Stand – Page 3 – UAS MAT Program ~ 2016 Cohort

Past, Present, & Future : Culturally Responsive Curriculum

Culturally Responsive Curriculum Standard B: A culturally-responsive curriculum recognizes cultural knowledge as part of a living and constantly adapting system that is grounded in the past, but continues to grow through the present and into the future.

1. recognizes the contemporary validity of much of the traditional cultural knowledge, values and beliefs, and grounds students learning in the principles and practices associated with that knowledge;

2. provides students with an understanding of the dynamics of cultural systems as they change over time, and as they are impacted by external forces;

Our group (Tyson, Tim, Chris, & myself) related this cultural standard to many disciplines outside of our own chosen path, which was predominantly Social Studies. Utilizing traditional knowledge in the classroom could be done in a multitude of ways. First we thought of studying flora and fauna and how we still utilize “traditional” knowledge of those uses today. My idea for a lesson plan within Social studies was studying traditional indigenous impact on the environment and synthesizing practices that we could use today to minimize long term damages. There are many different ways one can approach this standard.

Standard D Poster

During Multicultural Education class for the MAT program, our group worked with Culturally Responsive Curriculum Standard (CRCS) D. We made a poster that explained some of the aspects of the Standard. We also came up with a few ideas that we could incorporate into a lesson. Our group had an idea that in a class, we could read text from a book but then as a group creates a story to go with the text to make it more memorable.

In another twist, we had an idea that we could listen to a story and then transfer it to text or images on paper. This would create a way to bring in different learning styles when dealing with important issues. The CRCS for D is listed below.

Culturally Responsive Curriculum Standard D:

A culturally-responsive curriculum fosters a complementary relationship across knowledge derived from diverse knowledge systems.

A curriculum that meets this cultural standard: 1. draws parallels between knowledge derived from oral tradition and that derived from books;

1. draws parallels between knowledge derived from oral tradition and that derived from books;

2. engages students in the construction of new knowledge and understandings that contribute to an ever-expanding view of the world.

Standards

Cultural Standard B:

A culturally-responsive curriculum recognizes cultural knowledge as part of a living and constantly adapting system that is grounded in the past, but continues to grow through the present and into the future.

1. Recognizes the contemporary validity of much of the traditional cultural knowledge, values and beliefs, and grounds students learning in the principles and practices associated with that knowledge

2. Provides students with an understanding of the dynamics of cultural systems as they change over time, and as they are impacted by external forces

3. Incorporates the in-depth study of unique elements of contemporary life in Native communities in Alaska, such as the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, subsistence, sovereignty and self-determination.

Our group’s main takeaway from this standard is that all cultures have a past, present, and future. It is harmful and misleading to refer to any culture with terms like “ancient,” or in same cases, “traditional,” as these can imply a strictly past-tense understanding of a culture, which reinforces the wrongheaded idea that modernity belongs solely to Western society. Cultures are constantly developing, and the present-day milieu has been built on contributions from around the world. Omnipresent things like algebra and astronomy have non-Western roots, which is important to stress in a math or science classroom.

It is also vital to understand as a teacher that the vocabulary of the classroom is not in any way more “correct” than other vocabularies; it is merely different. Students come from different language backgrounds and from homes with different dialects, vocabularies, and cadences. Teachers have to work with students to reach similar understandings rather than marginalizing those from different backgrounds.

The Six R’s: Curriculum Standard A

My group enjoyed coming up with “R” words to help us remember the elements of standard A for culturally responsive curriculum. I have paraphrased them below!

Reinforces the integrity of culture

Recognizes that culture has both concrete knowledge and deeper values

Roots students in the deeper values of their culture

Responds/Reflects to culture as dynamic, relevant in the past and the present

Respects all cultures of all students

Makes Relevant culture in multiple subjects

My idea for a lesson or activity to incorporate this cultural standard involves having students learn songs by rote (or by ear only instead of reading music) emphasizing the oral tradition of cultures past and present. Students would engage in some kind of conversation about the limitations and values of both Western notation and oral traditions. I really enjoyed hearing about everyone’s ideas for lesson plans and coming up with an easy way to remember how to implement this standard.

