Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Ladson-Billings wrote that culturally relevant teachers exhibit confidence in African American
students' ability to learn by maintaining high academic expectations and affirming "their cultural
identity . . ." (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Culturally relevant teachers harness the power inherent to
their occupation to confront institutional and systemic practices which disempower students of
color. For these instructors, education becomes a liberatory exercise where classroom
assignments become opportunities to teach for social justice. Additionally, culturally relevant
instructors place tremendous emphasis on supporting African American students' of academic
achievement (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Far from sympathetic, this support represents a sincere
desire to take the necessary measures so the educational experience is germane to these students'
lived experiences. Lastly, Ladson-Billings asserts that culturally relevant instructors must
embody sociopolitical consciousness. Sociopolitical consciousness is an orientation toward
social activism to eliminate social inequities (Ladson-Billings, 2000). Taken together, these
ingredients are integral and inseparable from the teaching enterprise, especially when that
enterprise is rendered to students of color (Ladson-Billings, 2000; Thompson, 2004).
Wise (2008) stated 'Whiteness' does not refer to biological characteristics, but beliefs,
presuppositions, and attitudes derived from the cultural perspective of the dominant culture.
What's more, these beliefs, presuppositions, and attitudes are projected as neutral and universal
with little consideration for the worldviews of racially and ethnically different people (Lea &
Sims, 2008).
Within education, 'Whiteness' operates as color-blindness, culturally neutral meritocratic
schooling, and deficit thinking, which may run counter to the experiences and pattems of
socialization of minority students (Leonardo, 2002). Bonilla-Silva (2006) finds that colorblindness
obscures the impact of racism and diverts conversations away from exposing systemic
discrimination that non-Whites experience. As these practices play an integral role in the
performance of African American students, it is essential for teachers to consider their impact.
Broaching race and Whiteness with teachers, however, has not come without certain
challenges. Uneasiness and obliviousness are hallmarks of 'Whiteness' within educational
settings (Lea & Sims, 2008; Mclntosh, 1989; Sleeter & Grant, 2007), while defensiveness among
White teachers is not uncommon when notions of 'Whiteness' and White privilege are invoked
(Sue, Capodilupo, & Holder, 2008). Teachers often exhibit confusion and frustration when
conversations about race and their relevance to classroom instruction are initiated (Solomon et
al., 2005) because they often do not identify as members of a racial group (Lawrence & Tatum,
1997; Tatum, 1997) or the beneficiary of uneamed racial privileges (Mclntosh, 1989).
Wise (2008) found that reticence has prevented many White Americans from considering
the privileges their racial classification affords them. In regard to White privilege. Wise, a White
male himself, offer this insightful analogy: "Privilege, to us, is like water to the fish, invisible
precisely because we carmot image life without it" (p. 241). Therefore, some practicing White
teachers have infrequently considered the implications of racial privilege or the dominant
cultural perspective has on culturally diverse students (Lea & Sims, 2008). Therefore,
'Whiteness' is the conceptual framework for this study because it facilitates an examination of
teachers' "overall understanding of their racial identity; the ideologies with which they enter the
classroom"
A wareness and Challenges of Increasing Diversity
With few exceptions, teachers discussed the increased presence of racially and ethnically
different students in their school. One female teacher talked about the changes that have
occurred:
I think it's changed in the past. Like, I student-taught here back in '93 [when working on my degree], I
tbink it was. It's very different here than it was then. Like you [in reference to another focus group
member] said the population's become more diverse . ..
This sentiment was shared by other teachers within and outside of this group:
. . . we knew we were growing and we knew we were diversifying . . .
Well, that's not always the case, and it varies within but there are some characteristics that you can see
from the different economic levels that we need to be aware of and we need to start working on.
While teachers were aware that racially, ethnically, and linguistically different students were
entering their classrooms, they also discussed the challenges associated with the changing
student demographic and how they attempt to respond to these challenges effectively:
As we grow more diverse, we are dealing with more .. . different kinds of issues than we've ever dealt
with. I haven't been here that long, but from talking to everybody, I think we've got more issues and
more complication and cultural differences than we've ever had. So I think we're all leaming how to
best deal with, with all the situations.
