NCTE Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT) - National Council of Teachers of English

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NCTE Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT)

The PDCRT program, initiated by the Affirmative Action Committee of the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) was developed to create a space within NCTE to support early childhood Educators of Color and educators who teach Children of Color, children who are emerging bi/multilinguals, and children from low-income households in studying about culturally relevant pedagogies and generating, implementing, documenting, evaluating, assessing, and disseminating classroom practices and process reflections from work done in preK to fifth-grade classrooms.

2023–2025 PDCRT Application

 

Applications Due: Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Send to Kristen Ritchie: kritchie@ncte.org

Please submit all application materials as outlined in this document as ONE PDF file.

Before deciding to apply, please carefully review the PDCRT Participation Requirements below.

The PDCRT program, initiated by the Affirmative Action Committee of the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) was developed to create a space within NCTE to support early childhood Educators of Color and educators who teach Children of Color, children who are emerging bi/multilinguals, and children from low-income households in studying about culturally relevant pedagogies and generating, implementing, documenting, evaluating, assessing, and disseminating classroom practices and process reflections from work done in preK to fifth-grade classrooms. The program is guided by a definition of culturally relevant pedagogies as that which requires a commitment to:

  • Developing a critical consciousness that recognizes inequities and injustices; strengthening that consciousness in ourselves and others through our work with students, colleagues, administrators, families, and community members
  • Broadening what counts as normalized/centered social, cultural, linguistic, and heritage knowledge; validating students’ home, community, and heritage knowledge and using it as foundational to teaching; focusing particularly on knowledge marginalized, neglected, or distorted in typical curricula, policies, and practices
  • Supporting all children in developing the skills and strategies that will enable their success within existing systems as well as the knowledge and ability to use their literacy and content knowledge to challenge and change unjust systems

Applicants must apply as dyads—teacher and teacher educator partners complete one application together. At least one member of the dyad must be an Educator of Color, but preference will be given to dyads in which both members are Educators of Color. The teacher must work in a preK–fifth-grade classroom. Requirements for classroom demographics must also be met as outlined in the participation requirements on page 2 of this document. The new dyads will be notified in the summer of 2023.

The following application items are to be submitted as one PDF document and sent as an email attachment by Wednesday, June 14, 2023, to NCTE via kritchie@ncte.org:

  1. PDCRT Dyad Application Information Form
  2. Joint Statement from the dyad (addressing required questions on application form)
  3. Dyad Letter of Agreement
  4. Administrator Letter of Agreement
  5. Résumés of each dyad member

Items 1-4 above can be found in this single application document.

Application Documents

PDCRT Participation Requirements

Please know that, by submitting an application, BOTH members of the dyad are agreeing to the following requirements:

  • Both dyad members must be members of the National Council of Teachers of English and NCTE’s Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) and maintain their active membership throughout their participation in the PDCRT program:
  • The dyad teacher must work in a preK–fifth-grade classroom where the majority of the students represent low-income households (at least 50% qualify for free and reduced lunch) and at least 75% of the students are Children of Color.
  • At least one member of the dyad must be an Educator of Color; however, preference will be given to dyads that consist of two Educators of Color.
  • The dyad teacher educator must commit to weekly work with the teacher in the classroom, and the dyad must commit to meeting regularly (no less than once every two weeks) to discuss readings, plans for teaching, and the process of the work.
  • The dyad must commit to:
    • Building and using further knowledge about culturally relevant/sustaining practices
    • Collecting, organizing, archiving, and analyzing data about the dyad relationship, classroom work, student and family interactions, etc. and using data in biannual dyad reports as well as other publications and presentations
    • Collecting, organizing, analyzing, and reporting on literacy assessment data for selected students at three predetermined times throughout the school year (details to be provided after your acceptance)
    • Engaging fully in the project’s professional development activities (reading and discussing readings, viewing and discussing videos and weblinks, active participation on the PDCRT Facebook site, etc.) and using new knowledge to develop, try out, and document culturally relevant practices in the classroom
    • Sharing work electronically and through other means of virtual communication; thus, each dyad member must have regular and dependable access to the internet
    • Participating in all virtual meetings with all program dyads (typically monthly virtual meetings), the first virtual meeting to be scheduled for the first week in December
    • Regularly checking email and responding promptly to project emails
    • Submitting signed consent forms from parents/guardians of the students each year by a designated date (forms will be provided)
    • Attending and participating in NCTE’s Annual Convention: Some funding will be provided by the program (see Dyad Letter of Agreement in the application document); participants are responsible for any funding not covered by the program
    • Participating in the project’s three-day Summer Institutes—some funding will be provided by the program (see Dyad Letter of Agreement in the application document); participants are responsible for funding not covered

