CULTURALLY SUSTAINING

PEDAGOGY
What is Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP)?
How can we be culturally responsive? Why is it
important? Why are we teaching this?

WHAT IS CSP AND WHAT DOES IT

MEAN TO BE CULTURALLY
RESPONSIVE?

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy is when we allow and encourage

our students to bring their culture from home into the classroom as
well as being open to learning about other culture as they learn
about theirs. This allows students to embrace the culture that their
school has created while having the comfort of their culture from
home at school as well.
To be culturally responsive we must aware of the different cultures that
we may encounter. We need to be prepared to learn about them,
embrace them, and accept them. We need to make sure the families
and students know that we embrace and support their culture, and we
want it to be part of our classrooms.

WHY IS CSP IMPORTANT? HOW

WILL WE INCORPORATE IT INTO
OUR CLASSROOMS?
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy is important because it makes our students feel accepted in our
classrooms. It makes them feel heard, and feel safe. Understanding and accepting our students
culture that they have at home will make us better teachers to those students. It will give us a better
understanding of who are students are.
Incorporating CSP into our classrooms will be very important. To do this you will want to make sure
that your classroom shows many different cultures. Have posters around the room that display
different cultures from all over the world. Create a vocabulary board with words not only in English
but in many other languages. When reading books or presenting movies/videos to the class make
sure that they have representation of different cultures. Allow students to share their culture with the
class but bringing things in or just talking to the class about it. Read books about your students
culture to the class. Have a day where everyone brings in something from their culture. Decorate
the classroom and allow students to walk around the room, learning about their classmates
cultures (this would be great for the beginning of the year so that students understand their
classmates). All of this will not only make you as the teacher more culturally responsive but also all
of your students more culturally responsive, creating a safe and open space for all in your
classroom.

WHY DO WE WANT SCHOOLS TO

ENSURE CSP IS PART OF THEIR
SCHOOLS CULTURE?

Why are we teaching CSP in our schools? We want everyone to feel

safe, and like the community at school cares about them and their
culture. All of this creates a safe and welcoming environment which
promotes learning. And we all want to create the best environment for
our students to learn in. Teaching CSP to our students also allows
them to broaden their minds and become more open minded. It
makes all of us better people to learn and practice CSP.
If we promote CSP as part of our schools environment and culture we
will be a welcoming and inclusive school. Students and parents will
feel like part of the schools community. They will also feel like their
culture is apart of the schools identity. Everyone will feel like one unit.
This is important to promote in schools K through 12.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT

CSP CHECK OUT THESE
RECOURSES!
Moving Culturally Relevant Pedagogy From Theory to Practice: Exploring Teachers’
Application of Culturally Relevant Education in Science and Mathematics. Written by
Bryan A. Brown1, Phillip Boda1 , Catherine Lemmi1, and Xavier Monroe (article).

https://cpet.tc.columbia.edu/news-press/culturally-sustaining-pedagogy-an-
introduction (article about CSP and why it is important in the classroom).

CULTURE MATTERS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION: A FESTIVAL CREATES CULTURALLY RELEVANT

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS AND PARENTS. Written by Valerie Ooka Pang,
Karen Elizabeth Lafferty, Jennifer M. Pang, Joan Griswold and Rick Oser (article).

Cultural Responsiveness: Definitions and Principles. Written by MCEAP Committee on

Cultural Responsiveness (article).

https://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ee/culturallysustainingped.asp (article).