Preface
“I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.” (Alexie, S. pg 94) Sherman Alexie wrote this line in his article, “Why the Best Kids’ Books are Written in Blood,” in regards to his writing process where he states that he primarily writes young adult novels as a way of writing to heal his former young self. Alexie, who was devalued and abused most of his childhood, writes young adult fiction to give a voice to children who are often not represented in literature and thus find no social connection to the majority of required reading that schools and teachers mandate. All children need to feel valued as our students and learn to take ownership of their educational experiences. This is the premise behind the concept of Culturally Relevant Teaching(CRT). CRT methods add more value to the individual student experience and allow each student to take ownership of their own personal educational journey. Culturally Relevant Teaching seeks to change how curriculum is created and taught in order to connect to other cultures; not just a dominant one that has consumed educational standards for centuries. Teachers play a significant role in cultivating their students’ images of themselves, while educating them. “No matter what our background, nearly all of us are ethnocentric, so immersed in our own cultural ways, that it is difficult for us to imagine any other way of thinking and acting. Each culture views its own ways as being "right" and "the best way to do things." This statement plucked from an article titled “Are Behaviorist Interventions for Culturally Different Youngsters with Learning and Behavior Disorders?” written by Tom Mcintyre, Ph.D of Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) highlights an important consideration when educating culturally diverse students. As educators I feel that we must be mindful to first “do no harm” to our students.
I feel passionately that upon the conclusion of an academic year, teachers should return their students to their parents and families having benefited from their educational experience with us. Current research reveals that educators obtain more success in teaching their students when cultural connections are made to the subject matter, as evident in numerous research studies on the topic. “Further, young people of color in particular rarely encounter practices and pedagogy inside classrooms that draw on and sustain the competence of their communities (Paris 93). Rather, they are asked to exchange their notions of literacy and culture for dominant ones that eradicate both what they bring with them into the classroom and the context of their “homelands,” deemed deficient if they do not perform as expected.” pg 60 Connecting student’s educational journey to their own individual life journey by providing opportunities for students to add their own culture and skill-set will only serve to personalize their classroom experience while building tolerance and appreciation of the diversity of the world where we all reside together. In closing, using teaching practices of CRT and culturally sustaining pedagogy tends to have the student leaving the experience feeling personally valued and their own culture and world is validated. Django Paris proposed best this idea, when he stated that “culturally sustaining pedagogy...‘seeks to perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling” (p. 93). Everyone would like to sustain who they truly are and not be taught or reprogrammed to be someone else’s idea or image of who they think they should be.
Annotated Bibliography
Culturally Relevant Teaching/Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy
6th-9th Grades (Middle Years)
Reynolds, J., As Brave as You Are, 2016 Simon & Schuster
Summary
- Written by Jason Reynolds, As Brave as You Are, highlights the summer when 11-year-old Genie and his older brother Ernie leave Brooklyn for the very first time to spend the summer with their grandparents in rural Virginia. The visit is full of shocking truths for Genie who learns new things about himself and his family: from finding out that his grandfather is blind to discovering his secret room to learning that bravery can mean different things.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- Reynolds is a Coretta Scott King and Newberry award winner for his young adult literature. He also received accolades for this title. Reynolds was bestowed the NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work - Youth/Teens.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- This book shows a glimpse into the life of Black people in both a urban setting and a rural one. It illustrates how environment can challenge or change your mindset, affecting it in a positive or negative way. Genie and Grandpop are such well-developed characters who feed off each other and illustrate certain cultural idiosyncrasies that would afford Black students some familiarity and thus ownership of the lesson.
2. Woodson, J. Brown Girl Dreaming 2014 Penguin Publishing
a. Summary
Jacqueline Woodson pens a personal and poignant coming-of-age autobiography in verse about her childhood. Woodson poetically illustrates pictures of her life from being born in Ohio and growing up between South Carolina and New York as an African-American in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Her father points out the difference on how People of Color are treated in South Carolina and why he would prefer his family stay up north. Over time, Woodson becomes increasingly aware of the Civil Rights Movement and her place in the struggle of the times for her race of people. This is a soulful journey of self-discovery through a hate-filled world as seen through the eyes of a child.
Why is this book a high quality choice?
