Cultural Curriculum Chat with Jebeh Edmunds

Season 7 Episode # 7: Addressing Cultural Stereotypes Through Thoughtful Curriculum

• Jebeh Edmunds • Season 7 • Episode 7

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Ready to transform how cultural narratives appear in your classroom? Cultural stereotypes lurk in teaching materials everywhere—from textbooks portraying African nations solely through poverty to history lessons reducing Black heritage to just five famous figures. These oversimplifications don't just affect lesson plans; they shape how our students understand the world.

Drawing from my own experience as an educator who once challenged a problematic reading passage only to be dismissed by district leadership, this episode tackles the uncomfortable reality that many curriculum materials perpetuate harmful stereotypes. When Indigenous communities appear only as historical entities rather than vibrant contemporary cultures, or when the achievements of marginalized groups get condensed to token representation, we're not just teaching incomplete history—we're reinforcing biases that students carry into adulthood.

But there's hope in thoughtful curriculum evaluation. By asking critical questions about whose voices are included (and excluded), seeking counter-narratives that highlight innovation and joy alongside struggle, and diversifying our teaching resources, we can create classrooms where authentic cultural understanding flourishes. This episode provides practical strategies for implementing change, from inviting community members to share cultural perspectives to advocating for curriculum audits even when faced with resistance.

The power to dismantle stereotypes lies with educators willing to step beyond comfort zones and outdated materials. Your students deserve teaching that helps them become critical thinkers capable of recognizing and challenging cultural stereotypes. Whether you're just starting this journey or looking to deepen your approach, you'll find actionable steps to create learning environments that celebrate authentic cultural narratives rather than reinforcing harmful generalizations.

Ready to make positive change? Subscribe, leave a review, and visit jebedmonds.com for inclusive teaching resources that will transform your classroom into a space where every student's cultural identity is valued and understood.


Episode Mentioned in show: 

Episode #22. My 3 Cs of Cultural Competency


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Speaker 1:

Hey, welcome back to the Cultural Curriculum Chat Podcast. I am your host, jebe Edmonds, and I am thrilled to have you with me here today. We're gonna dive into a very important and often overlooked topic addressing cultural stereotypes through thoughtful curriculum. As educators and parents and lifelong learners give it up lifelong learners whoop, whoop, do that, raise the roof we have a responsibility to ensure that our teaching materials and discussions foster inclusivity and cultural awareness. Now, first and foremost, let's start with the basics. What exactly are cultural stereotypes when it comes to education? Now, we know cultural stereotypes are oversimplified, generalized beliefs about a particular group of people, often reinforced through our media that we consume, the literature that we're reading and even educational materials. So, with some of these stereotypes, they may seem harmless, but they do contribute to bias, marginalization and the erasure of authentic cultural narratives. Now, educators, you can feel me on this, especially if you've been in the educational system for a long time Our districts and our state boards they pilot new curricula from these massive big corporations that are you know, I'm not going to name those names, but they are responsible for creating those teaching materials for our students, and I've been in those situations and spaces where we're piloting a new curriculum that's going to be rolled out the next year and you know you're always getting the short straw if you're the newer teacher or the seasoned teacher or the teacher that's one year away from retiring and we're in these meetings and we're looking through and we're thumbing through all these materials and we're getting the big, you know, trunks full of things and textbooks and I remember going to a couple meetings where you know the educators that are piloting a reading program or you know a new math curriculum. You're looking through and you're reading the problem solving questions. You're looking through the social studies bins and the articles and I remember there was one in particular and I believe it was for social studies. No, it was for reading because it was nonfiction text and it was a text that was really. It had nothing to do with the how you say, the standard and benchmark strand that we needed to fulfill. It was just kind of like a if your kids are a little fast of a standard that they needed to do. This was a part of their remedial texts, you know, for the kids that are just below grade level.

Speaker 1:

And I'm reading this passage and I remember teaching first grade at the time and I'm like this story. It was about a little African boy and I'm like this story just it's just re-perpetuating negative stereotypes when it comes to children that live in Africa. It always had that you know primitive feel behind it. It had the you know child that was impoverished and it always was that narrative. And I had a concern if we were going to adopt this particular reading curricula. And I remember the instructional specialist for the district, who's no longer there, but I, you know, voiced my concern and she goes we're not going to let a little passage like that make or break our new curriculum that we're going to purchase, that make or break our new curriculum that we're going to purchase. And it just reinforced to me that even if you do have a concern, they will shy away from those particular stories. But how are we going to trust that the teacher that has that material is going to do the same thing? Are they going to skip that story or are they going to continue to reinforce those stereotypical narratives?

