One of the gifts of Responsive Curriculum is that it fosters an educators disposition to focus on actual children, classrooms, and communities, building our capacity to respond meaningfully and intentionally. Every child, individually and in their relations with the group, is a constructor of experiences to which they are capable of attributing sense and meaning.. How do you articulate an intention to pay attention to childrens play, and offer responses and opportunities with an attitude of curiosity, flexibility, and possibility? In her research Toward a Theory of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Gloria Ladson-Billings examines the theoretical underpinnings of effective culturally responsive teaching and learning, including: Conceptions of Self and Others, Social Relations, and Conceptions of Knowledge. When Ann Pelo and I were teaching together at Hilltop . The elevated and god-like position of the official the offspring of heaven, our protective angel and the great distance between him and Kalbu, who is dust and but your favorite slave, resonate with elements the students observations highlight in the image: the sheer height of the tower and the silent figure in its noble pose framed in the archway at the top, positioned as if to illuminate or focus the attention of the countryside. Though Im now fully dedicated to child-led, responsive curriculum, that wasnt always the case. A permeable curriculum has a strong core: the identity or "spinal cord" of the curriculum. I wont spoil the story for you (read about it in my chapter of the book Reflecting Childrens Lives by Deb Curtis and Margie Carter), but suffice it to say that I was permanently converted to a life of Responsive Curriculum. I had the good fortune to visit the schools in Reggio Emilia, in the summer of 1993, and since then I have continued to read and study about the Reggio Approach, and attend conferences through the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA). Lets connect! When a caregiver has spent time reflecting on documentation and studying child development, responsive interpretation to support development is the developmentally appropriate curriculum. Caregivers unknowingly give responsive interpretation through the care they provide. A responsive curriculum addresses the changing needs of students, bridging the gap between universal knowledge and theories on one hand and contextual, continuously changing realities of everyday life and the world of work, on the other. Are there other materials you rotate through, either for the sake of novelty, or in response to something youve recently observed in childrens play? In critical exploration, students encounter materials the teacher has chosen; at the same time, they actively develop their own observations of and thoughts about the materials, free from the influence of the teachers ideas. Culturally responsive practices (CRP) are the best way we know to create equitable educational systems and . Its not necessarily better or worse to have one type of material or another. The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. My friend and longtime Hilltop pal Nick Terrones puts this idea beautifully in his book A Can of Worms: Fearless Conversations with Toddlers. I think that exercising the muscle of responsive curriculum planning can help educators striving to be culturally responsive. The garden became a refuge, a sanctuary, and the lone figure in its dramatic, even ritualistic pose only accentuated these qualities. A temple or a church, a sacred space, a figure that looks like Jesus through these observations that at first seemed so out of place, the students were calling out details of the piece, revealing aspects of its mood in short, beginning to describe for themselves, and to help clarify for all of us, the complexity of this work of art. Though the example comes from history/social studies, the pattern of interaction among the materials, the students observations, and the teachers thinking and planning holds beyond it. A. Leo Oppenheim. These photos were taken at Browns Bay Preschool, Helensville Montessori, Tots Corner, Awhi Whanao, and Kids Domain. Each teacher, with her colleagues, becomes actively involved in ongoing curriculum development. provide open-ended drama materials, rather than . The relief dates to 645 635 B. C. I had suggested this image to the teachers primarily because it shows streams of water scholars have understood to be irrigation canals, and I knew agriculture and irrigation were two themes the teachers wanted the students to think about. Metaphors like this image of a ball toss can help us clarify our understanding, help us wrap our minds around an idea like responsive curriculum, thats a little bit amorphous, slippery, and hard to describe. I had understood this height to create a convenient vantage point for the observer and possessor of the landscape. To project can mean to intentionally give your own voice more strength and power. One of these themes is hierarchy. Listening along with a classroom teacher to her students observations helps deepen our understandings of the historical materials we chose and gives rise to much more interesting, more flexible curriculum than we could have imagined before. Thesubstance of the message is prefaced by this long opening: Tell my lord, the perfect, the gorgeous, the offspring of heaven, our protective angel, the expert and effective warrior, the light among his brothers, the shining gem, the trust of all important persons, endowed withnobility, the provider for