, and Mama, Papa, and Abuelita to care for her. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp. Esperanza isn't ready for the hard work, financial struggles brought on by the Great Depression, or lack of acceptance she now faces. When Mama gets sick and a strike for better working conditions threatens to uproot their new life, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances-because Mama's life, and her own, depend on it.

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Esperanza Rising (Scholastic Gold) [Ryan, Pam Muñoz] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Esperanza Rising (Scholastic Gold)

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The teacher gives the students in advance an outline (slide) to be able to have time to present something about themselves. Students volunteer and present to the class.
Another idea could be a poster to display in the classroom.

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Flexible Seating in the Classroom

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Two, four, six, eight, what do we appreciate? A good listicle! Especially when evaluating an educational trend, like the shift to flexible seating in K-12 classrooms.

As part of our series on that topic, we've combed through a heap of online data and compiled the ten biggest benefits (in our opinion) of flexible seating. Help yourself to dos or nearly the full dozen, as you educate teachers, administrators, students and parents on why this trend isn't a passing fidget-spinner-fad.

In fact, we see it as critical to enhancing learning across all ages. Plus, educators report that flexible seating is making their careers more enjoyable.  To learn easy ways to incorporate flexible seating in the classroom, take a look at the 5 steps to flexible seating in the classroom.

Why Flexible Seating?

01 | Choice

Students feel empowered by having some degree of choice and control over their environment. Flexible seating allows students to choose where they work and with whom. It also allows them to change their location and positions as needed.

Kayla Delzer, is the author of the popular 2015 EdSurge story, "Why the 21st-Century Classroom May Remind You of Starbucks." In a 2016 follow-up story on Edutopia, she says giving students choices about their physical classroom space teaches them higher-order thinking skills.

"Outside the windows of our classroom is a dynamic, fast-paced, and ever-changing world full of choices. How can we expect our students to solve problems and make choices independently if we constantly solve their problems and make their choices for them?"

For more info:

Check out our Buyer's
Guide to Flexible Seating.

02 | Physical Health

Children need to move. Flexible seating allows them to wobble, rock, bounce, lean or stand, which increases oxygen flow to the brain, blood flow and core strength. In turn, this burns more calories and increases metabolism. It also helps keep young minds more alert and focused.

It's no surprise that physical activity is linked to higher academic performance, better health, and improved behavior. An academic paper by Matthew T. Mahar, et al, found that simple in-class activities can boost performance. Studies suggest that children who participate in short bouts of physical activity within the classroom have more on-task behavior, too.

03 | Comfort

An uncomfortable student, is a distracted and unproductive student. For example, picture a student who skipped or didn't have access to breakfast. As the countdown to lunch approaches, the sound of his or her growling stomach will make it impossibly hard to hear the teacher's voice. An uncomfortable chair can have the same affect.

Flexible seating encourages students to find their best spot to stay calm, focused and productive. As one teacher said, "There is no better way to show your support for a student-centered classroom, than creating a classroom from a child’s point of view." In her opinion, comfortable students are engaged students.

04 | Community

Traditional desks can make students territorial or possessive over their space and supplies. Flexible seating encourages students to share both. And, it encourages them to take turns in different locations and with different seating options.

“When preparing kids for the real world, we want students’ learning environment to reflect the environment of the real world,” said Manuel Herrera, a district tech coordinator for the Affton School District in Missouri, as he reflected on the flexible seating movement that began in the workplace. “This [flexible seating] isn’t a fad. I think it will eventually evolve into the way all classrooms look.”

05 | Collaboration

Flexible seating allows students to quickly and easily pair up, work in small groups, or discuss as a whole class – without moving mountains of heavy desks to establish eye contact. Delzer agrees.

"The students we share our classrooms with don't know life without constant connectivity, Wi-Fi, and a global audience. Our classroom environments should be conducive to open collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. This simply cannot be done when kids are sitting in rows of desks all day."

06 | Communication

Flex seating sharpens higher order thinking skills, like emotional and problem-solving skills and conflict resolution. After all, taking turns requires patience.

07 | Commitment to Learning

While research on flexible seating is limited, it’s clear that learning environments can have a direct impact on student achievement.

A 2012 study from the University of Minnesota found that students participated 48 percent more in discussions in a classroom with collaborative group seating versus traditional lecture-style seating, and also improved their performance on standardized tests.

How does this connect with flexible seating? Kelly Almer, a long-time educator in Littleton Public Schools in CO, recently switched to flexible seating. She says creating more student control and less teacher control has improved student engagement.

"I have witnessed a change in their commitment to learning and behavior," Almer explained. "By making the room 'ours' instead of 'mine,' the students have a sense of ownership that has made them more invested in their own education."

Almer's students choose where they want to sit daily. There is a variety of high, medium and low seating, and kids move to the furniture based on their needs. But Almer puts academics first. "Wherever they choose to sit, it has to help them be their best learning selves."

08 | Communication

No one is naive enough to believe that flexible seating simply happens. Up front, teacher must establish some new classroom management tools. That includes creating a system to make seating choice fair and nondisruptive.

It also requires introducing higher-order thinking skills, like problem-solving, and emotional skills, like conflict resolution. There's also much value in fostering turn-taking and patience – especially for a generation of kids immersed in immediate gratification.

09 | Sensory Input

Many flexible seating options stimulate students' sense of touch. This type of stimulation can help children focus and process information. Sensory input is especially helpful for students with ADHD, ADD, and ASD.

10 | Fun

Flexible seating helps make learning fun. The benefits far outweigh any negatives, said Almer, who will never go back to traditional seating.

"At this year’s parent-teacher conferences, all of the parents stated that their child has a completely different attitude about school now. The kids love coming to school and learning, and they couldn’t be happier."

She offered a few final tips for educators. Foremost, if you want to make this change in your learning environment, it’s important to bring a positive mindset and recognize that the process takes time. She also recommends being deliberate with your choices, and to not overlook practical issues, like color-coordinating the room.

The results – a more active, engaged, enthusiastic, and relaxed room of students – are worth the effort, Almer concluded.

Take a look at the flexible seating options from Smith System® to incorporate flexible seating in your classrooms.

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Top 10 Benefits of a Flexible-Seating Classroom

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"When preparing kids for the real world, we want students' learning environment to reflect the environment of the real world," said Manuel Herrera, a district tech coordinator for the Affton School District in Missouri, as he reflected on the flexible seating movement that began in the workplace. "This [flexible seating] isn't a fad.

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Culturally responsive music performances and theater.

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Culturally responsive music performances and theater.

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The new question-of-the-week is:
What are specific ways to make lessons more culturally responsive and culturally sustaining?
Culturally responsive-and culturally sustaining-instruction are both widely recognized instructional mindsets and strategies. Gloria Ladson-Billings is the primary developer of these ideas, and Django Paris built on her work. You can read Professor Ladson-Billings previous contribution to this column at The Importance of 'White Students Having Black Teachers': Gloria Ladson-Billings on Education and Professor Paris' commentary at Response: 'It Is Long Past Time to Meet the Needs of Students of Color.'

This four-part series will look at examples of what these kinds of lessons might look like in the classroom.

Today, Dr. Rocio del Castillo, Dr. Julia Stearns Cloat, Lisa Stringfellow, Valentina Gonzalez, Maurice McDavid, and Cathery Yeh share their suggestions. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Rocio, Lisa, Valentina, and Maurice on my BAM! Radio Show. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.
Five steps toward equity Dr. Rocio del Castillo began her career as a school psychologist in Peru and has dedicated her professional career to being an advocate for educational equity and social justice. Her rich and diverse experience includes serving for over 20 years in both public and private school systems, where she has received recognition and accolades for her work in the special education, bilingual, and dual- language settings. Rocio currently serves as assistant superintendent for special services in Huntley Community School District 158 (Illinois) and as an adjunct professor. Dr. Julia Stearns Cloat has spent the past 25 years working in unit school districts in roles including literacy specialist, instructional coach, and curriculum director and has earned awards for her work in student services. Her areas of expertise and passion include educational equity, literacy, curriculum development, instructional coaching, and RtI/MTSS. Julia currently works as a coordinator in Kaneland School District 302 (also in Illinois) and as an adjunct professor at Northern Illinois University:
How to promote a culture in which teachers facilitate lessons that are culturally responsive is a challenge currently being faced by many school districts. The type of institutionalized change that is needed to make lessons culturally sustaining cannot occur through a single initiative or concrete practice. In truth, we must keep in mind that equity is a foundation, mindset, and approach. There are however, steps that school districts can encourage in order to make the learning environment in classrooms more culturally responsive.

1. Assess your own personal biases

2. Get to know your students

Getting to know your students and the factors that make up the students' personal and family lives will help teachers make lessons more culturally responsive and build relationships with their students. Taking factors such as socioeconomic status, family make-up, the educational expectations and goals that a family has for the child, student interests and experiences will enhance the teacher/student relationship and provide opportunities to make the learning experiences more personalized and better meet the students' needs.

3. Adapt your teaching and curriculum

The process of adapting your teaching and curriculum begins by first responding to the assessment of your own personal biases, by considering if your biases are reflected in your current practices, then making strides to correct and to become more culturally responsive. The next step is to consider what you have learned about your students and making sure that your focus, standards, instructional approaches, and materials reflect the cultures of your students and expose them to different cultures. Additionally, authentic forms of assessment tools (e.g., observations, rubrics, conferring, performance tasks) are a more culturally and linguistically responsive way to assess student performance and progress than a more traditional classroom assessment.

4. Elevate the students' culture and native language

There is truth in Menken's (2017) assertion that "not only is English typically privileged in school curricula, but also in ideology" in that schools operate from the assumption that emergent bilinguals lack the resources to be successful in school. As emerging bilingual students are learning English, we must do what Beeman (2019) refers to as "elevating the status" of the language. It is likely that most collective experiences that are a part of the school culture are conducted in English. As a result, we must make efforts to assure emerging bilingual students that first language has value and will benefit the student's literacy life as they become more proficient in English.
5. Involve family and community
Make the learning environment in your classroom more culturally responsive means engaging families and communities in the academic lives of students. By supporting students' bicultural and multicultural identity development, families will feel more included and more comfortable, ultimately, making it more likely that they become partners with their children's school (WIDA Consortium, 2013).
Lisa Stringfellow has taught middle school English for over 24 years. In her work, she focuses on culturally responsive literacy and issues of equity and social justice in the classroom. She currently teaches 5th & 6th grade English at the Winsor School in Boston, where she serves in numerous roles including grade-level co-sponsor, educational technology co-coordinator, and co-facilitator of Sisters/Somos, an affinity group for black and Latina students. Connect with her on Twitter @EngageReaders:
As a middle school English teacher, I have tried to integrate her findings into my practice and made reflection an ongoing process in my professional life. I have focused on making my classroom more inclusive and culturally responsive. One of the ways I do that is by interrogating my practices and my curriculum.
For books that I have on my classroom library shelf, I ask the following:

What books might serve as mirrors for my students of color?

What books are written by authors of color?

What books are #ownvoices (written by an author that shares an identity with the character)

What books have problematic representations that I should consider weeding?

There are numerous people doing great work in this area. Tools you can use are the Classroom Library Questionnaire from Lee & Low Books or Tricia Ebarvia's How Inclusive Is Your Classroom Library Really? Dr. Debbie Reese's blog, American Indians in Children's Literature, is an excellent resource for evaluating Native and Indigenous children's literature.
For the books that I teach, I consider:

Whose voices are included?

Whose voices are left out?

Who holds power and who doesn't?

Where am I placing voices of color (as core texts or independent reading)

When I consider "rigor," is that coded language for anything?

Am I valuing multiply types of literacies?

When discussing books that have challenging or difficult content, it is also important to unpack the texts with students and teach them to take a critical stance. Teaching students to ask questions and look critically at issues of racism, power, and oppression and draw connections to their lives and the real world.
For my practices, I think about:

What is the intention of this practice? What is the impact?

Are there any texts or practices that I've "pledged allegiance" to? Why? How might those negatively impact students of color?

The following are some practical suggestions I have used in trying to center students' needs in my teaching.

Names are powerful and personal. Many students start the first day of school hearing teachers mispronounce their names. Rather than reading names, considering going around the room and having students say their names to you first. Even better, have students record themselves saying their names using an app like FlipGrid. Bonus-you can listen to them again later.

Educate yourself on racial-equity issues. How are your own biases shaping what you value and teach? Have you added "diverse" books to your library or curriculum? If so, it's a great start, but consider how that might be problematic, too. Adding still centers often majority-white voices in the curriculum. Instead, consider whether the structure of your curriculum needs to be different. A great workshop that has influenced my recent thinking is the Institute on Racial Equity in Literacy facilitated by Tricia Ebarvia and Dr. Sonya Cherry-Paul. For reading, teachers should consider We Got This by Cornelius Minor and Being the Change by Sara Ahmed.

Listen to your students. If you want to know how you're doing, ask your students. Do you know how students of color in your class or school feel about their school experience? Where do they see themselves in the curriculum? Who is centered? What practices do you or your school have that makes things harder for them? Open yourself to listen deeply and taking feedback for those who matter most. The kids.
Further Reading

Class meetings
Valentina Gonzalez has served 20+ years in education as a teacher, district facilitator for English-learners, a professional-development specialist for ELs and as an educational consultant. Valentina delivers professional development and coaches teachers on sheltered instruction strategies. She works with teachers of ELs to support language and literacy instruction. Her work can be found on Seidlitz Education and on MiddleWeb. You can reach her through her website or on Twitter @ValentinaESL:

"... culture is visible and large and if we're not careful, our classroom and school culture can work to silence, exclude, and oppress children."-Cornelius Minor

The words Cornelius uses are strong and hit me hard ..."silence, exclude, and oppress children." Three things I never want to do. In fact, I aim to do the exact opposite. To amplify, embrace, and empower children.

Culturally responsive teaching builds a safe, sturdy bridge between students' home and personal lives to classroom instruction. Culturally responsive teaching is not a program we can purchase. It's not a box of curriculum. It's about how we weave our students' lives into daily instruction. We create the culture in our classrooms: the routines, what is valued, what we shine a light upon, how we celebrate, what is respected, how we interact with students and families.