Alaskan Cultural Standards for Curriculum

In class, we examined the Alaskan Cultural Standards for Curriculum, focusing on our goal of creating a culturally responsive space for our students. My group focused specifically on Standard B, and our aim was to come up with potential lessons in our respective content area that meet these standards:

1. Recognizes the contemporary validity of much of the traditional cultural knowledge, values and beliefs, and grounds students learning in the principles and practices associated with that knowledge

2. Provides students with an understanding of the dynamics of cultural systems as they change over time, and as they are impacted by external forces

My content area is Social Studies, and I want to focus on two things:
1. In today’s classrooms, why do we teach (insert content area) in the way that we do? Why is there a belief that a standardized way to teach Algebra, Life cycles, and even Grammar, is the “correct way”?
2. Are there other similar cultural knowledge of the content we teach? What were/are they? Is one way better than the other?

A potential lesson plan could be to have students research the ways that various cultures in the world apply to a specific problem such as financial transactions (bartering, currency exchange) or building waterproof homes (mudbrick, plastic, clay, etc…) and see if they can complete a task using the multiple methods. I think a neat idea, although a tangent, could be to have students see which government structure works best for their classroom. Would we actually all agree on Democracy? What if for our specific classroom, an oligarchy worked better? I think it would be important for students to see the validity of other cultures’ ways of understanding the world.

Cultural Curriculum Standard A – Integrity and Ownership

I love that we had an opportunity to dig into the Alaska Cultural Curriculum Standards as a cohort. My group discussed Alaska Cultural Curriculum Standard A:

A culturally-responsive curriculum reinforces the integrity of the cultural knowledge that students bring with them. A curriculum that meets this cultural standard:

recognizes that all knowledge is imbedded in a larger system of cultural beliefs, values and practices, each with its own integrity and interconnectedness;
insures that students acquire not only the surface knowledge of their culture, but are also well grounded in the deeper aspects of the associated beliefs and practices;
incorporates contemporary adaptations along with the historical and traditional aspects of the local culture;
respects and validates knowledge that has been derived from a variety of cultural traditions;
provides opportunities for students to study all subjects starting from a base in the local knowledge system.

http://ankn.uaf.edu/publications/culturalstandards.pdf

We chose to represent this first, all encompassing, standard visually with Northwest coast formline design ovoids. As the Ovoid in the center is imbedded in a larger system of cultural beliefs, Values and practices, each with its own integrity and interconnectedness.

The hope is through approaching education and curriculum in this way we could be sure that students receive not only the surface knowledge or Concrete representations of culture, but the deeper beliefs, and cultural behaviors, as well connections to the symbolic level of cultures through culturally responsive curriculum and teaching.

Formline is a beautifully analogy also for incorporating contemporary adaptations along with historical and traditional aspects of the local culture. As formline has, as of late become, more contemporary and mainstream in some areas. The best formline however, just like the best cultural knowledge in the classroom, is always firmly rooted in the traditional design and acknowledges the ownership of the local knowledge systems it is derived from.

For those that may not know about formline or ovids. Heres is a fantastic introduction to the Northwest Coast Formline Design: the Ovoid by X’unei Lance Twitchell.

Standard C

A culturally-responsive curriculum uses the local language and cultural knowledge as a foundation for the rest of the curriculum.

A curriculum that meets this cultural standard:

utilizes the local language as a base from which to learn the deeper meanings of the local cultural knowledge, values, beliefs and practices;
recognizes the depth of knowledge that is associated with the long inhabitation of a particular place and utilizes the study of “place” as a basis for the comparative analysis of contemporary social, political and economic systems;
incorporates language and cultural immersion experiences wherever in-depth cultural understanding is necessary;
views all community members as potential teachers and all events in the community as potential learning opportunities;
treats local cultural knowledge as a means to acquire the conventional curriculum content as outlined in state standards, as well as an end in itself;
makes appropriate use of modern tools and technology to help document and transmit traditional cultural knowledge;
is sensitive to traditional cultural protocol, including role of spirituality, as it relates to appropriate uses of local knowledge.

This curriculum is about including the local knowledge, beliefs, and values into the classroom. By inviting members of the community to share their knowledge and be part of your lesson, you as a teacher, connect the Native culture with the content standards.

I would use the local language in my science class to name different plants and invite an elder to speak about their medicinal use. That would engage students to learn more about the traditional cultural knowledge of their home.