Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

Issue 1: Students have different norms for participation (e.g., some students may be accustomed to listening more than speaking).

Potential Reason: Cultural expectations around teacher-student interactions vary.

Strategies:

  • Teach participation structures explicitly – Clarify the purpose of participation in U.S. classroom settings. Use anchor charts, modeling, and role-play to demonstrate expectations like sharing ideas in a group or asking questions. Reinforce that participation looks different across cultures and that all contributions are valuable.

  • Provide alternative participation methods – Offer tools like online polls, written exit slips, drawing responses, or anonymous sticky notes. These options allow students who are more reflective or cautious in oral expression to still engage.

  • Validate diverse engagement styles – Publicly acknowledge listening as a strength and emphasize that thinking before speaking is a valued skill. Incorporate reflective pauses and journaling to honor more introspective learners.

Potential Reason: Students are unfamiliar with participation structures like turn-and-talk or Socratic seminars.

Strategies:

  • Model and practice participation – Use fishbowl activities, video modeling, or scripted interactions to show what effective participation looks like. Scaffold student practice with structured sentence starters.

  • Introduce non-verbal participation options – Allow students to participate by using whiteboards, hand signals, or visual cue cards. These options lower the linguistic barrier while reinforcing comprehension and engagement.

  • Create participation rubrics – Co-construct rubrics with students that define and celebrate a range of participation types, from questioning to active listening. Use the rubric to set personal goals and provide feedback.

Potential Reason: They lack confidence in their language proficiency and prefer to observe.

Strategies:

  • Use think-pair-share before whole-class discussions – Allow students to formulate their ideas with a peer first. This lowers affective filters and builds confidence before speaking publicly.

  • Celebrate all attempts at speaking – Create a classroom culture where errors are seen as part of learning. Use affirming feedback and reflection journals to reinforce growth.

  • Assign leadership roles in group discussions – Roles like timekeeper, note-taker, or summarizer provide structured ways for students to engage with peers while practicing academic language with less pressure.

Issue 2: Students do not see their cultural backgrounds or home languages reflected in the curriculum, leading to disengagement.

Potential Reason: The curriculum centers dominant cultural narratives rather than diverse perspectives.

Strategies:

  • Integrate multicultural texts and resources – Choose literature, articles, and videos that reflect the diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of your students. Discuss whose voices are centered and why that matters.

  • Allow students to bring in their own cultural knowledge – Incorporate storytelling, home language expressions, and personal artifacts into classroom activities. Invite students to serve as cultural experts.

  • Develop cross-cultural projects – Facilitate projects where students compare traditions, values, or perspectives across cultures. Encourage bilingual presentations or visual storytelling.

Potential Reason: There are limited bilingual or culturally relevant materials available.

Strategies:

  • Create homegrown materials with community input – Partner with families, students, and local leaders to develop lessons and texts that reflect students’ lived experiences. This can include oral histories, recipes, or community interviews.

  • Use bilingual picture books and videos – Select media that showcase stories in both program languages. These serve as mirrors and windows for students and support biliteracy development.

  • Leverage technology for translation – Use digital tools like Google Translate or Book Creator to produce accessible materials in students’ home languages when authentic resources are unavailable.

Potential Reason: Educators may not have enough training in culturally responsive teaching practices.

Strategies:

  • Provide professional development on culturally sustaining pedagogy – Focus training on asset-based mindsets, inclusive curriculum design, and linguistic diversity. Use real classroom examples and data.

  • Encourage co-teaching with community members – Invite parents, family, community leaders or bilingual staff to share stories, traditions, or experiences that enrich classroom content and affirm students’ identities.

  • Use student-driven inquiry projects – Empower students to explore their identity, language, and culture through research projects, personal narratives, or bilingual presentations. Share these projects with the school community.

Issue 3: Families have different expectations regarding school involvement, causing gaps in communication between home and school.

Potential Reason: Some families come from educational systems where parent involvement is not expected or encouraged.

Strategies:

  • Use multiple outreach methods – Contact families through phone calls, messaging apps, home visits, and flexible scheduling for conferences. Respect privacy and ensure communication is culturally and linguistically appropriate. Establish rapport before requesting participation.

  • Highlight the role of families in bilingual education – Share research and real-life examples that demonstrate how home language maintenance and family involvement contribute to academic success. Host workshops that empower families as co-educators.

  • Offer workshops on school engagement – Provide hands-on sessions to explain school systems, report cards, and ways to support learning at home. Include translations and community facilitators to build trust and accessibility.

Potential Reason: Language barriers prevent effective communication between educators and families.

Strategies:

  • Use bilingual communication tools – Employ translated newsletters, messaging apps like TalkingPoints or ClassDojo, and emails in home languages. Prioritize two-way communication to build mutual understanding.

  • Hire bilingual parent liaisons – Employ staff or seek volunteers who share families' cultural and linguistic backgrounds to serve as bridges between home and school. These liaisons can clarify misunderstandings, translate materials, and build community trust.

  • Create family-friendly bilingual events – Plan interactive gatherings where families hear from students, engage in activities, and receive translated materials. Examples include literacy nights, cultural fairs, and student exhibitions.

Potential Reason: School outreach efforts do not consider cultural differences in how families engage with education.

Strategies:

  • Host culturally inclusive family nights – Celebrate diverse traditions through storytelling, music, and food. Create a welcoming space that reflects community values and home cultures.

  • Use asset-based language in communication – Frame all messages around what families offer, not what they lack. Avoid deficit perspectives and instead focus on strengths and contributions.

  • Invite families to share their expertise – Encourage parents to lead activities, present their professions or cultural knowledge, or collaborate on projects. This elevates families as partners in the educational process.

Issue 4: Students experience cultural misunderstandings with peers, leading to social or behavioral conflicts.

Potential Reason: Students interpret behaviors through their own cultural lens, leading to miscommunication.

Strategies:

  • Use role-playing to address conflicts – Create structured opportunities for students to reenact common misunderstandings and explore multiple perspectives. Guide them in naming feelings and analyzing intentions behind actions.

  • Teach explicit cross-cultural communication skills – Design mini-lessons around tone, body language, and conversational norms that vary across cultures. Include scenarios and modeling to clarify these differences.

  • Use restorative circles – Facilitate dialogue where students share their experiences and perspectives in a guided, non-judgmental setting. This builds empathy and reinforces shared norms for respectful interaction.

Potential Reason: There is a lack of explicit instruction on cultural humility and cross-cultural understanding.

Strategies:

  • Incorporate cultural reflection activities – Use tools like identity maps, cultural artifact sharing, or “My Name” stories to help students explore and express their cultural identities. Pair these with peer interviews to build connection.

  • Use literature featuring diverse perspectives – Select texts that explore cultural identity, migration, and belonging. Use discussion prompts that encourage students to make connections between characters’ experiences and their own.

  • Teach ‘mirrors and windows’ approach – Design units where students see their own culture reflected (mirrors) and learn about others’ cultures (windows). Make space for discussions about how culture shapes perspective.

Potential Reason: Educators may not have strategies for mediating cultural conflicts.

Strategies:

  • Provide professional development on cultural competency – Offer training that equips staff with conflict resolution skills rooted in cultural responsiveness. Include case studies and opportunities for role-play.

  • Create a peer mediation program – Train students to serve as mediators during conflicts. Teach them to use sentence stems and questions that de-escalate tension and center mutual understanding.

  • Develop classroom norms for cultural respect – Co-create expectations with students that affirm differences in expression, dress, and behavior. Use these norms consistently in community building and discipline.