The Learner and Learning

Narrative for Domain 1: The Learner and Learning

TESOL Standards

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2a.As an educator of ELLs, I have learned there are many factors that impact input for students.  There is the personal or how ELLs view themselves as a gateway to successful learning. It is important to say ELLs are participants of the learning process. They make education happen. Each day I began my classes with affirmations that reinforced the power that ELL hold genuinely.

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2b. Cultural and linguistic work together.   Language is culture.  In scaffolding I always  interweaved the two academically.  Many educators have been guilty of teaching ELLs from a deficit belief. WIDA specifically informed me that we are to operate from an asset-based thinking. Linguistically it was okay for an assessment program to be in the native tongue for newcomers.  When allowing students to make their presentations, some would use their home language words and then combine English words.

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2c. There are methods I used to understand my ELLs academically.  I am reminded from our text it takes 5 to 7 years to acquire the academic language needed to be successful. invoke background knowledge. Simple methods such as introducing topics and having students write down words or verbalize what they knew about a subject or topic.  When creating academic lessons, I assessed if students had very little formal schooling.   I also considered my students’ experiences that may have brought them to America.  I found in my classes many would tell me about them fleeing political unrest in their home countries.

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2d. I can say I learned personal interest and motivation and language preferences of my ELLs by helping to plan a trip to a very well-known place that ELLs informed me would show me so much about who they are and where they come from.  Students along with myself take a trip to a place called Plaza Fiesta.  It’s an indoor Latin American mall.  The mall allowed me to observe what was interesting to students.  It allowed me to experience their world.  Students informed me that finding a job or the right job is what they were interested in.  They explained they wanted to make family happy.  The experience informed me on my instruction.  I created a lesson on interviewing attached below. From this point on, many of my lessons incorporated family references.  It also caused me to add cultural food to the lesson.  I have found that if students can identify with their physical space, they are more likely to accept the input of the lessons. Jeanne Ellis Ormrod says psychologically it can drive a student’s intrinsic motivation to want to perform academically.

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2e. In the sociocultural realm, students’ belief in themselves and their identity as a person, but more importantly a person that is needed, respected and loved in the space. I have learned it is of the utmost importance that I had to address my own biases I was to every reach my ELLs in a meaningful and impactful way.   I was born in the United States in a big city.  Many of my ELLs were not born in the United States.  I had to consider what being born in another country or having parents that were born in another   means to my ELL student and what hardships psychologically that knowledge can produce. In my daily interaction students would say “Mrs. Mallard I’m going to drop out when I get to high school.  As an educator on these many instances I asked why. Many of the students not born here conveyed to me learning new things or adapting was not always easy.  At this point as a Black woman with northern and southern roots I conveyed to them being American hasn’t always been easy for me either.  Strengths and challenges can vary in a classroom. In my lessons I always foster collaboration among students.  I also felt it was better many times for students to be assessed openly by peers.   It cut down on the anxiety felt by many.

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References

Muhammad, G. (2021). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic.

Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Educational psychology developing learners Buch Jeanne Ellis Ormrod. Pearson u.a.

Wright, W. E. (2019). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and Practice. Caslon.

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Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Philosophy 

(Part1) 

Cynthia Mallard 

GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY 
Department of Middle and Secondary Education 
TSLE 7250, Applied Linguistics for the Bilingual / English as a Second Language Teacher 

Spring Semester 2023 

Garrett Delavan PhD 

January 22, 2023 

 Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Philosophy 

     My teaching philosophy and convictions about how languages are best learned are based upon almost 50 years of experience that I have been alive in this world. It is amazing to think we are here in the year 2023 when it seems as though the 90’s was just yesterday, and I was in high school or the 80’s when I was in elementary school. Reflecting on my education and learning language, I realize I learned language from everywhere. When I say everywhere let me say that I learned language from everyone and everything. I would wake up every morning and my mother would have the local news on covering New York Citys' five boroughs at the time. I would empty the garbage every morning walking to the incinerator meeting up with best friends who were from Puerto Rico, Haiti, and New Jersey to walk to school. My philosophy and convictions about how languages are best learned come from this everyday experience. Languages are best learned by experiencing different people, diverse cultures and of course using different languages. I have learned in language learning that everything about a person and their environment matters. It matters if they are male. It matters if a person comes from another country or if they were born in the United States. A persons’ religion plays out in education. When learning a language, a persons’ native customs are at play and should be considered along with everything else that makes up their world.  

