Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in Action: Views from Inside a Secondary Social Studies Teacher’s Classroom

Building confidence through culturally sustaining spaces for teachers and students

“…In her own schooling experience, it wasn't until she entered a school of teacher preparation that she found a space that supported her own cultural exploration. As she has reflected on these schooling spaces, she has found that they describe culturally sustaining pedagogies (Jimenez-Silva & Luevanos, 2017). Thus, she has made sure to provide culturally sustaining spaces for her students and made sure to find safe spaces for herself as a teacher as well.…”

“…Paris and Alim (2014) have described culturally sustaining pedagogy as an approach to teaching that explicitly promotes cultural pluralism by sustaining students' home cultures. This includes instructional approaches that help students make connections between what they learn at home and what they learn at school and building student-teacher relationships that support students' socioemotional, cultural and academic development (Jimenez-Silva & Luevanos, 2017).…”

“…It wasn't until she enrolled in her teacher preparation program that she was able to value her cultural identity in an academic space which would further influence her decision to become a bilingual educator. Her lived experiences of exclusion and the struggle to find spaces in which she could be her true authentic self, influence the pedagogical choices she makes in creating a classroom space that is culturally sustaining and affirming (Jimenez-Silva & Luevanos, 2017). As a result of this, Linda makes a conscious effort to value the identity and home knowledge of the students in her classroom as a key element of her praxis.…”

“…The way she describes her life and teaching reminds us of Anzaldua's (1987) description of exhibiting and living a mestiza consciousness, or having the ability to live, thrive and teach intentionally in two contrasting social worlds. Linda applies this consciousness to culturally sustaining instruction (Jimenez-Silva & Luevanos, 2017), with her life a bridge between how she teaches and why she is culturally inclusive. We explore how her experiences have led her to seek similar spaces as an educator and have led her to collaborative work within a culturally sustaining out-of-school program for Mexican American students in Austin, Texas.…”

Book review: *

“…Research examining the implementation of CSP in social studies examines the way in which this paradigm can begin to be integrated through the use of film as exemplified in a preservice methods course (Parkhouse, 2015) and instructional methods utilized in U.S. and World History classrooms (Jimenez-Silva and Luevanos, 2017). Both studies seek to build on the growing scholarship centering on CSP and provide further insight into how CSP can be utilized despite the overt whiteness of the social studies curriculum.…”