One challenge associated with the presence of racially diverse students was the increased
salience of race and race-related incidents. Discussions of race were uncomfortable and avoided
at all cost. Frequently, teachers expressed discomfort when accusations of racism were made. As
the following quote illustrates, these accusations left teachers uncertain about how to interact
effectively with some of their African ^^merican students:
I would say that one of my biggest concems about the whole deal is when you reprimand certain
individuals they come back at you with "You're only doing this because of my color and because of
my background and those different types of things. And here, you can do, I mean you can go through
and do the same thing to everybody in the class and all of the sudden you're doing this to me because
I'm this color, or I'm just different, that you're picking on me," that's probably the toughest thing to . .
and then, you know how do you respond to that to see that you don't blow it into a whole big, a whole
big argument and things like that? But you're certainly treating them the same way as the others, but
they don't see it the same way.
Another example of this reluctance to reprimand African American students can be seen here as
well:
Secondary Researcher: Well, what sorts of things happened, or what are you referring to in the
hallways, what sort of observations have you made where race may have become an issue?
Teacher: Well, the kids . . . Their comeback is that "It's because of my color," or whatever. The issue
is groups of kids hanging out together, and you say it to anybody. "Girls let's get moving, boys let's
get going," White, Black, anybody that's in a group, you say, "Come on, let's go." And there's a
certain group that stands down by the, in the middle of the hallway, and if you address that group, that
happens to be Black, then that's their comeback, that "You're going to teU me to move because it's
three or four Black kids that are standing together." No, it's because there's a group, and you're late
for class, so it's not . . . I think that's their perception, and that's not how or why we're addressing it,
it's because classes started, we need to get moving, and we've addressed everyone else down the
hallway. It's not for any other reason than, get to class. And that's where I see . . . that playing hard.
Teachers felt confiicted about how to appropriately react in these situations. Teachers felt an
obligation to enforce school rules, but were often apprehensive because of African American
students' accusations of racial bias.
Unfortunately, as teachers discussed the uncertainty precipitated by students' racial
accusations, teachers often characterized these accusations as instances of "playing the race
card." More than one teacher asserted that playing the race card was a frequent occurrence:
Because in my classroom—I know both of you were saying that you don't have that problem with
"Well, you're just saying that to me because I'm Black," or because I'm whatever... I do, but I have
Tim's kids, and I think the more we get into general behavior issues of all students, the more we see
that race card playing out. . . . I don't think you normally see that, just like you guys don't see a lot of
the race card being played on the other end either, but when I have her [Tina] kids, I would say almost
daily, that card is pulled and then what do you do?
You know, I find it interesting this year, I have a higher number of racial issues this year—I have a
Hispanic and Black students and White students in my classroom this year. I have worked with two
different paraprofessionals in my classroom this year, one a White female and one a Black male, and
if—routinely, almost daily, as you guys say, the White female says something, redirects those students
of race, they pull the race card, "You're just picking on me because I'm Black, or because I'm dumb,
or whatever." But when the African American paraprofessional was in my classroom—and I don't
know if it's because he was of the same race, or because he was male but—much, much less retort
from the students, and it was, "Why are you being so uncool?" it was that, rather than playing the race
card.
According to this teacher, her actions are not associated with a student's race and, therefore,
should not be characterized as racist or racially biased.
Teachers in the focus groups insisted that they would be more effective at educating African
American students if they received prerequisite information about these students' backgrounds.
This information was paramount because, as one teacher commented, "the majority of teachers
are White, grew up in White schools. . . ." From this, one can infer that teachers perceived their
rearing in racially homogeneous neighborhoods were qualitatively different from those of their
African American students. Therefore, several teachers deemed this Information an indispensable
component in rapport building with African American students:
It's hard, but you've got to remember that that's, you know, the most important thing. Because if
you've got a kid that's sitting in your class that's not going to work, you can take the time to build a
relationship, or you can spend a hundred-and-some eight days fighting the kid the whole way. So, in
the long run, it pays off, for the kid and for you.
Teachers also mentioned that it was important to become more familiar with issues African
American students confront (e.g., increased responsibilities in the home) because they can
interfere with their schooling. Take for example the following comments:
Secondary Researcher: Some teachers expressed that there's a lack of knowledge on their part about
where the kids come from and how not having that knowledge prior to the classroom experiences
makes it a little difficult to teach as effectively as they might, because there are so many variables that
are important to establishing rapport that they don't have yet, so they find themselves trying to
establish rapport in addition to teaching, and sometimes things get lost in cultural translation, so to
speak. Does that—are those incidents ever [occurring], o r . . . ?