      My positive experiences in learning language that has led me to this philosophy is just congregating with friends who did have different languages and diverse cultures. Even as a child when I would be invited to a family function like a birthday party of my friends of Puerto Rican descent I would notice greetings, customs, and the language native to them. My friends' parents would speak to me in their native tongue to complete certain simple tasks for them. I remember in the beginning I did not understand, but the more I was around my friends’ family and the more I was using the language with them I began to understand everyday words and conversation. I would also acquire customs of what was unfamiliar to them, which explained a lot about my friends and the things they were not open to saying or doing.  I did not think much of it then as a child and teenager and I am not sure they did either. If I did not understand, they would say it repeatedly until I understood. If I did something wrong or unacceptable, they did not hesitate to say that either. 

      Negative experiences in learning language that has led me to this philosophy is watching fellow educators who do not understand the philosophy that education is everywhere and is acquired through everything. I am on this journey of learning to be an educator and have been fortunate to substitute in schools where there is a rich ethnic and cultural mix of students. I have seen teachers discount students or ignore students when they do not understand the lesson in the English language. I have heard fellow teachers say, “I gave him the lesson to read, that’s all I can do.”   They moved on to something else and forgot that student. The teacher did not group the student with another child that was bilingual. The teacher did not think of all the options that could be used to reach that child. That Childs's world was not even a factor for the teacher that I observed. It was more important about completing the lesson and being on time in the district's modules. It is a widespread practice that I hope to avoid throughout my career.  

      I hope my initial second language acquisition philosophy is a good one to start with being that I come from a different area of undergraduate work other than education.  I am hoping that my positive and negative experiences can craft a solid and effective model of how to meet students where they are.  

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​Learning and Assessment Instruction: Face to Face 

Curriculum Standards

GSE (Georgia Standards of Excellence), County, National Content Curriculum Standards

ISTE Technology Standard

1. Write the curriculum standard’s ID number and description here.

(Language)

ELAGSE8SL1: Demonstrate command of convention of standard English grammar usage when writing or speaking

(Speaking/Listening)

ELAGSE8SL4: Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

ELAGSE8SL5:  Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest

(Writing)

ELAGSE8W2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

(Reading)

ELAGSE8RI4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

1. Write the technology standard’s ID number and description here.

•1.2.b Online Interaction Demonstrate empathetic, inclusive interactions online and use technology to responsibly contribute to their communities

Learning Objective/Goal(s)

Assessment

Learning Objectives & Historically Responsive Education (CHRE Pursuits)

Formative & Summative

Write your learning objective/goal here.

• Students will be able to analyze data, connect data, ask questions about Hispanic culture and explore global awareness through Latin American countries.  Students will learn concept of tourism and how it connects people around the world to Latin American countries in economics, culture, leisure.

• Skills: Students are acquiring the skills and content of ELA and Social Studies. They are learning and identifying Latin American countries and their assets favorable in tourism.  Identifying supporting details found in research about their chosen country.

• Skills: Students are acquiring the skills and content of ELA.  Students are identifying correct spelling and practicing correct speech in presentation.

• Intellect: Students will become more knowledgeable about the origins of their home countries as well as knowledgeable about features such as goods offered, population, popular destnations and other assets of Latin American countries.

• Identities: The lesson will help students learn the unique attributes of Hispanic countries. The lesson will help students to create  and evaluate pride in countries where many of their close relatives originate from.

• Criticality: Students will explore criticality by writing a tourism brochure that describes the country and its major attractions.  Students will delve into the question of travel, why its needed and what it means economically for the people who live there.

