As we are navigating “contentious times” in the ELA field, a high-interest and non-threatening approach to moving our students towards engaging in social justice issues is using diverse children’s picture books as a jumping-off point for students to choose topics for required research papers. We encourage teachers to use a mentor text to lead students through the process of engaging with diverse picture books for children, critically examining the texts that capture their attention, and then using a single text to lead their higher-level research and study of visual media. This approach is a highly motivating and non-threatening way to engage students in important discussions, concerns and eventual research about culturally diverse topics. Teachers will come away from this session understanding the research that supports a move towards this type of unit, as well as with practical tools and lists of texts to use immediately in their lessons.
Session Materials: PDF
In March of 2021, the Illinois State Board of Education adopted a set of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards for the purpose of better preparing future teachers to create culturally rich spaces and curricula that are welcoming and supportive for all students. While the new standards are an important tool for teacher education programs, there does not seem to exist a similar set of standards for practicing teachers in Illinois. While research suggests that culturally responsive teaching is a practice of many high school English teachers regardless of a required set of standards, we wanted to determine the extent to which this is happening using the CRP standards as a lens for teachers to consider the ways in which they are already embracing culturally responsive practices.
Specifically, our session will first share the results from a survey and interview with several high school English teachers in Illinois about their perspectives on and teaching habits related to the CRP standards. Then, we will share a repertoire of resources that we have curated and created to support teachers in their continued implementation of the CRP standards and culturally responsive practices in general.
