Seminar: The Environment and the Five Senses: Engaging Young Minds with a Holistic Approach to Learning
Program: IECE
Subject Area: English Language Arts
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Year of Publication: 2022
Abstract
Implementing the Diné curriculum in my ECE curriculum fosters teaching that major publishing companies do not offer. While our program includes exposure to other global cultures, there needs to be a strong focus on Indigenous cultures, specifically Diné culture. Education in schools has shifted in the past years to include a multicultural curriculum in the classrooms, but educators lack the resources to cultivate an authentic Indigenous curriculum. The focus on Indigenous culture is not a new concept in culturally responsive teaching, and it is a concept that needs to be accentuated more. Although culturally responsive schooling for Indigenous youth has been advocated for over the past 40 years, schools and classrooms fail to meet Indigenous students’ needs (Castagno, A., & Brayboy, B., 2008).