Questions? Please contact Kristen Ritchie.

 

The PDCRT program, initiated by the Affirmative Action Committee of the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) was developed to create a space within NCTE to support early childhood Educators of Color and educators who teach Children of Color, children who are emerging bi/multilinguals, and children from low-income households in studying about culturally relevant pedagogies and generating, implementing, documenting, evaluating, assessing, and disseminating classroom practices and process reflections from work done in preK to fifth-grade classrooms.

2021–2023 PDCRT Cohort

Rosalba Garcia-Rodriguez is a bilingual teacher at a dual teaching school in the city of San Antonio. Ms. Garcia has a cumulative experience of thirty-two years in education, sixteen as an associate professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City and sixteen more as a bilingual teacher in several Texas school districts. Garcia-Rodriguez wants to understand biculturalism and bilingualism to help her students achieve their goals.

María G. Leija is an assistant professor of early childhood education in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Leija examines how Latinx bilingual teachers incorporate students’ linguistic, experiential, and cultural experiences to develop students’ bilingual disciplinary literacy. In addition, her work examines how bilingual teachers effectively create bidirectional spaces between home and school to support emergent bilinguals’ social and academic success.

 

Bridgette Dainty has been a Milwaukee Public Schools teacher for seven years. I have taught K–4th Grade, and I love elementary students; they are so full of life, and just waiting to unlock all that potential. I am currently a fourth-grade teacher at Hopkins Lloyd Community School. As a teacher and a mom of two young kids, I am fascinated by learning. I love to create things from scratch and/or bring out someone’s full potential. I really do think as a teacher it’s our job to help students unlock what they are passionate about, what they have questions about, and ultimately how can they survive in this world that will make them financially stable, as well as happy. I look forward to learning about new practices and policies that can make my classroom environment thrive even better, as well as help me create a school environment where everyone has the same clear-cut expectations across the board when it comes to all the Common Core subjects. I can’t wait to get started on this new work, and absorb it, and teach it to others, and ultimately see our students get all they deserve to reach their full potential here at Hopkins Lloyd.

Alanna Harris is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the English Education department and a PhD candidate. Her teaching and research interests include English education, culturally responsive practices in urban education, critical social mindfulness, contemplative pedagogy, spirituality, antiracist practices, and critical whiteness studies in teacher education. In her free time, she hosts a healing-centered podcast and DJs as a modality of mindfulness practice.

 

Maggie Beneke is an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington. Her scholarship and teaching focus on issues of educational justice for young Children of Color with disabilities. Across this work, she seeks to disrupt early literacy expectations rooted in dominant, intersecting ideologies (i.e., ableism, racism) and explores how early literacy classrooms might be reimagined in ways that sustain multiply marginalized children’s identities and competencies.

Nicole Sorensen is a second-grade educator in Seattle. She identifies as Filipino American and is passionate about affirming the identities of her students. In collaboration with colleagues, she has led professional development to support educators in exploring how racial identity and white supremacy culture affect their teaching practices. She is thrilled to be extending her work from her master’s project, which focused on culturally sustaining literacy practices in early childhood.