Woodson a skilled writer and this book has won several prominent literary awards. Brown Girl Dreaming has won the Coretta Scott King Award, the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, as well as the John Newbery award. This book is also a high quality choice because it provides students with an excellent example of another format in which to write an autobiography of their life story; thus fostering their ability to bring their own cultural experiences to the learning environment.
How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
Using this book as a featured example of how students can incorporate another genre into any autobiographical rendition of their story. The entire story is written in verse and yet Woodson is still able to draw the reader in with deftly woven and descriptive details idea despite such an untraditional format.
3. Park, L., A Long Walk to Water 2010 Clarion Books/Houghton Harcourt Mifflin Publishing
a. Summary
- The story starts out in 2008 with 11-year old Nya of the Nuer tribe in Southern Sudan and her daily chore: an eight hour long and arduous walk to secure water from a heavily polluted, overused and quickly diminishing water source far away from her village. The story alternates between Nya’s fictional account and the real story of Salva Dut, a “Lost Boy” displaced by war in 1985 South Sudan. The civil war reached Salva’s village while he was in school and he along with about 1500 Lost Boys trekked across dangerous and deadly terrain to a refugee camp near the Gilo river. Along the arduous walk to freedom, Salva faced lions, gunmen who killed his uncle and the leader of the newly formed band of lost boys, starvation, and supreme thirst but he triumphed in the end and sought sanctuary in the United States. Salva grew into a strong man and friends he met in Rochester, New York helped to find his lost Sudanese family. Salva returns to his hometown and helped villages of both Dinka and Nuer tribes to build wells to retrieve fresh groundwater right in an area near their village. This is where the two stories connect and the fictional Nya gets to thank the real Salva.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- This book is a high quality choice because it can be used to cross connect between many subjects like social studies, science, math and literacy. Designing and engineering groundwater well systems could be introduced to students along with the real-world problem of lack of clean drinking water supply for many people around the world.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- Teachers and parents can use this book as to offer students an intimate look into the world of a child who grows up in a third-world country. No matter the subject we teach as educators or life lesson we wish to impart as parents, this book offers a compelling account of the daily struggle that some children face just to secure the basic biological necessity of water that we in more developed countries take for granted everyday.
4. Kerley, B. A Cool Drink of Water 2006 National Geographic Books
a. Summary
- This is a 32-page beautiful picture book that depicts how people all around the world obtain that vital cool drink of water. These pictures transport you to these foreign locales with deft skill of expert photographers.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- When it comes to beautiful and artfully realistic photos, no one’s body of work can compare to the National Geographic. Their magazines and more recently books are inundated with a plethora of poignant and passionate photographs of life in exotic places around the world.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- This book could be an awesome companion to any CRT lesson as a visual tool, highlighting multiple cultures in their lands that they call home.
5. Kamkwamba, W., Mealer, B., The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind 2009 William Morrow/HarperCollins Publisher
a. Summary
- A teenaged African boy has to stop attending school because his family can no longer afford to pay his school fees. This setback does not quench his thirst for knowledge, so he begins to sneak in the library to read. He soon teaches himself the physics and engineering science behind windmills and builts one for his village from recycled materials. He was ultimately able to harness enough energy from the wind to provide electricity to his family’s house and subsequently his entire village.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- A book like this may seem a little young for middle-school readers, but it is based on the true story of the protagonist. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an excellent motivator to inspire students to tackle real-world problems and be a part of the solution that the world has needed.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- This book is an excellent tool to use in CRT lessons because it introduces students to a world and culture that they are unfamiliar of living here in America. It also shows students that they are not too young to make a significant impact on their world.
6. Park, L., Project Mulberry 2005 Clarion Books
a. Summary
- Linda Sue Park writes a very engaging middle-school novel with a Korean American girl as the protagonist who along with her friend, Patrick embark on a school-year where they face issues of prejudice, tolerance, patience, and how to be a good friend. Park employs an unique writing technique where she has brief dialogue exchanges between herself and the main character, Julia, in between chapters regarding how she plans to write the book.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- This book would help Korean American children find characters that speak to their own experience in America. Park is also a very skilled writer who has had acclaimed success as a Newbery Award recipient. Students who identify with Julie will be able to be authorities on some of the many Korean American cultural aspects of the book that are unfamiliar to other students not from that particular heritage,
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- Teachers and parents can use this book to spark intellectual conversations among students about a culture that may be quite different from their own. Reading this book could offer insight that may be quite unfamiliar but very intriguing to students and offer opportunities for students to compare another culture to their own.
