Culturally Responsive Teaching During the Holidays

As the holiday season approaches, schools and classrooms often experience a surge of excitement and energy. Students get excited to share their family traditions, decorations go up, and classes start preparing for their holiday concert. 

When I was in elementary school, I remember students being asked to leave the classroom during our Christmas celebrations. At first, I couldn’t make much sense of it, but I soon realized that they were being taken out of the classroom at their parents’ request. I would go home confused and would ask my parents why my friends weren’t present every year when we would make Christmas cards or have a Christmas party. It was then that I understood that not everyone shares or celebrates the same beliefs and holidays that I do. I felt sad for my friends that they couldn’t join me and wondered why we would do things to make them feel excluded. 

This time of year can be magical, but it can leave out students who do not necessarily celebrate holidays such as Christmas. While holidays are a time to celebrate, it is also an opportunity for us to make sure that every student feels included and represented.  

What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is an educational approach that recognizes and honors students’ cultural backgrounds. It encourages teachers to adapt their teaching methods to be more inclusive and responsive to the cultural contexts of all students. During the holiday season, this practice takes on added significance as students come from diverse backgrounds, each with their own ways of celebrating or even not celebrating.

During this time of the year, there is often an overwhelming focus on holidays like Christmas, which can unintentionally leave out students who don’t celebrate it. Focusing on Christmas can make students from other religious or cultural backgrounds feel excluded or invisible. Equally important are students from secular or atheist backgrounds who may not observe any holidays. Failing to acknowledge the diversity in holiday practices can send the message that only certain traditions are “valuable,” while others are not. 

So what can we do to make sure we are being inclusive of all students? 

We can begin by reflecting on our own biases and assumptions. It’s easy to default to the traditions that feel familiar, but doing so without consideration can exclude students. This holiday season, take some time to question how your personal experiences shape the way you celebrate or discuss the holidays in your classroom. 

I was raised Catholic so celebrating Christmas is tradition, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else celebrates Christmas like I do. So I started asking myself two main questions that allowed me to change my practices. 

• How can I include students who do not share the same beliefs? 
• How can I ensure that every student sees themselves reflected in the classroom, not just during the holidays but all year round?

Building an Inclusive Classroom During the Holidays

Below are some ideas you can try this holiday season to create a more culturally responsive classroom. 

1. Include other holidays besides Christmas

Instead of focusing on just one holiday, make room for multiple cultural celebrations. Teach students about Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and other observances that occur around the same time. One way you can teach students about different holidays is through mentor texts. By exposing students to a wide range of traditions, you not only validate their cultural identities but also broaden everyone’s perspective. 

Here are a few ideas for books you can use to teach about different holidays:

• • The Story of Hanukkah by David A. Adler teaches the origins and significance of Hanukkah. 
  • The Eight Nights of Chanukah by Leslea Newman helps teach the traditions and symbols of the holiday. 

• Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar teaches about the Hindu festival of lights. 

• Amma, Tell Me About Diwali! By Bhakti Mathur shares the tales of Diwali and the celebration of light over darkness. 

• My First Kwanzaa by Karen Katz covers each day of the celebration and the seven principals. 

• Let’s Celebrate by Kate DePalma teaches the beauty of different cultures and traditions. 

• Our Favorite Day of the Year by A.E. Ali is a story about friendship and celebrating diversity. 

2. Create Space for Dialogue and Sharing

One of the simplest and most powerful ways to foster inclusivity during the holidays is to give students the opportunity to share their own traditions if they feel comfortable. Encourage students to talk about how they and their families observe (or don’t observe) holidays. This can be done through class discussions where students express what the holiday season means to them. This highlights the richness of different cultural practices and will help students build an understanding of their differences during this time. 

3. Be Mindful of Students’ Needs

Culturally responsive teaching means respecting boundaries and ensuring that students don’t feel pressured to engage in traditions that don’t align with their beliefs. Revise your classroom activities so that students do not feel uncomfortable participating in certain holiday activities due to religious or personal beliefs. Instead, you can try making a holiday recipe book that includes different cultural dishes or winter decorations such as snowflakes instead of Christmas trees. 

4. Celebrate Common Values

Rather than focusing solely on specific holiday practices, you can use this time to highlight common values that resonate across cultures—such as generosity, kindness, and community. This allows students to find common ground and appreciate what connects them, regardless of their backgrounds. 

See below for a list of recommended books that focus on common values. 

Generosity

• • Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts helps students learn about empathy and generosity. 

• Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud shows students how generosity can uplift both the giver and receiver.

• • The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister shows students the power of friendship and the rewards of generosity. 

• Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña helps students understand the value of giving back to others. 

Kindness

• Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller explores simple, everyday ways children can be kind to others and make the world a better place. 

• I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët teaches students how one act of kindness can inspire others. 

• Kindness is My Superpower by Alicia Ortego emphasizes the value of empathy and respect. 

Community

• Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora illustrates the power of gratitude and community. 

• • Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell is a great story about creativity, community, and working together.

• The Big Umbrella by Amy June Bates and Juniper Bates shows how communities are strengthened by kindness and inclusion. 

As we move towards the holiday season, we can easily get carried away with the Christmas decorations and activities.  This year, I invite you to try incorporating culturally responsive teaching to help transform this time of the year from a place of possible exclusion to a community of understanding and belonging. A big lesson that I learned when I was in the classroom, is that sometimes the most important lessons we can teach are those that teach us how to be better humans to one another.

You might enjoy these too:

• De-Centering Christmas Celebrations in Our Classrooms
• Creating New Thanksgiving Traditions