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Promoting Culturally Responsive Texts to Enhance Teaching and Learning

By PSEL
Grade Level
3-5
private
LEARNING PLAN
Essential Question
  • Why is history important? Does it affect how people live today?
  • What contributions have people made to justice and fairness historically?
  • What contributions have people made to justice and fairness historically?
  • How can I work with others toward fairness in my community?
  • How do we ensure freedom for all people?
  • How can different groups work together for everyone’s benefit?
Texts
Literature

The Skin I'm In (Chapter 3)

Maleeka gets made fun of at school about her clothes, her grades, even the color of her skin. In this chapter, she talks about getting teased on a school trip and how even her friend Char was ashamed to be seen with her because of her clothes.
by
Sharon Flake
Grade Level
3-5 6-8
Social Justice Domain
Justice
July 3, 2014
Literature

The First Coconut Tree

In this pourquoi tale, a mother living on one of the islands in the Pacific Islands, is mystified when she bears a round child with no arms and no legs, but she tenderly raises the child until one day he asks to be buried in the sand, where he can grow (into the first coconut tree) and every part of him can be useful.
by
Nancy Bo Flood
Grade Level
3-5
Subject
Geography
Topic
Bullying & Bias
Social Justice Domain
Diversity
January 5, 2015
Literature

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow

Mari and her family have been sent to an internment camp in Utah. She does not understand what they have done to deserve their internment and longs for her backyard in California where she used to grow sunflowers.
by
Amy Lee-Tai and Felicia Hoshino (illustrator)
Grade Level
3-5
Subject
History
Social Justice Domain
Identity Diversity Justice Action
April 7, 2016
Literature

The First 100 Days

When two sides fail to come together after a classroom election, the teacher institutes the 100 Days plan to try to keep the newly elected accountable and the remaining students apprised of what they can expect from their new president.
by
Jarah Botello
Grade Level
3-5
Subject
Civics
Topic
Bullying & Bias
Social Justice Domain
Diversity Justice Action
January 3, 2017
Informational

A Girl and a Word

Laura Linn's article explores how Rosa Marcellino, a nine-year old with Down syndrome, and her family worked to eliminate the phrase "mentally retarded" from official use. "Rosa's Law" is living, legislative proof that their hard work paid off.
by
Laura Linn
Grade Level
3-5
Subject
Civics
History
Topic
Ability Rights & Activism
Social Justice Domain
Justice Action
July 2, 2014
Literature

My Name was Hussein

Hussein, the narrator of My Name Was Hussein, lives in Bulgaria. His Muslim family takes great pride in their religion and traditions. But soldiers soon arrive in their village and force all of the Muslims to adopt Christian names, thereby inhibiting their freedom and identities.
by
Hristo Kyuchukov
Grade Level
K-2 3-5
Subject
Civics
History
Economics
Geography
Topic
Religion Rights & Activism
Social Justice Domain
Identity Justice
July 7, 2014
Literature

Ninth Ward

The narrative voice belongs to Lanesha, a 12-year-old girl growing up in New Orleans. Lanesha is frequently picked on and teased because she has a special gift—the ability to see ghosts and spirits. Used to being bullied herself, in this scene Lanesha is a witness when someone else is the target.
by
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Grade Level
3-5 6-8
Topic
Bullying & Bias Rights & Activism
Social Justice Domain
Action
July 2, 2014
Literature

Miami by Fujian

Mariel visits her birthplace in China with her adopted parents. Although she struggles to fit in at times in her school in Miami, visiting her old orphanage helps her learn about where she comes from and opens her eyes to how lucky she is.
by
David Kwee
Grade Level
3-5
Subject
Reading & Language Arts
Topic
Immigration
Social Justice Domain
Identity Diversity
November 30, 2017
Teaching Strategies
Word Work

Concept Sort

A concept sort is a comprehension strategy in which students sort new vocabulary into categories.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
L.3-5.4, L.3-5.5, L.3-5.6
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Word Web

Word webs are mind maps that promote active learning and help students develop higher-order thinking skills. Students map their thinking in a graphic organizer based on a Frayer model.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, L.3-5.4, L.3-5.5, L.3-5.6
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Agree/Disagree Statements

Agree/disagree statements challenge students to think critically about their knowledge of a topic, theme or text. The strategy exposes students to the major ideas in a text before reading—engaging their thinking and motivating them to learn more. It also requires them to reconsider their original thinking after reading the text and to use textual evidence to support and explain their thinking.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RF.3-5.4, RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Annolighting

“Annolighting” (annotating and highlighting) shows students how to identify critical information in a text during close reading. Students learn to annotate text, highlight important facts and summarize what they have read to capture main ideas, concepts and details.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, RL.3.5, RI.3.5, L.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Directed Reading - Thinking Activity (DR-TA)

While engaging in DR-TA, students interrupt their reading periodically to predict what developments might logically follow. This strategy works well with texts in which the outcome of the narrative is uncertain (e.g., “cliffhangers”).
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, RL.3-5.3, RI.3-5.3, RL.3-5.7, RI.3-5.7
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

GIST

Generating Interactions between Schemata and Texts (GIST) is a summarization procedure that helps students digest complex texts by requiring contextual word learning. GIST explicitly combines the most important words with reading and writing to comprehend complex texts.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, RF.3-5.4, L.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Question-Answer Relationships (QAR)

QAR gives students practice questioning the text and identifying literal and inferential questions. Students learn to find different types of evidence and to rely on their own interpretation when doing close reading.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RF.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Student Tasks
Write to the Source

Agree or Disagree

Agree or Disagree? asks students to demonstrate their argumentative and comparative writing skills.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.1, W.3-5.4, W.4-5.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Beautiful Language

Beautiful Language asks students to demonstrate their narrative skills when writing to gain the understanding of others.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.3, W.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and informative writing skills.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.2, W.3-5.4, W.4-5.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Fact or Opinion

Fact or Opinion asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and analytical writing skills.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3.2, W.4.2, W.5.2, W.3.4, W.4.4, W.5.4, W.4.9, W.5.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

In Conversation

In Conversation asks students to demonstrate their narrative skills when applying different points of view in writing.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.3, W.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Point of View

Point of View asks students to demonstrate their narrative skills when applying different points of view in writing.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.3, W.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Small Moment

Small Moment asks students to demonstrate their narrative skills when writing about personal experiences.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.3, W.3-5.4
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

What Do We Share

What do We Share? asks students to demonstrate their argumentative and comparative writing skills.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
W.3-5.1, W.3-5.4, W.4-5.9
July 19, 2014
Do Something

Community Mural / Poster Campaign

Students create a large-scale artistic depiction in a community space. As an alternative to the community mural, students can create a set of informational posters that reflect a diversity topic or social justice theme.
Grade Level
3-5
July 13, 2014
Do Something

Community Newsletter

Students compile and publish a showcase of artwork and nonfiction writing addressing issues found in the central text. The result is a creative representation of student learning, opinions and ideas.
Grade Level
3-5
July 13, 2014
Do Something

Identity Portraits

Students interview one another, then draw or paint portraits containing symbols that represent the subject’s identity, beliefs, values or areas of interest.
Grade Level
3-5
July 13, 2014
Plan Built By
PSEL

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