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Teacher Workroom – Culturally Relevant Teaching — XChange

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culturally relevant teaching

Teacher Workroom

Teacher Workroom contains work from teachers concerning culturally relevant teaching.

Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Lesson Plan for Kindergarten-1st Grade: Responsive Academic Vocabulary Using “Black Magic”

AUTHOR
Kiechelle Russell

ABSTRACT
Kiechelle utilizes a variety of culturally responsive protocols for full engagement by her kindergarten students in a class discussion about Dinah Johnson’s “Black Magic.” These strategies support the free flow of student responses while, at the same time, provide a structure for all voices to be heard. Academic vocabulary is introduced by connecting new words to known words and concepts that come from students and that are valued. Students’ learning is supported by the teacher through positive feedback and attention to learning styles.

This item is accessed for free with permission from the author.

 

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Culturally Responsive K-1 Lesson Plan: Academic Vocabulary(pdf)

Educator Laurence Tan Discusses His Practice

In this video, UCLA Teacher Education Program Alumnus Laurence Tan, who is a 5th grade teacher at 122nd St School in Watts discusses his work as a classroom teacher. Mr. Tan speaks to his commitment to his students. Moreover, he discusses the manner in which he rejects deficit notions of their academic potential, how he builds authentic relationships with them, and also how he develops a deep sense of care about them as individuals. From a teaching and learning standpoint Mr. Tan uses his classroom as a space to engage his students around environmental justice, racial profiling, Black/Brown tensions, and community work. His approach to teaching is to engage students in learning about their content as it connects to issues they confront in their communities on a daily bases. In this clip, he also discusses his Watts Youth Collective, which is an entity to build collaboration among students, parents, and families in addressing community needs.

Laurence Tan was chosen as a recipient of the Teaching Tolerance Award for Excellence in Culturally Responsive Teaching from Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.