Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching in Adult ESOL
A helpful resource from our colleagues at SABES in Massachusetts, this video defines Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching (CRST), in conjunction with Massachusetts’ ESOL Professional Standard 3.
SABES provides a brief overview of the 5 key elements they use to break down CRST in order to assist educators trying to find more specific ways of implementing these practices in their classrooms. These 5 key elements include:
- Creating an inclusive and equitable environment
- Utilizing students’ identities as assets
- Implementing diverse perspectives and materials
- Including critical thinking, civic engagement and social justice
- Critically assessing one’s own biases and beliefs
Flipgrid Companion to Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching in Adult ESOL
A companion to the video from SABES above, this Flipgrid article gives more classroom examples of the 5 key elements of Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching as defined by SABES. This short guide should give plenty of ideas to try (or look more into), whether you are just starting this work or if you have been doing so for a while. It might also reinforce that some of the work you are already doing is indeed CRST, but it gives you more grounding as to why the practice is imperative.