Minicourse Module 18: “Leveling Up” Your Instruction with the Banks Framework

Approx time: 35 min

This minicourse module is an abridged version of Project READY’s Module 19: “Leveling Up” Your Instruction with the Banks Framework. Follow the link to access the full module.

AFTER WORKING THROUGH THIS MODULE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

Describe the levels of Dr. James A. Banks’s framework for the integration of multicultural content.
Reframe a content area, information literacy standard, or public library program theme into a lesson or unit plan at each level of this framework.
Act in your library to “level up” existing program plans using Banks’s framework.

INTRODUCTION

As we discussed in the previous module, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy is a valuable approach that helps us recognize the skills and knowledge our youth bring to the library with them as resources to honor and extend, but it can feel a bit abstract. Creating culturally sustaining instruction and programming requires us to value students’ traditional, heritage practices and their current, community practices. It can be hard to figure out how to do this.

Dr. James A. Banks has created a useful model that helps us evaluate our existing lessons and find ways to make them more culturally relevant and sustaining. The goal of Dr. Banks’s model is to enable youth from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to fully engage with and access curriculum or program content. It challenges the Euro-centric traditional curriculum and recognizes the contributions of BIPOC to society. It takes advantage of the cultural assets that youth bring to the library or classroom, and works toward prejudice reduction. This model is a powerful tool for dismantling structural racism in libraries.

Who is… Dr. James A. Banks

Dr. James A. Banks is regarded as the founder of the multicultural education movement. Now retired, he was a professor for 50 years and is the Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies Emeritus at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Optional: To learn more about Dr. Banks and his work, watch this video¹, in which Dr. Banks is interviewed about multicultural education in America, or read one of his texts² (we recommend starting with An Introduction to Multicultural Education).

READ

Read this brief journal article naming and describing the different levels of integration of multicultural content.

WATCH

Watch this video in which Project READY staff offer a specific example of transforming an existing curricular unit at each level of integration, and how the transformed unit addresses information literacy skills and the American Association of School Librarians’ shared foundations.

IMAGES OF PRACTICE

In the video below, three elementary educators – Christine Zaccardi (a school librarian), Sarah Mills (a Spanish teacher), and Martha Hayes (a magnet coordinator) – share a unit they collaboratively planned and taught that focused on citizenship, government services, and community. By connecting this content to equity issues in the students’ own community and guiding students in sharing their voices with county officials, these educators were able to reach Level 4 (the Social Action approach). Are there similar program opportunities in your community that you might transform using the Banks framework?

Optional Resource: The Padlet mentioned in the video can be accessed here.

REFLECT

Brainstorm how you might transform the library program described below at each level of the Banks framework: contributions, additive, transformation, and social action.

Program Theme: Poetry

Current Program (Level 0): Participants read and discuss a famous poem and then write their own poem in the style of the model poem.

When you’re done brainstorming, click “Show more” to see our ideas. There isn’t a single correct answer; a single theme could be addressed in many different ways and still meet the criteria for each level of Banks’s framework.

Historically, poetry has often been used by writers within marginalized communities to express their emotions, communicate their lived experiences, and speak out against injustice. This makes poetry a rich site for exploring issues of equity and social justice. To take the example poetry program up to a Level 1, you could simply choose a famous poem written by a prominent person of color – for example, Langston Hughes. A Level 2 program might involve bringing in multiple example poems, spoken word, and music including ones from lesser-known authors of color or other marginalized voices and modern-day musicians and spoken word artists. It’s important for youth to experience poetry in the many different mediums it comes in and it’s important for youth to hear spoken word, songs, and poetry read by the creators. Engaging participants in comparing the perspectives represented in these poems is important at this level. A Level 3 program might ask youth to critically engage with an equity issue through reading and writing poetry, spoken word, or songs. Participants themselves could then take the lead on moving this program to a Level 4 by planning their own course of action based on the themes in their poetry, spoken word, or songs.

OPTIONAL: ACT

Select a program you currently offer and brainstorm how you might transform that program. Write notes on how you would transform it at each level: contributions, additive, transformation, and social action. Next, make a plan based on your brainstorming, then implement it.

Share your plan or the outcome of your program at your cohort’s next meeting, if applicable.

BUT WAIT!

In this section, we address common questions and concerns related to the material presented in each module. You may have these questions yourself, or someone you’re sharing this information with might raise them. We recommend that for each question below, you spend a few minutes thinking about your own response before clicking “Show more” to see our response.

Won’t a Level 4 plan take much more time than a Level 1 plan? How can I accommodate this time difference?

Time is always a precious commodity, but it’s not always the case that a plan at a higher level of the Banks framework would take more time than a lower-level plan. It is true that additional planning time may be needed to develop content at the highest levels of Banks’s framework. However, just as with other types of planning, you will eventually become more efficient at this over time. If you are limited to a very short period of time – say, a 30-minute program – you can still use the Banks framework to “level up” that individual program so that it reaches at least Level 2 (the additive approach) without extending the time required. Remember – not every program can or should be at Level 4, but where possible, it’s great to use the Banks framework to think about where you can efficiently and effectively improve your current practice.

Staff in my library aren’t ready for Level 4 programs. Where do I start?

Transforming teaching and learning in the ways that Banks and the Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy model propose will not be an overnight process. It may be true that most of the librarians in your library aren’t prepared to dive into a Level 4 program plan – but some might be. Start by approaching a librarian who is already on board with equity pedagogy, or one you think might be receptive to learning about this method of delivery. Even then, you might not start with a Level 4 plan, but rather aim for a level that is just beyond what you and this librarian have previously implemented. Share the results of successful collaborations; as we know, teachers can be some of the best advocates for our library programs. Consider attending a department or team meeting to share the Banks model with small groups of colleagues. If you’re still having trouble getting other staff involved, use the Banks framework to inform and transform the instruction that you develop independently, such as mini-lessons, book talks, or afterschool programs.

How do I move public library programs to a level 4? Is that even realistic?

Level 4 of this framework centers on facilitating youth engagement with real-world issues, and this is something that public library programs can definitely accomplish if carefully planned. Consider the “Make a Difference” series that Youth Services Librarian Monicah Fratena and Technology Librarian Pam Okosun developed at the La Porte County Public Library. Fratena and Okosun worked with teens to brainstorm ways that their library makerspace could be used to help marginalized members of their community. The teens came up with ideas including making bracelets showing support for the LGBTQ+ community, designing light-up cards for stay-at-home community members, and even building prosthetic hands in partnership with Enabling the Future using the library’s 3D printers. Over the following months, around 250 people – mostly teens, but also other community members – helped to complete six different projects.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

In this brief interview [PDF] with Dr. Banks, he explains the foundations of multicultural education and gives examples of what it looks like in the classroom.

These resources can help you begin to “level up” your existing lessons and units.

Go Back: Module 17 – Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

You Are Here: Module 18 – “Leveling Up” Your Instruction

Next: Module 19 – Youth Voice & Agency

Project READY Minicourse: Module 18