Strategy: Cultural Relevance in Content

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Use this strategy to improve these areas:

Connection to the Curriculum

Reflective Thinking

Sensitivity to Students’ Culture

Student Engagement

Level of Disruptive Behavior

Strategy Overview

How To

Strategy Tool

Reflection

Goal Setting

Overview

Connection to the curriculum refers to the way that teachers are able to bring students’ diverse backgrounds into lessons and the classroom without instances of ethnic stereotyping. This connection must go beyond the superficiality of heroes and holidays and focus on the delivery of learning activities that resonate well below the surface of observable traditions and artistic expressions. Visible images reflecting cultural values should be on display and learning activities should be developed or selected with a keen eye toward students’ backgrounds, values, families, and communities. Moreover, it is essential that the prevailing attitude guiding curriculum and instruction reflect a partnership between teacher and student in the goal of mastering the material (Gay, 2002; Green & Stormont, 2017; Haberman, 1995; Ross, Kamman, & Coady, 2008).

Purpose

It is important for teachers to think of curriculum as something that reaches beyond the four walls of the classroom. Thinking outside of the school building and making connections to real life and current events will make the content more relevant to students. Creating lessons that connect to students must be done deliberately. It is not something that is likely to happen on accident; therefore, figuring out a way to ensure that connections are made is necessary. Giving students ownership and leadership in the development and delivery of curriculum and instruction can be done at any level. How this is achieved may look different depending on the developmental level and age of the students, but a teacher that values the input of their students’ backgrounds in every aspect of the classroom will find purposeful and meaningful ways to involve all of their students.

How Cultural Relevance in Content Connects to CARES

When students see themselves in the physical classroom space as well as in the delivery and development of the lesson content, they will be more engaged in the learning. Consider when you see a place you have visited before when watching a movie or TV show. Most viewers will instantly feel a connection and their interest will be piqued as they begin to look for familiar places within the setting regardless of how “good” the movie or TV show is. The same can be achieved for students in the classroom when it is evident that the teacher has taken their interests into account when organizing the classroom environment and in developing the classroom curriculum. While it may be virtually impossible to ensure that ALL students see themselves in EVERY aspect of the classroom ALL the time, being able to see themselves consistently will engage them in the content and have them looking for themselves in the setting.

Culturally responsive teachers, along with their students, must be critical consumers of curriculum in order to make connections where they otherwise might not be and should enhance supplemental materials to increase cultural representation, accuracy, complexity, and authenticity of multiple levels of curriculum (Gay, 2002). Scholars have identified three levels of curriculum to create culturally responsive lessons and classrooms (Cortés, 1991, 1995, 2000; Gay, 1995; Gay, 2002). These three levels of curriculum are formal, symbolic, and societal. The Relevance Matrix strategy tool can be used to assess your curriculum across these different levels.

Some key elements to effectively finding cultural relevance in the content:

1) Classroom displays should consist of contributors to the content and subject students are learning about, but care should be taken that these contributors are not all white males. Some of the contributors may be lesser known to you and your students but should be included and celebrated. Additionally, taking care to avoid displaying prominent contributors to the content that play into stereotypical roles is also important.

2) Interactive lessons that allow for and provide opportunities for movement are important to consider when thinking about how to deliver content. Students, and people in general, can get easily distracted and become bored if they are asked to “sit and get” for extended periods of time.

3) While teachers may not have control over the objectives that they are required to teach to students, they do have some control over what resources they use and more importantly HOW the information and content is delivered. Examining the curriculum ahead of time for incidences of bias and stereotype can help you to eliminate those instances during your instruction so as not to alienate any of your students.

4) Understanding and demonstrating to your students that your classroom is not just your room that they visit on a daily basis, rather, it is a shared space where they are active participants, will encourage students to take pride and ownership in the physical space as well as in the delivery of content. Providing roles for students in both classroom routines and in the sharing of information and content will promote that partnership and the sense of a shared community space with your students. Also, consider the flow of the classroom and the physical setup of the space so as to allow for equitable and easy access for all students to classroom materials and to each other.

How To

Examining your classroom structure and layout as well as the delivery of your content, both in what and how you deliver it, can be done at any time during the year, not just at the beginning. As you become more aware of the various needs of your students and of the multitude of ways that you can connect each one to your classroom space and instruction, you can choose to examine your current practices and improve upon them.

Strategy Tool

#1 – Assessment of the Classroom Setting

Since students spend so much time in the classroom, assessing the physical environment is necessary to ensure connection to your students. Students should be able to identify with the classroom displays. They should also be able to easily access all needed materials and have access to the teacher and other students in order to provide opportunities for collaboration. All of the below elements that the Assessment of the Classroom Setting strategy tool helps to determine are important factors for helping all of your students to feel valued and part of the learning as opposed to simply receivers of knowledge. Use the Assessment of the Classroom Setting strategy tool to deliberately and purposefully determine the following:

Classroom organization of desks and furniture
Classroom displays
Organization and access to classroom materials
Seating arrangements for students
Classroom roles and responsibilities

View Tool Example #1

#2 – Relevance Matrix for Examining the Curriculum

Use the Relevance Matrix strategy tool to help examine the curriculum and to think more critically about ways to engage students with content. The three levels of curriculum—formal, symbolic, and societal—are separated out in this tool.

Reflection

Use the Assessment of the Classroom Setting Reflection sheet or the Relevance Matrix Reflection sheet as appropriate to make sure your plan is going to work.

Goal Setting

Use the Assessment of the Classroom Setting Goal Setting form to assess the progress on your classroom environment goals.

Use the Relevance Matrix Goal Setting form to assess the progress on your goals related to making your curriculum more culturally relevant.

References to Other Relevant Resources:

Cortés, C. E. (1991). Empowerment through media literacy: A multicultural approach. In C. E. Sleeter (Ed.), Empowerment through multicultural education (pp. 143-157). Albany: State University of New York Press.

Cortés, C. E. (1995). Knowledge construction and popular culture: The media as multicultural educator. In J. A. Banks & C.A.M. Banks (Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (pp. 169-183). New York: Macmillan.

Cortés, C. E. (2000). Our children are watching: How media teach about diversity. New York: Teachers College Press.

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53, 106-116.

Gay, G. (1995). A multicultural school curriculum. In C. A. Grant & M. Gomez (Eds.), Making school multicultural: Campus and classroom (pp. 37-54). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Green, A.L., & Stormont, M. (2017). Creating culturally responsive and evidence-based lessons for diverse learners with disabilities. Intervention in School and Clinic, DOI: 10.1177/1053451217702114

Haberman, M. (1995). STAR teachers of children in poverty. West Lafayette, IN: Kappa Delta Pi.

Ross, D., Kamman, M., & Coady, M. (2008). Accepting responsibility for the learning of all students. In M. Rosenberg, D. Westing, & J. McLeskey (Eds.), Special education for today’s teachers (pp. 52-81). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Strategy: Cultural Relevance in Content

CARES

Positive Behavior Supports & Classroom Climate