 

Brittany L. Frieson is an assistant professor of literacy and Antiracist education at the University of North Texas. She is a former ESL and literacy teacher whose teaching and research focus on critical approaches to language and literacy practices of Black students and explore how Black Language speakers leverage linguistic artistry and flexibility in bilingual settings. Frieson is an NCTE Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color fellow, and her work appears in Race Ethnicity and Education, Bilingual Research Journal, and Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice.

Karisma Morton is an assistant professor of mathematics education at the University of North Texas. Her research explores racial inequality in mathematics education with a focus on the opportunities of children of Color to learn rigorous and relevant mathematics. In her work with elementary preservice teachers, she exposes and confronts biased and racist narratives about mathematics ability and highlights pedagogical stances and tools designed to promote equitable and humanizing math learning experiences for children.

Marin Woodard is a recent graduate of the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in education and a certification in special education. Woodard is a first-year fourth-grade math and science teacher in Denton ISD and is excited to show students that cultural diversity is for all people in all subjects. Woodard is excited to be a black woman in the STEM field and to be able to teach students that scientists and mathematicians can look like anyone.

 

Paty Abril-Gonzalez was a bilingual elementary school teacher predominantly for children of Mexican immigrants in Denver. She taught for seven years in the same school district where she learned English as a young child. Now, Abril-Gonzalez is an assistant professor in the Bilingual and Bicultural Education program at the University of Texas at Austin. She centers and listens to the spoken, written, and artistic testimonios of Latinx bilingual students, preservice teachers, and their families.

José Luis Perales attended a bilingual and bicultural teacher preparation program at the University of Texas at Austin. There, he recognized the importance of honoring his Mexican immigrant parents and reclaiming his Spanish language. Since 2013, Perales has become a bilingual first-grade teacher who elevates and supports his students’ culture and language. He works daily to create and implement culturally relevant lessons that positively impact students in regard to their overall identity.

2021–2023 PDCRT Co-Directors

“Currently, a global health and racial pandemic has shifted about every facet of our lives, especially the education profession. For this reason, it is ever more important that we continue to support teachers in their efforts to validate the social, cultural, linguistic, and heritage knowledge of children and their families as anti-Black, Latinx, and Asian racism is on the rise. Therefore, in our role, we hope to support dyads by working toward a common goal to maintain our commitments to children and their families. We desire to help and support dyads as they develop their commitment to decolonizing and humanizing culturally relevant teaching through this pivotal time in history. Additionally, we hope to develop a space where dyads can feel supported.”

Eliza G. Braden is an assistant professor of elementary education in the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education at the University of South Carolina. Eliza taught and served as a teacher for eight years at an elementary school in north Georgia. She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Elementary Section Steering Committee, former chair of the Donald H. Graves Writing Award Committee, and a member of NCTE’s Affirmative Action Committee and the Early Childhood Education Assembly’s Anti-Racist Consultant Network. Her research interests include critical literacy and language practices of Black and Latinx children and their families, culturally relevant pedagogy, and critical multicultural children’s literature. Eliza’s work has been published in Journal of Children’s Literature, Teachers College Record, Talking Points, and Journal of Language and Literacy Education. She is the recipient of several awards, including the 2017 Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Award from NCTE, the 2018 Early Literacy Educator of the Year Award from the Early Childhood Education Assembly of NCTE, and the University of South Carolina College of Education’s 2019 Early Career Teaching Award.

Valente’ Gibson is a fifth-grade teacher at Jackson Creek Elementary in Columbia, SC. In his role as a fifth-grade teacher, he focuses his research and teaching on racial and social justice education practices while working to promote equity in issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality. He has centered on Black and Brown students’ brilliance and their families as anti-racist pedagogy in his work. He holds Treasurer’s position with the Early Childhood Education Assembly and participated in the PDCRT (Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching) Cohort. He received the 2019 Social Justice Award through the Early Childhood Education Assembly. He is serving on the Elementary Section Steering Committee and was awarded the 2020 NCTE Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Award.