CUES Mapping Educational Challenges (MECha) workshops explore challenges in university education by bringing together cross-disciplinary experts on the workshop theme. MECha Workshops set the stage for a CUES sponsored 100K collaborative grant on the previous MECha theme.
About the Culturally Responsive Teaching & Learning MECha Workshop
This in-person two-day workshop will bring together U of A faculty across all disciplines with the goal of furthering the scholarship and praxis of culturally responsive teaching and learning. The workshop will specifically focus on examples, questions, and pedagogies connected to local and place-based environments. Participants will workshop pedagogical possibilities, explore mechanisms for implementation in U of A courses, and generate ideas for designing scholarly activity aimed at studying the philosophy, design, implementation, and outcomes of culturally responsive teaching and learning. The workshop will build upon content shared through UCATT’s Inclusive Teaching mini-courses and the Culturally Responsive Curriculum Development Institute.
The workshop will feature a place-based, cultural experience in partnership with Galeria Mitotera and the U of A’s CIELO program. The experience will include a local food and mural tour, historical overview of South Tucson, and workshopping of connections to cross-disciplinary content.
Objectives
To generate ideas for studying the scholarship of teaching and learning that seeks to understand culturally responsive teaching and learning, including but not limited to:
- culturally responsive teaching and learning as it connects to place, institutional identities, and diverse forms of knowledge.
- connections between course content, local, and place-based knowledge systems.
- ideas for multiple forms of student success in culturally responsive teaching and learning spaces.
Discussion themes may include, but are not limited to:
- The research design, methodologies, and methods appropriate to study culturally responsive teaching and learning.
- Local and place-based relationships to build culturally responsive practices.
- Connection to HSI designation, Borderlands partnerships, and Tribal communities.
- The influence of culturally responsive teaching and learning on student success (broadly defined).
- The role of the instructor in culturally responsive teaching and learning classrooms.
- Reflection on how and whose knowledges hold power within the curriculum and among learners.
- Pedagogical practices, strategies, and skillsets necessary when developing and teaching a class guided by culturally responsive frameworks.
Organizing Committee
Judy Marquez Kiyama (chair): Professor, Educational Policy Studies & Practice, College of Education
Corin Gray: Assistant Professor of Practice, Molecular & Cellular Biology, College of Science
David Morden: Associate Professor, Theatre, Film & Television, College of Fine Arts
Tarnia Newton: Assistant Clinical Professor, Nursing, College of Nursing
Registration
Join the CUES mailing list to be notified when pre-registration opens.
Workshop Reading Materials
Select chapters from Paris, D. & Winn, M. T. (2014). Humanizing Research: Decolonizing Qualitative Inquiry With Youth and Communities by Django Paris (Editor), Maisha T. Winn (Editor)
Ladson-Billings, G. (2014) Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: aka the remix.
Paris, D. (2012) Culturally responsive pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice
Paris, D. & Alim, S. (2017). What Are We Seeking to Sustain Through Culturally Responsive Pedagogy? A Loving Critique Forward
Workshop Agenda
Friday, February 28, 2025 | 9am - 4pm
Day 1 –The Role of the Course, the Instructor, and the Students
9:00-9:30 Registration, breakfast, and networking
9:30-10:00 Opening Session | Introduction and Workshop Charge
Question 1: How have culturally responsive teaching and learning practices been incorporated into courses at the University of Arizona? What examples of placed-based or local knowledge have influenced these courses? What has worked well? What challenges remain?
10:00-11:15 Question 1 | Small Group Discussions
11:15-12:00 Question 1 | Whole Group Discussion
12:00-1:00 Lunch
Question 2: What role does the instructor or faculty member play in advancing culturally responsive teaching and learning? What role do the students play? What does or can student success look like in these courses? What do we need to know and how might we study it?
1:00-2:30 Question 2 | Small Group Discussions
2:30-3:00 Coffee break
3:00-4:00 Question 2 | Whole Group Discussion
Saturday, March 1, 2025 | 8am - 4pm
Day 2 – Prioritizing Place and Diverse Knowledges
8:00am Meet at SUMC circle for ride to South Tucson Food & Mural Tour
8:30am Arrive at Galeria Mitotera for tour
8:45am Tour & Question 3: What resonated with you from the tour as it relates to culturally responsive teaching and learning? How might locally-based knowledge and place-based examples be incorporated into classroom learning? How do we decide whose (or what) knowledge(s) to prioritize in culturally responsive teaching and learning spaces?
11:00am Debrief tour and Group Discussion Question 3
11:30am Lunch at Galeria Mitotera
12:30pm Return to U of A
Question 4: What methodologies and methods are best suited to study culturally responsive teaching and learning? How do we know?
1:00-1:45 Question 4 | Small Group Discussions
1:45-2:30 Question 4 | Whole Group Discussion
2:30-3:00 Coffee break
3:00-4:00 Whole Group Discussion: Shaping Recommendations, and Next Steps
Final Reflection Question: What does it look like to ask scholarly questions of and study the topics discussed during this workshop? What considerations or recommendations would you share for others preparing to engage studying culturally responsive teaching and learning?