Collaborative Elementary Civics Curriculum Development to Support Teacher Learning to Enact Culturally Sustaining Practices

• In Event: Promoting Equitable Social Studies Education

Abstract

This research analyzes how third grade teachers, including those serving at Title I schools, adapted their instruction in the midst of a global pandemic to better support students’ learning about locally-relevant civic issues. The team designed lessons drawing from theories of culturally-sustaining pedagogy. Using semi-structured interview data from before and during the pandemic, we examined teachers’ reported thinking and perceptions about students’ needs and their own struggles to deliver purposeful, equitable instruction. Findings indicate that as teachers collaboratively designed the lessons they discussed how to balance relevance and sensitivity in relation to content that mirrored students' lived experiences. This study advances our understanding of what challenges teachers overcome to integrate culturally-sustaining practices in their social studies instruction.

Authors

• William Toledo, California State University - Fullerton

• Esther A. Enright, University of Maine