UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
August 15, 2008
Date:___________________
Bennyce E. Hamilton
I, _________________________________________________________,
hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of:
Doctor of Education
in:
Literacy
It is entitled:
The reflexive journey: One teacher's path to self in the
footsteps of her students.
This work and its defense approved by:
Dr. Chester Laine
Chair: _______________________________
Dr. Mary Ann Pitman
_______________________________
Dr. Mark Gooden
_______________________________
Dr. Helen Meyer
_______________________________
Dr. Deborah Hicks
_______________________________
The reflexive journey: One teacher’s path to self in the footsteps of her students
Bennyce E. Hamilton
August 15, 2008
B.S. Psychology Kentucky State University
M. Ed. University of Cincinnati
Ed. D. University of Cincinnati
College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services
Chester Laine, Program Chair
ABSTRACT
The reflexive journey: One teacher’s path to self in the footsteps of her students
by
Bennyce E. Hamilton
A teacher’s lived experiences are important in shaping her subsequent practices in the classroom.
Teachers must look at the connections between those experiences, their identities, and classroom
practice. The foundation for my research is built on history’s record of education’s effects on
Black people. My own identities, the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, my efforts to attain
classroom praxis, and an autoethnographic account of my lived experiences and how they have
shaped my pedagogy, lend structure to both the project and this narrative. This research offers a
critical reflection from a Black feminist perspective as a prelude to creating a classroom where
students are taught using culturally relevant pedagogical strategies.
By incorporating each of these elements, I have been able to identify myself as a woman, a
feminist, and a scholar. Within this frame, I am free to explore, to learn, and to grow with the
students in my care. Together, we are able to learn from one another (as advocated by culturally
relevant pedagogy) and to examine ourselves and our experiences critically (as advocated by
Black Feminist Theory). Additionally, this offers me both an opportunity and an incentive to
examine myself – my identities, my classroom praxis, and the confluence of those present
elements with my lived experiences in what is termed Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
(RCRP): truly, it offers me an opportunity to achieve a better teaching identity and a better self.
ii
iii
The reflexive journey: One teacher’s path to self in the footsteps of her students
Acknowledgements
Completion of this dissertation would not be possible without the help of several people. First, I
want to thank my dear friend, Amanda “Bug” Schear. You are a Godsend. Thank you for your
wonderful ability to motivate me when I wanted to quit. Also, thanks for being super English
teacher and editing this body of work. Words cannot possibly express how much you mean to
me.
I also want to thank the beautiful women of MUSE Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir, especially
Cathy, Kim, and Brenda. Your love and support kept me focused and nurtured my soul through
music.
To my cousin Ebony “Shay” Ross who worked countless hours to transcribe tapes and get me
started on the right track. To other family members, especially my mother, Anna T. Hamilton
who helped me see and believe in the value of an education. Moreover, thank you to all the
women in my life who were the othermothers as I was growing up. Your devotion became the
example that I emulated in my classroom.
To my DST sisters, (Delta Sigma Theta and Dissertation Support Team), Simone, Mimi, Karen,
and Robyn who set the bar high for me because you set it high for yourselves. I thank you for
that and I hope to give forward to others who come behind me.
I thank my Committee members: Drs. Chester “Chet” Laine, Mary Ann Pitman, Mark Gooden,
Helen Meyer, and Deborah Hicks. Chet, you are the best – I need not say more. Mary Ann,
your knowledge and expertise guided my path.
Finally, I want to thank “my girls” who are the future othermothers. Without you, this
dissertation would not have been possible. You taught me many lessons when it was I who came
into the classroom prepared to teach you. May the world be yours to conquer.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION
1
The Story Unfolds
1
CHAPTER TWO – LITERATURE REVIEW
10
Historical Perspectives on Education
11
Educational Experiences of Black Women/Girls
14
Identity
15
Black Feminist Theory
18
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
23
Reflexive Practice
27
Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
28
CHAPTER THREE – METHODS
30
Research Site
30
Gaining Access
31
Participants
32
The Work
34
Data Collection
35
Feminist Research Methodology
35
Qualitative Research Practice
36
Teacher as Researcher
36
Self-Reflection
38
Action Research and Participatory Research
40
Research Process
42
v
Student Attrition
45
CHAPTER FOUR – ANALYSIS
46
Participant Profiles
47
Candace
48
DaRhonda
53
Jackee
56
Jenae
57
Jessica
58
Julena
59
Kendra
62
Mesha
64
Nicole
68
Starr
70
The Teacher’s Perspective
72
Generalizations of Research Outcomes
76
Limitations/Failures
77
CHAPTER FIVE – APPLICATION
78
Bennyce
78
Wake Up Call
79
Making Progress
82
Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is Born
Making Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Your Own
Know Who You Are
86
88
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Create Safe Space
90
Listen in Order to Learn
91
Risk vs. Reward
92
Integrating RCRP in Classroom Practice
CHAPTER SIX – CONCLUSIONS
94
95
Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy as a Model for Teaching and
learning with Black Students
95
Suggested Uses for Research
96
Suggestions/Implications for Further Research
99
Conclusion
100
REFERENCES
101
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1: Factors that Make a Culturally Relevant Teacher and Classroom
Examples
viii
113
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A: Critical Literature Review Stories
119
Appendix B: Rules for Conducting a Critical Literature Review
120
Appendix C: Sample Agenda
121
Appendix D: Sample Mini-Lessons for Narrative Writing
122
Appendix E: Student Narrative Paper
125
ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
THE STORY UNFOLDS
This research looks at my lived experiences, as a woman, as a Black woman, as a
feminist, and as a scholar, and how they shape my classroom praxis. I approached this research
as a journey of self-discovery, a path to acceptance, and a way to reach back into the community
to ease the path of other young women on their own journeys of self-discovery. I knew who I
wanted to be as a teacher; the strategies I wanted to use and the lessons I hoped to impart. I
viewed myself as a practitioner of culturally relevant and culturally responsive teaching. In
pursuing this research, I wanted to find out whether or not the classroom view I held of myself
was true. I also wanted concrete proof that the practices I believed would be so helpful to my
students, particularly to my young, Black, female students, were as powerful and empowering as
I’d hoped. The structure for my research, then, became my own lived experiences, as a woman
finding her identity, and as a teacher seeking to help her students do the same.
“Lived experiences” require one to view self as “situated in the action of research” (Rapp
1982). Researcher bell hooks (1989) maintains that subjective experience and theory from
personal experience are important because each acknowledges the need to examine self from a
critical standpoint. For many of us, those lived experiences are considered insignificant. Our
stories are never told. This is especially true in the case of Black women, who have so often
been relegated to the margins of history, and therefore effectively written out of our collective
story. Rodriguez (2001) proclaims that when Black women are given the opportunity to express
themselves and offer insight, it reinforces the notion of the value of Black women’s lives. This
belief in the inherent value of Black women’s lives is a guiding principle of Black feminist
theory. That principle is embodied in this research, for it will be the sum of my own lived
experiences, and how those experiences are utilized and reshaped in my interactions with
1
students, who have their own lived experiences, that will be the source of data for this study. On
the common ground of the classroom, as we share these lived experiences, both teacher and
students begin to find and use their voices in new ways, to tell their own stories, to learn new
stories, to create new spaces for the projection of voices and the telling of stories.