• Joy: The lesson will bring students joy in realizing all the amazing history many of their home countries bring to people who live and travel there.

1. Write the lesson’s formative assessment here.

Students formative assessment will have scholars choose and research a Latin American Spanish speaking country finding assets that draw tourist to the country.

1. Write the lesson’s summative assessment here.

Students summative will require students to take their research and create a travel brochure and a tourism commercial about their chosen Spanish speaking country.

Learning Activities

Introduction or Student Spark (_10___Number of minutes)

Body (__35__Number of minutes)

Closure (_10___Number of minutes)

1. What is the “hook” or engaging activity to activate student thinking? Describe the plan to capture student interest and excitement for learning. How will you and your students determine and leverage students’ prior knowledge?

Sparking students:

Teacher will ask scholar a series of questions about foods that are native to some Latin American countries.

What’s your favorite Hispanic food?

Do you know where the food comes from?

Are these foods enjoyed all over the world?

Why?

Students will watch and listen to you tube video about foods grown in Latin American countries central and south America.

https://youtu.be/p6zzjHm_vVw?feature=shared

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1. Describe in detail the consecutive steps of the lesson that will enact the learning objective. What will students be doing and what will the teacher be doing?

• Instructor will introduce/play a tourism video for one Latin American country that has been successful in garnering business for the country.

• Instructor will introduce the vocabulary and concept words:

1. Tourist – a person who travels for pleasure

2. Tourism- business or organization. organizing of vacations places to visit.

3. Business- Buying or selling goods for money or profit

4. Latin America- Mexico; most of Central and South America; and in the Caribbean, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti

5. Overtourism- Too many people in one place at one given time.

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•     Students after watching tourism video

will explore reasons for tourism and how it affects different Latin American countries.

Major thought provoking Questions:

• Why do people travel to Latin American countries?

1.learning about countries

2.Tasting new cuisine/foods native to country

3. Observing different lifestyle or culture

4.Leisure/ break from everyday lives

5. Visiting family

• How does tourism benefit the Latin American country. What do countries gain from tourist people visiting ?

1.Money/economics/more business

2.positive press popularity

3.positve reputation

4. more jobs

• How can tourism negatively affect country?

1.overcrowding/overtourism

2.environmental damage

3.conflict between locals and tourist

4. higher cost of living in area

• Instructor will walk around and monitor students process, thinking and writing

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1. Explain how students will demonstrate knowledge or understanding of the learning objectives for this lesson.

• Students in groups of 3 will complete an exit ticket by…

• Answering questions from lesson and submitting

• creating a tourism travel brochure for their chosen Latin American country. Students will research country assets and record them on brochure created in Canva digital technology to be printed and displayed in class.

• Students will then share their country brochure with class( 10 minutes)

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1. What are next steps for the students and the teacher to prepare for the next class session/learning objective?

• Next class students will transfer their print tourism brochure into a recorded video tourism TV commercial for their selected country using their research.

Differentiation, Modification & Accommodation

Differentiation:

• Content

• Process

• Product

• Environment

Modification & Accommodation:

Differentiated instruction (DI)

Modification & Accommodation

1. Write the differentiation strategy for the introduction here.

• For the hook Students can bring in physical examples of their favorite foods or fruits to sample and discuss. Some students will be curious about foods that are familiar and not

1. Write the differentiation strategy for the body here.

• Students can act out selling, buying and tourist in action when visiting a country

1. Write the differentiation strategy for the conclusion here.

• Students can discuss with class what data they found about chosen country.

Resources: Tomlinson, C. and/or Universal Design for Learning UDL

1. Write the modification/accommodation strategy for the introduction here.

• -Students can show or draw pictures of the assets they remember is associated with Latin American culture.

• -Students can vocalize the foods of Latin American culture

1. Write the modification/accommodation strategy for the body here.

• Depending on students’ English proficiency sentence frame handouts will be used in English and native tongue

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1. Write the modification/accommodation strategy for the closure here.

