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Relevant & Meaningful Learning

Instructional Framework - Heart Tree Icon

Educators incorporate content that is meaningful, relevant and applicable to students’ lives. Teachers co-create authentic learning experiences with students, focusing on their cultural, social, and linguistic assets. Students see themselves reflected in the curriculum, which serves as a bridge between their own culture and dominant school culture. Educators promote a collaborative learning environment, building tolerance and empathy, where all members of the classroom community learn and grow together. 

Dimension: Environment

Descriptor What it Could Look Like & CSTP Connections
Creating emotionally safe learning environments 
  • Establishing a learning environment that prioritizes emotional safety with tone, body language, listening stance, and celebratory praise (CSTPs: 1B, 1D, 2A, 2B, 4A, 5A)

    • Examples: pronouncing students’ names correctly, or making an effort to learn a few words in students’ native language 

  • Including and honoring the richness of the languages, literacies, and cultural ways of being that our students and communities embody such as encouraging students to use their entire linguistic repertoire and inviting the use of all languages to connect with the content (CSTPs: 1A, 1D, 2D, 3C, 4B, 5B)
  • Modeling and explicitly teaching students how to respond to one another, especially when disagreeing, for example “I disagree with you that…”, “I see it a little differently…” (CSTPs: 1A, 2B, 4B, 5C)
  • Facilitating a classroom culture that ensures shared meanings, values, beliefs, and behavioral expectations (CSTPs: 1B, 2A, 2B, 4B, 5A)
Fostering a culture of collaboration between school, family, and community
  • Students collaborating and using each other as resources through classroom routines (CSTPs: 1A, 1D, 2A, 3D, 4C, 5C)

    • Example: “Three Before Me” (students check in with their table partners before engaging the teacher to leverage other expertise in the room)

  • Involving students in the curriculum creation process to ensure authenticity, relevance, and sensitivity to cultural nuances (CSTPs: 1A, 2D, 3B, 4A, 5C)
  • Prioritizing connections with families and local communities, such as creating class structures, online or otherwise, where others like family or community members can witness learning processes (CSTPs: 1C, 2C, 3B, 4D, 5B)
  • Incorporating the larger social contexts (schools, neighborhoods, communities, society), which can enhance the effectiveness of instruction and communication across contexts (e.g. between teachers and families) (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3B, 4A, 5A)
  • Students creating a video/slideshow tour of their city, or a map of their city, with a legend to the places in the community that are important to them or their families (CSTPs: 1B, 2D, 3B, 4C, 5C)
  • Co-designing the classroom decor, layout, rituals, and traditions with students (and their families) (CSTPs: 1B, 2D, 4A, 5C)
  • Creating and encouraging flexible seating and working areas in the classroom (CSTPs: 1A, 2C, 4C, 5B)
Recognizing the importance of students’ social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds 
  • Leveraging resources of social context and cultural diversity to create content that resonates with, informs, and engages diverse audiences (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5A)
  • Conducting research to gain insights into students’ communities, demographics, interests, behaviors, and needs (CSTPs: 1B, 2D, 3C, 4A, 5B)
  • Building in routines (weekly, monthly or even each semester) where students are given the opportunity to provide insights on themselves and their learning journey such as empathy interviews, one-on-one check ins, weekly temperature checks (CSTPs: 1B, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5C)
  • Providing opportunities to participate in the local community (e.g., attending local cultural events) to help connect the relevance of learning to students’ everyday lives and enhance teachers’ understanding of the cultural background and experiences of their students (CSTPs: 1C, 2C, 3B, 4A, 5A)
  • Engaging students in their community, including their physical environment, local culture, history, or people (e.g. place based learning) (CSTPs: 1B, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5A)
  • Keeping abreast of trends, developments, and changes in the students’ interests, preferences, and context to ensure ongoing relevance and meaningfulness (CSTPs: 1B, 2A, 3C, 4A, 5B)

 

Dimension: Curriculum

Descriptor What it could look like & CSTP Connections
Drawing upon students' cultural, linguistic, and social resources 
  • Students giving input when creating assignments to find relevant topics that resonate with them (CSTPs: 1A, 1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A)
  • Addressing the interest and needs of the students by providing choice in topics/content to be explored (CSTPs: 1A, 1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A) 
  • Relating the curriculum to students’ cultural backgrounds—for example, through incorporating local history into social studies lessons or gearing science toward local health problems (CSTPs: 1A, 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5B)
  • Expanding access to new content, for example: (CSTPs: 1B, 1D, 2C, 3C, 4D, 5B)