scholars, the table laden for all people, outstanding among his peers, to whom the gods Anu, Enlil, and Ea, and also the goddess Belet-ili, have granted a treasure of graces and riches tell my lord: Kalbu, who is dust and but your favorite slave, sends the following message.. The cycle might end there, resting with that one-time activity or short-term interest, or it might continue into a deeper investigation over time. We can design and provision classroom environments that set the stage for responsive work. As I tried to see the place as the students did as sacred or hidden, as a temple or church I became aware of its stillness. Responding to infant and toddlers behavior in the moment helps support development and learning. The quote about serendipity at the header of this page helped me learn to trust that the children would show me what mattered to them, and to trust my own instincts for how to begin following their lead. In trying to describe Responsive Curriculum, Im most drawn to the metaphors that contain elements of investment over time, of co-creation, of hypothesis and investigation, of uncertainty and anticipation. I had noticed the tower and figure before, of course, but as I experimented with more of the students observations a statue, a tall structure, looks like Jesus I became more aware of the height of these features. Teachers need a shared vocabulary for naming and . Authentic and responsive education, like authentic and responsive democracy, requires real conversations with real people, in real relationships, and in real time!. To project can also mean to cast an image onto a large surface, and I have a lot more to say about the impact of documenting childrens work and making their learning visible. These photos were taken at the Diana, Peter Pan, Otto Marzo, and Girotondo schools. In our work with the 7th-grade humanities teachers at Watertown Middle School in Watertown, Massachusetts, weve been studying Mesopotamia. In my defense: I was young, I didnt know any better, and I simply wasnt confident in my own capacity to follow the childrens lead. I believe that educators have a responsibility to take up childrens questions and observations about identity, about self and others, no matter how fast our pulse races. Are there some materials you always want children to be able to find, such as building, and mark-making? This notion of children as active, primary participants in setting the course of their own studies is at the heart of a responsive curriculum. Such connections help students build and hone higher-level academic skills. I also believe that with thoughtful structures and intentional supports, Responsive Curriculum offers a robust framework for teaching and learning. 116 117. She describes her research as a beginning look at ways that teachers might systematically include student knowledge in the classroom as authorized or official knowledge. This trust in students ways of being and knowing pairs well with and supports a commitment to seeing children as protagonists. The more organized and prepared we are for whatever might happen, the more fluid and free the children's experience will become. education. I find all of those possible meanings more compelling than the static noun-form of the word, doing a project. I carry the word projection as a multi-layered short-hand answer to the question What is Responsive Curriculum?. Over the past few decades, students, their experiences, upbringings, and backgrounds have changed. How can educators create curriculum that changes as students and teachers engage it curriculum that engages students and all their varied observations and ideas? It is also important for teachers of monocultural classrooms to integrate multicultural learning experiences into the curriculum. See if any of these resonateor make up your own! Now I saw it as steep and dramatic, lending the figure monumental, even god-like qualities. Educators in the schools of Reggio Emilia sometimes describe their process of curriculum planning, or progettazione, by using the image of a ball being tossed back and forth, between educators and children. The environment - and childrens interactions with the materials and with each other - becomes the focus, and instead of being entertainers, we can observe, extend, and document. A Culturally Responsive Approach to Implementing a Curriculum. This notion of children as active, primary participants in setting the course of their own studies is at the heart of a responsive curriculum. Though several higher education institutions appreciate the value of making curriculum responsive, how to do . Culturally responsive teaching is a pedagogy that tries to help teachers recognize and appreciate the cultural nuances, which might have otherwise adversely affected the student-teacher relationship and eventually made student achievement suffer. Culturally responsive curriculum helps students develop understanding of people from a variety of cultures and gives students the skills to be able to interact and take action within varied cultural contexts. What will develop and unfold, that we didnt expect, as we continue to play? The Ashurbanipal relief can support student thinking about the themes of hierarchy and religion in addition to the theme of irrigation. I read the entire list again, taking notes only when the students seemed to be describing the figure or its setting as royal or religious, and collecting the two kinds of observations together: looks like a garden plants or layout of a garden, sacred place hidden place hidden