This book offers future teachers, current teachers, and educational leaders an array of research-based strategies for delivering culturally competent, responsive, and inclusive instruction. It provides teaching tactics in the form of action-oriented practices that help educators continually hone their effectiveness in the classroom. Rather than prescribing a rigid set of practices, the text details principles that allow teachers to adapt the material to fit the needs of their students.--

Infusing Diversity & Cultural Competence into Teacher Education

"Developing Critical Cultural Competence provides educators with the inspiration, knowledge, and tools to move from theory to action in seeking to eliminate the achievement gap." —Bess Scott, Director of Elementary Education Lincoln Public Schools, NE "As I read this book, it became clear that my long-held belief about the meaning of cultural competence needed a makeover. I am now convinced that my personal definition of diversity should embrace a much deeper appreciation of differences and transformative action." —Denise Carlson, Curriculum Consultant Heartland Area Education Agency, Johnston, IA Cultural competence is key to improved student achievement The increasingly diverse nature of today′s schools and the need to increase the achievement of all students, no matter their background, requires 21st-century teachers to develop critical cultural competence. Looking at data is not enough. We have to know who our students are! This book shows you how to provide professional development that deepens teachers′ cultural understanding. Developing Critical Cultural Competence helps educators translate new knowledge into action with activities that focus on the three inseparable insights required for developing teachers′ critical cultural competency: Understanding themselves Understanding their students Understanding their students′ families and communities In addition to the activities are reflection questions, group discussion questions, online extensions for facilitators, and a sample professional development plan. A companion website provides reproducible resource lists and handouts as well as examples that can serve as models for some of the activities.

Designed Specifically for University of the Cumberlands

Get the solution to the equity equation: cultural insight plus coaching! To arm educators with the tools necessary to close the achievement gap, this straightforward guide blends the Five Essential Elements of Cultural Proficiency with the Five States of Mind of Cognitive CoachingSM. It offers a practical strategy for being mindfully attuned to—and leveraging—cultural diversity to optimize student learning. Boosting educators’ cultural confidence and consciousness while honing their coaching skills, this interactive resource features: Action-planning worksheets Reflective questions Coaching maps and conversation vignettes Real-life examples through a composite case story

Moving beyond the expectations and processes of conventional teacher evaluation, this book provides a framework for teacher evaluation that better prepares educators to serve culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners. Covering theory, research, and practice, María del Carmen Salazar and Jessica Lerner showcase a model to aid prospective and practicing teachers who are concerned with issues of equity, excellence, and evaluation. Introducing a comprehensive, five-tenet model, the book demonstrates how to place the needs of CLD learners at the center and offers concrete approaches to assess and promote cultural responsiveness, thereby providing critical insight into the role of teacher evaluation in confronting inequity. This book is intended to serve as a resource for those who are committed to the reconceptualization of teacher evaluation in order to better support CLD learners and their communities, while promoting cultural competence and critical consciousness for all learners.