Every child is a cultural being with a unique history and rich cultural practices; a member of communities in and outside of school. Yet too many children spend their days inside classrooms where they rarely find their voices, values, and cultural practices reflected in curriculum materials, much less embraced and celebrated through instructional practices.
Culturally relevant teaching is essential, now more than ever. If we want children to develop as successful learners, we must communicate that they belong in our classrooms. They need to see themselves, their cultures, their families, and their communities reflected in the materials and resources they find there.
Culturally relevant teachers honor students’ identities by positioning them at the center of teaching and learning. Each and every day, they make sure children and their families feel that they belong in school. They include multiple perspectives and points of view in the curriculum.
In this book, four teachers who teach in richly diverse classrooms and have studied culturally relevant pedagogy for years with researcher Mariana Souto-Manning, share specific practices, strategies, and tools that make their teaching culturally relevant. Join the authors of No More Culturally Irrelevant Teaching and show your students that their lives do matter…in teaching, in learning, and in society.