by trees, looks like Jesus at the top of the middle pillar. And I have tons of empathy for anyone who, like me, feels uncertain about stepping into the world of responsive curriculum planning. And when, in the second paragraph of his letter, Kalbu protests to his lord, whom he worships and who he hopes will meet his needs, that They have cut off my access to water, we see that this pair of sources offers us occasions to think about the ways hierarchy, religion, and irrigation were intertwined in ancient Mesopotamia to the point that the importance of water and of means of controlling it, and of the centralization of the power to distribute it, may have helped give rise to the characteristic religious/political hierarchies. What balance of these opportunities do you provide, and why? If you already have an educator account, you can view the full curriculum here: Responsive Curriculum: Racial Justice Full Curriculum. And together, these two sources from different periods can help students reconstruct and understand enduring characteristics of Mesopotamian civilization. The city of Reggio Emilia, in northern Italy, has 25 municipal preschools and infant-toddler centers, serving children ages 0-6. Yuck. We were about to read with the students a much earlier source also from Mesopotamia a letter from a Middle Babylonian tablet (1531 1155 B. C.) in which Kalbu addresses his guenna-official or provincial governor about a water supply problem. The students' observations reveal new possibilities in the materials and help the teachers . In this model, the object of the game becomes keeping the ball in play - how long can we toss this ball back and forth? Here are a few recommendations for classroom environments that can help support responsive curriculum planning: set up areas that invite large and small group work, rather than individual work, keep fewer materials out on display, and rotate them regularly from a library of materials, provide open-ended drama materials, rather than kitchen furniture or a monthly theme-based rotation, when possible, locate the drama area and block area near to each other, so kids can build what they need for their games, offer saving shelves and work in progress signs, rather than having all materials cleaned up and put away at the end of each play session, make sure the physical space welcomes families, and reflects their importance in childrens lives, offer materials on the floor, and on platforms of different heights (and behind couches, under tables, on windowsills, etc.) Our classroom had a pet rabbit named Rikki Tikki, who lived in an outdoor hutch on our gorgeously landscaped playground. These immediate, informal interpretations are based on each child's knowledge as well as the professional knowledge and expertise of the caregiver. This site is a spot where I hope to gather my own evolving thinking about Responsive . For those of us who need something concrete to hold on to, here's a very simple way of describing the process of responsive curriculum planning: The curriculum is not designed in advance by educators, but instead develops over time, based on the interests of the children in the class. The features of responsive curriculum were highlighted. Legal. None of the curriculum we teachers had planned for that month matteredwe dropped it, and instead followed the children in their drive to make signs, draw maps, track animal prints, and create stories and artwork about Rikki Tikkis mysterious disappearance. Documentation and Learning Stories. Then the cycle of observation, consideration, and projection begins again, based on childrens engagement with the new offering. One important benefit of this approach is that the students observations can help direct the teachers attention, illuminating aspects of the sources the teacher might not otherwise have fully appreciated, helping her to create a responsive curriculum by deepening her understanding of the themes she is teaching and of the ways learners at all levels can discover them. Its a pretty different goal from the lesson-planned version, which (to follow this ball-game metaphor) might be more like dropping all the balls kids toss to you, and throwing your own ball at your whole class, hoping they get all the right learning out of your ball before you pelt them with another one. Unstructured materials which are open-ended: logs, rocks, fabric, clothes pins, jewels, blocks, dough, sand, etc. Structured materials (prescribed toys): cars, people, animals, puzzles, matching games, etc. A culturally responsive curriculum seeks to ensure students think appreciatively and critically about themselves and others. Here are a few resources that offer supports and structures for responsive curriculum planning:: Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice. Here are a few recommendations for classroom environments that can help support responsive curriculum planning: set up areas that invite large and small group work, rather than individual work. Lets connect! Reflection is a disciplined way of assessing situations, imagining a future different from today, and preparing to act.". a responsive curriculum as the curriculum that is relevant to the current and anticipated need, problems and aspirations of the learner. For those of us who need something concrete to hold on to, heres a very simple way of describing the process of responsive curriculum planning: The curriculum is not designed in advance by educators, but instead develops over time, based on the interests of the children in the class. I