“Culturally relevant teaching honors the students’ sense humanity and dignity. Their complete personhood is never doubted. Self-worth and self-concept is promoted in a very basic way, by acknowledging the individual’s worthiness to be part of a supportive and loving group.”
– Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, The Dreamkeepers
The Cultivating Equity curriculum is organized into four lessons. Each lesson requires students to review resources prior to meeting with the course instructor, participate in classroom discussions and activities that explore or expand upon the resources, design ways to apply what they learned to their interaction with students in the classroom, and reflect upon their experiences.
The Cultivating Equity Learning Assistants (LA) Training Course provides instruction on principles and techniques to foster STEM identity and a sense of belonging among marginalized students in STEM courses by linking antiracist principles with pedagogical ideas and best practices. A key theme of the training course is the focus on helping LAs translate these practices in the classroom and helping students access and build social supports for learning.
GENERAL APPROACH
– Use scenario-based activities, historical context, and real-world experiences to promote discussion and critical thinking about equity issues.
– Provide instruction on antiracist principles and link them with pedagogical ideas and best practices.
– Provide a framework for translation to LA’s classroom practice.
– Provide scaffolding to allow and encourage LAs to develop unique approaches to their work with students.
You can browse the entire curriculum by clicking on the image below or download a PDF:
All undergraduate assistant programs utilizing the LA Model include a pedagogy course for new LAs. The Cultivating Equity curriculum is designed to fit within an existing pedagogy course as a series of insertable lessons. Following is an example of one way in which the four lessons might fit into a typical LA pedagogy course order of topics.
Week 1 – Orientation, introductions, and preparing to teach
Week 2 – Learning theory
Weeks 3 and 4 – CE lesson 1. Implicit bias, exploring “safe spaces”, and cooperative learning Week 5 – Questioning and discussion techniques
Weeks 6 and 7 – CE lesson 2. Asset-based thinking, culturally responsive teaching, and universal design for learning
Weeks 8 and 9 – CE lesson 3. Role models and inclusive science
Week 10 – Metacognition, self-regulation, and self-efficacy
Week 11 – Student resistance
Week 12 and 13 – CE lesson 4. Becoming an ally in the classroom
Week 14 – Evaluating your teaching