Culture to the Max! Culturally Responsive Teaching and Practice

“Culture, in effect, is about EVERYTHING. It directs behaviors all the time so it produces outcomes. Culture is a multiplier to MISERY or MAGIC.” - Unknown

“Students of color are not broken. The educational system designed to serve them is”. Culture to the MAX dives into four domains of culturally responsive teaching and shows educators how to not only connect with the students in their classrooms but also how to lead them to academic success. In Culture to the Max! Culturally Responsive Teaching and Practice, the celebrated professional development organization Education PowerED delivers a powerful new resource in the fight against institutionalized racism. In the book, you’ll explore the practice and implementation of Culturally Responsive Teaching as you transform your curriculum development, teacher evaluation, and classroom and culture evaluation.

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Hello from the Authors!

PRAISE FOR CULTURE TO THE MAX!

"In the fight for inextricably linked racial and educational justice, our goal is to provide all students with the education they deserve. Culture to the Max! pushes us forward by equipping educators with the tools and mindsets necessary to deliver a culturally responsive and proficient, respectful, and liberating curricula."

—Sharif El-Mekki, Center for Black Educator Development

"Finally, a well-written book presented by expert educators who share many of the lived experiences of diverse students. The authors illustrate through text, specific designed standards, recommendations, and confirmed voices from actual teachers effective practices that give students-of-color the agency to become effective life-long learners."

—Laveria F. Hutchison, University of Houston

"Compelling and insightful, Culture to the Max! is the book every educator should read if they want to revolutionize their practices. The toolkit that will allow educators to bring liberation pedagogy to their school and classroom. A plethora of schools will benefit from the practical strategies provided in this book."

—Amen M. Rahh, Award-Winning Principal, Revolutionary Educator

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CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING

Our efforts focus on the (4) domains of culturally responsive teaching:

Culture Management
Authentic Engagement
Social Justice
Community Engagement.

This approach to classroom instruction has successfully improved both mathematics and English language arts assessment scores in the classrooms of participating teachers. Survey results from students have also demonstrated a dramatic increase in the classroom experience for students of color.

THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU IF…

You are a K-12 teacher, administrator, parent, and/or advocate in education

You are looking for creative ways to enhance the experience at your school and/or in your classroom
You are researching culturally responsive teaching as a practice and want to learn about tangible ways it can live in your classroom.
You want learning experiences in your classroom or school to be unique and valuable for students.
You want to be a culturally responsive educator but don’t know where to go

Chapter Summaries

CHAPTER 1: COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Community and Family Partnerships refers to the collaboration between the classroom teacher and integral members of the students' lives; mainly family and community members. Effective partnerships with community and family will result in consistent connections between the classroom and the school community. This provides students with opportunities to make sense of their learning through contextualized experiences and offers multiple perspectives to enhance their experience. In this chapter, we explore actual ways readers can bring their community into their classrooms and schools

CHAPTER 2: CULTURE MANAGEMENT

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Culture Management refers to the teachers ability to create a positive, inclusive, safe, and productive classroom environment for students. Effective culture management eliminates cognitive barriers and creates an optimal learning environment for students to engage with instruction and retain learning. This domain leverages brain-based theories to support the practices to foster, maintain, and rebuild classroom culture. In the chapter, we explore real world examples of culture management in action to help readers understand how if can live in their own classrooms and schools

CHAPTER 3: AUTHENTIC ENGAGEMENT

Authentic Engagement refers to how teachers develop instructional activities and lessons. Effective engagement practices will engage students through 5 different means: social, intellectual, emotional, physical, and behavioral. The primary goal of authentic engagement is to drive student motivation for learning and provide rigorous learning opportunities that challenge student thinking. In this chapter, we explore ways readers can engage students in their classrooms that lead to memorable learning experiences

CHAPTER 4: SOCIAL JUSTICE CURRICULUM

Social Justice Curriculum refers to the selected curriculum materials and resources in classroom instruction. Effective social justice curriculum will create space for students to discuss histories of oppression and inequality while analyzing current injustices in our society. The purpose of this chapter is to show readers how to help students reflect on their lived experiences, analyze social issues, and become social change agents.

CHAPTER 5: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

In this chapter, we provide readers with concrete resources and examples of how to apply the learnings from the book to actual teaching practice.