Bright Ribbons: Weaving Culturally Responsive Teaching Into the Elementary Classroom

Weave culturally responsive teaching into every lesson and activity

Culturally responsive teaching practices are like bright ribbons: when you weave them into everything you teach, you create a beautiful tapestry for successful learning. Lotus Howard, who has spent four decades teaching in diverse classrooms, will show you how to build relationships with your students and create a harmonious community where every child can thrive. You’ll learn:

• How to use culturally responsive teaching (CRT) not as an add-on, but as a philosophy that infuses every aspect of the school day
• Simple strategies for weaving the seven principles of CRT into all lessons and activities, including morning greetings, transition times, and group work
  
• How to be more self-reflective to better appreciate and unlock students’ unique gifts

With an array of practical tips, model lessons, and resources, this book will inspire you to weave a holistic tapestry of teaching and learning that benefits all children.

Lotus Linton Howard, Ph.D., has taught in a variety of elementary school settings, including public, private, inner city, small town, rural and reservations schools. She created and taught for several years in a one-room country school, grades 1-8. Over forty years of teaching she has worked with children from very diverse cultural backgrounds and has observed, first-hand, how culture influences one’s perceptions, cognition, communication and attitudes.

Lotus taught pre-service Multicultural Education courses at Seattle Pacific University and has presented at a variety of state and national conferences. She was also on the curriculum development team for the REACH Center for Multicultural Education, developing sample lessons plans that could be infused into the normal curriculum at each grade level, and that are now being used internationally. Collaborating with the REACH Center, Lotus enlisted the cooperation of Native American elders and educators to create a course through Western Washington University, “The Indian Child in the Classroom,” to demonstrate how intelligence is developed, accessed and appraised differently in Native communities. Lotus has offered culturally responsive in-service training for elementary teachers in numerous states.

Lotus has also had extensive global experience observing cultures in twenty-two countries, studying educational practices and learning about and from cultures outside our U.S. borders. Her Ph.D. thesis, entitled Remembering the Circle, is based on the commonalities of a variety of indigenous cultures and their continuing contributions to the emerging global community.

Lotus received her B.S. degree in Early Childhood Education at Southern Connecticut State University, 5th Year research and training in Orff Schulwerk Music Instruction and Waldorf Schools through Western Washington University, and her Ph.D. in Transformational Education from Union Institute of Ohio.

Lotus lives in Seattle with her husband, Gary Howard. Their two grown children, along with their partners and three amazing multi-racial and multicultural grandchildren, live nearby.