• -Depending on students’ English proficiency sentence frame handouts will be used in English and native tongue

Facilitation & Safety

1. Write the following components of the classroom facilitation and operation here:

•           Classroom Norms: I like to begin my classes with a social emotional learning affirmation giving students a chance to weigh in on what it means       for our lives. Students follow a written contract of teacher and student rules that is signed by all parties

•           Transitions: In class we are using Google classroom and Nearpod interchangeably. I use tongue twisters that signal transition to the next task.

•           Additional Support: Students who are disengaged we can involve our whole child support of extra instruction, counselors, family etc

•           Physical components: Desk are always facing each other either in a row or in a circle.  Desk turned toward each other foster collaboration.

References

Layered Texts and Other Learning Materials

1. List the tool(s) students need to meaningfully participate and access the materials in the lesson.

• Whiteboards individual

• Dry erase markers

• Printed Google form/Online Google form

• Headphones for students who need to rewatch or just listen to videos

• Map of Latin America in Google Classroom

1. Write a detailed (pearled) list of all the multimedia/materials/resources/links/technology students need to meaningfully participate in this lesson.

• Laptop/chromebook

• Google Form

• Boxlight Television screen

• Google Classroom application

1. Attach all instructional support handouts, presentations, citation/copy of texts, etc. and assessment items.

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National dishes of Latin America YouTube video (spark video

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Tourism video 1(lesson video positive tourism

https://youtu.be/P6Oz626qERs?feature=shared

Tourism video (Negative effects tourism

https://youtu.be/AMzReK3cNhY?feature=shared

Google Form Questions for Lesson Body/Exit Ticket

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/119RnDfjgVfDFVrko7A0ODkaJNeTJ3vNpU-DSrn2C0dE/edit

Exit Ticket Creating Brochure of country using Tech Canva Design

https://www.canva.com/search?q=brochure

Map of Latin America(print out for lesson

https://images.app.goo.gl/PBfMaTKT4D

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Research & Theory References

1. Cite course readings and research knowledge to justify your pedagogical and curricular choices here.

2. Use APA formatting (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/ ).

Georgia Department

https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Documents/ELA-Standards-Grades-6-8.pdf

Georgia Department

https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Documents/ELA-Standards-Grades-6-8.pdf

ISTE Technology Standard

https://iste.org/standards/students

Muhammad, G (2020). Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Responsive Literacy

Muhammad, G.( 2023). Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Teaching and Learning

Wright, W. E. (2019) Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners

Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice(3rd ed.) Philadelphia Caslon Publishing

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Competency And Action in the Classroom

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Cynthia B. Mallard

Department of Middle and Secondary Education

Georgia State University

EDRD 7600  Theory and Pedagogy in the Study of Literacy

​Charity  T. Gordon Ph.D.

April 28,  2023

Competency and Action​

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There is a growing concern about the lack of culturally relevant education in our classrooms. Education officials such as  teachers and administrators in our schools say this practice  has led to literacy disparities in reading performance among Black children when compared to their White counterparts.   We take a look at this phenomenon because   we live in a world that includes people from all nationalities and we live in a world that says  we appreciate and support all races.   We in America have also declared that all lives matter and that men and women, boy and girls no matter their race are entitled to an equal education  that seeks to have all students successful.  As we have seen many of our Black and Brown students are being left behind in literacy or at least administrators tell us that’s what the test report and can confirm.   The focus of this theoretical study is to identify factors contributing to literacy inequity,  identify best pedagogies in literacy instruction of Black children  and  to create practices that connect and advance students to the next level of thinking in reading, writing, speaking and listening in our real world. But we also want to acknowledge where there has been a deficit, there has also been additive  positive power revealed.   