Teacher: And I think we really don't have enough time to sit down. Sometimes we have who's at
Timberlake, but I mean her story and the things that went on in her life, when she's talked to me just
one on one, kind of helps me understand why she is kind of the way she is. I mean, she was out
stealing for food and whatever else they could steal out of Walgreen's as a kid to help her mom and,
you know; she's going home again and staying with grandma now, because mom's in jail. And not
knowing that about her, you might think she's coming across kind o f . . . aggressive. . . . And I think
she's had to be that way to survive so, I think I agree that knowing a little bit more about some of our
kids would be very helpful.
For teachers, this background information enhances their ability to better educate African
American students. While teachers aspired to intervene in the lives of African American
students, they believed their success was compromised by the lack of information they received
about African American students' backgrounds. When adequate information about African
American students' backgrounds was not acquired, teachers expressed regret for not seizing
every opportunity to connect with African American students:
I guess I think about, in years past, that had I known, you know, I get to the middle of the school year,
and had I known some things about a student or a group of students that I was working with at the
beginning of the year, things could have been different. I could have planned a little bit better for
whatever it was, whatever unit or something that we were teaching or even just the relationship piece,
had I known some of that prior to them being in my classroom.
As these teachers' awareness of diversity and associated challenges increased, so too did
their awareness of resistance to diversity. Several teachers described White students' limited
racial awareness and how this precipitated racial insensitivity incidents. Apparently, White
students in this school have made inappropriate comments toward African American students or
had negative reactions when ethnic names were announced over the pubUc address system.
Behaviors like these, which can make African American students feel unwelcomed, were
conceming. Teachers felt compelled to address this lack of awareness through teachable moments.
Work Cited
Henfield, H. &, Washington, A. I want to do the right thing but what is it?": WhiteTeachers' Experiences with African American Students. The Journal of Negro Education, 81 (ï), 148-161.
Ladson-Billings wrote that culturally relevant teachers exhibit confidence in African American
students' ability to learn by maintaining high academic expectations and affirming "their cultural
identity . . ." (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Culturally relevant teachers harness the power inherent to
their occupation to confront institutional and systemic practices which disempower students of
color. For these instructors, education becomes a liberatory exercise where classroom
assignments become opportunities to teach for social justice. Additionally, culturally relevant
instructors place tremendous emphasis on supporting African American students' of academic
achievement (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Far from sympathetic, this support represents a sincere
desire to take the necessary measures so the educational experience is germane to these students'
lived experiences. Lastly, Ladson-Billings asserts that culturally relevant instructors must
embody sociopolitical consciousness. Sociopolitical consciousness is an orientation toward
social activism to eliminate social inequities (Ladson-Billings, 2000). Taken together, these
ingredients are integral and inseparable from the teaching enterprise, especially when that
enterprise is rendered to students of color (Ladson-Billings, 2000; Thompson, 2004).
Wise (2008) stated 'Whiteness' does not refer to biological characteristics, but beliefs,
presuppositions, and attitudes derived from the cultural perspective of the dominant culture.
What's more, these beliefs, presuppositions, and attitudes are projected as neutral and universal
with little consideration for the worldviews of racially and ethnically different people (Lea &
Sims, 2008).
Within education, 'Whiteness' operates as color-blindness, culturally neutral meritocratic
schooling, and deficit thinking, which may run counter to the experiences and pattems of
socialization of minority students (Leonardo, 2002). Bonilla-Silva (2006) finds that colorblindness
obscures the impact of racism and diverts conversations away from exposing systemic
discrimination that non-Whites experience. As these practices play an integral role in the
performance of African American students, it is essential for teachers to consider their impact.
