Chapter 9: #NoDAPL: Collaboratively Designing Culturally Responsive Curriculum

We draw on Geneva Gay’s and Paulo Freire’s conceptual work related to culturally responsive liberatory pedagogy to conceptualize designing culturally responsive humanities middle school curriculum for a racially and culturally diverse group of students. The school community supports the Standing Rock Movement (represented on social media as #NoDAPL) and encourages culturally knowledgeable, globally competitive young adolescent leaders. We believe that creating culturally responsive curriculum requires curriculum designers to account for and deconstruct the systems of oppression that have constructed barriers to knowing and engaging in appropriate practices for culturally marginalized students. We begin this work by examining our own positionality in relation to systemic oppressions. Next, we explore how scholarly and community resources can be leveraged to inform best practices for young adolescents in alignment with the school’s mission. Finally, we consider how critical media analysis, coupled with digital storytelling, can position young adolescents as leaders adept at constructing powerful, action-oriented narratives about a current, culturally salient social justice movement.