Often culture is viewed only through the lens of a person's race or ethnicity. But culture is more than race and ethnicity, such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, etc.

The question becomes how are we giving all students no matter their cultural groups equitable access to the curriculum (math, reading, writing, science, history, music, art, physical education, etc.).

Culturally responsive teaching requires:

Knowing students individually

Valuing students' assets

An openness to one's own biases

Building community

Class meetings aim to amplify, embrace, and empower children and foster a culturally responsive environment throughout the school year.
What are class meetings?
Class meetings are brief (15-30 minutes), regularly held gatherings. They are teacher-facilitated but student-led. Class meetings build community and empathy among students while allowing teachers to learn more about the kids in the classroom. Students look forward to class meetings. They know that this is a time when they can share and discuss with one another. The meeting also provides a safe space to encourage individuality.

Class meetings may look and sound a bit different depending on whether you teach primary or secondary students, but in essence they hold the same critical characteristics. In primary classrooms, students may gather in a circle on the floor; however, in secondary classrooms, students may be more comfortable seated in chairs. This physical seating arrangement is important because it brings all students into the conversation much like sitting around the dinner table together versus standing around at a cocktail party. In primary grades, teachers may offer a song, chant, or game for students to play. This may be appropriate for older students, too, depending on the content or context. Some teachers like to give students an object to hold when it's their turn to talk. I've seen classrooms that use a classroom mascot stuffed animal and others that toss a small ball.

One teacher effectively implemented class meetings by intentionally planning for them. She created a schedule that was similar to this but changed weekly to meet the needs of her students:

Monday: Students share what they did over the weekend or share what they are looking forward to about the week ahead.

Tuesday: Students discuss their goals for the week. What do they hope to accomplish?

Wednesday: Students discuss a topic that was in the news (changes weekly).

Thursday: Students share what they love doing for fun.

Friday: Students reflect on their goals.

Culturally responsive teaching can only happen when we know our students deeply. Class meetings provide us with information that we can infuse into instruction. Regular class meetings allow us to sustain culturally responsive teaching throughout the year.
Infusing what you learned from a class meeting
Classroom Scenario 1:

It's September, and school has been in session for a month now. Mr. Ruby has held regular class meetings for his students through which he learned that many of his students are bilingual. He values all languages and literacy and would like to ensure that his bilingual students feel empowered by their ability. He has decided to ask the students to share more about their languages and teach the class some key words in their primary languages.

Classroom Scenario 2:

The students did an amazing job sharing their primary language with their classmates. While sharing, one student mentioned that he was born in Brazil. Since the class was soon to be studying major landforms, Mr. Ruby asked the student if he had any experiences with the rainforest or Amazon River in Brazil. The student shared stories and pictures of his father who had visited both.
Steps to implementing class meetings:

1. Designate a time for regular class meetings.

2. Plan intentional discussions, activities, and/or events for the meetings.

3. Model expectations for students.

4. Facilitate the student-led discussion/activity.

5. Be consistent. Don't skip a day.

6. Take notes and use them to guide instruction.

The routine of class meetings has a powerful and positive impact on student engagement but can also give us a window into their world. Not only can we use the class meeting as a means to embed students' lives into future learning, but the actual act of the class meeting itself is culturally responsive. By giving students a platform to amplify their voice and allowing them to share their stories and who they are, we are creating environments that are culturally inclusive.
Summing it up
Creating and sustaining an environment that is culturally responsive means amplifying, embracing, and empowering children each day each lesson. In this environment, students' voices are heard and strengthened, students are welcomed for who they are rather than made to feel they need to conform, and the environment shares power with students. Class meetings hold the power to do just that.

You can read more ideas about culturally responsive teaching in this article for NCTE or this one here for MiddleWeb.
Image by Valentina Gonzalez Four ways to implement culturally responsive teaching
Maurice McDavid earned his bachelor's degree in elementary education with a minor in history and Spanish. He has taught middle school history, English, and Spanish, as well as high school geography. He was dean of students for three years and is now in his first year as assistant principal at a bilingual elementary school:

Gloria Ladson Billings argues that culturally responsive teaching must include, at minimum, the following: bringing native language into the classroom, family involvement, understanding history and culture and community culture into the classroom.

Looking for connections between English and other languages as related to the content you're teaching is important. For example, when teaching about "vaqueros," some of America's first cowboys, you can relate the word vaquero to vaca, which means cow in Spanish. In math, you can talk about the numeric prefixes and their relationship to Latin-based languages.

In terms of family involvement, many lessons allow for parents to come into the classroom and be the experts. One teacher that I work with recorded parents explaining how they use math in their jobs. She recorded one parent for each unit theme. This gave parents an opportunity to feel like experts and students an opportunity to feel proud about their parents.

Understanding the history and culture of our nation and more specifically the state and community in which you teach is powerful. When developing lessons for my middle school American History class, I was always very intentional in acknowledging the authors of our history books and how their place in culture impacted their telling of the story. I often presented information on how people who didn't seem to be the main characters in the story were indeed major actors. Asking students to think about the role of gender, race, or financial status can impact any lesson in any content area.

Finally, looking specifically at the community culture is a way to make connections to the students. Students cannot be known apart from the context in which they live. Lessons that include landmarks specific to the community or discuss industry that is important in the community allow students to utilize their background information. In my hometown, we are known for our excellent farmland. Whether science, math, or history, the agricultural culture of our community will connect students. At a surface level, lessons can use the topics from the community. At a deeper level, students can begin to inquire about what has made their community what it is and figure out ways in which they can be a part of its future development.
Six categories of a "culturally responsive framework"
Cathery Yeh, @YehCathery, is an assistant professor of teacher education at Chapman University with 20+ years in education. As a teacher, she visited over 300 student homes to develop partnerships with caregivers and centered curriculum on students' lived experiences and perspectives. Dr. Yeh has published over 40+ articles on mathematics education, culturally and linguistically responsive teaching, and video-based professional developments and is the lead author of the NCTM book Reimagining the Mathematics Classroom:

Our students arrive in our classroom with a mosaic of identities. Lessons that are culturally responsive and sustaining need intentional focus on cultural preservation which require us, as educators, to critically analyze how much of U.S. schooling has focused on assimilation and colonization. Education is a system of policies and practices that currently serves to privilege a few at the expense of many. Too many of our students do not see themselves represented in the curriculum: solving problems in a process that is not their own, in a language different from their native tongue, and solving mathematics problems irrelevant to their interests and experiences.

Culturally responsive and sustaining lessons honor our students and their histories, culture, language, and unique ways of knowing and being in the world. I use a framework to design lessons; it builds from a culturally responsive framework developed by Aguirre and Zavala (2012). The framework includes six categories: cognitive demand, student thinking, discourse, power and participation, cultural/community knowledge, and critical knowledge.

Below are a series of questions related to each category that I ask myself during lesson design and reflection:

Cognitive demand: How does my lesson provide students opportunities to grapple with and make sense of important disciplinary ideas and their use? Students learn best when they are challenged to take risks and be authors of their own ideas.

Student thinking: How does my lesson make student thinking/understanding visible and deep? What are the different places in the lesson and ways (e.g., written, verbal, embodied) in which student thinking is made visible?

Discourse: How does the lesson allow students to engage in the ways of thinking and using language relevant to the discipline? How does the lesson allow alternative forms for expression, representation and engagement-beyond verbal talk and written text-to better capture ways of communicating and interacting representative of all students, including emergent bilingual students, students classified with disabilities, and students who may express themselves nonverbally?

Power and participation: Whose experiences and perspectives are valued in this lesson? How does my lesson distribute knowledge authority, value all students' contributions, and address status differences among students?

Cultural/Community: How does the lesson build on students' cultural and community knowledge? How does the lesson build from resources available in students' daily experiences and their community? How does the lesson honor students' and their ancestral histories and stories? How does the lesson allow students to deepen their appreciation of their own culture and the culture of others?

Critical knowledge: How does the lesson allow students to critically examine the world and to take action to promote change?
References:
Aguirre, J. M., & Zavala, M. (2013). Making culturally responsive mathematics teaching explicit: A lesson analysis tool. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 8(2), 163-190.

Thanks to Rocio, Julia, Lisa, Valentina, Maurice, and Cathery for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar.

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Steps to Make Classrooms More Culturally Responsive (Opinion)

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Six educators share specific suggestions on how to make lessons more culturally responsive, including through having teachers assess their own biases and by elevating students' culture and language.

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A Mexican Cinderella Story

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Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story READ ALOUD

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A story about how families can be different.

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Resources for Speech Language Pathologists supporting bilingual students

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Digital Parent, Teacher, and Health forms that automatically go into your report.

The ultimate template and paragraph blurb library.

Say goodbye to pronoun, name, and cut-and-paste errors.

No more digging for that perfect paragraph you once wrote.

From testing to printing in a fraction of the time.

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Welcome! Bilinguistics is your home for speech therapy materials, ASHA CEUs, and support for you to produce amazing therapy and evaluations.

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Alma and How She Got Her Name (English) Read-Aloud

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Good beginning of the year activity that could be paired with the name circle activity (especially for younger and/or SpEd students).

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This is a great book about family support, love, and taking chances.

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This is a great book about family support, love, and taking chances.

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Cultivating Progress - It Can Start With One Book

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Storytime Books Read Aloud: JABARI JUMPS by Gaia Cornwall

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They're not too young to talk about race!

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They're not too young to talk about race!

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Infographic that explains why and how to talk to young people about race and racism.

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A great activity, especially for ELL students. This gives students a chance to play a game similar to mad libs where a student reads a phrase on a card and the other students have to figure out what the phrase is.

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Objectives:

The student will be able to review what they learned about language acquisition

Teaching ELL's by figuring out the meanings of "Mad Gab" phrases

Process:

Print the cards on card stock or heavy paper. One student reads the phrase on the card. The other students guess what the actual phrase should be. Students should listen to what they hear and how the phrase is said, rather than focusing on the individual words. Each student should take a turn at reading the cards.

Example Mad Gab Phrase: Thief Act Huff Them Adder
Answer: The fact of the matter.

Looks Like: Students sitting in small groups playing a game.

Sounds Like: Students reading the cards and trying to figure out the phrase. Students should be careful to use their 2-inch voices for this one because other students will hear the correct answers.

Feels Like: Students having fun as they play a game and learn at the same time.

Rationale:

This is a game that many students are familiar with. Because it is a game, students have generally been excited to play. It is a good way for students to review important phrases or terms from the discussion about language acquisition. All students are able to participate and working in small groups helps the students focus on the words and phrases.

Materials:

Mad Gab cards, one set for a small group of students (3-4 students per group). (Materials for this activity came from a SIOP Training.)

Phrases for cards:

Water Wee Tall Kennel Bout? (What are we talking all about?)

Come Pray Hands Say Pulling Poot! (Comprehensible Input)

Sim Pail Sent Ants Struck Shore (Simple Sentence Structure)

Call Hear Rex Plane a Shun Off Hack Addy Makes (Clear Explanation of Academics)

Hans Song Hex Pier Hens Ann May Nay Teg Sneaks (Hands-on Experience and Many Techniques)

Brainstorm:

Cards can be made for any topic area. Many games in general can be adapted to academic topics in order to facilitate a more fun environment. It is probably best to use with fluent readers who are able to put the words together to figure out other phrases.

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Mad Gab Activity | BYU McKay School of Education

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Objectives: The student will be able to review what they learned about language acquisition Teaching ELL's by figuring out the meanings of "Mad Gab" phrases Process: Print the cards on card stock or heavy paper. One student reads the phrase on the card. The other students guess what the actual phrase should be.

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The students will bring in images of their family. This will allow students to connect with each other. This will aid in the overall class goal of becoming one big family.

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All Are Welcome: Kids books read aloud by Books with Blue

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Something I do every year to get to know my students. They also get to know each other. It consist of a page where they answer questions about themselves. I have them add color and post them in the room. You can just do a search and many ideas will pop up for you!

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Culturally Responsive Pedagogy by Geneva Gay

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Culturally Responsive Pedagogy by Geneva Gay

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Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by Gloria Ladson-Billings

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Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by Gloria Ladson-Billings

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Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

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A technique for proactively building the skills and relationships students will need when challenges arise.

Our students come to school with many issues on their minds and in their hearts. As educators, we can help them process their thoughts and feelings so they can better handle their situations and be more present in class.

Restorative circles are a useful practice to do just that. While frequently used to replace punitive forms of discipline, restorative circles are equally important in proactively building the relationships and skills students need to support one another and collectively address the challenges they face.

Restorative circles are most effective when they're an integral part of school culture. After all, you can't "restore" a community that you haven't built or sustained.

7 Steps for Facilitating Meaningful Circles

1. Cocreate a safe, supportive space: Circles work best if teachers invest time up front to build relationships, skills, and practices to draw on throughout the school year-especially if the going gets tough.

Early in the process, teachers and students together explore values-like empathy, patience, kindness, courage, and open-mindedness-that need to be respected for people to be willing to share openly and honestly in circle. They also determine best ways of working together (circle practices). These include honoring the talking piece, which goes around the circle as an invitation to share while everyone else listens (participants may pass if they don't wish to talk). People are encouraged to speak and listen from the heart. And what is shared in circle, stays in circle, though educators should let students know at the outset that we are mandated by law to report when a student threatens to harm themselves or others, or when students divulge abuse.

2. Be prepared: Make sure that you, the facilitator, are well rested, calm, and focused.

To hold the circle space effectively, it's important to be fully present and able to sit with other people's stories and feelings as well as your own. Center yourself. If you're exploring sensitive issues that may require follow up, consider alerting support staff.

3. Plan ahead: Decide together on a topic or theme that sustains students' interest.

Find a relevant opening ceremony to open the circle space, such as a poem, quote, or piece of music. A mindfulness activity can also be used to bring students into the space after a particularly stressful class or noisy hallway experience.

Look for information to ground the conversation, and develop questions and prompts to invite student perspectives into the circle.

Keep in mind that the bigger the circle, the more time you'll need for the talking piece to go around. Think about how things might unfold and be ready to adapt to what comes up.

