Context and Aims

Transformative Curriculum:

Enables students to new concepts, issues, themes and problems
Infusion of various perspectives
Emphasis on how the U.S. culture and society is derived from diverse culture elements from various cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious groups that make up American society

Goals:

Culturally Proficient Teaching aligned with Common Core State Standards
Use of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) and implementing best practices based on current research for culturally proficient teaching creating an inclusive and engaging learning environment for all students
Explicitly teach students about the historical context of social justice issues by using diverse literature and creating a discussion around how to create a safe classroom community and how students can be activists using this knowledge within the world.

How the Curriculum Links to the Seven Conceptual Aims:

Discourse: The ultimate goal of discourse is for students to regularly reflect on school policies and classroom practices to ensure that there is a respect and appreciation of all students. The curriculum developed for this project focuses on reflecting on social justice issues and determining how to create a positive classroom community. Students can voice how they can create a safe classroom democracy by reflecting on social justice issues outside of the classroom. The ultimate goal is for students to use what they've learned from the discussions, books, and social justice issues to become advocates for the injustices in their own community and lives outside of the classroom.
History: Students learn about the historical contexts surrounding racial inequality and discrimination. They specifically focus on why racism exists and that it continually exists. They read books that teach about how blacks were discriminated against and why Muslims are discriminated against.
Identity: Students are explicitly taught what culture is. They analyze a character's culture and make connections to what they learned about culture. For example, students learn that culture is a verb and constantly changes. They Are able to see how a character's culture changes throughout the story. After the story is read, they are given a chance to reflect on their own culture and identity by internalizing the new information learned about what culture really is.
Agency: Students' voices are the main source of this curriculum. After the students engage with a story and apply it to learning outcomes based on the Common Core Standards, they use their voices to describe the character's experience and reflect on how they can bring what they've learned from the social justice topics into the verydya classroom community. The students are given the power to voice the changes needed to be made as well as the power to enact those changes themselves.
Social Justice Content Knowledge: Students use literature to learn about social justice issues through the eyes of another character. They are able to voice their own interpretations of what meaning they attach to these issues and share their ideas through a regularly allotted time for the classroom community to meet and share their ideas. Students are exposed to different grouping opportunities to discuss their ideas with different students who have different perspectives. They are able to look at a pluralistic view of these social justice issues and take their own stance on how to move forward with creating a culturally proficient classroom community.