Incorporating Culturally Relevant Texts Into a Standards Aligned Literacy Curriculum

This is a curriculum development capstone that addressed the following research question: how can a 5th grade literacy curriculum be developed to incorporate standards aligned unit plans and assessments while also promoting culturally responsive teaching? This research identified incorporating culturally relevant texts into curriculum materials as one clear method for promoting culturally responsive teaching. It also demonstrated that alignment to standards could be accomplished in a meaningful and rigorous way that protects the flexibility required of teachers for planning great instruction that will be relevant to all of their students. The author outlines these findings as well as the unit plans, assessments, and lesson plans that were developed to support three units of study for a 5th grade literacy curriculum