Make sure to leave time for a closing ceremony, giving students a chance to transition into spaces that may be less conducive to being vulnerable. A closing ceremony can be a commitment to safeguarding the stories shared in circle, or a breathing exercise in which we provide students with prompts and time to put themselves back together again.

4. Invite student experiences into the space: Encourage students to connect with the circle content by sharing stories from their own lives.

Include storytelling rounds by asking students to talk about "a person in your life who..." or "a time when...." Share authentically of yourself. This gives others permission to do the same. Model good listening as the talking piece goes around the circle. Be fully present as others speak. Remind everyone that listening is the key ingredient in circles. True listening can create the kind of welcoming space that encourages even the quietest voices to speak.

5. Acknowledge, paraphrase, summarize, and practice empathy: Listen closely to what students share so that you can build on their experiences.

When the talking piece comes back to you, touch on what you felt, noticed, or heard. If you sense that there's more than surfaced in the first round, send the talking piece around a second or third time, asking students for their connections, reflections, or additions.

If challenging or painful issues come up, model agreed-upon circle practices for students to follow. Listening mindfully and being present with other people's ordeals and hardships can create supportive, healing experiences that strengthen community connections and build empathy.

If needed, let students know you're available to check in with them later in the day or week. You might also have them consider speaking with other supportive adults or students to find solace if they're troubled.

6. Explore what it means to be an effective ally: Beyond creating a supportive listening environment, ask what else, if anything, students need from you and from each other.

Explore how to be better allies in circle so that students know they don't need to face their challenges alone. Invite them to talk about a person in their lives who is a good friend or ally, or a person they'd like to be a better friend or ally. Discuss the qualities these people have (or lack) and how they make us feel. Invite students to talk about a time they've been a good friend or ally themselves, and what gets in the way of being our best selves with one another.

7. Zoom out to promote understanding on the systems level: Explore whether there are larger systemic forces that underlie the challenges students have touched on (such as racism, sexism, or lack of access to resources). Introduce information, stories, and voices that might shed light on how these systems operate. Look for examples of people who took action to interrupt these and other oppressive systems.

Invite students to connect to this information by sharing their thoughts, feelings, and related experiences.

Studying larger, systemic forces in society can help students better understand their situation, and can be a useful starting point for students to become more active themselves. Action and activism can inspire hope, connection, and healing.

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Building Community With Restorative Circles

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A technique for proactively building the skills and relationships students will need when challenges arise.

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why race & culture matter in schools: closing the achievement gap in america's classrooms

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education / educational policy & reform / federal legislation

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education / educational policy & reform / general

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educational equalization - united states

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african-american; black; hispanic; prejudice; opportunity gap; equal education; justice and education; social equality

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education / educational policy & reform / federal legislation

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education / educational policy & reform / general

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Why Race & Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America's Classrooms

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Amazon.com: Why Race & Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America's Classrooms (9780807750711): Tyrone C. Howard: Books

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We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom

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We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom [Love, Bettina] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom

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Jamila Lyiscott: 3 ways to speak English

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Jamila Lyiscott is a "tri-tongued orator;" in her powerful spoken-word essay "Broken English," she celebrates - and challenges - the three distinct flavors of English she speaks with her friends, in the classroom and with her parents. As she explores the complicated history and present-day identity that each language represents, she unpacks what it means to be "articulate."

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We have a long way to go as a society when it comes to accepting those of us who learn differently. Most students understand that it would be cruel and wrong to make fun of someone who is in a wheelchair. However, they have no such qualms about making fun of someone who has a learning disability.

I can't count how many times I have heard middle schoolers calling each other "sped," "slow," or "retarded" in the hallways and under their breaths. The stigma is so intense that most students with learning disabilities don't speak up about their challenges in public. There is a sense of shame around learning differently-students and even teachers walk on eggshells around the subject.

One way we can help students develop empathy and understanding about these issues is through literature. There are so many good children's/YA books these days, and many of them tackle difficult issues like bullying, poverty, abuse, and more. Other books have characters with disabilities. Today I'm going to talk about a few of those.

by Edward Bloor is a novel about a boy who has a vision impairment. The novel uses language such as "IEP" and special education. I read it with a group of students with IEPs, and it was nice to see that represented in fiction. It's a mysterious novel with twists and turns, and the story involves sports, (soccer and football) so it's high interest for many kids. My students really seemed to like it.

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. This book's title comes from the well-known quote: "If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking that it's stupid." It's a heartwarming book about a student coping with her dyslexia.

by Patricia Polacco is a children's picture book about the author's own struggles with dyslexia. The story describes how a special teacher helped her improve her skills in a time before learning disabilities were commonly diagnosed. Even though it is written for children, it's a great read aloud for any age group, including middle and high school. Thank You, Mr. Falker would be a great way to tie-in growth mindset as well. Just make sure to have some tissues ready...it's a tearjerker!

by CeCe Bell is a really fun graphic novel/memoir describing the author's hearing loss at a young age. (I love introducing kids to graphic novels-even my most reluctant readers can get engaged with them.) As the author states in the afterward, "out differences are our superpowers."

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erksine is a National Book Award winner. It features a girl with autism who is also dealing with the fact that her older brother recently died in a school shooting.

by Sharon Draper is a book featuring a character with cerebral palsy. The main character has to answer the question "what's wrong with you?" constantly. She maintains a sense of humor and reslience that kids will appreciate. Sharon Draper is a huge favorite of my students. Her writing is so engaging and relatable for the YA audience.

What are some of your favorite books featuring students with disabilities? Let me know in the comments!

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Books Featuring Kids with Disabilities - Read Relevant

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We have a long way to go as a society when it comes to accepting those of us who learn differently. Most students understand that it would be cruel and wrong to make fun of someone who is in a wheelchair. However, they have no such qualms about making fun of someone who has a learning disability.

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Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools.
A trial role play asks students to determine who is responsible for the death of millions of Taínos on the island of Hispaniola in the late 15th century.

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Teaching Activities (Free)

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow with contributions from members of the Taíno Community. Rethinking Schools. 13 pages.
A trial role play asks students to determine who is responsible for the death of millions of Taínos on the island of Hispaniola in the late 15th century.

Themes: Imperialism, Native American

By Bill Bigelow with contributions from members of the Taíno Community
This role play begins from the premise that a genocide was committed in the years after 1492, on the islands inhabited by the Taíno. Many Indigenous scholars estimate somewhere around 5 million Taíno inhabited the Greater Antilles pre contact.

Who - and/or what - was responsible for this genocide? This is the question students confront in this activity.

The intent of the lesson is to prompt students to examine the roots of colonial violence. When I first taught a version of this trial role play, it came at the conclusion of a longer unit about the meaning of the European arrival in the western hemisphere, one which included reading Taíno scholar José Barreiro's "The Taíno: 'Men of the Good,'" in Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years , which explicitly critiques the notion of the Taíno as "primitive." As Barreiro writes, "The Taíno strove to feed all the people, and maintained a spirituality that respected most of their main animal and food sources, as well as the natural forces like climate, season, and weather. The Taíno lived respectfully in a bountiful place so their nature was bountiful." Barreiro notes that "There was little or no quarreling observed among the Taíno by the Spaniards."

Students and I also read excerpts from Columbus's journal when he encountered the Taíno Nation, the Lukayan on the island of Guanahaní (probably San Salvador/Watlings Island), included in Rethinking Columbus , which hints at the violence to come: "They do not bear arms or know them, for I showed them swords and they took them by the blade and cut themselves through ignorance" - a quote that students find chilling. On the third day of Columbus's first encounter with the Taíno, October 14, 1492, Columbus bragged that "with 50 men they would be all kept in subjugation and forced to do whatever may be wished . . ."

The more students learn about the Taíno, Spain, Columbus's voyages, and details of Columbus's strategies to steal wealth and land from the people of the Caribbean - and Taíno resistance - the more effective this trial activity will be. But a caveat: The trial is not an introductory activity. A critical look at colonialism begins with the people being encountered prior to colonization, not with the state of siege that they experienced.

This lesson was originally written in 1991. Many things changed over my 30-year teaching career, but one thing stayed sadly consistent: Year after year, my high school U.S. history students had never heard of the Taíno people. Early in my classes, I asked students if they could name the person some people say "discovered America." There was never any shortage of students calling out "Columbus!" Then I asked, "OK. Who did he supposedly 'discover'? Who was here first?" Sometimes a few students would say, "Indians." But I'd say, "No. I mean what was the specific name of the people he found?" In all my years of teaching, I never had a single student say: "The Taíno" - much less be able to name any individual Taíno. I told my students their name, and that there were possibly millions on the islands of the Caribbean. "What does it say," I asked, "that we all know the name of the fellow from Europe, a white man, but none of us can name who the original peoples of the Caribbean are?"

" The Taíno vs. Columbus, et al. " was - and is - part of a broader effort to bring Taíno peoples into the curriculum. Although this lesson is not designed to introduce students to Taíno culture, the enormity of what happened to the Taíno is at the heart of the lesson. Columbus's actions against the Taíno meet the United Nations' definition of genocide ("acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group") - as well as internationally recognized crimes against humanity, war crimes, and environmental crimes. But there has been an almost complete curricular erasure of the Taíno peoples. Thus, it is up to us as educators to address these gaps, and consult and collaborate with those harmed to address misleading colonial narratives in our classes.

The updated version of this activity centers the Taíno people as the people harmed and includes indictments for four colonial offenders: Columbus, Columbus's Men, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and the System of Empire.

A pedagogical note: Recently, there has been much discussion - and controversy - about role plays. It's a term that embraces strategies the Zinn Education Project supports, and others we oppose. Some school activities - "role plays" - demand that students "recreate traumatic experiences," in the words of Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Ohio State University professor. No Zinn Education Project activity engages in this kind of teaching. In this and other ZEP role plays, we do not ask students to perform. Although Columbus enslaved Taíno people, and ordered his men to spread "terror," as documented by the Spanish priest Bartolomé de las Casas, students do not act any of this out in this role play. Instead, the role play asks students to attempt to represent different individuals' and social groups' points of view, to wrestle with who or what was responsible for the crimes against the Taínos. The "drama" in this activity is sparked by the intellectual and ethical questions students discuss, not by reenacting historical events. [Read How to - and How Not to - Teach Role Plays.]
Download the lesson to read in full. Read suggestions for adapting to upper elementary classroom
Taínos

The trial role play is excerpted from Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, which includes more context for the events dealt with in the lesson, including "The Taínos: 'Men of the Good,'" by José Barriero; a critical reading activity of Columbus's diary on his first contact with Indigenous people; a timeline of Spain, Columbus, and Taínos with teaching ideas; and an adaptation from the writings of Bartolomé de las Casas on the first Spanish priest to denounce the Spanish brutality in Hispaniola.

We also recommend Indigenous Cuba: Hidden in Plain Sight by José Barreiro in the National Museum of the American Indian and Whose History Matters? Students Can Name Columbus, But Most Have Never Heard of the Taíno People by Bill Bigelow in the Zinn Education Project "If We Knew Our History" series.

Authors

Bill Bigelow is curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools magazine and co-director of the Zinn Education Project. Read more.

Members of the Taíno Community. This version of the lesson was revised in collaboration with Tanya Rodriguez (National Institute for Racial Equity) and the Grandmothers Council Bohio Atabei - Verona Iriarte and Naniki Reyes Ocasio. Additional feedback was provided by the United Confederation of Taíno People.

Scenes from the Classroom

Students engaged in the People vs. Columbus trial. (Teacher: Julian Hipkins, 11th grade at CCPCS in Washington, D.C. Photographer: Rick Reinhard, 2012)

Stories from the Classroom

"Guilty or Innocent? Hardy Middle School Students Put Columbus on Trial"
By Cierra Kaler-Jones
If you had to put Christopher Columbus on trial for murder, would he be considered guilty? Students in Caneisha Mills' 8th-grade U.S. History class at Hardy Middle School in Washington, D.C. grappled with this question when they were assigned the task of deciding who would be considered guilty for the deaths of millions of Taínos on the island of Hispaniola in the 1490s . . .

Continue reading this play-by-play account of The People vs. Columbus, et al. at DC Area Educators for Social Justice.

The People vs. Columbus trial has been my most successful and popular lesson in the two years I taught it. Not only do students get to learn the extent of the atrocities committed by Spanish colonizers, but they get to engage in higher order thinking (one of my grad school buzzwords I think about a lot!) on the factors that cause historical atrocities to occur.

I LOVE how "the system of empire" is one of the options for students to blame or defend. This has generated some of the most challenging discussions I've seen in my class so far, as students say, "The king and queen would not have sent Columbus if they hadn't been acting within the system!" and retort, "But the system is made up of individuals, and each have their own choices!" This thinking about structure vs. agency is a level of thinking in social studies that was not made explicit to me until college, and I am thrilled that this assignment has given my students an opportunity to delve into core disciplinary questions.

They get excited about it, too ― I've had students leap up in the trial, hollering their positions to each other in attempts to convince a jury of their peers. At the end of the trial this year, as the jury came back with the verdict, one of my students reflected, "I think that Columbus is like Trump, and the Tainos are like the Mexican people..." This prompted a discussion about how colonial-type oppression works in our current society, leading one student to observe, "You know, I think WE live within a system." I asked them if they thought that they had any agency within the system, and they had a really thoughtful conversation about it.

Your resources truly fill a well left dry - not by forgetfulness, but by the same racist systems that perpetuate the injustices my students face on a daily basis in schools.

Social Studies Teacher, Baltimore, Maryland

The Zinn Education Project made untold history come to life for students working on the People vs. Columbus tribunal. Students were immersed in building background knowledge by reading the indictments, working together, and using teacher-created graphic organizers to build a defense and a strong prosecution.

The lesson captivated the attention of my students in the online environment, fostered collaboration and highlighted rigorous writing, reading, and speaking & listening standards as we work our way through a delicate piece of history that not many know and everyone should appreciate.

