Connecting Readers to Multiple Perspectives: Using Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in a Multicultural Classroom

Introduction

If you had the opportunity to contribute in some small but noteworthy way to the next generation’s impact on making the planet a more peaceful place, would you jump at the chance? If you were told that the what and the how of your teaching has the potential to change the lives of your students in ways that disrupt negative patterns of practice, and potentially weave positive quilts of hope...would you be interested?

As educators, we have the opportunity and obligation to influence, expose, and encourage children to become successful students in the academic realm, to become attentive stewards of the earth, and to be more compassionate human beings. This manual not only gives you guidance in creating space for the personal lives of your students to exist in the classroom, but it also introduces ways in which instructional practices can encourage students to become proactive in the teaching and learning of the curriculum and active citizens in their communities. This manual is designed to encourage you to engage in self-reflective practices (revisiting prior experiences and existing beliefs), to interact with various texts (examining multiple perspectives and power structures), and to engage in conscious teaching (being mindful of what students need to develop and thrive).

This instructional manual will introduce a theoretical framework, the Curriculum Connections Instructional Model™ (CCIM), designed with the student at the heart of teaching and learning. It encourages a shift in the way you view your role as an educator and in the types of relationships you build with each of your students in order to help them reach their optimum best. CCIM, at its core, is different from more traditional models of teaching and learning (see Table 1). CCIM is a fluid design in that it requires educators and students to constantly (re) negotiate six domains in ways that encourage a continuous state of nurturing and building. This recurrent demand for self-reflexivity serves as a reminder for strengthening your commitment to the student(s) and the learning process.

Table 1. Approaches to Teaching & Learning Compared

The Curriculum Connections Instructional Model™ is grounded in the fundamental idea that recognizing the complex and multidimensional nature of our students’ lives and the communities in which they reside is paramount to their success. This central idea of acknowledging student culture and personal interest are crucial to genuinely connecting with students where they are and using this knowledge as a building block to content area instruction and social justice education. The Curriculum Connection Instructional Model™ recognizes six domains specific to the scaffold progression towards