7. Alexander, K., Crossover 2014 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
a. Summary
- Twin brothers, Jordan and Josh, are middle-school boys who place basketball center in their lives. The brothers grow apart when one of the brothers gets a girlfriend and begins to spend more time with her than playing basketball with his twin. The story is told in verse and the style and mechanics of hip-hop/rap are heavily used. The book is touching, poignant, and moves at a fast pace with a tough and beautifully constructed climatic end.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- Kwame Alexander is a deftly skillful writer who writes more like an artist as his lyrics paint perfect pictures in literary verse more clearly than as if his sentences contain correct and concise grammatical structure. Crossover also won a Coretta Scott King Award and the John Newbery Medal and landed on the New York Times Bestseller List.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- Have you ever wanted to rap? This is a fun read-aloud book for teachers, students and parents from all cultural backgrounds. Hip-hop/rap and basketball has permeated American youth culture for decades now; Crossover allows an intimate peak into the minds of young boys as they obsess over a sport and musical culture that may be foreign to some.
8. Alexander, K. Booked 2016 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
a. Summary
- Booked is Kwame Alexander’s follow-up novel to breakout success, Crossover. The characters and sports have changed along with the rhythm of this new story written in verse. Nick, who plays soccer, and his friends Colby and The Mac dealing with problems at home, bullying and trying to impress the right girl may appeal to students in a way that the twins could not.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- I feel this book is written well and great to use in companion with Crossover or as a choice option for students to read to familiarize themselves with a novel written in verse. Booked was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Poetry, which lets you know the top quality poetic verse you can expect from this fun, humourous and fast read.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- This book is relevant to a typical American athletic boy’s culture. If you ever wanted to delve into their world of sports, locker room talk, and pre-teen angst, this book is an excellent tool that could spark informative and lively discussion. The protagonist, Nick, finds his love of reading with the help of the rapping librarian known as “The Mac” and could help spark a love of reading in any student. Issues of bullying, peer-pressure, and working through problems at home and school all while trying to remain a good student and athlete are also artistically addressed in verse and can provide numerous examples for students to express their feelings using poetry.
9. Dumas, F. Funny in Farsi 2003 Penguin Random House, LLC.
a. Summary
- The year was 1972 and 7-year old, Firoozeh Dumas and her family, moves to Southern California from the country of Iran. The novel chronicles her family’s real and hilarious journey as they adjust to American culture and food...hot dogs and hushpuppies really befuddled them!
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- Funny in Farsi is an excellent resource for students who are newly arriving to this country. It can lighten the angst students may feel being suddenly immersed in a new land loaded with new cultural ways and norms. Students of all backgrounds can share in Firoozeh and her family’s funny and inspiring acclimation to American culture and get a glimpse into the struggles and triumphs that immigrant families and students face coming to live in this country.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
This book speaks to CRT because it covers two vastly different cultures and how when they collide, people have to learn how to adjust to living amongst a new way of life while hanging onto elements of their old ways. This book expounds on the notion that diversity is a great concept that can only serve to enhance people’s quality of life.
10. Thanhha, L., Listen, Slowly 2015 HarperCollins
a. Summary
- Mai, the young protagonist is a California girl through and though, but when she is thrust into the world of Vietnamese culture during a holiday trip to Vietnam with her grandmother, she struggles to adjust to the country’s new ways and ideals. Her parents send Mai with her grandmother in the hopes that she will discover her roots and learn how to identify herself more as Vietnamese and less as a California dreamer.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- This is a high quality choice as a classroom read because it can speak to students of different nationalities as they grow and search for their own personal identities. Parents and teachers alike may love for their students to read this book because it can spark great dialogue about how they culturally see themselves.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- Listen, Slowly is a great novel that also teaches language. There is a Vietnamese pronunciation guide and glossary as well as a letter from the author in the paperback version of the novel. This language guide helps students fully immerse themselves into Mai’s story and cultural experiences.