Students remarked at the end of the first day in trial how fun and engaging the work was and how much they were learning by working together, interacting with the teacher and rereading the indictments to write argument pieces to present to class. Seeing the students produce quality work aligned to standards and related to our curriculum content is a magical feeling for a teacher and I for one am humbled it happened in my classroom.

I am grateful I had robust materials to use, a guide for instruction, and the opportunity to create. I am eager to continue to use more Zinn Education Project resources with my students in the future.

Middle School Language Arts/English Teacher, Baltimore, Maryland

This school year has been riddled with uncertainty and confusion. For my students, it has also been distant. Socially distant, limited engagement, cameras off, muted, seldom chat. The People vs Columbus, et al. lesson stands out as an outlier for participation. Even over Zoom, students became active participants, engaged, and passionate about their opinions. While working in groups there was very real collaboration that led to detailed and nuanced arguments. The activity pushed students into discomfort about facing the actual history of trying and horrendous acts.

The trial really allowed students to dig into the nature of responsibility and actions. It showed students the difference between individual actions and the responsibility attributed to the systemic nature of power and privilege. The structure of the trial, one splitting the class into different perspectives, allows students to push beyond their own assumptions and point of view, to see the issues of the past, and apply them to a contemporary dilemma.

Middle School Social Studies Teacher, Oak Park, Illinois

In U.S. history with my 11th-grade students, we began the year by corroborating Columbus's story and used texts from A Young People's History, traditional textbooks, videos, and other primary sources. They were shocked and surprised at his actions but also surprised that they hadn't learned this information before.

A perfect culmination to this set of lessons was The People vs. Columbus, et al. The students used their various resources to craft an argument and counter-arguments, and we had a debate about who was responsible for the genocide. They passionately took on their roles and characters, using textual evidence and thinking critically. It has been one of their favorite lessons since the school started and I know they want to participate in more debates!

This lesson perfectly combined speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills, all so that students could have a better understanding of the past.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Lemoore, California

The science teacher told me that students were arguing during lunch about The People vs. Columbus et al. trial and who was to blame. This was the first time all school year he has heard students really talking about what they were learning outside of class time. To hear ninth graders thinking critically about how much of a person's action reflects individual choice vs. what society compels them to do and then applying that to major events in world history is amazing. Thank you, Zinn Education Project.

High School History Teacher, Washington, District of Columbia

I have used the lesson on colonization and the genocide of the Taínos for many years with my 7th graders. I give them primary and secondary sources to read first so that they can analyze perspective and bias. Then I put them in roles as defense lawyers for each of the teams, witnesses, court reporters, a jury, and a judge. The lawyers read the indictments from the Zinn Education Project and use the sources to help them come up with arguments to defend their sides. The jury summarizes the indictments to be read during the trial. The lawyers come up with opening and closing statements and witness questions. The witnesses prepare responses to the questions they will be asked, the judge prepares a script to be read during the trial.

The mock trial format of the lesson helps students to think critically about the history of the genocide and to craft arguments using evidence to enhance their position. Students become really passionate about the trial and many express their desire to be a lawyer at the end of it. Ultimately, students are divided about who they think is to blame for the genocide, which sets up a really nice conversation with students that there is no "right or wrong" and that many people, as well as the system of the empire, are to blame.

This has fostered really high-level discussions in my class and has allowed students to use their voice effectively while developing persuasive arguments. I love how organized the Zinn Education Project is and how they foster engagement in students. It is something I will continue to use for years.

Middle School Social Studies Teacher, Fredonia, Wisconsin

The People vs. Columbus trial was a perfect start of the year assignment for my 8th graders, and they were absolutely excited to put Columbus on trial and develop questions and statements to roleplay the characters that they were assigned. I will definitely be using this lesson again in the future.

Additionally, it was a great way to get the other teachers on campus involved in my classroom since the students asked and got other teachers and administrators to come in and help judge the trial with me. They were excited to show other staff members the work they were doing to counteract the systems of oppression that were set up at the start of colonization. As Brown and Black students, they were excited to really look into the history of oppression that exists in our nation and argue about what or who made the underlying factors in developing the systems of oppression in the United States. The trial also helped develop conversations about why the systems still exist.

Middle School Social Studies Teacher, Glendale, California

When I first came across this website, one of the first activities I read was People vs. Columbus, et al. and I immediately began preparations to use it in my world history classes. After providing background information from A People's History and various primary sources, we set the trial up.

My students' reactions after the trial concludes can easily be described as unsettled. Never before had they heard of the crimes committed against the indigenous peoples of the "new world." Never before did they realize the impact Europeans had on the indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere.

I have a writing assignment attached to this activity. In two paragraphs, I ask that they tell me who they think is to blame for the crimes. I also ask if they think we should still celebrate Columbus Day.

Afterward, we take a look at our textbook. We look at the one paragraph devoted to Columbus in which it describes his ability to persuade Queen Isabella in 1492. That's it. That's all it says. Thanks to the Zinn Education Project, my students have a better understanding of the impact left by him and other Europeans. Now, they know more than just the year he sailed and the color of the ocean.

High Social Studies Teacher, Reidsville, Georgia

I always begin my U.S. history course with the People vs. Columbus, et al Trial. It is amazing how engaged students become to not only learn the truth but also be able to defend themselves using the evidence provided. Students love creativity and this case allows students to come to their own conclusions.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Hayward, California

I used the The People vs. Columbus, et al. lesson plan when I was a student teacher during the school year of 2020-2021. The lesson was very engaging and it encourages students to think about the causes and effects of European arrival to America.

Students were able to generate their authentic ideas regarding the slaughter of the Taíno Community. The lesson allows students to think about history from different perspectives and the activity encourages students to develop critical thinking skills. Since students have to participate in a trial, they were also able to develop public speaking skills.

Middle School Social Studies Teacher, New York, New York

More Classroom Stories

As a teacher, the Zinn Education Project website is invaluable because it provides activities that directly relate to A People's History. Last week we did The People vs. Columbus, et al. which places all the parties involved in the arrival of Columbus on trial for the murder of the Tainos. The activity was so interactive that teachers from other classrooms had to ask us to quiet down. Students were able to better understand the motives and consequences behind the arrival.

Even though A People's History can be a bit difficult for some students, the activities on the Zinn Education Project website makes the content accessible regardless of their reading level.

HIgh School Administrator, Washington, District of Columbia

Every year when I discuss the European Age of Exploration with my students, I spend time using the materials included in Bill Bigelow's excellent The People vs. Columbus, et al. lesson. However, instead of making it a trial that students participate in directly, I have it set up as a murder mystery: who is responsible for the deaths of all of these people? Though the format that I use is different than what Mr. Bigelow recommends, students still find the lesson engaging - the idea that they not only get to be critical of historical decision-makers, but also get to have agency over which one is the worst gets them involved with the topic.

Within this murder mystery, students act as a detective, gathering evidence from Mr. Bigelow's summaries and from other sources I have gathered. In the end, they need to write up a police report and prepare information to present to a grand jury. Students share their findings and then they debate who they believe is most guilty of the deaths of the Taíno people.

Middle School Social Studies Teacher, Silver Spring, Maryland

My students were completely engaged in The People vs. Columbus trial we held about the massacre of the Taíno people. They loved it! They were so outraged that Columbus Day is a federal holiday that I suggested we send letters to the editors of local newspapers and our city council. They were so excited. Most of the students chose to send letters. When a student's letter was published the next day advocating for our city to celebrate Indigenous People's Day, the students who had not yet sent letters immediately began to write their own.

It was a powerful lesson in civics, especially since my students are disenfranchised and feel like they don't have power to effect change politically.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Eugene, Oregon

When I do the Christopher Columbus lesson, the students are blown away. They are usually so surprised at the truth behind Columbus. They also love the role-playing. This year, when I was doing the lesson, my assistant principal walked in just as one of the students who usually sits quietly during social studies was standing up and asking a fiery round of questions to the defendants on the stand. I was so impressed with it. The lesson also gets students who I usually don't get a lot of participation out of to debate with the students who I do. I love it!

Middle Social Studies Teacher, Chicago, Illinois

The People vs. Columbus trial was so effective. I taught it in a Native American Studies course and the students spent a lot of time exploring primary source documents from Columbus and Las Casas.

It was powerful to watch them transform into excellent and passionate litigators, but basing their arguments upon historical evidence. Also, the power of role plays to induce empathy and compassion for various points of view was evident.

My students are all Native American and they are all too familiar with the concepts of genocide and exploitation. However, many of them did not know about the Taíno and were curious to learn more. At the conclusion we watched the film Even the Rain to enhance their understanding of the texts, and also to learn more about the Cochabamba water war to piece together an interdisciplinary unit about water that they were engaged in.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Christopher Columbus trial is a phenomenal lesson to use with students. First, it forces them to think about the construct of our globalized world in a new and critical manner. Americans are bred upon the unchallenged idea of superiority and equality, and it is troubling for them to have to see that the true pillars of trade, colonization, exploration, and expansion are instead rooted in forced inferiority and exploitation. This lesson further challenges students to give up the stereotypes and nostalgia surrounding Native Americans (in this case on Hispaniola) and see them as people who had functioning societies and belief systems. The most powerful aspect of the lesson, however, is the way it forces students to research, utilize primary resources, think in a debate-like manner, and justify their positions with evidence.

One of my students returned to visit me last month to inform me that because of partaking in this lesson last year, he joined an online group advocating the end of Columbus Day. I was impressed to have a 10th grade student not only take a firm stand on something, but actually take action to incite change. Another of my students said that this "was the best lesson I ever learned because it helped me believe that there is 'real' history I can learn from."

High School Language Arts/English Teacher, Hollywood, Florida

The People vs. Columbus lesson was transformative in my classroom. Students were initially motivated by the competitive aspect of the lesson in trying to "win" during the trial. During the preparation of this lesson, students were able to really practice historical contextualization by looking through various points of view.

Additionally, I supplemented this lesson with primary sources from Voices of a People's History. Working with the primary sources provoked deep discussion about why certain points of view are omitted or de-emphasized in American History. We compared Las Casas to Columbus and discussed the development of racism and ethnocentrism.

On the day of the trial, students were completely engaged in the process of argumentation, viewing history (in many cases for the first time) as more than just fact, but a series of arguments presented through various frameworks. By the end of the trial, it was clear that blame was very difficult to lay on just one group. It encouraged them to think more critically about a complex web of contingencies that all led to the genocide of the Taínos. They were engaged through the entire unit, practiced presentation skills, research, historical argumentation, and more.

High Social Studies Teacher, Durham, North Carolina

I teach U.S. history to juniors. Our first unit is on the first peoples of North America. Our second unit begins exploring the impact European colonization had the the indigenous people of the Americas. At the end of this second unit, we use The People vs. Columbus, et al in order to critically examine the forces that created and maintained imperialism. I supplement by focusing more time on the Taínos, their rebellions, and their leaders.

Besides being incredibly informative and an excellent way to teach claim and evidence, this Zinn Education Project lesson is also really fun for students. Every year, my students say it is one of their favorite things from the school year, especially for those who enjoy getting into character and "embellishing." For example, I had lawyers attempt to bribe jury members or the judge, dramatic reenactment of specific conversations or crimes, and more. At the same time, students understand and respect the gravity of the history lesson and the genocide of the Taínos.

-Priscilla Lizasuain-Vazquez

High Social Studies Teacher, Chicago, Illinois

I am the secondary guide (middle school teacher) in Davis, West Virginia, at the Mountain Laurel Learning Cooperative, a Montessori learning center for students age 3-14. I developed this middle school program last year, so this is our inaugural year and a big success so far. Our curriculum is centered around social justice, environmental stewardship, and mindfulness.

I rely heavily on the Zinn Education Project for the social justice component of our program. One of the best experiences I had with my students this year was on Columbus Day when we followed the mock trail lesson, People vs. Columbus, et al. The students really got into this activity. The upper elementary students (grades 4-6) joined us to be the jurors and audience. Fervent speeches were made and thoughtful and powerful discussion ensued. My students noted this activity as one of their highlights this fall. Thank you so much for the resource.

Middle School Social Studies Teacher, Davis, West Virginia

The People vs. Columbus, et al. was a unique way to bring the often hidden story of the Taíno peoples to my class. Many students had never been exposed to the unjustified treatment of the Taíno. The activity immersed students in the past and allowed them to hear a new perspective of the "founding" of the Americas. Thank you Zinn Education Project.

Middle Social Studies Teacher, St. Louis, Missouri

Every year I use the Columbus trial lesson from the Zinn Education Project. It's by far my most popular activity all year. It's amazing to see all the critical thinking that's set on fire. It prompts so many arguments, discussions, and discoveries in their outside research. When seniors who've had my class come in and see the desks rearranged for the trial, they always exclaim, "Oh, they're doing the Columbus trial? I remember that! I miss that!" It helps them see the power of greed and how that mindset has affected subsequent historical events. Thank you so much for helping promote so much important learning in my classroom.

High Social Studies Teacher, Portland, Oregon

Our students were incredibly engaged in the reading and learning and had meaningful group discussions that focused on choices made by Columbus and other explorers and their impact on the world.

Overall, having access to the Zinn reading and activities has encouraged my students to be excited about reading and history, show self-motivated engagement, and look at both the positives and negatives in history without the rose-colored tint that other resources often provide for students.

Middle School Humanities Teacher, Los Angeles, California

Maryland does not celebrate Columbus Day, so students are in school. To show the impact of Columbus's voyage on Indigenous people, this exercise provided an eye-opener for students as well as instructors. It was done with four GED classes that were at various learning levels. Students were randomly selected from each class to participate in the trial and one class served as observers and writers of the exercise. Students were able to show clear critical thinking skills that we rarely use with our other learning materials. The students and instructors truly enjoyed the exercise and it was reported in our newsletter.

Teacher Educator, Maryland

I have used the Columbus trial lesson from the Zinn Education Project website, and it went fantastically well. I teach high school Spanish, and this lesson completely changed their outlook on: (1) Who Columbus actually was; and (2) What we as Americans value as a society. I saw their critical thinking skills broaden before my eyes, and the lesson was so easy to maneuver for me!

