Unit 3 Culturally Responsive Lesson Plans
As you have come to understand, culturally responsive teaching is more than adding culture to your classroom walls or recognizing Native American or Black History months. It is drawing on the learners’ strengths to build intellectual capacity; and it is creating a positive classroom community. Culturally responsive teaching is validating the learners’ cultural experiences, connecting them to the content you’re facilitating by using intentional instructional strategies and lesson plans--all to improve cognition. In this unit, you will modify one of your existing lessons into culturally responsive lesson plan.
Outcomes:
Apply CRT concepts to existing lessons
Create essential questions for a CRT lesson
Develop a 5E lesson plan for your content area
Read & View
Read Chapters 8 and 9 (122-141, 142-154) in Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond.
Read through “Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Guide to Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching All Students Equitably” and focus on “Considering Cultural Diversity when Designing Instruction.”
Read “Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Towards Equity Inclusivity in Ontario Schools” and focus on on Characteristics 2, 4 and 6.
Scan the 5E’s lesson plan template and rubric.
As you read and view, take notes about things that surprise you, things that you did not know, things that you may have already been aware of.
Activities
Activity 1 - Internet Exploration Activity
Assignments
1. Based on what you read so far and thinking about your own practices in the classroom, answer these questions: “Isn’t culturally responsive teaching simply “good teaching”? If a facilitator is a good facilitator in any setting, isn’t he/she a good facilitator in every setting?” Think about: instructional strategies, relationships, curriculum and discipline. Your 3-4 page assignment will be evaluated using the rubric found here.
Email your 3-4 page assignment to your instructor with the subject CRT Unit 3 Assignment 1. Be sure to include your name.
2. For this assignment, you will take one of your existing lesson plans and revise into a culturally responsive lesson in the 5Es format. Pay close attention to the guidelines provided in the lesson plan template AND 5E Lesson Plan Rubric. Be sure to include a reflection on the development process, as well as areas of the lesson where you anticipate successes and challenges (in the lesson template). You will need to copy the 5E Lesson Plan Template to your Google Drive Folder.
Optional Resources:
ELA (High School)
Jean Aguilar-Valdez’s Rubric for Culturally Responsive Lessons/Assignments will be used to evaluate your lesson. Be sure to self-assess your work using the 5E Lesson Plan Rubric prior to submission. Although the focus of grading will be on CRT elements, the areas of the 5Es should be evident in the lesson plan.
Email your assignment to your instructor with the subject CRT Unit 3 Assignment 2 and be sure to include your name.