Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

EDUC 2011/1011-1100,Fall 2016

University of Pittsburgh, School of Education

Monday, 9:30am-11:55am

Location, 5151 Posvar Hall

Professor: Erika Gold Kestenberg, PhD

Office Location:5112Posvar Hall

Cell Phone: 412-961-1994

Email:

Office Hours: By Appointment (or feel free to stop by my office anytime)

Course Overview

Our course, culturally responsive pedagogy, introduces students to theory, research, and especially practice related to developing and enacting curriculum and instructional practices that respond to the social context in which they (will) work. The course covers general principles and approaches to culturally responsive teaching such as how teachers can develop meaningful relationships with students, how teachers can learn from and about the school and local community, how teachers can develop and implement culturally responsive classroom management, and how teachers can develop expectations for students that maximize their capacity. In addition, the course will assist students in learning about and developing culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy in their different content/subject matter areas (such as Mathematics, Science, Art, Language Arts, and Social Studies). A recurrent and central question of the course is: How do teachers develop culturally responsive instructional practices in their particular disciplinary domain to maximize students’ learning opportunities?

Required Books

Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. 2nd edition. New York: Teachers College Press.

Howard, T.C. (2010). Why race and culture matter in schools: Closing the achievement gap in

America’s classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.

Ladson-Billings (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Milner, H.R. (2015).Rac(e)ing to class: Confronting poverty and race inschools and classrooms. Cambridge:Harvard Education Press.

Milner, H.R. (2010). Start where you are but don’t stay there: Understanding diversity, opportunity gaps, and teaching in today’s classrooms. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

Links to other required readings will also be provided throughout the semester.

Class Assignments

  • Class Participation (20 Points)
  • Cultural Identity Paper and Presentation (15 Points)
  • Content/Subject Matter PowerPoint Presentationwith Handout (25 Points)
  • Culminating Experience- Documents with Presentations– 2 options (40 Points)
  • Research Paper– Minimum 20 pages, OR
  • Culturally Responsive Lessons-3, and accompanying 6-8 page paper

Assignment #1: Class Participation

20 Points

Students are expected to read all of the assigned readings for the course and to reference them during their participation in class. For ALL, this participation includesclass discussions and completing reflective in-class written assignments and activities. For GRADUATE STUDENTS this also includesfacilitating/leading activities and discussions on the additional readings that you are assigned as delineated in the schedule below. In order to participate, students must attend class. After one unexcused absence, students’ grades will decrease by 5 points for up to 20 points deducted. Students should get an email address of a classmate for updates/notes when absences occur. Also, please email Dr. Kestenberg when you will have to miss class.

Evaluation/Assessment

Are you in class and on time?

Do you attend class regularly?

Are you prepared for class? That is, do you respond and contribute to class discussions and to activities drawing from the readings?

What is the nature of this participation? Are meaningful and relevant contributions made?

Is it evident that you have completed the readings?

Are you fully engaged throughout the class (actively listening and sharing – no technology use unless it is to take notes)?

Assignment #2: Cultural Identity Development Paper and Presentation

15 Points

Due Date: Paper Due October 3rd, Presentations on October 3rd and October 10th (see chart below for signed-up dates)

Students will write a 6-8-page identity awareness/development paper, describing their memories and thoughts about how they came to see themselves as a cultural being. On a small scale, students should pose questions to their family members, teachers, community members, friends, etc.about events, experiences and moments that shaped how they see themselves as individuals with a culture. Mostly, students should rely on their own memories, thoughts, and reflections about how they came to understand, represent, and develop their cultural awareness. The informal oral presentation and written assignment should focus on various “stages” of personal development and should convey not only a summative report of cultural awareness but should also demonstrate critical thinking about that development and growth. If papers do not take critical as well as summative stances in the discussion, points will be deducted. In other words, a summary of students’ cultural awareness, development, and growth is not enough. Critical thinking about the nature of the development and growth is also required. A 30-minute presentation of this development is also required on the due date for the written assignment. There is no need to develop a formal presentation for this assignment. Students will be expected to ‘talk us through’ their cultural identity development paper. Students are encouraged to bring and share photos and other memorabilia/documents to assist them in their sharing. An important feature of the paper is to consider how students’ cultural identity may influence their work as educators.

While students should feel comfortable focusing on various aspects of culture, each paper must consider gender identity, socio-economic status/class, and race. Some guiding questions include: (a) when did I start seeing myself as a cultural being and why?; (b) what experiences (in particular) have helped shape my cultural awareness; and (c) how might my experiences as a cultural being affect me as an educator?

Evaluation/Assessment

Written Paper

How well critiqued, analyzed, and summarized are your memories and experiences about your cultural awareness, development, and growth?