11. Kelly, Erin E., The Land of Forgotten Girls 2016 HarperCollins Publishing
a. Summary
- Soledad and Ming are sisters from the Philippines who because they were abandoned by their father are forced to live with their evil stepmother in Louisiana. Far from home, the sisters console themselves with retelling of fantasy filled stories from their deceased mother about her magical sister. Soledad’s little sister, Ming begins to blur the lines between fantasy and reality and Sol struggles to help her see what is real and Ming can believe in, like the love of her big sister.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
This book is an excellent read for students, especially those who like to read the fantasy genre. Soledad and Ming are great little storytellers who show students great ways to stretch their imaginations.
- This book is wonderfully told and takes students on a fanciful journey.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- Teachers and parents can use this book to peer into the culture of people of the Philippines while enjoying the fantasy genre. Students who identify with this culture can marvel over reading about characters that resemble either themselves or other people of their heritage. Also, this both holds great examples to show all students how to use and stretch their imaginations.
12. Agosin, M. I Lived on Butterfly Hill 2014 Atheneum Books for Young Readers
a. Summary
- Life was peaceful in the beautiful seaside town of Valparaiso in Chile. One day warships arrived and children suddenly started disappearing. Young 11-year old Celeste must flee her war-torn country of Chile without her parents who stay behind hiding to send her to the safety of America. Based on true events this historical fiction young adult novel based on Pinochet’s dictatorship will grab at your heart-strings and provide a beautiful example of the resilience of children during some of the most difficult of times.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- I Lived on Butterfly Hill paints a beautiful picture of Valparaiso, Chile. From the very start of the book, Agosin immerses you in the language and ways of the country. While reading the book you get a sense of who the people are, their land and the pride they feel for their culture and their peaceful way of life.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- I love this book as a resource for teachers and parents to use as a tool that can transport students to another land and culture completely different from their current American experience. When searching for culturally relevant reading materials for students, this book is especially valuable because the author vividly describes the landscape and environment of Valparaiso in a way that can easily be integrated into multiple science lessons. Students can draw knowledge about the biome, climate, and vegetation that grows here. The book discusses how rainy the weather can be and since the region is very hilly, how the rains often lead to mudslides. The author also pens delicious descriptions of Chilean delicacies. Student could translate and research the names of the various delectables discussed to see if the dish would suit their palates. Also, the Chilean culture is vividly displayed and readers are immersed into the country and the lives of its people.
13. Brown, S. Caminar 2014 Candlewick Press
a. Summary
- “In the Doorway with Mama” is one of the free verse poems that gives voice to this courageous and moving story of a boy named Carlos who has to flee his village during the 1981 Guatemalan Civil War. In this poem, his mother instructs him to run instead of attempting to stay and fight the rebels with his friends. This poem effectively foreshadows events already alluded to in prior poems: the rebels are coming and a war is about to break out. Carlos’s mother tells him to flee far into the mountains and though she will be slower moving, she promises him that they will reunite again. The entire book is written exceptionally well and gives students multiple poetic examples of how to fully describe story details using poetry.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- This is a high quality choice book because it teaches how to construct a book that reads like a novel but is written entirely in free verse poems. The book can be read fairly quickly and the poetic style paints vivid mental pictures of the Guatemala’s amazing country.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- Teachers and parents can used this book as a tool to illustrate how life is in another country and culture for other children. This book can also start a great discussion about how students would handle certain situations when faced with adversity. Caminar also immerses readers into the language of Guatemala and can aid as resource in translating some Spanish words and phrases into English.
14. Alexie, S. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian 2007 Little, Brown and Company
a. Summary
- The The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a hilarious journey through the adolescent years of young Native American called “Junior” growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Junior is the protagonist and narrator of this story and discusses how he feels like a stuttering retarded outcast with a lisp due to being born with “water on the brain” and having to undergo a lot of significant medical treatment because of it. He escapes the reservation to attend an all-White farm school in a rural town far from his home. The story evolves as a coming-of-age story for Junior who aspires to a cartoonist.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- This book has made the New York Times Best seller list and also won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Alexie writes in a very poignant, in-your-face but heart- warming style and makes the reader feel connected to Junior and his struggle to belong.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- If you ever come across a student who is seemingly an outcast amongst his/her peers, this is a good read to some them they are not the only ones awkwardly growing up in the world. This book can inspire students, teachers, and parents to love themselves completely, flaws and all. The Native American culture is a rich and vibrant one and needs to be celebrated more.