My self-reflection leads me to the theoretical posture informed by Black Feminist
Theory. This paradigm encompasses a view of research from a Black woman’s perspective. Of
particular importance to the Black feminist is the notion of othermothering. Othermothering has
existed in the Black community since slaves were brought to the United States. It is accepting
responsibility for a child or children that are not one’s own through a formal or informal
arrangement (Guifrida, 2005). Othermothering is germane to education. It is an holistic
approach to teaching that goes beyond academic skill acquisition and is still readily apparent in
contemporary African-American schools (Case, 1997; Foster, 1993). It is a Black teacher’s
moral obligation to uplift the Black community by attending to the psychological and social
development of students (Foster, 1993).
Junior high was a challenging time. Ms. Thurmond and Ms. Bennett were my only two
Black teachers during these years. While they filled a community role as “othermothers” to me, they also, and perhaps even more importantly, were living, highly visible
symbols of the power of education and the power available to strong Black women. Ms.
Thurmond was the toughest math teacher in the entire junior high school. Not only did
she teach us math, she also taught us discipline and life lessons. She made it clear that
she “did not play.” Each day we would have a different saying on the board – words of
wisdom. Part of our responsibility as students was to memorize the saying. This had to
be done by the time she entered the classroom and began to erase it. It was not a good
thing to be caught not having memorized the saying. Ms. Thurmond would call on an
unsuspecting student who was talking or otherwise not paying attention and ask her to
stand and recite the words of wisdom. Fortunately for me, I never got caught talking and
never got caught without my memory intact. Ms. Thurmond’s lessons went a long way.
Many of her wise sayings I still remember today.
Ms. Bennett taught my seventh grade English class and she had a passion for the subject.
She made reading, writing, and grammar make sense to me. I always knew the rules for
grammar because my mother made me practice them daily (mostly by correcting me
2
when I said something wrong). Ms. Bennett helped me get beyond the grammar to write
creative compositions; she broadened my frame of reference. I really think I liked
English because I was good at it. Ms. Bennett’s passion kept me focused and engaged.
Both Ms. Thurmond and Ms. Bennett demonstrated a visible belief in the self-efficacy of
their students. Ms. Thurmond was keenly aware of the necessity to build bridges between her
students’ home and school experiences. The sayings she wrote on the board daily were an
extension and reinforcement of the “words of wisdom” we heard from our parents daily. She
made character education relevant and universal – equally applicable in our home and school
lives. Ms. Bennett’s deep belief in her students and their ability to be successful in her class
influenced everything about her classroom curriculum. She challenged her students to reach up
and stretch farther than they’d imagined possible. Her enthusiasm for our success was
contagious.
Ms. Bennett had a genuine zeal for her discipline. She imparted this to each of her
students. My decision to attend graduate school and to become an English teacher can be viewed
as the fruit of Ms. Bennett’s passion. This was a crucial stage in my life: now that I was
becoming a teacher, I had to decide why exactly I wanted to teach, and moreover, what it was
that I thought I had to offer to students.
My decision to become a teacher was the culmination of a lifetime of experiences that
placed high value on education, and that venerated strong Black women educators. My process
of becoming self, an ever-evolving process, has been critical in my quest to reach praxis. As
teachers, this search for self and quest for praxis requires us to self-inventory our life
experiences, determine how they affect our pedagogical practice, resolve any conflicts, and then
go into the classroom and be effective teachers. When teachers critically examine their own
practice, they have taken a necessary step toward “praxis.” Praxis as defined by Friere (1993) is
3
action-reflection that brings together the teacher’s philosophy (reflection) and pedagogy (action)
and embeds this action- reflection in the context of the teacher’s classroom.
Friere (1985) iterated that to be teacher/researcher means to be both teacher and learner.
This duality pits the teacher against self in order to uncover the “stuff” that stands in the way of
teaching “for liberation.” “Stuff” here implies anything from the teacher’s background that
would keep her from putting the students’ needs in the forefront. It is also those things from her
background that are considered insignificant until someone points them out as inconsistencies
between her behavior and her actions.
This research will be a continuation of my “journey” as a teacher that was outlined in the
article: The unexpected journey: Renewing our commitment to students
through educational action research (Meyer et al, 2004). In that article, I explored my lived
experiences and how those experiences, particularly those as a student in the classroom, shaped
my identity as a classroom teacher. I looked at the influences of strong teachers on my life, and
how their influence later materialized in my own classroom practice when I became the teacher.
Here I will focus on making connections between my experiences and those of the student
participants in this research. My research questions are:
1)
2)
3)
In what ways does my classroom praxis encourage and support the exploration of
identity and discovery of voice for my students?
Do my pedagogical practices incorporate a culturally relevant pedagogy?
a)
How do my identities influence my teaching?
b)
How does using my own voice to find and express my identity
enable me to help my students to do the same?
How is student achievement affected by the incorporation of reflexivity with
culturally relevant pedagogy in the classroom?
The relevance of this research is at the heart, the very core, of culturally relevant
teaching. It presupposes that all students have a unique story, and that with that story comes a
4
unique voice waiting to be discovered, used and heard. As Linda Gayle Rodgers-Williams
(2006) states: “Stories are the interaction of narrators and the cultural milieu within which they
live. They influence the audience for whom they are intended” (p 2). The teacher willing to do
this work will empower her students to higher levels of success and greater levels of
achievement, as students and as human beings. Geneva Gay (2000) states that the academic
achievement of students will increase if “schools” and “teaching” are changed so that they draw
and reflect on the cultural and language strengths of the diverse population of students being
served by that particular school system (p ix). If teachers are truly interested in improving
outcomes for their students, they must also be interested in the students’ processes of becoming
and defining themselves, and they must be willing to help students put voice to those processes.
As a woman and a scholar interested in the importance of lived experiences and their
effects on personal praxis, I am compelled to acknowledge the impact my own personal history
has had on this research, and the assumptions they have created within me regarding its
processes and outcomes. Growing up, education was always discussed as an invaluable
commodity; there was never any question about whether or not I would finish high school and
attend college – my mother was committed to my academic success at all levels. She was a
tireless advocate for me throughout my school career, consistently seeking out what she believed
were the best educational opportunities for me. As school integration became a reality, this came
to mean being bused from my own neighborhood school to a ‘white’ school across town where
my mother believed I would receive a better education. A combination of my mother’s
determination and support, and my own intrinsic curiosity and love of learning, insured that I
did, in fact, receive an excellent public school education. As an education student at the college
level, I began learning about just what kind of educational disparities my mother’s diligence had
5
spared me from. While this learning, coupled with my own positive experiences, fueled my
passion for the research described here, it also created in me some assumptions about the
students in my study. Collectively, these coalesced into one overarching theory; namely, that, as
students attending a predominantly low-income, primarily black school, the students in my
research group would have already internalized limitations regarding their personal identities and
their potential for academic achievement. My awareness of this supposition allowed me to both
resist and interrogate it in the course of my work and research, thus lessening its potential for
prejudicing my findings.
Although there is always the possibility of improving outcomes for any group of students,
this becomes especially relevant with groups of students that have historically experienced poor
or sub-norm outcomes. Black students fall into this latter category. African American children
are failing in record numbers in the American public education system. Tomes of contemporary
research offer solutions to this pandemic, many of them even focusing on the importance of
utilizing a culturally relevant pedagogy with our African American children in the classroom.