How well do you make connections between your cultural awareness and your work as an educator?

Does the paper follow APA 5th edition guidelines?

Are critical, analytical, and summative stances included in the discussion?

(Informal) Presentation

How well do you convey the main features/themes of the paper?

How well do you make connections between your cultural awareness and your work as an educator?

Is the informal oral presentation organized and engaging?

Assignment #3: Content/Subject Matter PowerPointPresentation with Handout

25 Points

Due Date: See chart below for signed-up dates

Each studentwill focus on an area(s) of interests and expertise. There are five books for our course. Students will carefully review and synthesize each of these fivereadings for topics in their content/subject matter areas. In addition, research and locate at least 6 refereed journal articles for undergraduate students and at least 10refereed journal articles for graduate students in the content area that addresses and are grounded in culturally responsive pedagogy and/or culturally relevant pedagogy. In some cases the terms culturally responsive or culturally relevant may not show up in the title of the article but based on the students understanding (from an epistemological perspective) ofthe major tenets of CRP, articles may still be included. In this case, students will be expected to “make the case” for the inclusion.

Students will have 30 minutes to present the material to the class. Important: the bulk of the focus should be on practicein the presentation as well as the synthesis and should cover elementary, middle and secondary education.

Questions to organize and guide your thinking include:

  • What are the major themes of the readings? Summarize.
  • What points of convergence/divergence do you see between and/or among the different readings for the session? For instance, are the points different in urban versus rural contexts? Do you see differences in elementary versus secondary emphases?
  • What did you learn/think about that you had not known or thought about before?
  • What lingering questions emerge after reading the pieces? In other words, what else do you want to know about practice?
  • What are the implications of the reading (themes) for your future work in the field?

Specific Questions regarding practice:

  • What did teachers do in the article/book? How do you know?
  • What did students learn in the articles/books? How do you know?
  • How did the administration support CRP in the school or district? How do you know?
  • What assessment tools were developed to support student learning, cognition, and development?

The purpose of the synthesis is to uncover and to analyze the major features and themes of the reading and to discuss what was learned about practicing and implementing the theory/approach. It is important to not only summarize the major parts of the readings (use headings to help with this work), but it is also critical to analyze what is read as well. What questions and points resonated most? What lingering questions emerge after reading the pieces? What are the implications of the reading (themes) for practice? See the questions above.

Students will:

  • develop and deliver a presentation for 30 minutes (PowerPoint is required);
  • email theu-6/g-10refereed journal articles to the entire class by 6:00 p.m. the evening before the group’s presentation;
  • construct a Content/Reading Synthesis Handout for each student in the class. The synthesis must be sent to the class by 6:00 p.m. the day before the presentation or bring hard copies to class (two-sided works) for each class member;
  • send or bring one hardcopy of the PowerPoint slides to Dr.Kestenberg prior to the presentation;
  • dress in professional attire for the session when presenting.

Students will be graded on the (1) content and delivery of the oral presentation, (2)PowerPoint slides, and (3) the reading synthesis.

Evaluation/Assessment

Oral

How well does the student convey the main features/themes of the readings?

Is the oral presentation organized and engaging?

How well do you “lead” the class during your presentation?

How creative is the delivery?

Written

Does the handout address all the guiding questions above with depth and accuracy?

How well organized, developed, and analytic is content of the handout?

PowerPoint

How well developed are the PowerPoints?

What is the nature of the content on the PowerPoints?

Culminating Experience (Select One)

40 Points

Oral Presentation Due Dates:Dec 5thand Dec 12th

Written Assignment Due Date: December 5th.

Assignment #4:Literature Review(minimum 20 pages, plus references)

Students will investigate and study the “current state” of culturally responsive/relevant pedagogy in their respective field of study. For instance, what is happening with culturally responsive/relevant pedagogy research in literacy education, early childhood education, teacher education, health, human ecology, sociology, or mathematics and science education? Students will look at the research literature and synthesize that literature in a way that critiques, analyzes, summarizes, and describes the literature. The goal of this project is to write a minimum 20-page paper (not including references, they are additional pages) that outlines the “state” of culturally relevant pedagogy in your field. It is critical for students to be familiar with and to include the major researchers and theories (where CRP are concerned) in the review, discussion, and presentation. Students will share their findings in a 30 minute presentation during class. Unlike the cultural identity development presentation, a more formal presentation is required for this assignment. At least 10 for undergraduates and 18 for graduates outside of our class references must be included. Prepare the presentation as if you were presenting it at a major conference such as the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting. Reading review articles, particularly from journals such as Review of Research in Education or Review of Educational Research should be helpful in developing and formatting the paper. The majority of the reviewed literature should come from refereed research journals in your field. Good research papers are often found in journals such as American Educational Research Journal, Reading Research Quarterly, The Journal of Negro Education, Race, Ethnicity and Education, Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record,Urban Education, The Urban Review, Journal of Learning Sciences,Anthropology and Education,and Early Childhood Education Quarterly. Note: it is important that papers have a “review method” section included in the draft.