Plus, the Spanish version of "Los cargos" made it that much easier to differentiate the lessons. Now that they understand the beginning of Europeans in the New World, we'll continue through the study of Latin American history throughout the next two years. I felt it important that they understand where much of the ill will started in this history, and between Columbus and Pizarro, I now believe that they have a good grasp of that. Thanks for your help in making this AWESOME unit!

High School Language Teacher, Florahome, Florida

In a blog post about this lesson in action, Adrian Hoppel at the Talking Stick Learning Center describes how his students found all parties except the Taíno guilty - and apologized to the Taíno for being charged and being brought to a trial for their own genocide.

Each of the defendant groups did an amazing job defending themselves, pulling all of the obvious rationalizations you'd expect, but also surprising me with some very creative defenses. For example, when attempting to defend The System of Empire, the defendant stated that "while my system, unfortunately, allows for abuse and atrocities, it does not require them; you still have to choose, on your own, to commit them." I thought that was surprisingly astute.

By working hard to defend each of these groups, the hope was that each group would be examined for its complicity in this crime, and I feel this was most definitely accomplished.

Beyond the Classroom

Student Film Critiques Textbook Accounts and Hero Worshipping

D.C. high school teacher Julian Hipkins III used The People vs. Columbus, et al. lesson with his 11th grade U.S. history class at Capital City Public Charter School and introduced them to Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Four of his students (Jared, Ana Marie, Jonah, and Mayra) were inspired to make a film called Columbus-The Real Story. Using feature film clips and interviews with school staff, the film critiques and analyzes textbook accounts of Columbus. Columbus-The Real Story was selected as a D.C. citywide entry for the 2011 National History Day competition.

Columbus - The Hidden History from Nonchalant Filmmakers on Vimeo.

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The People vs. Columbus, et al. - Zinn Education Project

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Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow with contributions from members of the Taíno Community. Rethinking Schools. 13 pages. A trial role play asks students to determine who is responsible for the death of millions of Taínos on the island of Hispaniola in the late 15th century.

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Create culture collages! This project challenges students to showcase a culture & its unique traits in a fun way. The activity can be adapted to a student's own culture or any world culture. Directions, brainstorm charts, rubric & project examples are included! Choose whether students make digital or paper collages. Finished projects are always super creative! Your purchase has print & interactive, digital versions of the materials. Made for traditional in-class learning or digital 1:1 classrooms. Everything you need is included!

Microsoft versions of the resources are also available in my store:
Microsoft | Culture Collage Project with Rubric | Cultural PBL | Print & Digital Includes Google Resources: Digital & Print

Guided Slides: Project Intro

Project Rubric & Directions

Brainstorm Activity

Collage Template

Sample Projects

Student Examples

Teacher Reference Guide

Aligned with Social Studies Standards: CCSS, TEKS, ELPS, and NCSS

Click "follow me" under Social Studies Stuff on the top of the page. You will be the first to know when I post new products & throw sales.
Click the link below to find more unique & fun lessons! Thank you! Social Studies Stuff on TpT

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Google | Culture Collage Project with Rubric | Cultural PBL | Print and Digital

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Create culture collages! This project challenges students to showcase a culture & its unique traits in a fun way. The activity can be adapted to a student's own culture or any world culture. Directions, brainstorm charts, rubric & project examples are included! Choose whether students make d...

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Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O'Dell

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An activity you can do with students of all grade levels, inviting them to bring some sort of artifact that reflects their culture/cultural traditions (i.e. - ethnicity, religion, family traditions, foods, etc.) & having them share to the circle what their artifact is and the significance of it. Afterwards you can have a debrief with the class and allow space for conversation and compliments.

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Culturally Responsive Resources

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Learning is deeply impacted when students feel marginalized and disconnected. This post shares effective resources on culturally responsive teaching that are helpful to all educators.

*This post contains affiliate links to Amazon for your convenience. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which do not cost any extra for you. Please see the full disclosure here.*

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Why Do We Need Culturally Responsive Teachers?

Teachers who possess cultural competence and practice culturally responsive teaching in the classroom achieve amazing learning results.

Teaching that ignores a student's culture leads to a lack of necessary teacher-student relationship.

And this lack of relationship can lead to student rebellion.
But no price is greater than having students in your classroom who feel rejected and invisible in the classroom community.
These resources below are packing with effective culturally responsive pedagogy and teaching strategies.

Some of them are free, some of them come with a price.

What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?
It includes promoting racial diversity, but it also runs much deeper than just noticing a student's skin color.
Before we dig deep in the resources on culturally responsive teaching, lets define what it is:

Everything about your classroom can be culturally responsive.

That includes lessons, your relationship with students, and even your classroom set-up.

Here are some amazing resources to help you build a culturally responsive classroom.

Books and DVDs on Cultural Responsiveness

Culturally Responsive Teaching: How To Bridge the Disconnect by Dr. Shonta M. Smith, Ed.D

This is a powerful DVD on culturally responsive teaching strategies.

Sometimes it just helps to see pedagogy in action!

The full DVD lasts a little over an hour, so it doesn't take up all your time.

This resource gives research and philosophy on culturally responsive teaching with practical tips for teachers.
Students who feel emotionally connected to the classroom learning are usually more motivated to stick with the learning.
50 Literacy Strategies for Culturally Responsive Teaching, K-8 by Patricia Ruggiano Schmidt and Wen Ma

As a teacher who loves literacy centers, I was truly happy to find this resource.

This is something I've noticed personally with my work as a classroom teacher and as an online ESL teacher.

These literacy strategies are practical and easy to implement.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta Hammond

This book is another excellent resource for teachers who want to build stronger cultural competence in the classroom.
Here are more books and DVDs on this topic:
I love the way it shows how culturally responsive teaching impacts the brain.

Plus, it breaks down what "rigor" really looks like in a multi-cultural classroom.

Podcasts Addressing Multi-Cultural Education

I love a good podcast!

Since I work full-time as a single parent, something I openly talk about in my bio here -I really enjoy the ease of listening to a podcast.

There are some really great podcasts that touch on topics of cultural responsiveness for schools.

Here are my two favorite podcasts:

Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

Not only does Angela Watson coach teachers on how to save time and stay organized, but she does a BEAUTIFUL job tackling hard topics like race and cultural acceptance.

One of my favorite posts by her is this ONE about including more people of color as educators in schools.

Culturally responsive teaching begins with teachers and school leaders!

So promoting diversity among the faculty and staff really helps send a positive message to the student body.

Angela's podcast is worth checking out if you're looking for audio resources on culturally responsive teaching strategies.

Cult of Pedagogy by Jennifer Gonzalez

Another awesome podcast with tons of tips for teachers is Cult of Pedagogy!

Jennifer Gonzalez gives great pointers on so many things like using technology effectively and more!

She has a specific episode (#78 that you can access HERE) that addresses myths on culturally responsive teaching.
Displaying diverse art in your classroom can be a great practical way to include all learners. Click the image above for ideas on diversity art!

Social Media & Memberships Offer Resources for Teaching Diverse Learners

Let's not underestimate the wealth of information available for FREE through social media!

I recommend this as a resource for culturally responsive teaching, because many experts bring their expertise to the table on this topic.

You can get access to these professionals by engaging with them directly on social media.

DISCLAIMER on Social Media:

Not everyone is an expert on this topic!

You do have to be careful with social media.

There are many engaging in this conversation that are just "screaming from their soap box!"

So a lways fact-check your resources when you see culturally responsive teaching tips being tossed about online.
Although I haven't used it yet, I am VERY excited to try out this Diversity ball with questions about culture.

ASCD stands for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.
This would be a great conversation starter even in staff meetings or for conferences/training on diversity education. Click the image above for more details on it.

Membership Organization Dedicated to Cultural Responsiveness:

I have been a member of this educational organization for years.

Use this resource in your classroom for more cultural training with students. Click the image for more details.

And I LOVE their books, magazines, and online resources for all things related to teaching.

They offer deep research and helpful tips for teachers on several topics: especially inclusive education.

You can find out more about them HERE.
The tips I'm sharing are based on the research I've done using the resources mentioned above.
How Do You Become a Culturally Responsive Teacher?

Before ending this list of resources, I want to offer some teaching tips on being more culturally responsive.

There are so many useful way to build a culturally responsive classroom.

I intentionally chose a few of the tips I felt were the most practical and easy to implement right away:

Learn to pronounce your students' name correctly.

Be aware of your own cultural identity and how it impacts others.

Do not isolate students based on race, gender, and culture.

Avoid asking one student to speak as a representative on behalf of their entire race.

Include your students' perspectives and values in the learning process.

Offer a variety of reading material that promotes racial diversity and gender equity.

Don't just acknowledge culture, embrace it by celebrating cultural holidays and special events.

Find ways to include students' culture in all aspects of learning.

Avoid making judgments and critical statements about traditions and aspects of different cultures.

Many people use the phrases "culturally responsive teaching" and "anti-racist" teaching synonymously. However, there are some very important differences.
Helping students connect their culture and background to the learning is still a TOP way to build engagement.

I hope these resources and tips on culturally responsive teaching are helpful for you.

Anti-Racist Teaching Resources
Be sure to share this pin on your favorite Pinterest board!

If you are interested in anti-racist teaching tips and resources, you can find what you need here:
-15 Ways Teachers Encourage Racism in the Classroom
--Books for Kids About Racism

Thanks for transforming learning beautifully, teacher friends!

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Resources on Culturally Responsive Teaching

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This post shares useful resources on culturally responsive teaching that are helpful to all educators + TIPS on diverse teaching strategies.

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by Scott O'Dell

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30 Days of Literature for Kinder & 1st Grade

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30 Days of Literature for Kinder & 1st Grade

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We're back with the second list of 30 days of diverse picture books! Like the previous list of diverse books for preschoolers, this list is designed to give you and your children an entire month's worth of reading in one list. Although I have labeled this a list diverse books for kindergarten and first grade, the age recommendation is not strict! Certainly any of the books on the previous list will also be enjoyed by kindergarteners and first graders, and older children will enjoy these diverse and multicultural picture books as well!

These books reflect a diversity of experiences and multicultural families. The list is divided into six weeks of five books each, to make it easy for teachers and other caregivers, but parents may choose to read a book each day for a month. Of course, you can mix or match as you see fit. No prescriptions! Happy reading. (Note: book covers and titles are affiliate links.)
More: 30 days of diverse books for 2nd and 3rd grade WEEK ONE
by Julie Morstad. I love this extra large book with its myriad of illustrations. It begins with a girl waking up and the text asking "What should I do today?" Every decision, from choosing a hairdo to choosing a snack to reading a book to picking transportation offers an array of diverse options, each one illustrated and labeled. The book is filled with children of all backgrounds and kids will love discussing how they would chose to spend their day!

Confetti: Poems for Children by Pat Mora, illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez. This is a joyful collection of short poems sprinkled with Spanish words. Pat Mora has done a wonderful job composing poems that will appeal to very young children on a range of subjects like colors, nature, counting and everyday moments.

Hello Goodbye Dog by Maria Gianferrari, illustrated by Patrice Barton. Zara has a dog named Moose. Moose loves Zara so much he wants to go with her everywhere. Moose is not a service dog, but others see his potential as a good companion and Moose goes through the training to become a therapy dog. Although Zara is in a wheelchair, the story isn't about her physical challenges, it is about the joy of friendship with a furry friend.

Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie is both fun and thought-provoking. Thunder Boy, Jr. wishes he had a normal name, like his sister. And he does not like being called "Little Thunder," which sounds "like a burp or a fart." He sets out to pick a new name, perhaps one that reflects one of his great achievements. In the end, he settles on a the perfect name-one that is both his very own and still connects him to his dad.

Yo Soy Muslim by Mark Gonzales, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini. The narrative is written as a letter from a father to his daughter, but it reads like a poem. The father recognizes that his child will have questions about who she is and what she can accomplish. Celebrating their shared faith and culture and language, the father's letter aims to give his daughter confidence and pride in her identity as a Latina and as a Muslim.
WEEK TWO
This Is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe. The book follows seven children from different countries: Italy, Japan, Uganda, Russia, India, Peru and Iran. Each contemporary child describes their home, school, family, food and daily life. This is a great starting point for conversations about the differences and similarities between life in different countries, but also how children in the same country don't all live the same way. At the end, photographs reveal the actual families depicted in in the book. I love the large size of the book, and how the illustrations invite a lengthly perusal.

Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore, illustrated by Kristi Valiant. Confession: I have a soft spot for picture books that show families cooking. I don't know why, since cooking is not really my thing. Cora's favorite Filipino dish is pancit, a noodle and chicken meal. One day, when her older siblings head out to the mall, Cora jumps at the chance to help Mama make the delicious dish. During the food preparation, Cora learns about the family's history and Filipino culture.

Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match / Marisol McDonald no combina by Monica Brown, illustrated by Sara Palacios. Red-headed half-Scottish half-Peruvian Marisol bounces off the page with great enthusiasm and loves her mismatched life. When her friend, Ollie, challenges her to "match," Marisol finds she is unhappy with life as a conformist. This is a great story that emphasizes the importance of embracing and accepting one's uniqueness. A bilingual book.

Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer. Stella doesn't feel different than the other kids, but she realizes her parents are different from a lot of the other families she knows. Her school class is planning a Mother's Day celebration, so Stella comes up with a way to include her two dads. The lovely way the book communicates that Stella's dads can do all the things a mom can do sends a positive message that families may look different, but the love is the same.

by Dori Kleber, illustrated by G. Brian Karas. This is a sweet story of perseverance. After his classmate's mother teaches him origami, Joey is determined to be a master folder. But it takes lots of practice! He finds the perfect place to hone his skills at the local restaurant. I loved how Joey spent time folding everything he could get his hands on, including the money!
WEEK THREE
All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Mike Curato. I loved the rhythm of this book! A boy and his family drive to Havana in their car, Cara-Cara. Along the way, the boy takes in all the sights and sounds of the drive, especially the sounds made by his beloved car. The illustrations are wonderfully vibrant. This is a great read aloud choice.

