Past projects 12
Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters!
Funded Aug 2, 2020The professional development materials that you have helped provide for me have been very helpful in developing my own culturally responsive teaching practices. These resources have opened my eyes to ways that I can be more culturally sensitive in the information I share with my students and how I facilitate conversations in ways that help children think critically about how they relate to people with whom they share spaces. The book, "Rethinking Early Childhood Education" by Ann Pelo in particular was helpful in that it provided the language and concrete examples of how to incorporate culturally responsive practices into the classroom.
One key take-away was that studying Native People should not be limited to Thanksgiving and that when discussing Native People we should name specific tribes and their unique ways of life, instead of generalizing all of the hundreds of Native People who live on the North American continent. The resources also emphasized listening to the voices of Native People, which I immediately incorporated into my teaching by, for example, sharing the book "Otsaliheliga" by Traci Sorelli of the Cherokee Nation (which in Cherokee translates to "we are grateful"). I read this book to the class and, as was emphasized in my professional development literature, we practiced saying the Cherokee word correctly. We then shared as a class the things we were grateful for-- a practice that is of core importance to the Cherokee people.
Another point I incorporated into my teaching was that when teaching about Native People we should focus on the tribes that live in the lands near our school. On Indigenous People's Day on October 12, I shared some slides I created that showed maps of the Wisconsin region and the tribes that live on those lands (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Menominee, Dakota, Ho-Chunk). Naming and learning about specific tribes helps to prevent generalizing and stereotyping. We read the story, "Hungry Johnny" by Cheryl Kay Minnema (a member of the Ojibwe tribe), where Johnny goes to a community center and follows Ojibwe tradition of letting the elders eat first. Before reading, we related to Johnny's feeling of being hungry and we looked at different traditional Ojibwe foods that we would be seeing Johnny eat in the story (wild rice and fry bread, for example). We also shared foods that were special for each of our families. One of my students shared a drawing of the sarma that she eats on special occasions with her family. It was great learning about the many traditions that are carried out in the lands that we share.
I look forward to continuing to read the literature that you have helped provide in order to be a more culturally responsive teacher every day for my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Anna
Black Representation Through Books Matters!
Funded Jul 11, 2020We have had so much fun the new books in our class! These representative books have clearly resonated with the students of our diverse classroom. All children have benefitted from learning about the historically significant characters in the non-fiction books such as "Mae Among the Stars" by Roda Ahmed, "The Oldest Student- How Mary Walker Learned to Read" by Rita Lorraine Hubbard, and "Dream Big, Little One" by Vashti Harrison. The children have also enjoyed learning about the important messages that are a part of the fiction stories. When reading "The King of Kindergarten" by Derrick Barnes we discussed how being kind is so important and while reading "You Matter" by Christian Robinson we emphasized how every person and living thing is important.
A classroom favorite so far was "I Am Enough" by Grace Byers. After reading this book depicting a diverse group of girls, we shared the things that we like about our bodies and what our bodies can do for us. We discussed the beautiful colors that we see in ourselves and drew pictures that reflected all of the colors we saw. One student said, "My hair can be big like the girl on the cover and I like it big." Discussions such as these where children are able to embrace their unique attributes are critical in building confidence at this young age. After reading the nonfiction story "Mae Among the Stars," one student was inspired to draw a picture of himself as Mae Jemison, the first astronaut of color in outer space, with shooting stars flying around him. His parents also told me that he asked them how he could become an astronaut like Mae.
Thank you so much for making this beautiful learning possible with your donation. From the bottom of our hearts, my students and I are so grateful for these new learning materials. You have made a difference in the lives and education of my students.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Anna
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 10 other donors.