I have constantly visited classrooms where Black and Brown youth make up the majority of our  ever evolving classrooms.   I have been witness to Black and Brown children who sit in class  unwilling to attempt to learn.  I’ve also been in classrooms  where those same Black and Brown students  who make up the majority of the class have said they didn’t know how to do the assignments.  In my work in education I have seen students frustrated,  angry and lost when attempting to read or write an assignment.  The assignments looked foreign and super unfamiliar in one mode, but totally recognizable in another mode.  Literacy I have learned can be measured and applied in different ways.   Literacy can look like many things.   Literacy is not just reading words from a page as many of the these national literacy test measure.   Let’s reflect back in history.  In today’s society we have withdrawn from the historical excellence of Black literacy and education.  We have instead retreated  to antiquated beliefs and systems  that maintain the status quo when it comes to literacy in our classrooms.  Historically  there was an agreed pact in education. 

      Once knowledge is learned, then you are to pass it on to the next person in the spirit of freedom and collaboration.  Very different from today.  We know that schools are grounded in competition, individualism and a very one- sided way of looking at literacy. Muhammad says this is one reason why students of color often do not reach their full potential  in schools because schools are in disharmony with their histories and identities (Muhammad 2015).  Muhammad states that literacy for the Black community  involved learning  print and oral literacy together. The literacy was traditionally connected to their histories and identities.  In current day education writing  and reading  is done separately not connecting  the identities and stories of  Black culture.  James McKell Cattell was one of the first researchers to put together  a reading test.  He as a White man  came to the conclusion that Whites were better readers, more competent inherently and intellectually superior to the non- White subjects he tested.   He did not factor any of the variables that could have contributed to the lower scores produced by non-Whites such as lack of educational access, economic inequalities and traditions of Black people (Willis 2015).   How ironic we are experiencing the same behavior where teachers and administrators are judging  Black and Brown students off a system they may be unfamiliar with.   But what if these students were assessed based on their power.   The power I’m referring to would be the literacy that our  Black and Brown students know and recognize.

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     In school systems across the country  we hear the familiar words of literacy gap  or literacy disparities between Black and White students.  Much like the creators of our current traditional literacy practices many times, they fail to take into consideration the factors that may have affected a Black student and other students of color.   Factors such as  point of entry in school, economics  and access to resources.   Our country embodies racial discrimination and enslavement.   We cannot forget that we are educating in a system that was not built with Black and Brown children in mind.   We have to remember that it was a crime to teach  Black people to read  not so long ago.   So while the great grandfathers of White students were reading and excelling academically, their Black counterparts were held back from learning the accepted way of displaying literacy.  These historical events have left Black children in the state of catching up to their White counterparts in the area of accepted  literacy.   I say accepted because we find Black and Brown children are literate, but literacy can look different  and be displayed differently with each and every individual.

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      Schools are grounded in  competition and individualism.   We see this every day in the classroom when we subject children to standardized testing.  When students are singled out for doing poorly in testing that was not designed with their experiences and education in mind.   On a national test last year, The National  Assessment of Educational  Progress  reading assessment only 18 percent of black  4th graders scored as highly skilled or above in reading.  Equal White counterparts scored 45 percent(NAEP,2022).  When we look at this data Willis doesn’t give much credit to this reading assessment agency saying,  “ Too often the interpretation of the NAEP-sponsored  Reading Report Card results pathologize minoritized and improvised students, families and communities, while simultaneously ignoring structural economic and social inequalities and the assumptions on which standardized reading test were created’ (Willis,  2015).   From the very beginning we in education have operated from a one size fits all position.  It was not acceptable from the beginning of formal education nor is it acceptable now;  especially in a world  and system that says everyone has a right to be successful.   It is our responsibility as educators to meet students where they are.   Again we have learned literacy looks different with every student.  So how do we address literacy as a not one size fits all?

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In the article Culturally Responsive Differentiated Instruction, Santamaria says instruction can  and should be modified for diverse learners because there is a history  of Black children  and children of color being the victims  of  discrimination and exclusion even in the classroom (Santamaria, 2009).   Our goal is to make a shift in our classrooms and in the way we are teaching.    Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is one of our targets.  It is the only way  of teaching that lends equity to our classrooms.   CRT is described as  a way of teaching  that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally and politically by the use of cultural reference  in knowledge, skills and attitudes(Ladson-Billings, 1994). 