A Hat for Mrs. Goldman: A Story About Knitting and Love by Michelle Edwards, illustrated by G. Brian Karas. This is such and incredibly sweet and inspiring story! Mrs. Goldman, a Jewish woman, makes hats for others, performing a mitzvah. Her Latina neighbor Sophie likes to help her by making the pom poms that top each one. When winter arrives Sophie notices that Mrs. Goldman doesn't have a hat of her own and although knitting is challenging for Sophie, she sets about making a hat for her friend. When she is done with the hat, her lack of knitting skills means the hat has a few holes. However, since Sophie knows Mrs. Goldman loves her pom poms, Sophie covers up the holes in a creative way. Mrs. Goldman, of course, loves the hat and the kindness shown to her.

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. Unhei has just moved to America from Korea. She loves her name but when the other kids can't pronounce it, she worries about fitting in. She decides she should choose a new American name. Her classmates fill up a jar with potential new names but with the support of others Unhei decides she wants to keep her Korean name. This book is so important, especially in classrooms in which children may have names that are difficult for English speakers to say. Names are a big part of a person's identity and we serve children well by valuing them.

Back to Front and Upside Down by Claire Alexander. The class is making cards for their principal but Stan has trouble forming letters and his handwriting is all mushy and unreadable. He feels discouraged but doesn't know how to ask for help. Many parents have children who struggle greatly with handwriting and this sweet book emphasizes the importance of getting help for one's struggles and giving oneself permission to take the time necessary to learn and accomplish one's tasks.

Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, illustrated by Rafael López. This book is based on a true story. Mira and her neighbors transform their environment with colorful murals. I love the vibrant illustrations and the message that art makes life better!

The Water Princess by Susan Verde, and Georgie Badiel, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. I loved this book when I read it and I was surprised I didn't already have it on a list! In an African community, water is precious and every day Gie Gie and the other girls must travel far in order to fetch clear drinking water for the community. Gie Gie can command other forces of nature: she tames the dogs, she plays hide and seek with the wind, but she can't seem to make the water safe to drink. But she perseveres and never gives up hope that one day she will have enough clean, clear water.
WEEK FOUR
Lucia the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza, illustrated by Alyssa Bermudez. This is a fun, exuberant book, which you can pair with Niño Wrestles the World ( on the 30 days of diverse preschool books list). Lucia runs through the playground with her red cape, and the boys tell her "girls can't be superheroes." This makes Lucia mad, "Spicy mad. KA-POW kind of mad." Then, her grandmother tells her about the luchadoras and together they hatch a marvelous plan.

by Anne Sibley O'Brien. Every child knows what it is like to walk into a room and not know anyone. Compound that with not being able to speak the language, or not being familiar with the culture and it can lead to some anxiety indeed. Three children-from Guatemala, Korea, and Somalia-tell their stories of what it is like to be the new kid from a distant land.

by Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Jamel Akib. I love this book about a girl describing how her family waits for the monsoon rains. The land is dry and they wonder if the rain will every come. The illustrations are full of life and the poetic text is fun to read aloud.

That Is My Dream! by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Daniel Miyares. This is a picture book of Hughes's poem, "Dream Variation," about the dream of living without racial prejudice. Each page spread contains a short line of the poem, accompanied by brilliant illustrations. In the illustrations we see the dream of transformation from a segregated community to one in which a white child and an African-American child can splash their faces with water from the same pond. A gorgeous book and excellent introduction for children to Hughes's splendid poetry.

The Rain Stomper by Boswell Addie, illustrated by Eric Velasquez. I love the joyful spirit of this book, the illustrations are alive with movement. Jazmin is excited to twirl her baton in a parade, but the rain threatens to spoil everything. At first she takes out her anger by stomping in the puddles, but that energy quickly turns into something else as she spins and jumps, twirls and splashes. The rest of the neighborhood can't help but be drawn in. This is an engaging book showing how the physical release of emotion can lead to positive action and release.

A Morning with Grandpa by Sylvia Liu, illustrated by Christina Forshay. Mindfulness doesn't have to take place in solitude! I adore this book about how a girl connects with her grandfather over the practice of Tai Chi. Mei Mei joins her grandpa in the morning for his daily ritual but while he is smooth and graceful, Mei Mei puts her own spin on things, reminding us that mindfulness need not always be practiced in the stillness. A wonderful story.
WEEK FIVE
Where's Rodney? by Carmen Bogan, illustrated by Floyd Cooper. This is a really fun story about a boy who can't sit still ( we all know kids like that, right?) and just wants to be outside! Cooper's illustrations marvelously capture Rodney's energy as he discovers the joys of being in a park and all the ways he can finally express himself and release his energy!

A Full Moon Is Rising by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Julia Cairns. A collection of poems that celebrate the magic of a full moon as it is experienced around the globe. There are poems set it the city, the country and across the world from Africa to China to Colombia. Different religious and ethnic traditions are represented, including Sukkot, moon watching in Canada and the Chinese Moon Festival. This is truly a multicultural collection. The end papers include notes and a map of all the locations that appear throughout the book.

Jalapeño Bagels. Pablo needs to bring in something to school for International Day. He debates whether or not to bring in his mother's delicious Mexican baked goods or his father's challah. From the title you can guess his decision! This book is sure to make you hungry so have a snack handy. Includes a Yiddish and Spanish glossary.

Last Stop On Market Street by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson. I wasn't going to put this book on the list because I prefer to make room for new-to-you books and this one is so popular. But then I caved. So even if you've read it, add it in to your reading list again. A boy and his grandma catch the bus. We don't yet know where they are headed, but along the way the boy asks questions about why they don't have certain luxuries. The grandma has a ready answer about the advantages of what they do have and encourages him to think of positive aspects of lacking material goods. When they reach their destination we find out that they were traveling to help out at a soup kitchen.

Alfie (The Turtle that Disappeared) by Thyra Heder. This may be the only book in which the narration is told first from a human point of view, and then from a turtle's. Nia got a turtle for her birthday, but turtles don't really do much, when it comes right down to it. So Nia doesn't pay much attention to Alfie, until he disappears. Alfie narrates what happened to him while he was missing ( one whole year!). It turns out he was searching for the perfect present for Nia. Absolutely adorable.

Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book by Yuyi Morales. I adore trickster tales and this one about a grandmother who outsmarts a skeleton is quite a treat. A skeleton comes to fetch Grandma Beetle on her birthday, but the clever woman thwarts him as she claims to have too many chores to do first. The tale seamlessly weaves Spanish language numbers into the humorous narrative as grandma counts up the tasks she must do in order to keep the skeleton at bay.
WEEK SIX
The Children's Garden: Growing Food in the City by Carole Lexa Schaefer, illustrated by Pierr Morgan. I love books which celebrate how urban communities come together, with all their diversity, and transform their neighborhoods for the better. In this one, the neighborhood children learn about agriculture and sustainability while they grow food in a community garden.

Rulers of the Playground by Joseph Kuefler. On the playground, Jonah declares himself the ruler. At first, the others play along, although with some eye-rolling. But soon, Jonah has a challenger who wants to be the ruler herself and the two engage in some spirited political battles! The wonderful illustrations depict the life of the playground with all it's actions, both large and small. It is teeming with a diverse group of children who eventually give up on both the would-be tyrants and forge a peace, instead. I particularly liked the droll ending.
Sad that your 30 days of diverse books for kindergarteners and first graders is over? Try the books on these lists:

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30 Days of Diverse Books for Kindergarten and First Grade

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One month of reading diverse books for kindergarten and first grade. Children ages 4-8 will love these books which reflect a diversity of experiences.

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A book that tackles the topic of race and racism in a way that is grade level appropriate.

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Megan Pamela Ruth Madison (she, her) is an early childhood educator, scholar, and activist based in New York City. She began her career working as an assistant in a Waldorf elementary school. After completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, Megan then went on to become a teacher in a Head Start preschool classroom. Now, as a doctoral candidate at Brandeis University, she works part-time facilitating workshops for teachers and families on race, gender and sexuality. Megan is currently working on a board book series with co-author Jessica Ralli for Rise x Penguin Workshop on race, gender, consent and body positivity.

Megan recently completed a term on the governing board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (or NAEYC) after several years serving as a co-facilitator of the association's Diversity & Equity Interest Forum. In that role, she worked to organize early childhood professionals around the country who are passionate about social justice. She is proud to hold a master's degree in early childhood education from Dominican University.

Megan lives in Harlem (unceded land of the Lenape people*), where she loves reading, eating ice cream, and building community with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (or JFREJ).

*to learn more, visit mannahattafund.org

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Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race (First Conversations)

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Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race (First Conversations) [Madison, Megan, Ralli, Jessica, Roxas, Isabel] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race (First Conversations)

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Positive Academic Identities - NAME Learn

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Students perceive themselves and members of their own identity groups as intellectually capable and able to achieve at very high levels. They connect their own knowledge and sense of purpose with challenging academic skills and concepts. They are able to use tools of inquiry to ask questions, develo…

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How students from different cultures learn and how to manage it in class.

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Learning styles across cultures

Luciano Mariani

Perspectives, a journal of TESOL-Italy, vol. XXXIV, n. 2., Fall 2007.

Today I’d like to take you on a journey across the world. We’ll be going to such different places as Manitoba, India, Japan, Minnesota and China … - looking for different ways that people learn. We’ll be looking at how different cultures shape different learning styles.

Let’s start from Canada and meet the Inuit people. The Inuits live in the northern part of North America and Siberia. They’re often called Eskimos, but they dislike this name and actually regard it as offensive. Anyway, this is something that actually happened some time ago during a report-card meeting between teachers and parents at a local school. There was this Inuit parent talking to her child’s Canadian teacher. At a certain point, the teacher said: “Your son is talking well in class. He is speaking up a lot.”. And, much to her surprise, the Inuit parent replied: “I am sorry” (quoted in Atkinson 1997).

Clearly, there was a clash of expectations here. The teacher was praising the child’s active participation in class, on the assumption that children at school should be taking part in lessons by asking questions, discussing things with the teacher and classmates, reacting to what is said and done by the teacher. But the Inuit parent had quite a different idea of what going to school and learning mean, of what teachers and students should be doing in class. For her, the role of the student was basically to listen, observe and learn. Now, we can’t appreciate this position unless we know that silence is very much valued in the Inuit culture: if adults don’t know each other very well, they often remain silent while they’re in close contact. On the other hand, for the Inuit parent the role of the teacher was to explain, ask questions and transmit knowledge - so she was sorry that her child had broken what she took for granted as the appropriate school norms.

So what we are going to explore today are some of the ways in which cultures can influence learning styles. But first, what do we mean by “learning styles”, and what do we mean by “culture”? For the purposes of this talk, we’ll say that learning styles are the unique ways in which individual people perceive, interact with and respond to a learning experience. In a way, your learning style is a reflection of your overall personality.

One interesting way of describing learning styles is to use the “onion” metaphor. If we look at the most external layer of the onion, that will refer to your environmental preferences – for example, your preferences in terms of when and where you prefer to study, if you prefer to get up early in the morning or stay up late at night, if you need to eat and drink before, during or after your study sessions, what kind of breaks you need, if you prefer to sit, lie or stand, and things like that. If you peel off this layer, you’ll find your preferences in terms of sensory modalities or ways of perceiving information –whether you tend to be a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learner – or maybe a mixture of the three. Further inside the onion, you come to your cognitive styles, your personal ways of processing information – for instance, you may place yourself somewhere on the continuum between the two extremes of being analytical, systematic, reflective, at one end, and being global, intuitive, impulsive at the other end. And finally, when you get to the core of the onion, you reach your personality traits, for instance, your tendency to be an introvert rather than an extrovert, your preference for individual rather than group work, the different degrees in which you can cope with anxiety or can tolerate ambiguity, and so on. Obviously, as you peel off the various layers of the onion, you progressively reach parts of your learning style which are more and more stable and therefore less and less easy to change.

So when we talk about learning styles we are concerned with individual differences, we are asking the question: How are individuals different when they learn? On the other hand, when we turn to culture, the magic word is shared – here we are not concerned with individuals, but rather with what these individuals, taken collectively, share as a result of living together for a long time.

What is it that we share with all the other members of our culture? We share, first of all, many tangible things, like the way we dress, the food we eat, the way our houses and flats are built and furnished … but, deeper inside the onion, we also share the way we behave, verbally and non-verbally – for example, what we find or don’t find appropriate to say in certain circumstances, or the use of gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, proximity with other people. And, as you peel off other layers and approach the core of the onion, you find that we share the most invisible but probably the most important components of our culture – the meaning we attach to people, things and events, our deeply felt beliefs, attitudes and values – in a word, our way of knowing the world. This, of course, includes the way we think schools should be run, what should be taught and how, what teachers and students should do in class.

Of course, it is only too easy and natural that we should assume that what is valued and important and “right” for us is the same for other cultures. These “cultural assumptions” are easy to make: for instance, we can assume that black is the colour of mourning everywhere in the world, but in India and Japan it’s white. Or we can assume that brides traditionally wear white, but Indian women marry in red. For us, a dragon carries the idea of “danger”, but in China dragons bring good fortune.

So it becomes essential to get to know how cultures actually make meaning of the world. To do this, one obvious first step could be to ask the learners themselves. Let’s have a look at an example from Minnesota. But before that, a word of warning: whenever we talk about cultural differences, stereotypes are round the corner, so we should be very careful about making generalisations. This is a point we’ll come back to later.

In a literacy class for Southeast Asian students, during a lesson on family values and childrearing practices, learners compared their views and values with those of Americans, and this is what they came up with (quoted in Quintero 1994):

Asians

Americans

Asians live in time

Asians like to contemplate

Asians live in peace with nature

Religion is Asians' first love

Asians believe in freedom of silence

Americans live in space

Americans like to act

Americans like to impose their will on nature

Technology is Americans' passion

Americans believe in freedom of speech

(Incidentally, this is an example of an activity which values the learners’ original cultures, socializes views and values in the classroom, and also provides teachers with a lot of valuable information about the learners’ worlds, their experiences and perceptions.)