The failing of this research, however, is its failure to recognize the importance of a teacher’s
personal reflection on her own experiences in the application of culturally relevant pedagogy –
the critical importance of what these individual teachers bring to the table before they pick up
culturally relevant pedagogy. This ‘missing link’ denies both teacher and student the opportunity
to find empowerment through the vehicle of their own personal identities and lived experiences,
and prevents them from using this knowledge of self to further their achievement in the
classroom, whether as teacher or as the taught.
Among others concerned about the considerable achievement gap between White and
Black students, Jonathan Kozol, in his seminal work, Savage Inequalities, documented a
6
multitude of cases in which Black students underperformed in comparison to their White
counterparts (1991). Gloria Ladsen-Billings (1994) unequivocally states that “African American
students continue to lag significantly behind their White counterparts on all standard measures of
achievement” (2). She goes on to argue that teachers who are successful with students who have
traditionally been unsuccessful are led by a perspective that places emphasis on academic
achievement and cultural competence. These teachers set and maintain high expectations for
their students. Teachers must help students see and understand the value in their own culture and
extend learning from that point.
This dissertation aims to discuss the importance and impact of using culturally relevant
pedagogy and black feminist theory to guide and shape classroom praxis to the benefit of
students in general, and adolescent African American females in particular. It further examines
the influence my own experiences as a black female student have had on my development as a
teacher and scholar, and the way these experiences intersect with my implementation of
culturally relevant pedagogy and black feminist theory in classroom activities, planning, and
assessment. I hypothesize that this integrated approach of culturally relevant pedagogy, black
feminist theory, and reflexivity in practice create improved academic outcomes for African
American students. Understanding my own identities through the analysis of my personal
experiences enables me to model reflective practice for my students, thus offering them personal
reflexivity as a powerful, and often untapped, tool for learning and academic growth. This is
demonstrated in the written and socially observed progress made by students in my research
group.
My research seeks to analyze and explore the idea of encouraging cultural competence
and the intrinsic value of personal and individual culture. This research provides an opportunity
7
to give voice to what so many Black students experience – trying to fit in but not totally
assimilating at the risk of losing self – losing identity with the community that gave you the tools
to survive. I have chosen to focus my research for this project on the experiences of Black
adolescent females. Although my research structure can be extrapolated successfully to other
populations, I have chosen these specific limitations for five primary reasons: (1) the population
was readily available in an accessible setting amenable to research work, (2) the student’s
experiences were likely to be much like my own, thus facilitating both analysis and reciprocity in
learning and teaching, (3) the population has historically experienced marginalization, (4) my
sample of subjects is small in number and only includes girls which may not be an accurate
representation of all classroom populations, and (5) the theoretical frame for this study has
limitations due to the parameters outlined by Black feminist theory. My work with these
students sought to identify the commonalities in our shared experience and to minimize the
effects of marginalization on students’ lives and self-concepts. By encouraging my students to
find their voices, and to share their stories, I implicitly demonstrated to them that I valued those
things, and by extension, that I valued their culture, both those aspects that I shared, and those
unique to them. In doing so, I empowered them and gave them permission to achieve and
succeed that had historically been denied them. My goal as a teacher is to help others create
meaning and understanding of their experiences to transcend oppression and help others do the
same. Reflecting on my life experiences as both student and teacher enables me to empower
students through knowledge construction and meaning making of their own worlds.
By utilizing the tenets of Black feminist theory, this dissertation will be the springboard
from which other teachers can launch research aimed at transforming and reforming education
for young Black girls. Among my goals for this work, therefore, are the following:
8
-
to become a better classroom teacher through the application of this research;
-
to offer practical and applicable strategies to using culturally relevant pedagogy and
reflective practice to enhance and support the academic success of African
American students; and
-
to offer teachers a blueprint, through the vehicle of my own experiences, of how to reflect
on their personal identities and how to use that knowledge to alter and improve their
practice with their own students.
Researchers acknowledge that schools are failing Black children in record numbers
(Ogbu, 1988; Kozol, 1991; Delpit, 2002; Perry et al, 2002). They are not simply failing them
academically, but also failing them by not meeting their needs and by refusing to recognize that
Black children have been relegated to the margins of society. By reflecting on my own
experiences as a Black student, and by analyzing the experiences of my own Black students from
both an insider’s (self) perspective, and an outsider’s (teacher’s) vantage point, I am able to
examine concrete ways to overcome these failings, and to empower traditionally disenfranchised
students to greater academic success and personal growth.
9
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
It is a widely held belief that public schools are places where students get a firm
educational foundation, the necessary cultural capital, and the tools necessary to be empowered
and successful in mainstream American society. We view schools as a sort of ‘training field’ for
developing productive members of society, and trust that during their school years, students will
gain both an appreciation of shared national history and an understanding and ability to use the
skills necessary for present-day success, including reading comprehension, advanced
mathematics, and technological proficiency. We entrust our children to the public school system
because we believe it is a tool that will enable their success as working, productive adult
members of our society. And this belief is often borne out as true - in public school systems
where students come from middle and higher income families or when students come from
families where parents have experienced success in school. It tends not to bear out, however,
when students come from a place of poverty or from families where parents have not
experienced school success. This disconnect between intended outcome and actual result poses a
number of critical concerns about education and the role that schools and teachers play in
educating students, particularly those students most in need of the benefits public schools
theoretically have to offer.
At the core of this study is the connection between several significant issues in the United
States’ educational system: the failure of schools to effectively and consistently educate
marginalized students (i.e. impoverished students, students of color), the increased need for
educational reform measures in light of attrition and failure rates for students across the country,
and the vital role that teachers play in student success or failure (teacher accountability). While
this study looks at each of these connections, it highlights the teacher - her view of self, her
10
pedagogical skills, and her role and responsibility for educating students – particularly
marginalized students, and in the case of this study, specifically marginalized Black female
students. Although I don’t want to minimize the significance of any of the aforementioned
roadblocks to successful public school education, I am specifically interested in dissecting both
the role and individual persona of the classroom teacher to investigate the ways that her identities
influence her classroom performance and the subsequent success or failure of her students. In
this study, the teacher under the microscope is myself – I am aware of my own accountability in
the education of my students; my goal is to reflect deeply so that I can improve my classroom
practice, and enhance my students’ educational experiences in my classroom. In order to do this
effectively, I will examine my own experience within the American public education system –
both the ways my experience was shaped by the history of that system and the way in which my
learning both benefited and suffered from those historical influences.
The literature will give a broad view of the educational system and its role in educating
Black students. It highlights educational reform measures from busing and integration to
culturally relevant pedagogical teaching methods. It then takes a more narrow approach to
educating Black students from the perspective of teacher responsibility. This chapter begins with
a glimpse into the role of education in the lives of Blacks from post-slavery to today.
