Culturally Relevant Curriculum

Initially, the research topic my group wanted to investigate for our project was implementing a culturally responsive and relevant curriculum. When our group fist met in class, not everyone knew what we were talking about. After all, it was a group of 6, about double the size that we initially thought. The best way to explain what we were trying to do was to reference the song "They School" by Dead Prez that we had just heard in class a few days prior. Specifically, the section where the rappers talk about why they aren't learning things that could benefit their community, such as how to combat the drug problem in the streets. Eventually, we changed topics, believing that a topic so vast was not conducive to the 4 week class session.

The first chapter of Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way certainly would have been pertinent to that project. I can picture how lively the students were when naming problems with their community and school... much more enthusiastic than they probably would have been if they were naming English monarchs. Allowing these students to discuss issues they have actual experience with and knowledge about instills immeasurable confidence in them. The idea that the students were looking forward to continuing that discussion in future class periods alone is a testament to the effectiveness of the lesson. Their involvement in the project itself, which included them writing letters to school officials and even reading books that were "beyond their reading level and aptitude" was very encouraging.

As the author brought out early in the book, many times the media focuses only on the dangers of these areas: the poverty, the drugs, the violence, etc. The story of the children is rarely told. Cases like this are reminders of why the topic of culturally relevant curriculum interested me in the first place.