A Conversation About

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Kelly McDermott, Maria Medina
Wayne Wells, Mohamed Duale

Our kids are Our kids...

Race

PLSAS
Population

White

6994

Black

390

Asian/Pacific
Islander

495

Hispanic

315

American
Indian

105

We may not be that diverse but every student matters.

We need to understand what this means for our
students of color.

Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools...

As of this Fall (MARSS Report)
PLSAS Enrollment: 8,299 Students
7,712 English as Home Language (93%)
6,994 are White (84% of PLSAS population)
16% are students of color

MARSS Report

Worlds Best Workforce...

MDE site
PLSAS WBWF

How do we do this?
How do we educate all learners to
reach their full potential?
How do we close the achievement
gap?

We start to understand race and culture...

What is culture?

The Iceberg...

The Iceberg...

White Culture in America...

In order to understand all this, we need to

look at our own biases.
How to Overcome our Biases

TedTalk
Verna Myers

Courageous Conversations about Race

What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Culturally Responsive Teaching...2nd grade

Culturally Responsive Teaching...6th grade

Culturally Responsive Teaching...9th grade

Culturally Relevant Teaching...

Maria Medina, Spanish Cultural Liaison

mmedina@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us

Latino-Hispanic Students...
Usually Latino-Hispanic students are:
Students born in any country of
Latin America, The Caribbean and
Spain
(around 21 different countries & 6 colonies)
Students born in America but with one or
both Latino-Hispanic parents.

Cultural Learning Differences...

Latin Culture
-Oral transmission
-Collectivism
-Traditional

American Culture
-Written Transmission
-Individualism
-Modern

Oral Transmission...
Latin culture is not used to reading.
Latin culture likes personal contact.
Best way to reach them is calling or texting.
Be careful of translation services, they translate the
words but NOT the meaning.

Apps: Remind
WhatsApp

Collectivism vs. Individualism...

Latin Culture is all about family, they are
used to be a part of a group.
Usually they dont leave parents home until
they get married.
They are not raised to be independent.
Its hard to learn academics by themselves
they need guidance and support.

Traditional vs. Modern Education...

Latin traditional education is about:
-Discipline
-Memorizing
-Uniforms
-School and teachers are completely in charge of the
academics. Parents most of the times are not involved.
-In some countries like Mexico the government settles
the curriculum and gives away books.

Important Information...
In Latin Culture we dont talk about race.
It is more about Sociocultural and Economic Status. (Wide
range within the culture)
One of the most obvious characteristics of the third world
countries, like Latin American countries is that we can see
huge contrasts. Very rich people and very poor people.
Middle class is very small.

Our Latino Students...

In our school district we can identify
two kinds of Latino students.
Our first group that most of the times are well integrated
(good grades, good behavior, parents involvement).
Most of the times this families come to the U.S.
working with big companies.

Our Latino Students...Group 1

At least one of the members of the family speaks
English.
Often the parents have good education.
At the beginning they need some support to understand
the new school system, EL support, but they integrate
fast.
They dont like to be treated different.
They want to be included and dont want their children
to feel different.
They know how to use technology.

Our Latino Students...Group 2

Where we usually find lower grades, lower parental participation,
discipline issues
Are those families that most of the times got to the U.S. under
tough circumstances and obviously they also struggled in their own
countries.
They usually don't have formal education or their education is of
poor quality.
They dont speak English.
They need a lot of support. (interpreters, food, health, academic
support, transportation, etc).
They need to be integrated.
They dont know how to use technology.

Recommendations for teachers...

Accept conditions for learning
Make a project immediately relevant to the student.
Help the student develop and maintain interconnection.
Combine Process of Learning
Combine shared responsibility and Individual accountability.
Scaffold the written word through oral interaction.
Focus on new activities for Learning
Focus on tasks that require academic ways of thinking.
Make tasks accessible with familiar language.
Learn about the student culture and share it with classmates.

Wayne Wells,
American Indian Student Support Services Coordinator

wwells@priorlake-savage.k12.mn.us
District Website Information
Native Nations Schedule
Strategies for Teaching Native Americans

American Indian Students...

Background/History
Ojibwa and Dakota
How they learn
Need to see themselves in the school
Need to feel comfortable
What teachers should know
Typically no support at home, no one monitoring them
Would love to see artwork in schools
socioeconomic difference amongst our American Indian Students
Some live with Grandparents/elders that may be raising 4-5 kids
Learn visually. Like to observe than do.
Learn by working in groups.
Typically are reflective and take more time to answer questions.

American Indian Students...

What teachers should know

May not attempt to answer unfamiliar
questions for fear of not performing well

What can teachers do

Find out their preferred learning style
expose students to new ways of learning slowly so they can feel
successful at it
Help American Indian students see themselves in your classroom and
in a positive way
Articles
Strategies for Teaching Native Americans

Mohamed Duale, Somali Consultant

Somal760@gmail.com
612-702-1846

Somali Culture...

Greetings
Wait for them to offer a handshake
Welcome them by saying Asslaamu Alaikum
(ah-sah-lahm ah-lay-koom)
May peace be upon you

Names
Have three parts.
Womens Head Covering (hijab, niqab, khimaar, or jilbaab)
Homework
Behavior
Large Families

Somali Students...Somali Resources

Appreciate oral communication best

Value education
Believe the school should fix the problem
Prayer

What can you do?

Build Relationships, Get to Really Know your students

Research shows Teacher-Student relationships has a 0.72 effective
size (12th out of 150 influences on achievement-John Hattie)
An effect size of 0.50 is equivalent to 1 grade improvement in exam
results
Acknowledge their culture...ask them how they learn best
Learn how to say hello in their home language...ask them
Know and acknowledge important dates in their culture
Reach out to families (text, call and find out if they speak English at home)
Have their culture represented in your class...ask student to share
(pictures, posters, books, videos, songs, etc.)

Read monthly EL newsletters...lots of helpful tips in their

November Newsletter
December Newsletter

Web Resources for Teachers...

http://www.nuatc.org/
http://www.pacificeducationalgroup.
com/public/pages/home

Book Resources for Teachers...

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji

Courageous Conversations About Race by Singleton

Start Where You Are, But Dont Stay There by H. Richard Milner IV
Visible Learning for Teachers by John Hattie

Twitter Resources for Teachers...

National Urban Alliance @NUATC

Pacific Ed Group @PacificEdGroup
Verna Myers @vernamyers
@VisibleLearning
#courageousconversations

What can you do?

Look at yourself first...Implicit Bias test
Here is a checklist of Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies that
should be incorporated in your classroom daily:
4 Rs Frameworks
Watch this:
TedTalk

Future Plans for PLSAS...

Focus groups to build relationships/partnerships and to determine needs

Committee to debrief each time
Reworking Registration Process
Resource Manual for Parents
Partnership with Community Ed (classes for parents)
Compile lists of Holidays for teachers to be aware of
Flags at Middle Schools
Posters at Middle Schools
Welcome in different languages for teachers at HOMS and TOMS
EL newsletters
Culture Day at HOMS/TOMS in Spring
Equity Training for next year
Talking with students (United Nations group)

Conclusion...
This is a global world. It is very
important for an immigrant student to
be integrated and reach his/her highest performance.
It is also very important for our white students to learn to
work with other ways of thinking, learning and working.
If we find the ways they both can succeed our mission
will be accomplished.