Broaching race and Whiteness with teachers, however, has not come without certain
challenges. Uneasiness and obliviousness are hallmarks of 'Whiteness' within educational
settings (Lea & Sims, 2008; Mclntosh, 1989; Sleeter & Grant, 2007), while defensiveness among
White teachers is not uncommon when notions of 'Whiteness' and White privilege are invoked
(Sue, Capodilupo, & Holder, 2008). Teachers often exhibit confusion and frustration when
conversations about race and their relevance to classroom instruction are initiated (Solomon et
al., 2005) because they often do not identify as members of a racial group (Lawrence & Tatum,
1997; Tatum, 1997) or the beneficiary of uneamed racial privileges (Mclntosh, 1989).
Wise (2008) found that reticence has prevented many White Americans from considering
the privileges their racial classification affords them. In regard to White privilege. Wise, a White
male himself, offer this insightful analogy: "Privilege, to us, is like water to the fish, invisible
precisely because we carmot image life without it" (p. 241). Therefore, some practicing White
teachers have infrequently considered the implications of racial privilege or the dominant
cultural perspective has on culturally diverse students (Lea & Sims, 2008). Therefore,
'Whiteness' is the conceptual framework for this study because it facilitates an examination of
teachers' "overall understanding of their racial identity; the ideologies with which they enter the
classroom"
A wareness and Challenges of Increasing Diversity
With few exceptions, teachers discussed the increased presence of racially and ethnically
different students in their school. One female teacher talked about the changes that have
occurred:
I think it's changed in the past. Like, I student-taught here back in '93 [when working on my degree], I
tbink it was. It's very different here than it was then. Like you [in reference to another focus group
member] said the population's become more diverse . ..
This sentiment was shared by other teachers within and outside of this group:
. . . we knew we were growing and we knew we were diversifying . . .
Well, that's not always the case, and it varies within but there are some characteristics that you can see
from the different economic levels that we need to be aware of and we need to start working on.
While teachers were aware that racially, ethnically, and linguistically different students were
entering their classrooms, they also discussed the challenges associated with the changing
student demographic and how they attempt to respond to these challenges effectively:
As we grow more diverse, we are dealing with more .. . different kinds of issues than we've ever dealt
with. I haven't been here that long, but from talking to everybody, I think we've got more issues and
more complication and cultural differences than we've ever had. So I think we're all leaming how to
best deal with, with all the situations.
One challenge associated with the presence of racially diverse students was the increased
salience of race and race-related incidents. Discussions of race were uncomfortable and avoided
at all cost. Frequently, teachers expressed discomfort when accusations of racism were made. As
the following quote illustrates, these accusations left teachers uncertain about how to interact
effectively with some of their African ^^merican students:
I would say that one of my biggest concems about the whole deal is when you reprimand certain
individuals they come back at you with "You're only doing this because of my color and because of
my background and those different types of things. And here, you can do, I mean you can go through
and do the same thing to everybody in the class and all of the sudden you're doing this to me because
I'm this color, or I'm just different, that you're picking on me," that's probably the toughest thing to . .
and then, you know how do you respond to that to see that you don't blow it into a whole big, a whole
big argument and things like that? But you're certainly treating them the same way as the others, but
they don't see it the same way.
Another example of this reluctance to reprimand African American students can be seen here as
well:
Secondary Researcher: Well, what sorts of things happened, or what are you referring to in the
hallways, what sort of observations have you made where race may have become an issue?
Teacher: Well, the kids . . . Their comeback is that "It's because of my color," or whatever. The issue
is groups of kids hanging out together, and you say it to anybody. "Girls let's get moving, boys let's
get going," White, Black, anybody that's in a group, you say, "Come on, let's go." And there's a
certain group that stands down by the, in the middle of the hallway, and if you address that group, that
happens to be Black, then that's their comeback, that "You're going to teU me to move because it's
three or four Black kids that are standing together." No, it's because there's a group, and you're late
for class, so it's not . . . I think that's their perception, and that's not how or why we're addressing it,
it's because classes started, we need to get moving, and we've addressed everyone else down the
hallway. It's not for any other reason than, get to class. And that's where I see . . . that playing hard.
Teachers felt confiicted about how to appropriately react in these situations. Teachers felt an
obligation to enforce school rules, but were often apprehensive because of African American
students' accusations of racial bias.
