1. Introducing Cultural Competency Across the Curriculum Through Intentional Design of English Composition
Cheryl Aschenbach, ASCCC Secretary
Michelle Bean, ASCCC Area C Representative
CURRICULUM INSTITUTE
San Francisco
July 11, 2019

2. Cultural Competence
The ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures.
For educators, it’s about being able to successfully reach out to, interact with, and teach students who come from different cultures.
For students, it’s about understanding what makes others unique and being able to interact with classmates and citizens from different cultures.
For all, it’s about helping others feel understood, included, and appreciated.
How can we develop cultural competence in ourselves and our students through intentional design and delivery of our English composition courses?

3. Cultural Competence in English
“Becoming a culturally competent white teacher means a lot more than setting a few Shakespeare sonnets to a hip- hop beat. It certainly takes more than a plucky attitude and tireless will to buck the system, the way we often see it depicted in movies featuring attractive white educators who swoop into rough low-income neighborhoods and save their hard-to-reach students, like Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds. When pursued with genuine commitment, it’s really about removing the white, middle- class lens through which brown and black children are often judged.”
Vanessa Romo, How to Change White Teachers’ Lenses,

4. Today, we will . . . Engage in Community Building
Review Curriculum Strategies
Consider Diverse Texts
Do Give One, Get One Activity
Mayra--2 min

5. Community Building Building relationships
Providing safe space to take risks
Create a village or familia
Everyone has their own story and background
Validate varied background and cultures by having open-ended prompts to provide opportunities for students to share something about themselves
An investment in time for community building results in more interaction and an increased level of trust between students and with you

6. Community Building Activity
3x5 Card
Name, College, Discipline
Favorite Show to Binge Watch
All Time Favorite Song
Drawing of Your Best Vacation Spot
Elbow Partner
Groups of Four

7. Community Building Do you build community from day 1 in your courses?
Do you build community in every modality?
What kinds of activities do you use to build and reinforce community?
Do you use social contracts?

8. Numbers Activity Activity to model how the students often feel.
Focus: As educators, we know how to navigate the system. Have we shown our students or given them the tools and patterns to help them navigate challenges in the classroom?
Students are unfamiliar with our systems, so acknowledge that it’s okay to not know how to do something, and it’s okay to look to the teacher and to classmates for assistance.

9. Thoughts and Quick Reflection
How does this all fit in?
Will I have time for all this?
Pair Share
Classroom focus should be to provide real-life experiences that value the courage of vulnerability
Remember to acknowledge “agency”--our students have much to offer

10. Curriculum Strategies for English Composition
Frontloading
Pre-test, KWLs
Four Corners
Providing Historical Research and Highlighting Leadership
Vocabulary
Direct Participants to Take Notes--Will be sharing

11. Curriculum Strategies for English Composition
Differentiating the Instruction - Equity-Minded Instruction
Menus
Learning Styles
Modes of Writing
Sentence Starters
Thesis Statements and Journals
Graphic Organizers and Writing Maps
Rubrics
Explain and describe vocabulary
Provide clear points or guidelines to grade
Direct Participants to Take Notes--Will be sharing

12. But does it have to be more work?

13. Curriculum Strategies
Assessment--Low Stakes and Regular Feedback
Check for Understanding
Numbered Fingers or Thumbs Up/Down
Idea Waves or Name Cards
True/False Cards
Exit Tickets and Quickwrites
Self-Assessments
Dialectical Journals or Notebooks
Games and Competitions
White Boards and Posters
Markers, Highlighters, and Post-its
Exit Tickets: Ticket Out the Door, (three learned, two want to know more, one question), 20 Things Learned
Self Assessments: What percentage of research completed?
Competition: Read Around Scoring
Games: Hot Potato, Family Fued (extra credit or motivation activities)

14. Syllabus Student-centered vs. Professor-centered Welcoming tone
Asset-minded language
All-gender language
Inclusive and diverse examples
More white space
Relevant, up-to-date pictures
Headings, bullets, and boxes
The tone and approach of your syllabus can be used to build a sense of inclusion

15. Texts Inclusion and Diversity Open Educational Resources Text options
Your Passion WILL Shine Through
The GOAL: Accessible and relatable to ALL students

16. Give One, Get One Take your notes across the room
Give a new friend an idea or text you have tried or want to try
Get an idea or text from that new friend on what they have tried or want to try
Share out: share your great ideas with the whole group!

17. Thank you for joining us!
Contact Information
Cheryl Aschenbach
Michelle Bean

18. A video on the impact of diverse faculty