To come back to our main point. If learning styles focus on individuals, cultures focus on groups; if learning styles highlight the differences between individuals, cultures highlight the similarities within a group. Our question now becomes: do particular cultures favour particular learning styles? The most accepted answer to this question today is – yes, we can talk about “cultural” learning styles. “Individuals are most likely not born with a genetic predisposition to learn analytically or relationally, visually or kinaesthetically … They learn how to learn through the socialization processes that occur in families and friendship groups. ” (Nelson 1995).

In other words, you learn how to learn in a particular way through sharing culturally-based patterns of behaviour. “In every culture there are unstated assumptions about people and how they learn … that invisibly guide whatever educational processes may occur there … [these assumptions] work as an unintentional hidden curriculum” (Singleton 1991).

For example, if we turn to school learning, what happens in a classroom, the visible behaviour of teachers and students, is the result of a framework of expectations, attitudes, values and beliefs that are usually taken for granted … beliefs about how to teach and learn, attitudes towards visual rather than auditory input, accepted routines to process information in a global rather than an analytical way, communication patterns, and so on. These are all things that we are not usually aware of, until … until something forces us to challenge our assumptions: for instance, the arrival of a learner from a different cultural background – it’s what’s happening to many teachers in Italy today – many of us are suddenly being faced with the reality of a multicultural class.

We’ve already mentioned the fact that the first step to meet this challenge is to try and get to know something more about our learners’ different cultures. By doing this, we are also discovering our hidden assumptions about our own culture – it’s as if we changed our glasses and were thus able to see the world with different eyes - in a way, we are forced to dis-cover our perceptions and compare them with the perceptions of other cultural groups.

Let me give you another example, once again from Manitoba in Canada. In Manitoba, the Athabascans, the natives of this land, make up a substantial percentage of the population. A few years ago, a study of the Athabascan culture tried to highlight some cultural differences in communication between English speakers and the Athabascans. The interesting thing was that the study focussed on each other's perceptions (quoted in Working with Aboriginal learners):

What's confusing to English speakers about Athabascans

What's confusing to Athabascans about English speakers

They avoid situations involving talking

They talk too much and always talk first

They play down their own abilities

They brag about themselves

They deny planning and expect things to be given

They always talk about what's going to happen

They are too indirect; not explicit; they talk off the topic

They aren't careful when they talk about things or people

Just think: what would happen in an Athabascan class if we were to introduce, right from the start, a straightforward communicative approach based on role play, communication strategies and the maximum of student interaction?

Of course, we don’t just have to turn to the results of research, tests and case studies – which, by the way, are rather contradictory. We can directly observe the learners as they live their classroom life before our very eyes. Those of us that happen to teach in multicultural classrooms, for instance, have already discovered a lot about the learning styles and preferences of their learners. For instance, Chinese learners are often described by teachers as silent, quiet, well-disciplined, hard-working, respectful, very willing to learn and very good at memorising, and with an extraordinary long attention span and determination to succeed– at least if compared with Italian learners. It is not difficult to understand why Chinese learners, in a way, would be the ideal learners for many among us!

However, once again, we must be aware of possible stereotypes here. Even if we admit that a group of people shows certain features, we should always be aware that these are generalizations, and generalizations can very easily lead to make naïve inferences about individuals within that group. In other words, whenever we meet a new Chinese learner we can’t  assume that she or he will conform to the patterns of her or his cultural group. One consistent finding of research, for example, has been that, within a group, the differences among individuals are as great as their similarities. Therefore, cultural learning styles, as all learning styles, should not be used as just another way of classifying, categorizing, labelling or “pigeonholing” people. One important consequence of this is that empirical observations are very useful and are not the same as stereotyping, but what we observe must be interpreted properly for each student.

I have already mentioned that research on cultural learning styles is contradictory, and tends to offer conflicting results. I would like to illustrate this with a situation which has been the subject of a lot of debate and research, and which has been called “the paradox of the Asian learner”. Especially in secondary and university education in Western institutions, Chinese learners are often reported to be more passive, less interactive and dependent upon the teacher than most students. They are reported to use rote memorisation, apparently without much personal understanding of what is committed to memory; in other words, they seem to adopt what has been called a “surface” rather than a “deep” approach to study. And yet … and yet, their level of achievement in exams is relatively high; also, in spite of their tendency to learn by rote, they also show higher scores in the use of study strategies than Western students. How is this possible? What’s wrong in our interpretation of the Chinese learning style?

Before we try to figure out an explanation of this paradox, let’s mention some concrete facts first. As Graziella Favaro reports in one of her books (2002), at the end of the very first school semester, Chinese children have learned 160 different written characters, the Latin alphabet, the relevant pronunciation in the Chinese national language, and the meaning of every word. In the second semester, Chinese children memorise new words through short stories and short poems, which they repeat, copy in writing and read aloud collectively. In this way, in the second semester of the first year at primary school, they learn another 220 characters, and then, through the years, they learn an average of one or two new characters every day, so that, by the end of the sixth year of primary school, they master about 2500 characters. If you think that you must memorize 9000 characters in order to be able to read what is normally published, you can appreciate the enormous amount of effort which learners must spend.

However, this is just the surface of the iceberg, or, if you like, the most external layer of the onion. Chinese learners belong to what have been called “Confucian heritage cultures”, together with such different countries as Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Confucianism stresses the benefits of fixed hierarchical relationships which show respect for age, seniority, rank and family background. Consequently, the teacher is often seen as an authority figure, the one who must know all, but also as an adult who, like parents, helps students develop as complete human beings – as an ancient Chinese saying goes: “If a teacher for a day, a father for life”. However, the responsibility for learning is placed on students. Students are encouraged to do their best. Intellectual ability is valued but is not enough – what is also required and expected is diligence, effort and endurance to achieve academic success.

Within this tradition, students learn through cooperation, but watch out there - not as a way to promote the individual – rather the opposite, as a way to promote the common good, by supporting each other. In the learning situation, therefore, students are sensitive to the other students in the class and are concerned for the group as a whole. Standing out as a single individual is out of the question – as another proverb, this one from Japan, goes: “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down”.

Despite all this, as I mentioned, Asian learners are often good achievers, and a lot of research has tried to explain this “paradox of the Asian learner”. Research has found out, for example, that Chinese learners seem to see the combination of memorisation with understanding as normal because they believe that “if they really understand the material, they will have a very strong impression that will help them to memorise without much effort” (Marton, Delll’Alba & Tse 1996). However, they also see “memorisation with understanding” as essential when they have to prepare for examinations; in other words, if students perceive that assessment requires only, or mainly, the reproduction of knowledge, they will tend to use some form of memorisation (Au e Entwistle 1999) – and this, of course, is common to many students around the world.

So we see that a particular learning style is often a combination of culturally-based beliefs, attitudes and values with students’ more general response to the demands of curricula and exams. I think that this helps us a lot to clarify the concept of “cultural learning styles”. For a start, we are now better equipped to face the eternal dilemma between “nature and nurture”: which are more important – personality traits or the influence of culture? Obviously, this question has no clear answer, and the most accurate response is probably “it depends”. Researchers confirm that learning patterns are actually a function of both nature and nurture. The hypothesis is that a learning style preference is inborn, but this possible preference can be helped or hindered by the environment: we have already seen the importance of early socialization within the family, with friends and at school. In other words, “we are as much creatures of our culture as we are creatures of our brain”, as Howard Gardner (1991) puts it.

So diversity exists not just between cultures, but also within a single culture. There are a lot of personal variables that influence the extent to which a member of a culture will show the learning style associated with her or his culture: for example, age, gender, religion, family structure, socioeconomic class, geographical region, native language, experience with the L2, work history, degree of identification with one’s culture, degree of assimilation into the dominant culture … plus, of course, a host of situational variables like, as we’ve already seen, learning contexts and curriculum demands.

This makes it quite difficult sometimes to explain the origin of students’ behaviour. For instance, students can come from a cultural background and previous learning experiences that predispose them for rote learning or memorisation. Now, what will happen to these students in a class will depend on several different factors, including their teachers’ beliefs and expectations. If they meet a teacher who doesn’t encourage critical thinking, personal understanding, problem solving and creative work, these students will probably adopt the teacher’s approach. In the same way, if a teacher believes that her students prefer rote learning and memorisation as their cultural learning styles, she may, even unconsciously, decide to structure her lessons to cater for this type of learning – and this, in turn, will lead students to adopt this approach. So you see that learning styles and teaching approach can be linked in a sort of vicious circle!

This has other interesting implications, and leads us to consider the question of uniformity vs diversity, which we can exemplify through the two sayings, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, on one hand, and “Always be yourself!”, on the other hand. In other words, should different people from different cultures fuse together, so to say, into one big, global melting pot? Should we, as teachers, try to wipe out, or at least reduce, cultural differences so that we can promote uniform ways of working in the classroom? Or should people from different cultures retain their group identities and learn to live together in a sort of big salad bowl?

Of course the idea of the melting pot is no longer very fashionable today, and we tend, at least in theory, to go for the salad bowl. However, we are well aware that the question is not simple to deal with in practical terms. So I would like to move towards the end of this paper by mentioning some basic pedagogical implications of what we have said so far.

First, I think we do need to learn more about different cultures and change our perceptions of them - but we also need to become aware of our own culture, of the assumptions about learning and teaching that we take for granted. Here I would like to quote the parent of a child who used the primary school portfolio developed in Piedmont. After the experience, this parent wrote: "Credo che conoscere il diverso aiuti a sentirsi uguali” – “I believe that getting to know who’s different helps us to feel the same”. I think that this is a most important point, because we usually tend to highlight differences, what divides us, but we seldom point out similarities, what unites us as human beings. Just think of the use of the words “other cultures” or “foreign cultures”. Other than what? Foreign with respect to what? We don’t want to deny the importance of cultural differences, but at the same time I think we need to realize that most of the time we take our western values as the benchmark, as the standard, and it’s against this standard that others and foreigners are often compared and judged.

So my first pedagogical implication can be summed up with the title of a very well-known English textbook of many years ago: look, listen and learn. I think that what we need most as teachers is a “suspension of disbelief”, a tolerance of ambiguity – when we are faced with different cultures we need to stop, observe and listen carefully – just as our learners do. I do think that the only way to understand people is to give them time – time to un-cover and dis-cover themselves.

Having said that, I think that, as always with learning styles, we need a balanced approach. On one side, we need to accommodate individual differences, including cultural learning styles. On the other hand, we need to empower individual students and groups by helping them to develop their ability to learn in different ways. Let me give you a couple of final examples.

Accommodating students means, in practice, adjusting the tasks to the students, providing enough variety in materials and activities so that different students will find, often if not always, contexts that match their particular style. For instance, if we know that for Asian learners group solidarity is important, we will try to emphasize group work in which the group, rather than the individual, is at the core of the activity. If we find that Hispanic learners profit more from concepts presented globally rather than analytically, we will try to ensure that each new topic is contextualized so that they get the whole picture first. If we become aware that Islamic students value oral repetition, we will ensure that, especially at the start, this approach is included in some way or other in what we do in the classroom. And, very generally speaking, we know that several things can be done to facilitate or accommodate instruction, especially with beginners, such as - simplifying texts to make them more readable, using images and non-verbal communication, making contexts clearer and more motivating by starting from the learners’ previous knowledge, setting up concrete experiences rather than offer only visual or auditory input. You see that what all this implies is some degree of flexibility on the teacher’s part.

However, we also need to make our learners flexible, to give them the chance of extending the range of their ways of learning – as has been said, we need to help learners “stretch beyond their stylistic comfort zone”. If they are to be successful at school and at work in our society, they also need to learn our specific ways of learning and working, which may look unfamiliar and even puzzling to them. They need to play new roles and learn new approaches. This means that we, as teachers, need to activate the other line of action - adjust students to tasks. Obviously, they can’t be left alone to do this. They will need to experience a variet of tasks, tasks which call for a wide range of styles and strategies; they will need to be gradually exposed to unfamiliar approaches and learn how to select ways of doing tasks; and they will need help in using self-assessment tools. In this way we hope that, gradually, they can become aware of their own styles and how these can be adapted to different tasks and contexts. All this should help them to increase their own flexibility as learners, and implement what we have called a balanced approach.

We know this is not easy to do. There are no simple recipes to face the challenge of diversity, and even more so when the challenge involves a meeting of cultures. All kinds of intercultural activity demands some degree of mediation and negotiation – and classroom learning is, of course, no exception. We may see learning in intercultural classes as simply a collection of compromises – but I think there could be a much more challenging view - to see an intercultural class as an example of a new culture, a salad bowl which retains the individual flavours but also takes on a distinctively new taste. As Ruth Spack (1997) once wrote, “students who crisscross borders are not just products of culture, they are creators of culture”. And I think this applies to us, teachers, too.

References

AA.VV., “Working with Aboriginal learners”, Introduction to Teaching Adult Literacy, Adult Literacy and Learning, http://arthur.merlin.mb.ca/~alce/Module5.htm

Atkinson D., “A critical approach to critical thinking in TESOL”, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 1, 1997.

Au C., Entwistle N., “Memorisation with understanding in approaches to studying: Cultural variant or response to assessment demands?”, European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction Conference, 1999, http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/

Favaro G., Insegnare l’italiano agli alunni stranieri, RCS/La Nuova Italia, Milano/Firenze, 2002.

Gardner, H.,The unschooled mind: How children think and how schools should teach, Basic Books, New York, 1991.

Gibson R., Intercultural business communication, University Press, Oxford, 2000.

Marton, F., Dall'Alba, G. & Tse, L. K., “Memorizing and understanding: the keys to the paradox?”, in D. A. Watkins & J. B. Biggs (Eds.) The Chinese learner: cultural, psychological and contextual influences (pp. 69-83), Comparative Education Research Centre and The Australian Council for Educational Research, Hong Kong, 1996.

Nelson G.L., “Cultural differences in learning styles”, in Reid J.M., Learning styles in the ESL/EFL classroom, Newbury House, New York, 1995.

Quintero E., “Valuing diversity in the multicultural classroom”, Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education, Washington DC., 1994, http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-2/diversity.htm

Singleton J. “The spirit of gamburu”, in Finkelstein A.E., Imamura A.E., Tobin J.J. (eds.), Transcending stereotypes: Discovering Japanese culture and education, Intercultural Press, Yarmouth, ME, 1991.