Historical Perspectives on Education
Historically, the educational process for African-Americans has been termed “literacy for
liberation.” James Anderson (1988) in The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935
reminded us that for post-slavery Blacks, education was pursued because it was how you
asserted yourself as a free person, how you claimed your humanity. In 1964, Septima Clark
published an article entitled Literacy and Liberation detailing the importance of education to
11
Blacks in the Civil Rights era. In this article, she described the accomplishments of the
Citizenship School movement in the South. These schools were formed to motivate Black
people to take control of their lives. One such school was the Highlander Folk School tucked
away in the hills of Tennessee. The Highlander Folk School was one of the few places where
Black people could go to dialogue about their oppression and enact plans that would help them
prepare to work in their own communities to better their lives.
The Black community indicted the public school system for attempting to make Black
children assimilate and proclaimed a communal need to “maintain a clear identity of themselves .
. . if they were going to make a contribution to the struggle for liberation” (Hale, 2). This
proclamation resulted in the creation of “alternative schools” for Blacks during the 1960s.
According to Hale (1982) these “alternative schools” were created to address the issues of
education for identity and struggle and their premise was ideology, culture, and values. As bell
hooks (1994) notes, “For Black folks, teaching-educating was fundamentally political because it
was rooted in the anti-racist struggle” (2). Black education was deemed important and was
highly prioritized by the Black community.
In later years, education for Blacks was an issue of survival because so many Black
students were being “miseducated.” Perry et al (2003) suggested that education for Blacks in the
post-Civil Rights era required that schools be organized to forge the identities of Black students
as achievers. Literacy – the ability to read and understand text in a variety of forms – is central
to school achievement in the 21st century. Paraphrasing a variety of sources, Gadsden (1995)
writes, “In the African-American community, views of literacy historically have been developed
out of an intergenerational legacy of hope, valuing of education, and cultural uplift” (2). Indeed,
“literacy has been envisioned as an empowering and liberating possession” (Gadsden, 2).
12
Today, Black youths often feel disenfranchised in public school classrooms. The literacy
and education so important to their parents and grandparents, while still seeming valuable,
doesn’t feel accessible or relevant. According to studies conducted by Ogbu and Weis (cited in
Gadsden, 1995), “access to literacy may appear to depend almost entirely on their willingness to
replace their social and cultural values with those of institutional structures, without any
assurance that those structures will accept them” (5). In order to counteract this perception,
schools must provide spaces that are deliberately intended to shield Black students from racism,
incorporate a narrative that talks about Black achievement in the wake of constraints and
limitations, make attempts to create desire, inspire hope, develop and sustain optimism, and
create a learning environment that teaches students the contextual behaviors necessary for
achievement (Perry, 99).
Research today contends that education for Black students be based upon a culturally
relevant pedagogy and that teachers be culturally competent in order to teach utilizing this
method (Gay, 2000; Howard, 2003; Foster, 1997; Delpit, 2002). An example of a cultural
competence model is Carol Lee’s (2003) work on cultural modeling. In her work, teachers
employ the culturally driven life experiences of students in the context of literacy and language
learning. When children come to school and the information taught and valued is not the same
information that they value based on life experiences, it creates cultural conflict (Hale 1982).
Rather than create this conflict, or require the disavowal by Black students of their social and
cultural values, it is critical to empower students to “use [their] voice in the service of [their]
vision[s]” (Audre Lorde) of themselves as educated, successful students.
13
What Black children need is an educational system that recognizes their strengths, ability,
and culture. They also need an educational system that incorporates them into the learning
process (Hale 2001), rather than situating them outside of it.
Educational Experiences of Black Women/Girls
In public schools, Black girls and women frequently experience limitations on three
fronts: as females, as racial minorities, and often as economically disadvantaged students.
Numerous researchers have shown that Black girls’/women’s experiences in educational settings
range from that of being silenced and ignored to overt oppression and hostility (Bailey, 2001;
hooks, 1994; Kyyro & Kane, 2001). Despite this trifecta of challenges presented to Black
girls/women in schools, the impact of racism and sexism on Black females in academic settings
is rarely examined in scholarly research. The research that does exist almost uniformly presents
themes of silencing, ignoring, and dehumanizing as central experiences of Black female students
(Bailey, 2001; Kyyro & Kane, 2001). In her book, Women Teaching for Change, Kathleen
Weiler (1988) notes that in spite of the oppressive factors influencing their educational
experiences, Black girls frequently utilize schooling as a tool for upward mobility, often
positively impacting their families’ status as well as their own. This further supports the findings
of Cunningham and Foney (2002) and Kyyro and Kane (2001). They found that Black girls have
a unique relationship to education, in large part because they consistently choose to use
education to challenge social and systemic inequalities, rather than becoming victims of the
inequalities that society and its institutions seek to perpetuate. In fact, according to Waters
(2004), “legacies of resistance and accomplishment are a major element” in Black women’s
interaction with public education, and whether they choose to resist the educational system or to
14
excel within it, their response to education inevitably becomes a significant element in their
identity.
Identity
There are many research studies that discuss race, gender, and identity formation for
Black adolescents (Ogbu, 1988; Fordham, 1993; Gadsden, 1995). The search for identity among
adolescents involves several dimensions of their lives: vocational plans, religious beliefs, values,
political affiliations, gender roles and ethnic identities (Jackson, 2005). Adolescent identity, then,
is a complex and ever-changing organism. By the time adulthood is reached, identity is typically
more fixed than fluid, and while this is important for one’s personal sense of inner balance and
stability, it can also become a liability to a classroom teacher struggling to interact within the
ocean of adolescent identities that make up her classroom. A teacher unwilling to examine, and
in some cases even adjust, her personal identity may find her teaching efforts thwarted by tides
of adolescent resistance.
This study begins with a look at the layers that make up my identity. They include being
an African-American, a firefighter, a student, a teacher, a researcher, a woman, and a feminist.
Each of my identities in some way affects what I do in the classroom. Dorothy Holland (2004)
states that identities are the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and that teachers need to
figure out how to develop these identities for themselves, and to help their students develop their
identities, in order to help children achieve. Cognitively developing our identities is a complex
task. It is even more complex for some of us than for others based upon the layers of expectation
layered onto our race, culture, gender, and backgrounds by societal stereotypes and prejudices,
and by our upbringing in the face of these social constraints. The negotiation required to
reconcile the contradiction between these socially controlling images and the reality of internally
15
defined images of self (Hill-Collins, 2000, 100) can create densely fibrous layers that can be
difficult to penetrate and peel away in the search for authentic self.
Carter and Goodwin (1994) stress that the racial identity levels of educators influence
how they perceive and interact with students. Their worldviews and racial identities influence
their behavior, attitudes, and instructional practice (Bennett 1986). When race and culture are
essential in a teacher’s worldview, the teacher is more apt to foster a student’s diversity and
respond proactively by implementing curricula and pedagogy that are relevant (Banks 1994). It
is imperative that teachers research their own identities, including race, culture, gender, and
background to determine how or if they affect student achievement.