Historical Environment

There are many factors that we will  identify that have contributed to literacy inequity throughout history.  One such occurrence  The  Jim Crow era and the enforcement of  it on people of color. During this time legal separation of Black and White people was the law of the land.  Whites  used loopholes in laws leading to poorly funded schools that directly hindered literacy amongst Black people.   We mentioned earlier James Cattell was one of the first researchers to put together reading test.  Wynter Hoyte says that enslavers  deemed Africans as inhuman  and legally banned them from learning to read and write(Wynter-Hoyte, 2022).  This practice began the unequal playing field as it is called today where Whites are already years advanced in the accepted literacy created  by them and for them.   No Child Left Behind (NCLB) created Race To The Top leaving children to fend for themselves if they didn’t perform at high levels.  Also standardized testing models built upon the experiences of Whites and their experiences that did not relate to youth of color.  Another factor impacting literacy was and is  discipline by racist teachers.  We know that educators have been found to label  Black youth negatively which has  led  to expulsions.  Those expulsions have separated students from instruction and opened the door to prison.  Those deemed  defiant or troublemakers are labeled and linked to another label of at-risk or students who are struggling.   

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Muhammad  quoted  Johnston, D’Andrea  Montalbano and Kirkland( 2017), who stated:  The creation and assignment of such labels separates students in to those alienated from their identities and those alienated form education as un-useful, unproductive, or likely unsuccessful, and they are further told similar messages  of inadequacy and undesirability in media and society”.   When children are sent to  the principal’s office, to the hall or suspended from school they are being excluded from interactive read-alouds, writing practices, vocabulary and other literacy instruction.  According  to the US Department of Education Civil Rights division Black students are disproportionately suspended and expelled from school.   Black boys are criminalized in preschools for playing , whereas when White boys engage in age-appropriate playful behaviors, it is accepted as rough-and-tumble(Bryan, 2020).  The above mentions are just a few of the injustices suffered by Black  and other  youth of color.  We have to ask ourselves when does it stop. We also have to ask ourselves is it fair to judge  and compare Black youth to White youth in literacy  performance.  Should the two be graded on the same level even though one has clearly had  the advantage of White privilege?  I say no.

System of Instruction

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What can teachers, policy makers, administrators do about the issue or problem of the perceived literacy gap.   The solution starts  with our approach  to instruction.   I remember my time in elementary and high school.  If it were not for my mother who loved reading and the retelling of my family history,  I would have not developed any sort of literacy, oral or written.  I believe in instruction that is disruptive to the norm that me and many of my friends grew up with in the 80’s and 90’s in public schools.  We were expected to read, write and speak only the accepted “white” way of education  that was built upon the culture and history of White people. We were Black or children of color. Today,  I choose the literacy model that is built on historical  responsiveness to follow.  I choose to involve structure with vocabulary and sounds,  but I also choose whole instruction where I love to start with text for meaning.  We know there is instruction that is structured then there is balanced or whole instruction.  Both approaches work.  But more importantly than knowing what  instruction you want to tackle is the fact that we as educators should  know who we are teaching in our classrooms.  It matters!  The ethnicity, the identity of a class makeup  instructs  or guides  educators  as to what to teach  and how to teach content that  makes the biggest impact.  I know that as we address reading  and the perceived disparities between Black and White students,  we  have to design curriculum that  connects to Black students cultural identities, their background, interest and their experiences.  Instead of reading a book about supply and demand in England concerning the fur trade, we can learn equally about Madam C. J. Walker applied supply and demand principles that students can relate to that happens in their own community when it comes to hair  and hair products.   They can remember someone in their community that does hair maybe in the home or in the community and how the demand creates the money flow.   Researcher Gay found  students interest and engagement in learning increases when instructors use strategies  connected to students’ experiences(Gay, 2010).