Spack R., “The rhetorical construction of multilingual students”, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 4, 1997.

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www.learningpaths.org    Luciano Mariani, Milan, Italy

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Read Along with Ms. Garrison #3 - The Name Jar

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A website that has fun activities that could be done at home and in the classroom. It also includes foods, books, teaching languages, and celebrations from around the world

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Kid World Citizen - Activities that help young minds go global

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Activities that help young minds go global

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This is a wonderful program founded by immigrant mothers in the San Fernando Valley who work with schools/families in the community to help promote students who are knowledgeable on STEAM concepts, through the use of multicultural literature.

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Good Heart Program

The Good Heart Program consists of eight 1 hour classes held on Tuesday’s from 2:30-3:30 pm with students from 3rd-4th grade along with their parents, siblings, and other guardians. The children are given a brief summary of a children’s literature book to engage together with their families in a Creative Dialogue with issues that relate to the environment. After that, they engage in hands-on science and math activities that emphasize in E-STEAM.

El Programa Good Heart consta de ocho clases de 1 hora que se llevan a cabo los martes de 2:30-3:30 pm con estudiantes de 3º a 4º grado junto con sus padres, hermanos y otros tutores. Los niños reciben un breve resumen de un libro de literatura infantil para que participen junto con sus familias en un Diálogo Creativo sobre temas relacionados con el medio ambiente. Después de eso, participan en actividades prácticas de ciencias y matemáticas que enfatizan en E-STEAM.

CSUN students provide their support through Zoom while helping to present to the children and their families. This has also become a fun activity to do for them and a beautiful experience with the children!

Los estudiantes de CSUN brindan su apoyo a través de Zoom mientras ayudan a presentar a los niños y sus familias. ¡Esto también se ha convertido en una actividad divertida para ellos y una hermosa experiencia con los niños!

College Buddies Program

In the College Buddies Program, CSUN students have been able to assist young children from grades K-5th. The students are each assigned to a child to tutor and provide help with their homework and class assignments. Some of the common subjects they work on are mathematics, literature, and science. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to adjust to virtual learning and they managed to make it enjoyable and inspiring for the young students!

En el Programa College Buddies, los estudiantes de CSUN han podido ayudar a los niños pequeños de los grados K-5. A cada estudiante se le asigna un niño para que sea tutor y ayude al estudiante con sus tareas y asignaciones de clase. Algunos de los temas comunes en los que trabajan son matemáticas, literatura y ciencia. Durante la pandemia de COVID-19, tuvieron que adaptarse al aprendizaje virtual y lograron hacerlo agradable e inspirador para los jóvenes estudiantes.

Covid-19 Drive-By Event

After the children finished the tutoring sessions with their college buddies tutors, they were invited to a drive-by celebration for their completion of the program. During the celebration, they enjoyed the environment and were excited to be given a certificate along with a toy!

Después de que los niños terminaron las sesiones de tutoría con sus tutores, fueron invitados a una celebración en automóvil por la finalización del programa. Durante la celebración, los estudiantes disfrutaron del medio ambiente y estaban emocionados de recibir un certificado junto con un juguete.

Community Garden

The community garden includes tree planting in San Fernando Elementary where young students and parent leaders were able to plant and water on the school campus. They have planted about 50 trees/plants and the students water the plants whenever they pass by the area!

El jardín comunitario incluye la plantación de árboles en la escuela primaria San Fernando, donde los jóvenes estudiantes y los padres pioneros pudieron plantar y regar en el campus de la escuela. ¡Han plantado alrededor de 50 árboles / plantas y los estudiantes riegan las plantas cada vez que pasan por el área!

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Our Work/Nuestro Trabajo - Parent Pioneers | Padres Pioneros

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The Good Heart Program consists of eight 1 hour classes held on Tuesday's from 2:30-3:30 pm with students from 3rd-4th grade along with their parents, siblings, and other guardians. The children are given a brief summary of a children's literature book to engage together with their families in a Creative Dialogue with issues that relate to the environment.

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Back

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In some of the educator/counselor Facebook groups I'm a part of, there has been a lot of talk about R-E-S-P-E-C-T. People complaining their students are disrespectful, people wondering how they can teach respect to their students, and people worried that their faculty and students have differing ideas of what respect really means. As human beings, we all have an innate need to feel respected by others. Everyone is happier and more productive when people show respect to one another at school. So how can you teach students about respect in a meaningful way?

Laying the Groundwork

The first step is getting students thinking about their own beliefs and ideas about respect. Four corners is a great movement-based way to do this. Ask your students questions about respect, or ask them to finish sentences about respect, by going to one of four designated corners. For example, "I feel respected at school..." A) All of the time, B) Usually, C) Sometimes, or D) Not very often. As you read the answer choices, move to different corners of the room so students know where to go to show their answers.

Next, come to some sort of an agreement with your students about the definition of respect. Here are the two I provide them:

Ask them what they think about the definitions. What would they want to change or take away or add?

Then work together to get a clear picture of what respect actually looks like, sounds like, and feels like within the school. I recommend tackling one section at a time, letting students chat with a partner about their ideas and then sharing out whole group. Or, have students work on their own mini-anchor chart independently first.

And then comes the discussion that might make some folks a little uncomfortable. The discussion about WHO deserves our respect and HOW we decide to respect someone. In my experience, there's more disagreement here than there is in defining respect. Often times, faculty feel disrespected by students when there's a mismatch between how someone gets respect. Here's a quick script for how you can facilitate some student reflection here:
"We know what respect is and what it looks and sounds and feels like. Now let's talk about who we give our respect to, and how you decide whether or not to give someone your respect. I'll read an idea about how someone might get your respect and you give me a thumbs up if it's something that makes you choose to respect someone. (if students need more movement, consider asking them to stand to show their agreement, maybe even included a crouch/half stand for partial agreement)

Does someone get your respect...because of their intelligence? Do you give someone respect because their smart?

Is it about them being a certain age? Like you choose to respect someone because they're older versus younger?

Does someone need to earn your respect? (if students give a thumbs up for this one, ask them how someone would earn their respect)

Does someone get your respect by showing respect to you first?

Or does someone get your respect just for being human?"

You likely won't come to a consensus about this with the group, but it's important for students to reflect on their own beliefs about this and for faculty to see where the students are coming from.

Getting Specific While Teaching about Respect

Once the main ideas behind respect are clear in your students' minds, you can work with them on some specific examples. One way to do this is by having students examine different actions or words to determine if they're respectful or not AND why or why not. Use pre-made example cards or come up with ones that fit your group best. You can do this whole class, or put students in groups to have them go through different examples. Cards can just be pulled one at a time from a pile, or they can do something more structured like a "pick a card!" where they take turns having different "jobs": fanning the cards, selecting and reading a card, answering, and adding on or agreeing/disagreeing.

There are lots of different ways to show respect in different types of situations. Some students are champs at being able to generate ideas on their own. Some need some more scaffolding. I made a set of "types of respect" puzzles; ten different things or places to show respect with two examples each. They were created to be put together and talked about in groups.

Reflecting and Moving Forward

Once students have a firm grasp of what respect is, what it looks like, and how it's applied in schools, it's helpful to include some more self-reflection pieces. You can do an activity where students mix, find a partner, then both respond to the same "finish the sentence" prompt, then mix, find a new partner, finish a different sentence about respect, etc. You can incorporate questions like:

My teacher respects me when they...

I respect my teacher by...

My classmates respect me when...

I show respect to my classmates by...

Students can also reflect with a simple exit ticket, sharing an example of how/where/when they feel respected and how/where/when they wish they were respected more at school. I also believe (and research has shown!) that peer reinforcement is really strong. Simply having students give "Kudos Cards" when they notice their classmates showing respect can help keep these ideas on their minds.

Tell me about your school. What are some ways you or your faculty help students understand and demonstrate more respect? How do faculty and administration help faculty show more respect? What other suggestions do you have for how to teach students about respect?

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Respect Lesson and Activities - The Responsive Counselor

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In some of the educator/counselor Facebook groups I'm a part of, there has been a lot of talk about R-E-S-P-E-C-T. People complaining their students are disrespectful, people wondering how they can teach respect to their students, and people worried that their faculty and students have differing ideas of what respect really means.

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https://nameorg.org/learn/positive_academic_identities.php

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Responsive Classroom strategies, structures, and techniques offer a wide array of practices we can use for culturally responsive teaching. One of these strategies is student sharing. Providing opportunities for students to share about themselves and learn about each other helps build a positive classroom community, which is foundational for building positive cultural connections and understanding. Through sharing, students learn and practice clear, respectful, caring, and empathic communication, while building trusting relationships among peers.

Feeling connected to a school community is an important factor in a student’s success. Students who feel connected to school report that they like school, feel they belong, have friends at school, and believe their teachers care about them and their learning. Sharing helps students know others and be known, which will meet their needs for belonging and significance. Sharing helps students learn details about each other’s experiences, preferences, and interests, building cultural knowledge and appreciation. Each classroom represents a unique community of students and families; to learn about that community, topics for sharing can include families’ favorite foods, games, and traditions. Cross-cultural understanding and competence develop as students share information from their own lives and learn about those of their classmates.

Create the Conditions for Successful Student Sharing

Student sharing is complex, with many skills required to make it successful. Creating an emotionally safe, kind and respectful atmosphere is an important first step to make it culturally responsive. One way to do this is to explicitly teach those skills, including the jobs of both the sharer and the listener.

Jobs of the Sharer

Sharers will need to know how to use a strong, clear voice, look at the audience, and ensure what they say is brief, focused, and on-topic. Here are some strategies you can use to support students as they learn these skills:

Brainstorm for ideas. Ask students to brainstorm possible responses to a topic. For example, when sharing about favorite foods, brainstorm a list of all kinds of foods, not just typical lunch, dinner, dessert and snack foods. Encourage students to think about the foods they cook and eat for special occasions, holidays, and religious celebrations. Perhaps they can share about a dish only eaten when visiting with certain relatives. Consider charting the ideas to give students a variety of personal experiences to draw on.

Use sentence stems. Posting a sentence stem that students complete will help them keep the share focused. In younger grades, sentence stems can support students in learning to use complete sentences. For example, a first-grade sentence stem might be, “A special food I like to eat is_________.” Sentence stems can also help older students formulate more complex sentences. For example, a seventh grade sentence stem might be, “When I celebrate_________ I like to eat_________ because_________.”

Jobs of the Listener

Listeners will need to know how to remain quiet, maintain self-control, and demonstrate active listening. As the students’ sophistication with sharing evolves, listeners need to remember what was said and then formulate questions that show interest and elicit more information. Here are two skills to teach:

Remembering details. Before an around-the-circle sharing, alert the students that you will play “Who Remembers?” after. Brainstorm strategies for remembering what was shared. When everyone has shared, ask questions to prompt recall.

Generating effective questions. Effective questions acknowledge and encourage the sharer. Discuss with students what makes an effective question, including keeping questions positive and supportive rather than challenging. Explain that questions should show interest in the sharer and their news and that questions could also elicit new information or clarify details. Use question words, such as who, what, when, where, why and how, to support students in asking questions of the sharer.

Student Sharing Activities and Ideas

An ideal time for student sharing is during Morning Meeting in elementary schools and Responsive Advisory Meeting in middle schools. During these practices, there are opportunities to use structures that encourage students to share about themselves and interact with each other. Below are some sample activities to try.

Morning Meeting Sharing Activities (grades K-5)

My Family (grades K-2)

1. Pair students so that everyone has a partner.

2. Partners take turns sharing the names of people in their families.

3. Reinforce positive speaking and listening. “I see caring listeners and clear speakers.”

4. Redirect if one child is taking up too much “air time” by talking for too long.

5. On your signal, students end their sharing.

6. Variation: After each child has shared, say “free chat”. Students can begin talking freely about their families with their partners.

What We Have in Common (grades 3-5)

1. Pair students with someone they don’t usually work or play with.

2. Invite partners to chat and find two things they have in common. Challenge them to go beyond the obvious (beyond both wearing sneakers, for example). Allow about two to three minutes for this step.

3. On your signal, students plan and practice how they each will share out one of their commonalities with the class. Have students give a thumbs-up signal when ready.

4. Ask for a volunteer pair to share their commonalities first. Then go around the circle.

5. Variation: Once pairs have found two things in common, partner them up with another pair and see if the four of them can come up with four commonalities to share with the group.

Responsive Advisory Meeting Acknowledgements and Activities (grades 6-8)

Silent Quotes Trade

1.Post an announcement that reads:

Quote of the Day: “Deal with yourself as an individual worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way.” – Nikki Giovanni, poet

Create your own quote about respect, write it down on a slip of paper or sticky note, and be prepared to share it with others.

2. Students mix and mingle around the room in silence, greeting each other by nodding or bowing.

3. On your signal, have students stop mingling and silently pair up.

4. Partners exchange their quotes, read them silently, and pause to reflect on the quote for 10 – 15 seconds. Students can close their eyes if that helps them reflect.

5. Repeat as time allows.

6. Collect all the quotes and read a few aloud.

Incorporations

1. Ask a question that relates to students’ lives. For example, “Are you the oldest, youngest, middle or only child?”

2. Designate a space in the room for each response.

3. Students form groups in the space that matches their response and share one sentence about their response.

4. Repeat with other questions. Some ideas are:

When you get home from school, do you first do homework, eat, or take time to relax?

Over the weekend, would you rather play games, exercise, watch movies or visit relatives?

Is your birthday in the winter, spring, summer or fall?

Student sharing promotes a sense of belonging, enabling students to feel they are valued members of their learning community. Creating positive, trusting and empathic relationships among students is one step in leveraging culturally responsive teaching practices so that all students, especially students from diverse backgrounds or those who have not felt welcomed or accepted, can tackle high-level academic work. Look for a few times during the week when your students can share about themselves in engaging, structured ways, to build a foundation of cross-cultural understanding and competence.

Written by Kristen Vincent, Responsive Classroom Consulting Teacher

Tags: Building Classroom Community, Conversation Skills, Empathy, Listening Skills, Sharing

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