According to Allard and Santoro (2006), the connection between teachers’ personal and
professional identities and the ways in which these identities play out in the classroom and
impact student learning have not received enough scholarly attention. They write:
Recent research has focused on how class and ethnic differences are inscribed in
educational practices (Gordon et al., 2000; Reay, 2001; Walkerdine et al., 2001; McLeod
& Yates, 2003) but does so in terms of constructions of student identities – not with
regards to teaching identities. Other researchers, including Ball et al. (2001) and Teese
and Polesel (2003), consider how schooling processes contribute to classed and gendered
outcomes for students. While some attention has been paid to how gender, socioeconomic status and ‘race’ impact on teaching identities (see Connell, 1985; Brown et al.,
2000), the ways in which difference is played out in classroom interactions between
teachers and pupils is under-researched. (Allard & Santoro, 2006, 116, emphasis added)
Although it is clear that one’s identity as a person must influence one’s identity as a teacher, the
ways in which this ‘classroom identity’ is shaped have not been closely scrutinized. What impact
does a teacher’s personal identity have on her professional one? How are those two identities
different, and how does the teacher negotiate the space between them, both for herself and for
her students? Suominen (2006) writes: “I think we form an understanding of who we are by
reflecting on the documents we create or accept as presentations of self- whether they are stories,
16
private or public images or writing, or icons and representations of an identified ideal” (141).
This research, and this dissertation, which is the summative product of this research, represents
my work to clarify my understanding of my identity as a teacher. As Walkington (2005) notes,
this is not to be confused with my role as a teacher (54). Citing the research of Mayer (1999),
Walkington (2005) asserts that a teacher’s identity is “distinct from that of teachers’ functional
roles” (54). She notes that a teacher’s role “encapsulates the things the teacher does in
performing the functions required of her/him as a teacher” while teacher identity is “a more
personal thing and indicates how one identifies with being a teacher and how one feels as a
teacher” (Walkington, 2005, 54, citing Mayer, 1999, 6-7). Walkington (2005) further adds that
“teacher identity is based on the core beliefs one has about teaching and being a teacher; beliefs
that are continuously formed and reformed through experience” (54). Identity, then, both
personal and professional, is a fluid and ever-shifting concept, and so must be constantly reexamined and explored.
In her article, “Negotiating a teacher identity: An African American teacher’s struggle to
teach in test-driven contexts,” Agee (2004) writes “Teacher identity, as described here, is a
discursive space where an imagined role is negotiated among possible roles” (747). She goes on
to propose that “a teacher also brings a desire to construct a unique identity as a teacher and that
in various contexts of work, she negotiates and renegotiates that identity” (Agee, 2004, 749).
Initially, my classroom identity incorporated firmness and strictness in classroom
management and high expectations and a demanding persona in instruction and assessment. As
an early teacher, my outside identities sometimes merged into my classroom practice, as I
occasionally had to come to school still wearing my firefighter’s uniform. This gave students a
window into my identity outside the classroom.
17
As my career progressed, and I became more experienced and comfortable in the
classroom, my identity shifted again and I became an “othermother,” able to negotiate the
boundaries of classroom praxis and personal protector for my students. This identity enabled me
to function as both a teacher responsible for academic instruction, and as a member of students’
extended families, able and expected to scold, correct, encourage, and inspire. When I entered
graduate school and began to identify myself as a scholar as well as a teacher, I learned that
much of my classroom practice was connected to the tenets of Black Feminist Theory. I found it
both challenging and empowering to find elements of myself in an established academic school
of thought.
Black Feminist Theory
The best feminist analysis insists that the inquirer place herself in the same critical pane
as the subject, thereby subjecting the entire research process to scrutiny…the researcher appears
not as an invisible anonymous voice of authority but as a real individual (Slocum 2001).
Because I was encouraged, from an early age, to develop a sense of myself as a strong, smart
Black woman, I was able to negotiate the public school system successfully, and to find
empowerment in the educational process and experience. I have learned, however, through both
my experiences as a teacher and my research as a scholar, that this is not the experience of all, or
even a majority of, Black women in public school.
Black feminist thought encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality
by those who live it. It is a critical social theory that seeks to empower Black women within the
context of social injustice sustained by intersecting oppressions (Collins, 2000). Black feminist
theory is a body of research committed to social justice and the liberation of Black women from
the oppressive forces of racism, sexism, and classism (Collins 1991; hooks 1989; and Lorde
18
1984). Collins (1990) adds that “Black feminist thought fosters a fundamental paradigmatic shift
that rejects additive approaches to oppression. Instead of starting with gender and then adding in
other variables such as age, sexual orientation, race, social class, and religion, Black feminist
thought sees these distinctive systems of oppression as being part of one overarching structure of
domination” (222). According to Collins (2000), “Identity is not the goal but rather the point of
departure in the process of self-definition. In this process, Black women journey toward an
understanding of how our personal lives have been fundamentally shaped by intersecting
oppressions of race, gender, sexuality, and class” (114). Collins’ work on Black feminist thought
identifies several core themes of a Black woman’s standpoint, including the legacy of struggle
against racism and sexism waged by Black women over time (Collins p 22). She also identifies
several other themes that she calls “habits of survival” and strategies for success. They replace
the maligning images of Black womanhood with self-defined images of Black women’s activism
as mothers, teachers, and community leaders. Distinguishing features of Black Feminist Theory,
according to Collins (2000, 22-39), include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Resisting oppression
Linking individual experiences and ideas
Black women’s experiences as a group vs. other researchers views of us
Contributions of Black women intellectuals
Significance of change in social conditions must be dynamic
In addition to these distinguishing features, Collins (2000, 257-275) postulates the
following tenets as central to the study and practice of Black Feminist Theory:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Lived experience as criterion for credibility
Dialogue to show connectedness
Ethic of Caring (talking with the heart)
Personal Accountability
Knowledge for empowerment
19
The hallmark, then, of Black feminist theory, is “its insistence that both the changed
consciousness of individuals and the social transformation of political and economic institutions
constitute essential ingredients for social change” (Collins, 1990, 221). Consequently, the
practitioner of Black Feminist Theory understands that the needs of the marginalized and
disenfranchised aren’t usurped by the needs of the upwardly mobile and the academic elite.
Individual struggle must be connected with the larger feminist movement so that new black
feminists don’t have to reinvent theory and search history that wasn’t received.
‘Connectedness’ is also a prominent theme among black feminist scholars in their
examination of black family and community life. The use of a “both/and conceptual lens of the
simultaneity of race, class, and gender oppression and of the need for a humanist vision of
community creates new possibilities for empowering Afrocentric feminist knowledge” (Collins,
1990, 221). Several studies have described the strong kinship bonds that exist in black
communities. These studies have shown that the extensive kin-networks existing in black
communities contribute significantly both to the material and non-material well-being of children
(Hill, 1972; Stack, 1974). Among the most significant of these kin-relationships is the motherchild bond. Collins (2000) observed: “The mother/daughter relationship is one fundamental
relationship among Black women. Countless Black mothers have empowered their daughters by
passing on the everyday knowledge essential to survival as African-American women. Black
daughters identify the profound influence that their mothers have had upon their lives” (Collins,
2000, 102). Consequently, this relationship forms a critical component of Black women’s
identities. Though an identity as a learner/scholar is more difficult to transmit, Black mothers
have historically made every effort to pass on to their children, and especially to their daughters,
a sense of the value of education. Collins (2000) observes that despite the dangers historically
20
present in the pursuit of education for Black women, “mothers routinely encourage Black
daughters to develop skills to confront oppressive conditions. Learning that they will work and
that education is a vehicle for advancement can also be seen as ways of enhancing positive selfdefinitions and self-valuations in Black girls” (184). Though often described as “overprotective”, these Black mothers “manage to raise daughters who are self-reliant and assertive”
(Collins, 2000, 185). Citing the work of Rosalie Troester, Collins (2000) notes that Black
mothers use a variety of tactics to protect their daughters “isolating them from the dangers of the
larger world until they are old and strong enough to function as autonomous women. Often these
dikes are religious, but sometimes they are built with education, family, or the restrictions of a
close-knit . . . community” (186, emphasis mine).