noticed that many students mentioned the figure I thought of as the king or the space I thought of as the castle garden. In this vision, children toss out an idea, in the form of a game, a drawing, a comment, a struggle, a question Attentive educators catch that offering, consider it (by talking with each other, documenting, revisiting), and then toss something back to the children. Culturally and historically responsive education is both a theory and model to respond to students' histories, identities, literacies and liberation in pedagogy. The curriculum supports cultural responsiveness. Responsive Teaching (RT) is a developmental intervention curriculum that was designed for early intervention providers, including developmental specialists, special education and early childhood teachers, psychologists, social workers, speech pathologists, as well as physical and occupational therapists, who work with parents and other caregivers to support and enhance their children's . What other metaphors help you consider your own vision for curriculum planning? These observations, in numbers almost equalling the kinds of observations I had expected, surprised me. And as we begin to see ourselves as researchers and collaborators, that may shift how we spend our time with children. With the students observations in front of me, I looked closely at the image again. I even co-wrote a book, with my best-friend-since-preschool Annie, titled Preschool Connections: Child-centered Theme Activities for Every Month. This commitment to fore-fronting children . Furthermore, curriculum developers' notions of a responsive curriculum as open and flexible align with De Vries' notion that a responsive curriculum requires a so-called permeability. Though several higher education institutions appreciate the value of making curriculum responsive, how to do this remains a challenge. If the idea that the panel depicts a palace garden were unquestioningly accepted, I realized, many of its details and much of its significance would be obscured. Higher education institutions need to change their approach to suit the needs of the modern student, who has more options for their further education than at any time in the past. If you are interested in viewing the full curriculum, please register for a free educator account: Request Curriculum Access. She started as we always do in critical exploration: She asked what the students noticed (she didnt offer them any information about the scholarly interpretations Ive described). Language weaves a community together. Culturally Responsive Curriculum | Apex Learning Culturally Responsive Curriculum Diverse and Inclusive by Design Our commitment to culturally responsive curriculum has been part of the fabric and philosophy of our curriculum design throughout our history. I was teaching at Bing Nursery School, along with Roberta Immordino, Diane Guthrie, Kitty Pecka, and Kirsten Wright. Responsive Curriculum Development for the 21st Century. This page titled 33.3: Responsive Curriculum is shared under a mixed 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by . Strategy 1: Ensure Curriculum is Standards-based Strategy 2: Collaborate, communicate, and establish partnerships with other teachers, schools, districts, and mentors for support and resources Strategy 3: Provide multiple means of representation, action, expression, and engagement opportunities for students We also acknowledge previous National Science Foundation support under grant numbers 1246120, 1525057, and 1413739. This book has everything: craft activities, coloring pages, finger-plays, nursery rhymes, adorable snack recipes, you name it. Schools with a culturally responsive curriculum strive to develop a balanced understanding of history, because this perspective reflects both the positive and negative experiences of all of America's ancestors. Culturally responsive teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning. Before reflecting on the students observations, I had not understood the relief and the letter to be closely related. This type of curriculum does not require planning but relies on the knowledge base of the caregiver. "Reflection is thinking rigorously, critically, and systematically about practices and problems of importance to further growth. Geneva Gay underlines the importance of preparing educators for culturally responsive teaching, noting that ethnically diverse studentshave been expected to divorce themselves from their cultures and learn according to European American cultural normshaving to master the academic tasks while functioning under cultural conditions unnatural (and often unfamiliar) to them.. Responsive Curriculum doesn't mean that we just sit back and let kids do whatever they want. Schools in Aeotearoa/New Zealand are known for: their focus on children, family, and community, narrative, strengths-based Learning Stories as the national standard for assessment of children, a national commitment to bi-cultural education, with the intention of repairing injustice, Lets connect! Heres what I expect children will learn from it. Then one of the teachers studied the image with her class. According to Gay (2002), "Culturally responsive teaching connects students' cultural knowledge, prior experiences, and performance styles to academic knowledge and intellectual tools in ways that . Are there some materials you consistently provide, to meet a specific childs need? Semi-structured materials: Legos, No Ends, Knex, Zoobs, Lincoln Logs, MagnaTiles, etc. Employing culturally responsive