Abstract
Following the development of the [State] Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards (CRTL), one University teacher preparation program created an assignment to challenge aspiring educators to think critically about culturally responsive teaching. With structural challenges such as tracking and culturally biased standardized testing, the program needed to evaluate how aspiring teachers would address those challenges while delivering a diverse curriculum, connecting with home and families, and valuing different linguistic backgrounds. Within a course on cross-cultural education, we developed a four-part assignment aligned with the course textbook by Nieto and Bode (2018). First, candidates created a reasonably diverse classroom to simulate many student diversities. Second, candidates identified and developed learning materials representative of students’ diversities. Third, candidates developed classroom policies addressing structural issues to break the cycle of failure for students of color. Finally, candidates discussed how they would include families by creating a third space for school and community knowledge to be pooled together. This paper provides one strategy for educator preparation programs to build competence in CRTL.
Recommended Citation
Sharp, Steven K. and Conrad, David L.
(2025)
"Developing a Classroom to Support Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Culturally Responsive Aspiring Teacher Assignment,"
Journal of Applied Disciplines: Vol. 3:
Iss.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://opus.govst.edu/jad/vol3/iss1/1
Included in
Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons, Secondary Education and Teaching Commons