Central questions students may consider are (1) what is the history of CRP in your field?; (2) how has the field evolved where CRP is concerned over the years and why?; (3) how (methodologically) has CRP been studied over the years/what are the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches?; (4) what do you foresee as the “future of CRP” in your current field—that is, where should the field move to increase what is known, and how it is known, about issues of CRP in your field? Be sure to define and conceptualize what you mean by CRP in the paper.

Evaluation/Assessment

Written

Are relevant and salient issues considered?

How critical and analytical is the paper?

Are relevant references and citations (totaling at least u-10/g-18) used in the paper? In other words, are the major theories and researchers’ work about CRP included in the discussion? How do you know?

Are the central questions (above) attended to in the paper?

Does the paper follow APA, 6th edition guidelines?

Oral

Are PowerPoint slides used in the presentation?

Are the major features/themes presented?

How well organized and coherent are the presentations?

Are the central questions (above) attended to in the presentation?

OR

Assignment #4: Culturally Responsive Lessonsand Paper (6-8 pages)

A major goal of this project is to collect as much material as possible in order to develop tools (curriculum, activities, worksheets, assessments) to assist you in your work of becoming culturally relevant/responsive in your respective careers/classrooms. This project allows you to construct a series of three lessons (see lesson template at the end of this syllabus as an example) that are culturally responsive/relevant. Each student will develop and teach ONEmini-lesson using tenets of culturally responsive and/orculturally relevant pedagogy from those three lessons. Students will select a topic or related topics within their subject matter (e.g., grammar, the French revolution, mathematical equations, literature) and develop three lessons that incorporate tenets of culturally responsive pedagogy and/or culturally relevant pedagogy. Each student will teach a“mini-lesson,” drawn from the complete lesson that will be outlined in what is turned in. The mini-lesson will last approximately 25-30minutes. Students will then step back and talk through their curricular and instructional decisions. That is, why did you make the decisions you made in the lesson? This reflection will last approximately 5-10-minutes. We (the entire class) will act as your students.

Lesson Plans: Students will develop and turn in three lesson plansand related documentation that:

  • make explicit connections to CRP (see lesson plan format at the end of this syllabus),
  • make explicit connections to state standards from a particular state (students’ selection),
  • make explicit connections to Common Core Standards in your content area, and
  • provideevaluation/(pre/post) assessment(s)of the lesson for students to gauge students’ learning from the lesson.

6-8-Page Reflection Paper: In addition, a paper grounded in the literature that describes students’ curricular and instructional decision-making will also be submitted. The paper should:

  • describe how the lessons are culturally responsive/culturally relevant;
  • name the tenets of culturally relevant and responsiveness that connect to the lessons (grounded in the literature and cited);
  • describe your decision-making/thoughts on why you selected curriculum and instructional materials and practices;
  • discuss any challenges or changes you would make in the future.

Mini-Lesson Demonstration: Students will “set the stage” during the mini-lesson demonstration providing:

  • the grade level for the assignment,
  • the number of students,
  • type of school (note: lessons can be culturally relevant or responsive in different social contexts),
  • prior learning that has taken place before the lesson
  • pre/post assessment
  • other?

To summarize, students will:

  • Select a subject, topic, and grade level
  • The lesson should draw from and make explicit connections to CRP
  • The lesson should be grounded in and guided by state standards/common core
  • Develop a plan using CRP including visual aids, and assessment; show connections to CRP
  • “Teach” a mini-lesson/Share rationale for decision making from the three connected lessons developed
  • Turn in a complete packet of documentation/information that goes with the mini lessons and lesson plans
  • Write and submit a paper(grounded in the literature and cited) not to exceed 8 pages that rationalizes your curricular and instructional decision-making

Evaluation/Assessment

Lesson Plan: Written

Are explicit connections to CRP made?

Are connections to state (and common core) standards from a particular state (students’ selection)? Are they logical and well done?

Are (pre/post) assessments of the lessons to gauge students’ learning developed and well executed?

Is a meaningful lesson(s) developed using CRT?

Are students likely to learn from the lesson?

What are the strengths of the lesson?

Is this a lesson that can be logically incorporated into a “real” classroom – especially given the social context identified and the state standards?

Does the written plan address the framing outlined above?

6-8-Page Reflection Paper

Does the paper describe how the lessons are culturally responsive/culturally relevant?

Does the paper name the tenets of culturally relevant and responsiveness that connect to the lessons?