Principle 3 for the NYSED Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework states:
“Inclusive curriculum and assessment elevate historically marginalized voices. It includes opportunities to learn about power and privilege in the context of various communities and empowers learners to be agents of positive social change. It provides the opportunity to learn about perspectives beyond one’s own scope. It works toward dismantling systems of biases and inequities, and decentering dominant ideologies in education.”
For this activity, you will review a few of the activities from the fourth module. You will want to have out your Efficacy Notebook that you began in Module 5 in order to reflect, connect, and continue to brainstorm how you will instruct your students with intention in order to have a lasting, positive impact.
Skip to: Self Identity | Risk-Taking and Change
Student Advocates
Our learning environments should build up efficacious students who are agents of change for their communities. How are we positioning students to achieve this in our remote and hybrid learning environments?
Review Power and Privilege and then complete the below in your Efficacy Notebook.
- Compare and contrast the two videos presented.
- What resonated with you as you watched each video?
- What key words and/or phrases from the videos stood out to you?
- What insights will you take away from each video to apply to your classroom in the current or upcoming school year?
- Brainstorm ways to introduce the concept of power and privilege to your students across the current or upcoming school year.
- Explore possible discussion protocols that you can use.
- Review upcoming content where the concept can be integrated.
- Draft sample questions students can begin to ask so that they have a critical eye on resources and materials.
- Reflect on the following:
- Privilege can be a heavy term depending upon perspective. Based on the videos and your own exploration, what does the term mean to you?
- Why is it important for students to have a critical lens with all the resources and materials they engage with at school?
- The principle talks about “elevating marginalized voices.” How will you intentionally make that come to fruition? Why is it important that you do so?
Self Identity
In order for our remote and hybrid learning environments to build up efficacious students, we must first empower students. How are students positively represented in curriculum and assessments? How are students learning more about who they are as remote learners?
Review Exploring Multiple Perspectives and then complete the below in your Efficacy Notebook.
- Summarize the Edutopia video “Making Space for Your Students’ Perspectives.”
- What resonated with you?
- What key words or phrases stood out to you?
- What insights will you take away to apply to your classroom in the current or upcoming school year?
- How will you create the space for your students to share their perspectives?
- Explore some current events, diverse texts, or cultural celebrations. Design a discussion-based activity for students to read or review the resources they found and then share in small groups, then the whole group. Leverage accountability statements, norms, and protocols to set up the discussion for success.
- Reflect on the following:
- How will you include more than one “opportunity to learn about perspectives beyond one’s own scope” as stated in Principle 3?
- What do you and your students gain when we open our view of the world to hear and consider multiple perspectives?
- What more do you need to know and explore to expand your understanding on multiple cultural perspectives?
Risk-Taking and Change
For our students to be advocates for change, they need to be engaged not only with the curriculum but also with their communities. Teaching through PBLs, integrating service learning, and more allows students to feel a greater connection to the content presented.
Review Service Learning and then complete the below in your Efficacy Notebook.
- Summarize the Edutopia video “Community Projects: Hands-On Learning with a Purpose.”
- What resonated with you as you watched the video?
- What key words, phrases, or visuals from the video stood out to you?
- What insights will you take away from the video to apply to your classroom in the current or upcoming school year?
- What strategies will you use to provide students with community outreach opportunities?
- Take time to explore the community websites, newspapers, and social media accounts. Then, reflect on the following in your Efficacy Notebook:
- What is happening in the community? What are the needs?
- Where do students congregate when they are not in school?
- Who are the leaders in the community you can reach out to in order to make lasting partnerships?
- What are the available social services in the community?
- Reflect on the following:
- Part of Principle 3 states, “It includes opportunities to learn about power and privilege in the context of various communities and empowers learners to be agents of positive social change.” How does connecting with the community through service learning empower students to be agents of change? How can you model that as their instructional leader?
- What skills do students need to build to effectively use their voice and their platform to make positive change?
- What opportunities will you create for students to positively impact their communities? How will you support students in making it happen?