Speaker 1:

Thinking about context of our indigenous communities, a lot of our materials still showcase our Native American brothers and sisters as people of the past. That's an example of erasure of authentic cultural groups and of that we are ignoring the vibrancy of our contemporary Indigenous communities, Even our history lessons. They might reduce the contributions of our Black leaders to just a few figures. I always used to say when I was teaching that we always come to the Fabulous Five, that I call our Fabulous Five contributors. Only, you know, when it comes to Black history, we all know about Martin Luther King Jr, rosa Parks, then we have Harriet Tubman, then we have Frederick Douglass and then we have Barack Obama. Not negating and saying that their contributions were not supposed to be amplified, I want to just address that there's so many more contributors to our society that tend to be put on the back burner, that tend to not have that focus, and there's more to us, you know, in this community. So we need to highlight the broader spectrum of other achievers.

Speaker 1:

So these limited portrayals, like I said, of that fab five. It shapes our students perceptions and it can reinforce those unconscious biases. You and I all know you see every pattern the same movie, the same book, the same project. It's heartbreaking to know, especially us teachers we're naturally creative folks that we can look out in search for more authentic narratives that our students are so craving. My big question for you how do we challenge these stereotypes. Well, first and foremost, we must actively evaluate our curriculum. Even if your voice shakes, speak up, even with the instructional person dismissing your concerns, bring it up the ladder, bring it up to their boss and keep speaking out.

Speaker 1:

I want you to also think about are there multiple perspectives represented in our history, literature and social studies? What is missing there? What group is being amplified and what group is being ignored? Do the materials reflect those authentic voices from the communities that we're discussing, and are diverse experiences included? Beyond oppressive narratives, do they highlight joy as well, resilience and innovation? One powerful tool is using counter narratives. One powerful tool is using counter narratives, and this means integrating stories and lessons that challenge dominant stereotypes. Instead of always portraying Africa through the lens of poverty, like I said before, educators can introduce students to its rich artistic, scientific and technological contributions. Instead of reducing Latinx history to immigration stories, we can also include narratives of leadership, activism and innovation. We are all innovative human beings, so why not highlight that? So why not highlight that?

Speaker 1:

Now that we know what to look for, I want us to talk about actionable strategies for implementing thoughtful curriculum practices. Okay, first and foremost, you have to, my darling, diversify your resources. You can't just use that one teaching material to be your only source of resources. You know how we do, you know how we are. We always say check multiple resources. I want to see your sites works. I want to see more than one. Right, we have a rubric to that. We need to rubric ourselves and make sure we've got multiple sources of articles, media that provide a broad and accurate representation of different cultures. We need to seek out literature written by the authors from the communities that are being studied. We have talked about this. If you are new to the show, honey, I've got lots of diverse communities are there to show you their works so you can share it with your students. What can we do to make sure we have multiple voices with that subject at hand? Use culturally responsive teaching methods. I have lots of subjects on that and a previous episode that talks more about how you can talk about the three C's of cultural competency in your classroom. I will also have that in the show notes as well.

Speaker 1:

But incorporate students' cultural backgrounds into your lessons. A lot of our identities we can't just see with the naked eye. So when they are comfortable to share with you their different identities, showcase that and share that. So we all know the holistic student Partnering with our communities. We need to invite our guest speakers from different cultural groups. We need to collaborate with our local organizations and create opportunities for our students to engage in authentic cultural learning experiences. A lot of the times, if you ask our families, you send that weekly newsletter. Put a little blurb in there to ask families to come in, sign up. With your sign-up genius, they like to spend 10-15 minutes to talk about their cultural background and think about culture, not just of ethnicity and race, but also a way of life. What could they do to culturally share with your students?

Speaker 1:

And I want you to address these stereotypes and, like I said, my dear, it is not always easy. There may be resistance from your administrators, parents or even colleagues, but change starts with that conversation and advocacy. If you can show the purpose of why you want to do this, you will get more buy-in from your families and your administrators. So show and share the research and the data of the benefits of diverse representation in education. I want you to advocate for curriculum audits in your school district. Starting small by integrating your inclusive resources into your lessons will be so essential, and also it helps by modeling best practices for your peers.

Speaker 1:

If your teacher teammates are seeing you doing something innovative and new and different, go for it. You don't need to take out your bin from 1999 that worked your first year of teaching, or you don't need to, you know, copy something from a retired teacher because they did that at this point in your curriculum map. You can step out of the box. Trust me, growth comes out of something uncomfortable, and new changes and that I know you are equipped to do. It is up to you, as an educator, a caregiver, lifelong learner and an advocate, to create learning environments that break down those stereotypes rather than reinforcing them. We are the windows to societal change and by being intentional with our curriculum choices, we help our students develop a deeper understanding of the world and encourage them to become critical thinkers and compassionate individuals. I want you to know, no matter where you are in this space of learning, I believe in you and I know you're motivated to make that positive change. Don't let outside influences hinder you from doing what is right. Your students depend on you to show them the right way of learning, the right way of being their full, authentic selves.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so very much for tuning in to our podcast today for tuning in to our podcast today. If you've enjoyed today's podcast episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share with a fellow educator. Also check out my resources at my website at jebedmondscom that is J-E-B-E-H-E-D-M-U-N-D-S dot com. You're going to see a lot of lesson plans and tools to bring more inclusivity into your classroom. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing and keep making a difference. Bye-bye.