Abstract
The chapter provides readers with cross-disciplinary activities that facilitate restorative literacy practices centered around the cultural wealth model. This model is used in instruction and curriculum to aid in meeting students where they are academically, linguistically, and culturally. When students' personal values are placed at the center of instruction, it affirms and validates their own identities, and cultural capital, within the space. Each tenet of the model is briefly described and accompanied with practices to develop reading proficiency, fluency, comprehension, and writing skills while advocating for the restoration of student well-being, strengthened relationships, the analysis of acquired wealth and proficiencies, and student applications of intersectionality. The activities presented are aimed at middle, high, and undergraduate ages but can be modified to support younger learners, with the intention of strengthening literacy skills and cultural dialogue across grade levels and discipline areas.
TopThe Cultural Wealth Model
Educators are constantly searching for new ways to create meaningful and engaging content to help facilitate student learning (Hollie, 2017). Lessons are often designed using inspiration from pop culture, holidays, video games, personal experiences, and any theme that would encourage students to connect deeper with the material. Designing lessons aimed at engaging the cultural capital accumulated by students is a strategy that can build intentional connections within the classroom and within the community. The knowledge, behaviors, and skills that are accumulated by students over time in order to interact with all aspects of society are known as their cultural capital (Everette, 2021). Using a strategy that engages the Cultural Wealth Model is more than just acknowledging a student’s culture within the classroom or engaging with a specific holiday or tradition, but about building on the individual strengths, wealths, and communities that students identify with. The model can be a valuable tool that teachers can implement aimed at addressing the diverse backgrounds of every learner, especially when the community they serve is different from their own (Everette, 2021).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Aspirational: Characterized by the hopes and dreams a person holds.
Culturally Responsive Teaching: A strategy that employs a variety of approaches aimed at addressing the cognitive-development of diverse and marginalized communities
Linguistic: Focuses on all aspects of language.
Resistant: Relating to the opposition of a certain event.
Intersectionality: The study of overlapping social identities that aims to examine how various categories interact with one another, usually in regard to discrimination or oppression.
Social: Related to a person’s surrounding environment and lived experiences.
Navigational: Characterized by the ways a person’s moves throughout and overcomes barriers.
Familial: Relating to a person’s defined family.
Restorative Literacy: A form of literacy that focuses on restoring student well-being, strengthening community relationships, analyzing acquired wealth and knowledge, and analyzing intersectionality.
Cultural Wealth Model: A model, described by Dr. Tara J. Yosso, used to highlight the knowledge, skills, and abilities held by Communities of Color while nurturing the cultural wealth that has always existed.