Foundation - Level 1

Build teachers’ background knowledge in the cultures and languages of underserved students

This layer involves four full day sessions (four day institute) of knowledge and content building.  For most participants, culturally and linguistically responsive teaching (CLR) is a new concept that has been misunderstood and/or misconstrued.  After experiencing these four sessions, participants will have a solid understanding of the socio-historic connection to present-day systemic failure and why culturally and linguistically responsive teaching is necessary.

Foundation Day 1 Description

• Defines concretely what is culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and why it is necessary in our failing schools today.
• Builds knowledge and create the context for addressing the needs of underserved students, particularly African American students, in terms of their sociopolitical and sociolinguistic relativity in the American educational system.
• Promotes the focus on effective instructional strategies utilization in way that validates and affirms underserved students across content areas and grade levels

Foundation Day 2 Description

• Infuses five instructional strands into the core curriculum or as an intervention supplement, giving the conceptual framework for their purpose.
• Defines and demonstrates what makes effective instructional strategies culturally responsive.
• Provides sample of take-away activities for classroom use the very next day

Foundation Day 3 Description

• Teaches the specifics of infusing expansion academic vocabulary and focusing on cultural behaviors
• Demonstrates the instructional strands in practical classroom terms
• Focuses the instruction on teacher skill development for the teaching/learning dynamic
• Provides more strategies and activities that can be used in the classroom immediately

Foundation Day 4 Description

• Teaches the specifics of utilizing culturally responsive texts and focusing on codeswitching
• Introduces Mainstream English Language Development (MELD) as concept for addressing the needs of underserved students in language and literacy
• Demonstrates the instructional strands in practical classroom terms
• Focuses the instruction on teacher skill development for the teaching/learning dynamic
• Provides more strategies and activities that can be used in the classroom immediately