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EDFD 462
Resource List Culturally Relevant Teaching
(Dr. Nicholas Wysocki)

This Resource List requires you to identify resources that help you engage in culturally
relevant teaching within your own classroom.

You need to: 1) Identify an academic source that provides you with current academic
achievement data on learners from your marginalized population; 2) Outline a peer-
reviewed academic journal article on Culturally Relevant Teaching; 3) Choose 2 academic
resources (academic journal articles, websites, book, professional development materials,
etc.) that give you concrete suggestion for interpreting content standards/choosing subject
matter (What should your students know and/or be able to do), choosing instructional
strategies, making classroom management decisions, and building relationships with
learners, their households, communities, and other school personnel.

The Resource List is as follows:

APA Citation of Source 1: Academic Achievement Data
Burchinal, M. McCartney, K. Pianta, R. (2011). Examining the black-white achievement
gap among low-income children using the NICHD study of youth development.
Child Development, 82(5), pp. 1404-1420.

Burchinal and Pianta go into great detail within this source about the Black-White
differences in achievement and instructional quality and how reducing this achievement
gap may require different types of intervention. The authors research shows that almost
every school that enrolls great numbers of low-income students have a lower academic
performance rate compared to the national grade level average. Not only this, but school
districts with minority populations also have large achievement gaps between African
Americans and whites. According to a recent study mentioned within the article, it is
shown that black students on average are two grade levels lower than their white peers.
More surprising is the finding that the least and the most socioeconomically advantaged
districts have an academic performance gap of more than four grade levels apart.
Achievement gaps are larger in districts in which African American students attend
higher poverty schools than their white peers. According to the authors of this article,
one of the main reasons for African American students in poverty performing lower in
grade level achievements is because of the racial segregation linked to unequal
distribution of resources among schools.

APA Citation of Source 2: Outline of an Academic Journal Article on Culturally

Relevant Teaching (See this specific D2L Section or identify your own article)
Islam, C., & Park, M. (2015). Preparing teachers to promote culturally relevant teaching.
Multicultural Education, 23(1), pp. 38-44.

a) Chhanda Islam and Mi-Hwa Park go into much detail in this article about the different
techniques and strategies teachers can use to promote culturally relevant teaching
within their classroom.
b) Outline of Academic Journal Article on Culturally Relevant Teaching
I. Multicultural Awareness
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A. Culturally relevant teaching promotes teachers to use critical multicultural
awareness strategies to examine their own cultural beliefs and perceptions. This allows
teachers to reflect on their skills and experiences and provides them with a greater
attitude, understanding, and acceptance towards their students cultures and lifestyles.
B. Multicultural awareness is necessary for achieving a culturally relevant environment
because it allows teachers to gain greater insight of their students cultural beliefs and
allows for more successful interactions.
II. Critical Thinking
A. One important aspect of culturally relevant teaching is the ability to promote
students to think critically. Culturally relevant teaching methods provide teachers with
the skills to teach students how to become critical thinkers by integrating their cultural
backgrounds and experiences into instruction. Students can then use these experiences
to help them understand/develop their higher order thinking skills.
B. Overall, culturally relevant teaching allows teachers to look past their own views of
the world and better understand the thoughts of others such as their students. This then
leads to more successful teaching instruction which allows students to improve and build
on critical thinking skills.
III. Responsive Feedback
A. Culturally responsive feedback allows teachers to give individualized support
regarding student response and participation in a way that is sensitive to students
individual cultural backgrounds and knowledge.
B. Culturally responsive feedback includes incorporating student responses, ideas,
experiences, and languages into the feedback that the teacher provides. It also includes
encouraging students to construct new understandings and encouraging them to
acknowledge their peers understandings from another point of view.
IV. Culturally Relevant Assessments
A. Teachers should select assessments that reach out to all diverse students and
learners within the classroom. This includes selecting material that considers students
cultural identities and backgrounds. Teachers must also recognize that student
performance may vary depending on students cultural backgrounds and experiences.
B. When it comes to culturally responsive assessments within the classroom, it is
important that teachers select procedures that are appropriate for the population being
assessed, that they recognize the potential for teacher bias, and also that they tap into
each students cultural strengths.

SEE NEXT PAGE!!!!!

APA Citation of Source 3: First Academic Resource (of your own choosing)
Schibsted, Evantheia. (2014, May 13). How to develop positive classroom management.
George Lucas Educational Foundation. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/classroom-management-relationships-strategies-tips
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Evantheia Schibsted goes into great detail in this article about the different lessons and
tips she has gathered from research of proactive discipline methods. According to this
article, building strong relationships with students and developing positive methods of
conflict and resolution is the first step to classroom management productivity. Some
strategies for promoting this include:
Agreeing on classroom rules at the beginning of the year
- Allowing students to help the teacher set classroom rules and expectations at
the beginning of the year not only allows students to be a part of the classroom
functions, but it creates a positive classroom climate from the beginning.
Be consistent about expectations
- In order for classroom management to be as effective as possible, it is
important that expectations are consistent throughout classrooms in order to
save from confusion and more behavioral conflicts.
Reinforce positive behavior
-Reinforcing student behavior is a great way for students to not only feel safe in a
classroom environment, but also to keep student attitude at a calm dynamic.
Students should be acknowledged for their efforts and positive behaviors in order
to let them know that we care about them and that they can trust us as educators.
Be neutral, not accusatory
-When it comes to problems arising within the classroom, it is important to
handle them in a way that wont promote defensive comebacks from students.
Instead, it is important for the teacher to ask the student what happened, opening
the way for students to tell their side of the story. Follow up questions are also
important.

APA Citation of Source 4: Second Academic Resource (of your own choosing)
Williams, Kechia. (2016). Techniques for building solid parent-teacher relationships.
Scholastic Education. Retrieved from
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/9-techniques-
building-solid-parent-teacher-relationships/

Kechia Williams goes into great detail in this source about how a childs academic
success is the most achievable when the teachers and the parents have a strong
foundation and are partners within the process. Williams describes different
communication techniques to build and sustain solid relationships between the teacher
and families of the students. Some of these methods include:
Establish an open door policy
- This is a great way to show parents and families that you are comfortable
enough to have them come into your classroom whenever they want to. Not
only can they observe your teaching, but it allows them to feel that they are
helpful/needed in their childs education in order for them to flourish.
Send out parent surveys
- Sending out surveys with questions such as What are your childs strengths
and weaknesses? and What does your child do in their spare time? not only
helps the teacher know each student as a person and learner, but it shows
parents that you care about their child and support their learning.
Contact them with good news regularly
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- Making calls or emails regularly to parents and letting them know how their
child is doing is a great way to create a bond between teachers and parents.
Many phone calls are devoted to teachers explaining how a specific child is not
doing their job in the classroom. Therefore, calling parents and saying
something as simple as It is such a pleasure to have Marissa in my classroom
can be very pleasing and almost shocking to the parents.
Utilize technology whenever possible
- Teachers and parents have very busy lives, so it is important to keep each
other up-to-date in a simple, yet effective way. Technology is a great way to
achieve this. Creating a website or parent portal is a great way to let families
know what their children are doing throughout the day and also a great way
for parents to look at grades.