Unfortunately, as teachers discussed the uncertainty precipitated by students' racial
accusations, teachers often characterized these accusations as instances of "playing the race
card." More than one teacher asserted that playing the race card was a frequent occurrence:
Because in my classroom—I know both of you were saying that you don't have that problem with
"Well, you're just saying that to me because I'm Black," or because I'm whatever... I do, but I have
Tim's kids, and I think the more we get into general behavior issues of all students, the more we see
that race card playing out. . . . I don't think you normally see that, just like you guys don't see a lot of
the race card being played on the other end either, but when I have her [Tina] kids, I would say almost
daily, that card is pulled and then what do you do?
You know, I find it interesting this year, I have a higher number of racial issues this year—I have a
Hispanic and Black students and White students in my classroom this year. I have worked with two
different paraprofessionals in my classroom this year, one a White female and one a Black male, and
if—routinely, almost daily, as you guys say, the White female says something, redirects those students
of race, they pull the race card, "You're just picking on me because I'm Black, or because I'm dumb,
or whatever." But when the African American paraprofessional was in my classroom—and I don't
know if it's because he was of the same race, or because he was male but—much, much less retort
from the students, and it was, "Why are you being so uncool?" it was that, rather than playing the race
card.
According to this teacher, her actions are not associated with a student's race and, therefore,
should not be characterized as racist or racially biased.
Teachers in the focus groups insisted that they would be more effective at educating African
American students if they received prerequisite information about these students' backgrounds.
This information was paramount because, as one teacher commented, "the majority of teachers
are White, grew up in White schools. . . ." From this, one can infer that teachers perceived their
rearing in racially homogeneous neighborhoods were qualitatively different from those of their
African American students. Therefore, several teachers deemed this Information an indispensable
component in rapport building with African American students:
It's hard, but you've got to remember that that's, you know, the most important thing. Because if
you've got a kid that's sitting in your class that's not going to work, you can take the time to build a
relationship, or you can spend a hundred-and-some eight days fighting the kid the whole way. So, in
the long run, it pays off, for the kid and for you.
Teachers also mentioned that it was important to become more familiar with issues African
American students confront (e.g., increased responsibilities in the home) because they can
interfere with their schooling. Take for example the following comments:
Secondary Researcher: Some teachers expressed that there's a lack of knowledge on their part about
where the kids come from and how not having that knowledge prior to the classroom experiences
makes it a little difficult to teach as effectively as they might, because there are so many variables that
are important to establishing rapport that they don't have yet, so they find themselves trying to
establish rapport in addition to teaching, and sometimes things get lost in cultural translation, so to
speak. Does that—are those incidents ever [occurring], o r . . . ?
Teacher: And I think we really don't have enough time to sit down. Sometimes we have who's at
Timberlake, but I mean her story and the things that went on in her life, when she's talked to me just
one on one, kind of helps me understand why she is kind of the way she is. I mean, she was out
stealing for food and whatever else they could steal out of Walgreen's as a kid to help her mom and,
you know; she's going home again and staying with grandma now, because mom's in jail. And not
knowing that about her, you might think she's coming across kind o f . . . aggressive. . . . And I think
she's had to be that way to survive so, I think I agree that knowing a little bit more about some of our
kids would be very helpful.
For teachers, this background information enhances their ability to better educate African
American students. While teachers aspired to intervene in the lives of African American
students, they believed their success was compromised by the lack of information they received
about African American students' backgrounds. When adequate information about African
American students' backgrounds was not acquired, teachers expressed regret for not seizing
every opportunity to connect with African American students:
I guess I think about, in years past, that had I known, you know, I get to the middle of the school year,
and had I known some things about a student or a group of students that I was working with at the
beginning of the year, things could have been different. I could have planned a little bit better for
whatever it was, whatever unit or something that we were teaching or even just the relationship piece,
had I known some of that prior to them being in my classroom.
As these teachers' awareness of diversity and associated challenges increased, so too did
their awareness of resistance to diversity. Several teachers described White students' limited
racial awareness and how this precipitated racial insensitivity incidents. Apparently, White
students in this school have made inappropriate comments toward African American students or
had negative reactions when ethnic names were announced over the pubUc address system.
Behaviors like these, which can make African American students feel unwelcomed, were
conceming. Teachers felt compelled to address this lack of awareness through teachable moments.
Work Cited
Henfield, H. &, Washington, A. I want to do the right thing but what is it?": WhiteTeachers' Experiences with African American Students. The Journal of Negro Education, 81 (ï), 148-161.
great job
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