15. Tingle, T. How I become a Ghost, Book 1: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story
a. Summary
- 10-year old protagonist, Issac, is narrating the story about how he became a ghost during the marching of tens of thousands of Native Americans during the American government’s eminent domain stealing of their lands known as the Trail of Tears. This novel falls into the category of historical fiction, but may be considered as new genre perhaps, historical fantasy fiction. This new genre distinction should be considered because early enough in the novel, Isaac dies and his narration continues with the reader understanding the he is now a ghost.
b. Why is this book a high quality choice?
- This ghost story moves this book into a whole new genre of fictional writing and serves to show students that they should dare to be as creative as they can be with their writing style and ideas. How I Became a Ghost has won the American Indian Youth Literature award and rightly so as it is very moving, intense, and poignant exposure of horrific that period in Native American history truly was.
c. How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- Teachers could use this book as an excellent resource to show the pains and struggles certain culturally disadvantaged groups had to face in the early days of this country forming in the great nation of today. This book deftly illustrated the hurt and damage caused by discriminating against a whole cultural and ethnic group of people. Also, it clearly brings to life an actual historical event that has shaped this country, the moving of numerous Native Americans into the reservations where they still dwell today, for the most part completely isolated from American society.
16. Kiem, E., Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy 2013 Soho Teen/Soho Press, Inc.
Summary
- Elizabeth Kiem weaves a fanciful tale filled with spies, Russian mobsters, mystery and intrigue taking place between Cold War Era Russia and the United States. Young Marina is the daughter of a prima ballerina that mysteriously goes missing. Events surrounding her mother’s disappearance cause Marina and her father to defect to New York’s Brighton Beach, but danger finds them there as well. Kiem adds some fantasy and mysticism to her story by adding the supernatural element of Marina’s inherited ability to see into the future.
Why is this book a high-quality choice?
- This is a high-quality choice because it speaks to students of Russian culture and it can blend with the cultures of many students who also share a love of dance. From the very beginning of this book, the reader is immersed into Russian culture with a complete description of how names are a very important part of Russian culture. Also, this book is considered in the historical fiction genre so the reader is taken on a highly intellectual journey where they are exposed to Russian culture, language, and historical knowledge.
How might teachers/parents use this book to address CRT?
- Recently, in my educational career experience, I have come in contact with a more diverse student body. Working in a middle school setting, I met a group of five eighth grade student who were Russian immigrants in different stages of adjusting to this new and vastly different American culture. We connected through Google translator mostly, however I feel a book like this could help them connect better to all of their classmates as well as allow them to share some aspects of their culture.
Background Reading for Educators
Paris, D., Alim, H., Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies:Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World 2017 Teacher’s College Press
Ladson-Billings, G., The Dreamkeepers:Successful Teachers of African American Children 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Rodriguez, E., Bellanca, J., et. al. What Is It About Me You Can′t Teach?: Culturally Responsive Instruction in Deeper Learning Classrooms Jun 22, 2016
Hollie, S. Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning – Classroom Practices for Student Success, Grades K-12 (2nd Edition) 2017 Shell Education
Gay, G., Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice (Multicultural Education Series): 3rd Edition 2018
Howard, H. Bright Ribbons: Weaving Culturally Responsive Teaching Into the Elementary Classroom 2017
Teaching Example/Scenario
Teachers will find immense value in finding books that speak to all of the diverse cultures of our students that may be encountered over the course of a teaching career. Students will connect more with their education if they feel that they have a voice and their voice can be heard, appreciated, and valued. I would like to offer an example of a reading lesson that will allow you as a teacher to explore the culture of your students. First, I would choose five books representing cultural backgrounds that are not represented in my class. I would allow the students ample time to complete reading of the book. Then I would task the students to present a side-by-side presentation representing aspects of their own culture and aspects they learned of the new culture represented in their book. Five examples of books I would choose are as follows:
I would use these five books as good examples of good choices, but I would also allow students to choose their own book, per my approval. Also, I would allow students leeway in deciding how they will present to the class their final presentation. I would accept essay format, digit media format (ex. PowerPoint), poetry, poster board display, or a video submission. If students dream up other clever ways to display or present what they learned I would be open to their suggestion as long as all the guidelines are followed.
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