In developing a black feminist epistemology, Collins (1991) explored the influence of
non-kin women in the community on the social and intellectual development of black children.
This practice of women “assist[ing] blood-mothers by sharing mothering responsibilities [has]
been apparent in African American communities since the first slaves were brought to the United
States” (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 1999, cited in Guiffrida, 2005, 715). Collins writes that
“historically, this notion of Black women as community othermothers for all Black children
often allowed African-American women to treat biologically unrelated children as if they were
members of their own families.” (190). In fact, “the practice of othermothering soon extended
beyond caring for children’s basic needs to become the primary means of educating slave
children (Dubey, 1995, cited in Guiffrida, 2005, 715). Today, this practice further affords Black
women opportunities “to educate and socialize children in their own ways and traditions in order
to uplift the Black community and to assist them in resisting White domination” (Guiffrida,
2005, 715). Collins concludes that black women teachers often share in this role. In the
21
classroom, othermothering occurs when African-American teachers have a strong belief that
students are able to achieve in spite of data that states otherwise. Foster’s (1993) research
supports this, finding that of the fourteen seasoned Black women teachers in her study “most
established kinlike relationships with their students,” and “manifested an approach consistent
with the philosophy of othermothering [by demonstrating] a belief in the potential of every
African American student to succeed academically” (cited in Guiffrida, 2005, 716). Irvine (2002)
asserts that “teachers who serve as othermothers in the classroom focus on believing in their
students, demanding the best from them, disciplining them sternly and for their own good:
teaching as an othermother is certainly a calling” (142).
Allowing for the tendency of non-kin to take on social roles (Hill, 1972; Stack, 1974),
Collins extended the concept of kin-networks, conceding that this ‘non-kin status’ can be
achieved by individuals occupying institutional roles, like teachers. Theresa Perry (2002)
expanded upon this notion, stating that for Blacks, becoming literate obliged one to teach others.
Hence, the image of teacher as activist.
One of my identities is a feminist, and as such, that plays out in the classroom. Black
feminist thought more clearly defines the way that I do things. Black Feminist Theory, with a
community model that stresses “connections, caring, and personal accountability” (Collins, 1990,
223) not only helps me to define who I am, but also to embrace who I am. In the words of
Patricia Collins (1990), it empowers me to “value [my] self-definition [as a Black woman], to
participate in a Black women’s activist tradition, invoke an Afrocentric feminist epistemology as
central to [my] worldview, and view the skills gained in schools as part of a focused education
for Black community development” (230).
22
Further research on Black feminist thought helped me make connections to the work of
master teacher and educational researcher, Gloria Ladsen-Billings. Ladsen-Billings (1994)
conducted research with Black classroom teachers who were successful in teaching Black
students and found that those teachers’ success was largely due to their application of culturally
relevant pedagogy in their classrooms. Using culturally relevant pedagogy as an instructional
model, I discovered, would enable me to actively apply the tenets of Black Feminist Theory not
only to myself, as a teacher reflecting on her identity, but also to my students as they negotiated
their dual search for both self- and classroom knowledge.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Classroom teaching that is consistent with the cultural orientations of ethnically diverse
students has been called many names, including: culturally relevant, culturally responsive,
sensitive, centered, congruent, reflective, mediated, contextualized, synchronized, and responsive
(Gay, 2000). No matter what it’s called, its aim is to empower students intellectually, socially,
emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes
(Steele, 1992). For consistency, I will use the term “culturally relevant pedagogy” unless
quoting directly from a scholarly work that uses different terminology.
Gay defines culturally responsive teaching as using cultural knowledge, prior
experiences, frames of references, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make
learning encounters both relevant and effective for them (p 29). Culturally responsive teaching
is validating and affirming. Gay outlines five key characteristics:
•
It acknowledges the legitimacy of the cultural heritages of different ethnic groups, both as
legacies that affect students’ dispositions, attitudes, and approaches to learning and as
worthy content to be taught in the formal curriculum.
•
It builds bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experiences as well as
between academic abstractions and lived sociocultural realities.
23
•
It uses a wide variety of instructional strategies that are connected to different learning
styles.
•
It teaches students to know and praise their own and each other’s cultural heritages.
•
It incorporates multicultural information, resources, and materials in all the subjects and
skills routinely taught in schools (Gay, p 29).
Gay also makes note of the discontinuities between school, low-income students, and
students of color as important factors in their low achievement. She further states that the
academic achievement of said students will increase if “schools” and “teaching” are changed so
that they draw and reflect on the cultural and language strengths of the diverse population of
students being served by that particular school system (p ix).
In short, as Hanley (1999) states, “at the center of culturally relevant instruction is the
culture of the learner” (1). She posits that in order to develop a culturally relevant instructional
program, “educators need to understand the core beliefs and experiences of their [the students’]
culture” (1). She adds that “Students whose culture is respected are empowered to learn because
the negative self-image that accompanies the rejection of their experience is eliminated. An
appreciation of what they already know can motivate further learning by validating the idea that
students can learn” (2). Similarly, Gordon (1993) suggests that teachers of Black children “teach
their students how to critically view the messages of the dominant society . . . Only with a
knowledge of their own culture can African American students more equitably reconstruct how
they have been represented in the past, and create a more positive future” (453). King (1994)
further emphasizes that Black students need a curriculum that “emphasizes the need for a
transformative process to change both the educational system and the society which supports it”
(31). She adds that these students need to be “actively engaged in the creative process of change”
24
by being taught “to critically analyze their history, lives, and education”, thus “empower[ing]
them to make changes in their condition” (King, 1994, 38).
Entrenched in culturally relevant pedagogy is the use of personal experience by both
teacher and student to make connections – connections to each other and the subject matter.
Gloria Ladsen-Billings (1992) used a case study to shed light on ways that culturally relevant
pedagogy had a positive impact in the classroom. Additionally, in her book Dreamkeepers
(1994), she outlines the basics of culturally relevant teaching which focus on what culturally
relevant teachers do. She states that teachers with culturally relevant practices have high selfesteem and a high regard for others. They view themselves as professionals and strongly identify
with their craft. She further states that these teachers view themselves as part of the community;
they view teaching as giving something back to the community, and they encourage students to
do the same. She asserts that teachers utilizing culturally relevant practices help students make
connections between their community, national, and global identities. Two final tenets that
Ladsen-Billings outlines are that teachers really believe that all students can succeed and that
teachers view teaching as “pulling knowledge out” – like “mining” (p 34). Culturally relevant
teaching helps students to move past the “blaming the victim” mentality and search for the
structural and symbolic foundations of inequity and justice (Ladsen-Billings as cited in The Skin
That We Speak p 111).
