Blog 5 - Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

I apologize for seeming belligerent to the ladies who were addressing Topic 5 in class tonight, but the random phrase, transition “from learning styles to principles,” used in their story was confusing to me out of context. I had a question about that phrase before I came to class, so perhaps my confusion may have come off offensive. All of that was to say: this is what led to my research for this week’s blog. : )

When I went back to the text during class, I found a few clues, if you will, to direct my studies. First, this phrase is specifically discussing Ladson-Billings’ 1994 theory of teaching, termed “culturally relevant pedagogy.” It is specifically focused on students who experience alienation and hostility; Ladson-Billings was studying African-American students. When she said to move away from learning styles toward “a particular set of principles about teaching” (Ladson-Billings, 2001, p. 111, emphasis mine), she did not mean we should teach our students principles of tolerance and a united humanity as was discussed in class. She was arguing against previous studies that determined learning styles were the main differences between students of diverse cultures and the majority culture. She goes on to list the three guiding principles of teaching that should be the focus of educating students of diverse cultures:

• focus on academic achievement: whether or not scholars can agree on the significance of standardized achievement tests, they still serve to rank and characterize both schools and individuals,
• help students develop a positive identification with their home culture that supports learning, which will provide a way for students to maintain their cultural integrity while succeeding academically, and
• focus on sociopolitical consciousness: civic and social awareness students must develop to work toward equity and justice beyond their own personal advancement (111).

I don’t know how I missed these clear steps the first time I read this selection, but it does seem very straightforward now. Obviously, Ladson-Billings is a much respected name in the field of culturally relevant pedagogy, as a simple Google search of her name yields endless results of citations in scholarly articles and various foundations who build upon her work. One is the Teaching Diverse Students Initiative (TDSi), which can be found at www.tolerance.org/tdsi. This organization was founded by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and has multiple resources and information for educators. Another is the Education Alliance: Teaching Diverse Learners at Brown University, which can be found at http://www.alliance.brown.edu/tdl/tl-strategies/crt-principles.shtml. It has listed out seven principles for culturally responsive teaching, which are each given their own informational section. Each section includes the definition, rationale, and application of each principle. I encourage anyone who, like myself, would like to see how to implement some of the things we are learning in this class to check out either (or both) of these websites. I found them extremely helpful and informative!

References

Education Alliance: Teaching Diverse Learners. http://www.alliance.brown.edu/tdl/tl-strategies/crt-principles.shtml

Ladson-Billings, G. (2001). The power of pedagogy: Does teaching matter? In Jana Noel (Ed.), Classic edition sources: Multicultural education (3rd ed.) (pp. 110-114). New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill.

Teaching Diverse Students Initiative. www.tolerance.org/tdsi