Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in a Diverse Urban Classroom

Abstract

While it is well established that the ability of teachers to build cultural competence is a critical aspect of their work especially in urban and highly diverse settings, the kinds of experiences that help them build cultural competence is less clear. The author attempts to contribute to this void by showcasing a White, science teacher's experiences in building cultural competence in a highly diverse urban school. Culturally relevant pedagogy is used as an analytic tool to explain and uncover the ways in which the teacher develops cultural knowledge to maximize student learning opportunities. The basic premise of the article is that this White teacher was able to build cultural congruence with his highly diverse learners because he developed cultural competence and concurrently deepened his knowledge and understanding of himself and his practices. Practicing teachers, teacher educators, and researchers are provided a picture of how the teacher builds relationships with his students, how he deepens his knowledge about how identity and race manifest in the urban context, and how he implements a communal and collective approach to his work as he builds cultural knowledge and cultural competence about himself, his students, and his practices.

Culturally Responsive Peace Education: A Case Study at One Urban Latino K-8 Catholic School

“…To develop such relationships with students, teachers must attain a deep understanding of-usually through a sustained interaction with-their students' home communities and families (Milner, 2011). "Cultural competence" thus specifically refers to a teacher's capacity to assess and interpret socioeconomic, racial, and gendered experiences of culture and power in relation to her students (Abrums and Leppa, 2001;Seeleman, Suurmand, & Stronks, 2009;Milner, 2011).…”

“…"Cultural competence" thus specifically refers to a teacher's capacity to assess and interpret socioeconomic, racial, and gendered experiences of culture and power in relation to her students (Abrums and Leppa, 2001;Seeleman, Suurmand, & Stronks, 2009;Milner, 2011). This interpretive capacity provides the requisite dexterity to enact pedagogies that are congruent with students' specific backgrounds.…”

“…The topics discussed during the program at St. Dominic invited students to share things that many school spaces typically either ignore or even disallow. From the data, it is evident that one of things that made the program so successful is that Mr. Lucas and Mr. Adrian were both able to forge trusting relationships with the students, chiefly because of their cultural competence (Milner, 2011). A teacher's cultural responsiveness is a decisive aspect of any educational encounter, and this is especially true in peace education.…”

Access to culturally responsive teaching for English language learners : mainstream teacher perceptions and practice on inclusion.

“…Milner (2011) stated that "culturally relevant pedagogy" is used to discuss or describe the theory of culturally responsive teaching while the term "culturally responsive teaching" is used to describe the practice of the theory. Culturally responsive teaching is teaching that is designed not only to fit the school culture to the students' culture but also to use student culture as the basis for helping students understand themselves and others, structure social interactions, and help students conceptualize knowledge (Ladson-Billings, 1992).…”

“…Public education was not designed for African-Americans or people of color. Milner (2011) states that people in power are often, in discourse, supportive of research, policies, and practices that do not oppress and discriminate against others as long as they-those in power-do not have to alter their own systems of privilege; they may not want to give up their own interests to fight against racism, confront injustice, or shed light on hegemony. White fragility is a state in which racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves.…”