Culturally Responsive Teaching Across PK-20: Honoring the Historical Naming Practices of Students of Color

Abstract

By the time children enter school, they know how to spell their names and are accustomed to their family's and community's pronunciation of their names; those names are generally the first aspect of their identity we educators recognize when they enter our classrooms. As the nation's classrooms become more diverse, there is an urgent need for educators at all levels to enact multicultural and culturally responsive teaching to bridge theory and praxis as central in developing critical race theory's commitment to social justice. My work builds on Pérez Huber and Solórzano's (2015) racial microaggressions model by analyzing historical and current naming artifacts that challenge the mispronouncing, Anglicizing, and (re)naming of students of color. I describe pedagogical tools that educators can employ to foster the development of critical consciousness about the importance of students' names and their connection to their identities. Finally, the 'hidden transcripts' of names and naming practices within communities of color reveal their intergenerational resistance to white supremacy.

Agency and power in classroom names and naming practices

“…Both teachers, Mrs Winter and Ms Summer, wielded power in the classroom that was proportional to the recognition of authority that they received from their students (Bourdieu 1991). This recognition of authority was described by Marrun (2018) who explained why she could not correct a teacher who mispronounced her name:…”

“…Souto-Manning ( 2007) called for the scrutinisation of renaming students with Anglicised names, claiming that this 'social and political practice' was symptomatic of wider societal issues related to negative stereotypes of bicultural and/or bilingual learners. More recently, Marrun (2018) and Kohli and Solórzano (2012) have interpreted the mispronunciation, Anglicisation and (re)naming practices as acts of racial microaggression, defined as: Subtle verbal and non-verbal insults/assaults directed toward people of Color, often carried out automatically or unconsciously; Layered insults/assaults, based on one's race, gender, class, sexuality, language, immigration status, phenotype, accent, or name;…”

“…(Kohli and Solórzano 2012, 447) Naming satisfies every level of this definition; names may be used as subtle insults, as a layered insult of one's language, accent or name, and it may be a cumulative insult occurring frequently or over a period of time. Research grounded in critical race theory has also suggested that naming and naming practices have potentially transformative value for schools and school communities (Kohli and Solórzano 2012, Marrun 2018, Souto-Manning 2011 if used appropriately. When teachers are critically conscious of how naming practices impact students, this may influence their attitudes, beliefs and pedagogy to make their classrooms more inclusive and welcoming to all student identities.…”

First-Day Info Sheets: A Tool to Prompt Semester-Long Inclusive Teaching

“…This effort communicates that everyone belongs in our classrooms, especially students from groups historically minoritized by academia (4).…”

More than names on a roster: the many meanings behind Sgaw Karen names

“…Studies like Marrun (2018) use critical race theory to explore naming practices in American classrooms. Marrun views the Americanization of student names as part of a long history of assimilationist practices and micro-aggressions in US schools.…”