In this post I will be exploring the use of culturally relevant pedagogy in the United States and benefits of incorporating this into teaching. I had already had an interest in this topic mainly because it is something that is emphasized in many of the education classes at Michigan State. However, in the discussion with Bowen Paulle, author of Toxic Schools, I realized that even though culturally relevant pedagogy is a practice I am passionate about, I do not know enough about it to make strong arguments against statistically driven scholars. Paulle seemed to believe that culture is not important when teaching because when one looks at the statistics in terms of socioeconomic class, the races are more or less equal. Exploring this topic is important to me because I feel as if during the discussion my arguments and concerns were not being heard and that in order to effectively get my message across I need to have more information to pull from. Using the words of scholars who have done extensive research will give me more credibility. Also, culturally relevant pedagogy is something that I wish to implement in my own future classroom, therefore, I should know as much about it as possible. This topic is important for others because using the culture of students to help them learn would help make the most of the time they spend in class, creating a more productive class, and in turn a more productive society. In the meeting with Bowen Paulle I brought up the issue that students in a minority group are often made to give up aspects of their identity in order to be successful. This concern came from a class I had recently taken discussing the microaggressions and linguistics discrimination that many students face, specifically towards African American students. I was uncomfortable when Bowen Paulle seemed to dismiss Black culture and its importance in the students’ lives and learning. Many of these students are not even aware that they are speaking a different language that is a part of their culture because of the history of slavery in the United States, but they do know that their teachers are telling them they are speaking improperly and their peers view them as “ghetto” so when they learn to speak “correctly” they lose some of themselves. Ladson-Billings, while giving examples of culturally relevant teaching, mentions a teacher who encouraged her students to write in their home language in order to effectively express their ideas. They were then asked to translate their writing into the standard of English, teaching the students how to use both languages. This brings a part of students’ culture into the classroom and gives them tools to move forward in a world that will not accept anything other than the standard set by those with privilege. In a study done by Mary Langlie, part of her results concluded that, “Although this research concerns itself primarily with grade school African American students, the results suggest that teaching pedagogies that are culturally sensitive have a positive effect on the academic achievement of African American students” (pg. 50). When talking to a teacher from the International School of Paris, he said that the most important part of teaching is forming a bond with his students. I believe that culturally relevant teaching is a way to show students that as a teacher you care about them as an individual. Taking the time to understand their culture and relate one’s teaching to that is a way of showing and not telling that effort was put in to make them more comfortable as a learner. I hope that through this inquiry post that anyone who may come across this blog will become interested and read more into the topic because there are many scholars out there who advocate the same thing and plenty of information for those who want to know. I also hope that as a future educator I am now more informed and will continue to explore this idea of culturally relevant pedagogy and implement this into my own teaching. This whole experience leading up to writing my inquiry post opened my eyes to the idea that not everyone is worried about the diversity in their classroom in terms of culture, which is an interesting viewpoint. However, this also opened my eyes to how passionate I am about teaching to the needs of all my students. When in the college of education within Michigan State, most people are so like minded that I would not have thought this view would be questioned but now I am more prepared to give an informed view of this side of the issue. References
Interview with teacher at International School. Paris, France. May 28, 2016. Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But that's just good teaching!: The case for culturally relevant pedagogy (Vol. 34, Culturally Relevant Teaching). Columbus, OH: College of Education, The Ohio State University. Langlie, M. (2008). The effect of culturally relevant pedagogy on the mathematics achievement of black and Hispanic high school students. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. |