The tenets of culturally responsive pedagogy according to Jacqueline Jordan Irvine
(2002) are very similar to those outlined by both Gay and Ladsen-Billings. Irvine suggests that
teachers should: (1) have an attitude of respect toward cultural differences, a belief that all
students are capable of learning, and a sense of self-efficacy; (2) know the cultural resources that
their students bring to class and be aware of the culture of the classroom; (3) implement an
25
enriched curriculum for all students; (4) build bridges between the instructional content,
materials, and methods, and the cultural background of their students; and (5) be aware of
cultural differences when evaluating students (p. 2). Indeed, in order to be a practitioner of
culturally relevant pedagogy, “teachers must e prepared to engage in a rigorous and oftentimes
painful reflection process about what it means to teach” (Howard, 2003, 198). This is equally
true whether one is teaching students who come from similar or different racial and cultural
backgrounds than one’s own.
Irvine also outlines instructional strategies for Black teachers’ success in the classroom.
These include cooperative learning, values and character education, performance, high
involvement and active learning, use of community language and dialect, and maintaining
discipline (p 41). She asserts that the instructional practices of Black teachers have a great deal
to offer researchers and school policy makers as they attempt to find solutions to help AfricanAmerican students be successful in schools. Foster (1993) concurs, stating that “an appropriate
pedagogy for Black students cannot be limited only to academics, but must deal with political,
social, and economic circumstances of children’s lives and communities” (in Guiffrida, 2005,
717). Only in this way, she posits, can Black students be enabled to “challenge the status quo”
(Foster, 1993, 118).
My identity as a teacher has been shaped by a confluence of factors and theories. As a
Black woman, my educational experiences and opportunities have been directly influenced by
the historical shifts in this country’s thinking about education for Blacks in general. As a student,
I have developed an understanding of the world in concert with my own experiences using Black
Feminist Theory as a guideline from which to work. Wanting to utilize all of myself and my
diverse experiences to inform and empower my students, I have framed my identity as a teacher
26
around the tenets of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. As a researcher, I have learned that in order
to embody the classroom identity which I envision for myself, I must understand and embrace
each of these elements and reflect on how they impact my praxis with students. Doing this kind
of reflective work clarifies my vision of myself, and illuminates a path for me as an educator and
scholar: I become more fully myself and the teacher I want to be.
Reflexive Practice
Reflection on one’s own perceptions, beliefs, experiences, and practices is core activity for
all teachers – pre-service and in-service, in schools and universities. Outwardly challenging
ideas that one holds dear is not always particularly comfortable, but as a practice serves to
affirm as well as to confront existing positions. (Walkington 2005)
One way to build from our histories is through the practice of self-reflection. While
reflective practice is important to the development of all professionals, it is particularly necessary
for teachers, and it is absolutely imperative for practitioners of teacher research. Hobson (2001)
notes: “This kind of work [teacher research] is personally grounded in a teacher’s own
experience and is expressed in his or her own voice. Reflection is a process of making sense of
one’s experience and telling the story of one’s journey” (8). If we are to become more effective
teachers, we need to become more reflective teachers. Webb (1996) states that we need to
articulate our theories of learning, critically examine them, and replace those parts that do not
work. Tite (1986) reminds us that the act of reflecting is a fundamental part of a teacher’s work
because reflection allows us to learn from our pedagogical practices. Citing the work of Schon
(1983) and Grant and Zeichner (1984), Hobson (2001) adds that “reflection leads to better
action” (9) and “the reflective teacher is a more effective teacher” (9). Reflecting on our own
performances is one form of feedback that allows us to continually challenge our classroom
behavior so that teaching is enhanced and developed.
27
Irvine (2002) claims that teachers will not be effective in the classroom unless they first
confront their own worldviews, racism and biases, and learn about students’ cultures and
perceptions and how they view the world. Schon (1987) describes this as “reflection in action” –
an art that good teachers display daily. He adds that it doesn’t only take the form of words, it is
internalized and helps teachers become better at what they do. Beattie (2002) concludes that
self-reflection is a “holistic and narrative pedagogy” in which practices in the classroom are
focused on enabling teachers to find their voices in relation to the theory and practice of
teaching.
Reflective practice begins with critical reflection in which you question and examine
your own passionately held ideas about your teaching. In addition, examining your own positive
and negative learning experiences can help you understand why you gravitate toward certain
ways of doing things and avoid others (Brookfield 1995). Reflecting on your own performance
as a teacher is one form of feedback. Keeping a reflective diary about your experience as a
teacher helps you to reflect and learn from experience. McGill & Brockbank (1998) maintain
that consciously engaging in reflective practice enables the teacher to learn from and therefore
potentially enhance their practice
Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
As I studied the contemporary scholarship related to reflexive praxis and culturally
relevant pedagogy, and examined each within the contexts of my experiences as both teacher and
student, I began to see them less as distinct paradigms for classroom practice with Black
students, and more as dual sides of a single concept, which, when embraced in its wholeness,
could be all the more powerful. For this reason, I have coined the term ‘reflexive culturally
relevant pedagogy’ to describe the joining of these theories into one practice. This term
28
represents the central tenets of both reflexivity (i.e. – regular reflection on lessons and their
success in reaching students) and culturally relevant pedagogy (i.e. – designing lessons with goal
of reaching students and empowering them as agents in their own learning). Examining my work
for evidence of reflexive culturally relevant pedagogy became a touchstone of my research. I
hypothesized that the marriage of these theories as a unified concept would be helpful in
addressing some of the unique challenges faced by Black girls in the American public school
system, and in urban schools in particular. Moreover, it would help me to decipher my own
challenges as a Black, middleclass, feminist teacher teaching marginalized Black girls. RCRP
allowed me to acknowledge, examine, and undo any preconceptions about race, poverty, and
academic abilities that I held about my students which could have interfered with my teaching
them successfully.
29
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS
As an intern completing my M.Ed., one of my assignments was to compile a portfolio
presentation of my teaching experiences. This assignment required me to create, implement, and
reflect on lessons I’d taught during my internship year. I called my portfolio “A Work in
Progress” because that was, and is, how I see myself. It helped me to think about myself as a
teacher and about how I needed to constantly change in order to meet the needs of my students. I
asked myself, “How can I be an effective teacher?” “How can I be an example for my
students?” “What do I have in common with the students I want to teach and how can I teach
them effectively?” These questions laid the foundation for a career in reflective practice, and as
I began my doctoral studies, they paved the way for my research inquiries.
This study allows the teacher to be researcher from both an insider’s and an outsider’s
perspective. This study is in no way typified by traditional research methods; instead, it
embraces an alternative perspective shaped by tenets of feminist research as well as identified
best practices from the school of qualitative research. When teachers conduct research, one
important aspect to be considered is self-reflection, and I have been mindful of this both while
conducting and analyzing this research. Every facet of this study has been chosen and/or
designed to facilitate and encourage such self-reflection. The school where I chose to conduct
my research is a prime example of this conscious decision making. On the one hand, it is a
neighborhood school, and is therefore similar to schools I attended in my youth because it draws
from the community in which it resides. On the other hand, however, it is a low-performing
school, and is characterized, not by the ethic of caring and engagement I recall from my own
elementary schools, but by a marked sense of isolation and despair.