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Plan of Action

It is common knowledge in education according to Muhammad that educators still struggle with how to advance the literacy development of Black boys and girls(Muhammad, 2020).   One factor shaping this phenomenon is educators are afraid to look at race.  They are afraid to say they see a Black boy or that they see a Black girl.   We have long heard the shared saying by educators who say they do not see race and that they only see the student.  Well we know these statements are racist and an admonishment that they will not accept the totality of the student which includes their race among other characteristics that make up their identity.  There is a statement that Willis references in the article “Literacy and Race-Access, Equity and Freedom” that I thought really drove home  what we in America are dealing with  when it comes to culturally relevant education and the problem.  He uses a statement from former U.S Attorney General  Eric Holder (2009)  where he  puts it frankly and states:   “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and  continue to be, in too many ways,  essentially a nation of cowards.”  This cowardness carries over into the classroom every day. The article  The theory and Practice of Culturally Relevant  Education researchers concluded for culturally relevant  education (CRT) to be effective teachers must address students  complex identities, proposing a framework of connectedness that identifies hybrid and complex nature of cultural identity.  We now know literacy begins  with  babies in their homes with their families.  In the article The Promise of Family Literacy  Compton-Lilly references the book Family Literacy:  Young Children Learning to Read and Write.  It is noted in the book  that literacy practices  occurs naturally in the home and with family.  The books author Denny Taylor goes on to say, “While some literacy practices are directly related to school tasks others are unique to homes and relate only  marginally to school literacy expectations (Taylor, 1983).  What a wonderful discovery.  So the assumption that Black students are illiterate because they have not received instruction is a long lived misconception.  Dehaene even states,  “the human brain is specifically “preadapted” for cultural transmission (Dehaene, 2009).  It is explained that this fact allows children as young as one- years-old to use forms of cultural learning to learn  the literacy of their culture.  

We are to be thinking  of  multimodal  texts that are paired with traditional books.  I would go so far as to get input of literature Black students are interested in.   The art of poetry also known as rap is so ingrained in the Black community that students would benefit with constructing a rap battle on chosen material that cultivates their home stories and skills.  With this strategy they are able to bring their real world into the class.   I would also  establish a library that caters to interest of Black students.  Another example of applying culturally  responsiveness would be to take the activity of drumming and how  it relates to Black and Brown students around the world.   It is an activity I as Black girl grew up with in my community.  Black men, women and children were always drumming a beat on the corner in the neighborhood or at a community function.  It is part of the Black and Brown community identity.   In Skill we could bring in drums to the class or visit a drum circle activity to learn how to play.   Imagine  the intellect as Muhammad talks about in her text. Students  would learn the history of drumming  and how it is part of the culture of people of color.   And then another layer, the goal of criticality.   Students  can discuss what music  or the drum beat meant in the history of slavery and todays’ religion and in communication in present day.

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So what happens if we don’t apply this power that our students come to the classroom with?  We get headlines that read Black students are underperforming.  We will continue to see Black and Brown students who don’t see themselves as included in the classroom and even in  society outside of the classroom.  As a result these students  will not engage and  will consequently slip through the cracks.   What’s more is if inclusiveness is not applied we continue the historical  hypocrisy already shown to Black and Brown students that their stories or experiences are significant to the fabric of this nation.   Our classrooms more and more every day are becoming more and more predominantly Black and Brown.  If we don’t stop to shift  our pedagogy to match the needs of our students we will continue to fail our students in pointing them to success.

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Santamaria, L. J. (2009). Culturally responsive differentiated instruction: Narrowing gaps between best pedagogical practices benefiting all learners. Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 111(1), 214-247. doi:10.1177/016146810911100105

The theory and practice of culturally relevant education: A synthesis ... (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2023, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0034654315582066

Wynter-Hoyte, K., Braden, E. G., Myers, M., Rodriguez, S., Thornton, N., & Boutte, G. (2022). Revolutionary love: Creating a culturally inclusive literacy classroom. New York, NY: Scholastic.

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