teaching strategies is a small step toward enacting meaningful change in education. In critical exploration, teaching, learning, and curriculum development are interdependent. Learn about culture and how it contributes to beliefs, values, and teaching practices. responsivecurriculum@gmail.com. The work described here took place as part of a classroom residency, where Critical Explorers was collaborating with 7th-grade humanities teachers to develop a series of activities on ancient Mesopotamia. All of which is to say: Im someone who struggled with letting go of my reliable teacher plans, even though I could see that the children werent inspired by them. When a caregiver has spent time reflecting on documentation and studying child development, responsive interpretation to support development is the developmentally appropriate curriculum. This was my first vivid lesson in young childrens capacity to focus on work that they care about, and become empowered researchers in their own investigations. Schools serving CLED gifted students must adopt culturally responsive teaching approaches in addition to the gifted curriculum within the school. She sent me a list of her students first observations. At ResponsiveEd, we seek to be responsive to the needs of the community. If you're interested in leading your organization toward positive change on a larger scale, earning an advanced degree is one way to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to do so. A responsive teaching practice is highly proactive and engaged, and requires us to be on our game. If we plan the environment for discovery and engagement, it can become, as the Reggio educators say, another teacher in the room. CRE Hub provides the history, tools, and resources to contextualize and build the movement for culturally responsive education and ethnic studies. Culturally responsive teachers help relate the curriculum to students' lives by using a culturally responsive curriculum or CRC. The table below outlines four stages of development of culturally responsive curriculum. I find each of these metaphors evocative in different ways, and each time I offer this activity to a new group, many more colorful metaphors get added to the list. Conversations Every child, individually and in their relations with the group, is a constructor of experiences to which they are capable of attributing sense and meaning.". It requires an ongoing curiosity for the children's work and play, thoughtful collaboration with colleagues and families, and engagement in an evolving plan for the curriculum. Learn More. I was early in my teaching career - recently out of college and partway through my third year as a full-time teacher - when one specific classroom experience solidified my commitment to Responsive Curriculum. Here are just a few of my go to resources for thinking about classroom environments: Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments by Deb Curtis and Margie Carter, Child Care Design Guide by Anita Rui Olds, Children, Spaces, Relations edited by Giulio Ceppi and Michele Zini. Some key principles of culturally responsive education (CRE) include (1) validating students' experiences and values, (2) disrupting power dynamics that privilege dominant groups, and (3) empowering students, NYU Metro Center's report "Culturally Responsive Education: A Primer for Policy and Practice" more fully details the . So you better believe I was very comfortable in a classroom that had discrete, pre-arranged themes for each month, which Id thoughtfully mapped out ahead of time, for the whole year. And that they see themselves as positioned to make the world a better place. Below are some photos from my visit to the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, in 1993. When I first chose the image, I dont think I appreciated the potential of the figure I understood (after consulting scholarly articles) to be a king in his tower surveying his carefully cultivated property. Now that the students have encountered this image, and now that I have thought through the students observations, I have a deeper understanding of the image and how it works and of its potential to work with other sources, such as Kalbus letter, to help students think further. rather than emphasizingseat work at tables, use natural and inventive containers to offer materials, and consider not labeling each bin, or the space on the shelf where its meant to go, display materials with an eye towards both aesthetic beauty and functional access for the children, pay attention to lighting, using it to highlight certain areas, or invite specific kinds of play - thoughtful use of light helps the space feel more like a home than a factory, offer curated provocations that might inspire children to explore or combine materials in new or inventive ways, preserve long stretches of uninterrupted time for children to engage with the materials, and with each other - time is an invisible element of your classroom environment, but possibly the most powerful. Creating Responsive Curriculum. To geek out for just a sec: I find that the word progettazione itself is rich and provocative. One important way we can uphold intentions for responsive planning is to set ourselves up with an environmental context that naturally supports open-ended play for children, and reflective practice for educators. Infant and Toddler Care and Development (Taintor and LaMarr), { "33.01:_Observe_and_Document" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.
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