    • Providing native language support or glossaries/formula sheets for reference

    • Creating an infographic to pair with written content

    • Using visuals to teach new vocabulary

    • Looking for or creating audio recordings to accompany written content

    • Utilizing subtitles in lectures and videos
Connecting content to real world applications
  • Incorporating projects with a real world application or experience that emphasize depth of knowledge. (CSTPs: 1A, 1B, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5A) 
  • Developing content that explores timely societal issues, such as racial inequality in education, environmental sustainability, or mental health stigma, with the aim of fostering critical dialogue, broadening perspectives, and cultivating empathy among audiences (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5B)
  • Designing interdisciplinary projects or engaging students in problem-based learning that require students to apply knowledge and skills from multiple subjects (CSTPs: 1A, 1B, 2A, 3D, 4C, 5A)
Ensuring that diverse groups are accurately, authentically, and respectfully represented in the content
  • Encouraging and supporting students in navigating White dominant education spaces, being transparent about why that is important so that we don’t center on Eurocentric curriculum at the expense of valuing their own cultural wealth/history/legacies/contributions (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5B)
  • Offering mirror and window texts when selecting readings (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B)
  • Providing space for student voice and expertise to explain their cultural practices and/or rituals (CSTPs: 1B, 1D, 2D, 3C, 4A, 5C)
  • Providing context regarding cultural practices, traditions, and rituals from diverse backgrounds when addressing topics surrounding BIPOC and other historically oppressed groups (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5B)
  • Sustaining students’ heritage and identities while developing dominant cultural competence (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5B)
  • Building awareness of code switching and utilizing native language as a tool for comprehension (CSTPs: 1B, 1D, 2D, 3C, 4D, 5B)
  • When choosing content, finding ways to honor home dialects and ways of expression, while also showing dominant registers that may be prominent in academic writing (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3B, 4D, 5B)
Ensuring equitable access to content 
  • Updating information, themes, and materials that reflect changing nature of communities and current issues (CSTPs: 1A, 1D, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5D)
  • Designing work provided with the qualities that are most likely to appeal to the values, interests, and needs of the students involved based on students’ survey interests (CSTPs: 1A, 1B, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5B)
  • Offering current and diverse primary resources and nonfiction materials in various formats (text, video, audio, visual) (CSTPs: 1D, 2C, 3E, 4D, 5A)
  • Using digital tools (e.g., Google Suite, Nearpod, EdPuzzle, Flipgrid) to enhance accessibility, interactivity, and collaboration (CSTPs: 1A, 1B, 2C, 3E, 4D, 5D)
  • Explicitly connecting lesson activities and objectives to pre-K–12 state standards while ensuring relevance to students’ cultural backgrounds, lived experiences, and real-world applications (CSTPs: 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A)

 

Dimension: Instruction

Descriptor What it could look like & CSTP Connections
Connecting to real world applications
  • Giving surveys that gather insights, feedback, or contributions from students in order to link learning tasks to students’ interests and cultural and linguistic backgrounds (CSTPs: 1B, 2D, 3B, 4A, 5B)
  • Including non-linear modes of instruction such as film, music, visual arts, and digital media to leverage students’ cultural and linguistic forms of expression (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3C, 4B, 5A)
  • Providing rationale for connecting everyday lives to global issues (CSTPs: 1A, 2A, 3B, 4B, 5A)
  • Providing structured opportunities for students to explore their multiple cultures and identities with graphic organizers (CSTPs: 1B, 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5B)
Developing collaborative learning structures
  • Creating a sense of involvement and connection through the use of collaborative structures such as:  Socratic Seminars, Philosophical Chairs, Jigsaws, Reciprocal teaching, and other group worthy tasks (CSTPs: 1A, 2A, 2B, 3A, 4C, 5A)
  • Students leading and organizing activities (CSTPs: 1A, 2A, 3B, 4C, 5A)
Ensuring equitable access 
  • Adapting the tone, style, format, and delivery of content to match the preferences and communication habits of the students (CSTPs: 1B, 2A, 3C, 4D, 5B)
  • Providing a resource bank of supports proactively so that students can move forward with or without assistance (CSTPs: 1A, 2C, 3C, 4D, 5D)
  • Acknowledging and affirming translanguaging practices (CSTPs: 1B, 1D, 2D, 3C, 4D, 5B)
  • Providing multiple model means of engagement/directions (verbal, tactile, visual and auditory) (CSTPs: 1A, 2C, 3E, 4D, 5A)

 

Dimension: Feedback and Appraisal

Descriptor What it Looks Like & CSTP Connections
Connecting to real world applications
  • Linking student learning to a product, performance, or exhibition to which the students attach personal value (CSTPs: 1A, 1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5A)
  • Providing assessments/projects that solve real world problems (project based learning) (CSTPs: 1A, 2A, 3B, 3D, 4B, 5A)
  • Students seeing themselves as change agents and seeing how the final assessment impact their lives and their community, such as service learning projects in one’s own community (CSTPs: 1A, 1D, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5B)
  • Ending units and large projects with reflection and celebrations of learning (CSTPs: 1A, 2A, 3A, 4C, 5A)
  • Making students’ learning visible to authentic audience (panels, experts, families) who are significant in students’ lives and whose opinions the student values and cares about (CSTPs: 1C, 2D, 3B, 4B, 5C)
Developing collaborative modes of assessment
  • Students collaborating through group and partner projects/assessments with clear guidelines and expectations for how to participate in the group (CSTPs: 1A, 2A, 2B, 3D, 4C, 5A)
  • Establishing multiple opportunities to receive feedback: peer to peer as well as students and family; for instance, making a family member a collaborator on a document or presentation so that they can see a student’s progress in real time (CSTPs: 1C, 2C, 3C, 4D, 5A, 5C)
Valuing growth over time
  • Co-constructing project/assessment topics with students (CSTPs: 1A, 1B, 2A, 3C, 4A, 5A)
  • Asking students for frequent feedback on topics such as teaching style, content, and sense of community (CSTPs: 1B, 2A, 3C, 4A)
  • Students setting learning goals, self-assessing, and reflecting on their learning (CSTPs: 1A, 2A, 4C, 5A, 5B)
  • Designing formative assessments that allow students to demonstrate understanding in multiple ways, including artistic, linguistic, and technology-based outputs (CSTPs: 1D, 2D, 3E, 4D, 5A)