Persia Ali

8/3/16
A common theme throughout all of these readings was culturally
relevant teaching. Too often, students are subjected to history classes or
reading classes where the content they are reading is either not relevant to
them, or they are reading about people that dont look like them. This can be
a big factor as to why students shut down and become disengaged in the
material. Delpit gives an example of a study where two schools, only
separated by a few miles, both serving African-American students, had very
different outcomes. One school excelled in scores while the other was at the
bottom of the district. A big factor in this was how teachers chose to engage
their students. In underperforming classes, teachers were letting students do
seat work and not many questions were asked and when they were it didnt
require students to do any critical thinking. Students had little or no
connection to the objective or SWBAT.
Culturally relevant teaching is a term created by Gloria Ladson-Billings
(1994) to describe a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually,
socially, emotionally and politically by using cultural referents to impact
knowledge, skills and attitudes (Coffey). What that means for me as a
teacher is, I still have to follow the common core standards, but I need to
figure out a way to make the material not only interesting, but relevant to
my students. This means finding a way they can relate to it and allow
students to draw from their own knowledge and experience. Whats their

connection to something? How might it impact them? Once you find a way to
connect it to something they know, you have the buy in. You have activated
prior knowledge. Now you can build on that prior knowledge and recognize
how to build on their strength.
In Coffeys article, she discusses Ladsons Billings study and how a
teacher connected her love of poetry with the students love of rap music
and they performed. Negative effects can occur because students arent
seeing their history, culture or background represented in the classroom
(Ladson-Billings).
Engaging students culture also means respecting and honoring your
students, their families and their cultures. We all come from different
backgrounds, so its my job to connect with and engage with my students,
not belittle them or make them think negatively about their upbringing. The
best way to figure out how to find meaningful and relevant material is to ask
your students. They are the ones you are teaching. Their voice needs to be
included in the process.
In addition to making the material relevant, you have to show your
students you care for them. None of the work you do will mean anything if
you dont genuinely care about how well they are doing and push them to do
better. If I am not genuinely interested in knowing what my students want to
learn and figure out a way to make it relevant and incorporate it into lesson
plans, then I have given up on them before the school year even started.
Setting high expectations is necessary and has shown to be an effective

strategy for getting your students to succeed, but its not enough. The other
component is care and concern (Coffey). Students want a teacher who is
concerned about them and wants them to do their best. Students need to
trust you and know their classroom is a safe space. Taking the extra step to
find out how to make material culturally relevant opens that door of
communication, trust and safe space with your students. Once thats
established, your students will be engaged. They will want to come to class
and learn. They will want to participate and do the assignments. They want a
teacher who pushes them and wont give up on them.
I know from personal experience, I was teaching my students during
Teach for Americas summer institute. I was forced to used scripted lesson
plans about books my students werent interested in. They thought I thought
they were stupid because of the content and how it didnt engage them and
push them. I then asked to do a lesson plan about Jackie Robinson. I saw a
complete 180 in my students. They wanted to read. They wanted to
participate in questions. I had to pull exit tickets from their hands because
they had so much they wanted to write and class was over. But most
importantly, they were engaged and they learned a lot of new information
about a black man who changed the face of baseball for the future. They saw
someone who looked like them, endured struggles like them and overcame
obstacles and barriers. Its a great example of how you can still educate your
students but make it meaningful, impactful and long-lasting.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). From The Dreamkeepers: Successful teaching for

African-American children. Does Culture Matter?
Coffey, H. (2013). Culturally relevant teaching
Delpit, L. (2012). From Multiplication is for White People: Raising
Expectations for Other Peoples Children. Introduction and Chapter 4.