Research Site
This study took place at Beaumont School, an inner-city public school. Beaumont enrolls
students from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade and there is a large transient population. The
school was chosen not because it is exemplary and not because it has managed to avoid the
problems of other schools with large minority populations, but rather because it is “typical” of
30
other urban schools. In these schools both well-meaning teachers and staff often struggle with
ways to help their students overcome the problems that they bring with them from the larger
society that will not vanish when they leave school.
Beaumont is a neighborhood school. The neighborhood that surrounds the school is
predominantly Black, as are most of the students. There are 413 students enrolled. Of the 413,
there are 198 females and 215 males. Beaumont has 406 Black students, 1 White student, and 6
multi-racial students. The teaching staff consists of 60% White teachers and 40% Black teachers.
Both the principal and the assistant principal are Black women.
The school’s mission statement asserts that Beaumont is “a community of learners,
families, teachers, and advocates who work together to create successful and productive citizens
through individual, academic and social achievement. Beaumont provides a safe environment in
which there is mutual respect and pride in our school, thereby producing a prosperous
community of young responsible learners.”
Gaining Access
I worked at Beaumont for two years as part of my graduate assistantship. I tutored
students in grades five through eight. My assistantship was funded by a program called GEAR
UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programming) that aims to
expose students to colleges and careers with the expectation that they will graduate from high
school and go on to college. GEAR UP concentrates primarily on the academic subjects of math
and science. These are the two areas where students often fail to excel on state mandated
proficiency exams.
31
During my first year at Beaumont, I had several conversations with the principal about
teaching at the school. This could not be negotiated due to my schedule. I did, however, broach
the subject of working with some of the students at Beaumont as part of my dissertation research.
The principal thought that this was a great idea and over the course of the next several months
approached the school’s board of education about this proposal. The school board members
were briefed about my role as a tutor through the GEAR UP Program. They were also given a
copy of my research project.
The Participants
Participants were selected via purposeful sampling, a research technique in which “the
researcher selects research subjects from a population according to preset criteria – eg: sex,
geographic location, age, place of residence”
(education.massey.ac.nz/wellington_online/bedu6205/course/205dictqual.htm, 2007). I worked
exclusively with ten eighth grade female students at Beaumont who were chosen by their English
teacher, according to their perceived likelihood of benefit from the project. I was not involved in
the selection the process, and was given no knowledge of the girls’ academic or social
backgrounds prior to beginning the study. All of the girls were Black because there were no
White females in the eighth grade at Beaumont. The participants spent one and one-half hours
each day with me for ten consecutive weeks during the school year. I worked with the girls in a
single small discussion group. Utilizing a small group format provided several advantages,
including:
-
group members had time to listen and reflect on their own experiences,
-
each meeting presented the possibility that one member’s comments could trigger
another member’s thoughts or memories, and
32
-
I was able to hear contrasting viewpoints when group members disagreed about a
particular topic.
Additionally, there is some research that suggests that students of color are more comfortable
working in small groups than participating in individual interviews, and that group discussion
therefore better represents students’ real world dialogue and experience (Bangura, cited in
Guiffrida 2005). The primary disadvantages posed by using a small group format for research are
that “it is sometimes difficult to prevent one . . .group member from dominating, and thus
shaping, the entire conversation. Additionally, some participants may be uncomfortable sharing
personal information in a group format” (Guiffrida 2005). I counteracted these disadvantages by
empowering the participants. They designed the rules and operational format for our group
meetings, and these rules included the caveat that no one would be pressured to speak against her
will, and that personal information shared within the group remained strictly within the group.
As our sessions continued and the girls gained trust in me and one another, their sharing visibly
increased and I became increasingly confident that this potential obstacle had been surmounted.
.
During the workshop, each study participant was protected by the guidelines set forth by
the University’s Institutional Review Board. The girls, along with their parents or guardians,
signed a waiver acknowledging that they (the girls) were not obligated to participate, they could
withdraw at any time, that there would be no repercussions should they decide to discontinue
participation, and that their class grade would in no way be affected should they cease to
participate. Additionally, each girl was assured anonymity. They are referred to by pseudonyms
only. No compensation was given to the participants.
At the conclusion of the ten weeks, I remained at the school in the capacity of tutor as
outlined by my graduate assistantship with the GEAR UP Program. In this way the girls
33
continued to interact with me. To facilitate a smooth transition, the girls terminated their work
with me at the end of a quarter (10 weeks). Their debriefing included journal writing about the
experience and a lesson centering on the topic of beginnings and endings. We also had a small
celebration during their lunchtime to acknowledge their accomplishments and commemorate our
work together. No other debriefing took place because I continued to work at the school as a
mentor through GEAR UP.
The Work
During the ten-week workgroup study, the rules and format for our meetings were
determined by the girls themselves, with my guidance in matters of instructional time and
content. We began with what Bogdan and Biklen (1998, cited in Guiffrida 2005) have called
“guided conversations,” in which I broached ideas and students shaped them. The use of openended questions was key to this process because such questions allowed the girls to elaborate on
their thoughts and feelings, and helped me to gain insight into their potential needs, and by
extension, ways that this research might benefit them. Once the group was established, members
were given a story each week to read as a group (see Appendix A). The day after reading the
story, we held a formal critical literature review governed by the students’ self-selected rules.
The rules mandated that all workgroup participants would be addressed by last name only (i.e.
Miss Smith, Miss Jones), and that anyone wishing to contribute to the discussion must first raise
her hand and be recognized (see Appendix B). These rules insured that everyone felt respected
and that everyone’s opinion was valued and given equal weight and attention. I started each
discussion group by posing an open-ended question about the story, and the girls then answered
the question and began posing questions of their own. Occasionally, guests were invited to
participate and contribute. In each session, the focus of discussion was making connections
34
between the literature and the girls’ own lived experiences, thereby applying the tenets of
culturally relevant pedagogy within the context of our critical literature review.
Data Collection
Data was collected from multiple sources. My pedagogical practices were documented
through lesson plans, field notes, and a collection of student work. Other artifacts included
memos, observer comments, a research log, school documents, and classroom reading materials.
Field notes were written during class. These helped me keep track of the setting, any
interactions that took place, and the day’s events. At the end of each class session, field notes
were expanded to capture an in-depth detail of what occurred in the classroom. In addition to
field notes, I kept a research log. In the log, I documented any perceived connections between
my pedagogy, my identities, and culturally relevant pedagogy. Student work, lesson plans,
classroom reading materials, and both audio and video recordings of group meetings were all
used to analyze my application of the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy.
Feminist Research Methodology
While this research is informed by Black feminist theory – research from a Black
woman’s perspective, I acknowledge that feminist research methodology must be considered.
Fine (1992) and Mirza (1995) believe that feminist research places girls’ experiences and those
of women at the very core of inquiry. They also create contexts for reflecting on inequalities that
lead to action and change. Moreover, they state that feminist research methodology takes into
account the researcher’s subjectivity.
The students in this study are invited to utilize self-expression and reflection (based on
their own experiences). As Fennema (1998) writes: “Females must have a hand in identification
of the questions; females’ life experiences become critical, so that the world can be interpreted
35
from a female perspective. So we see subjects as co-investigators, women reporting their own
experiences, and women as the main subjects under investigation helping to interpret results.”
Valuing and privileging my students’ experiences and identities as learners allowed me to get an
in-depth look at their personal experiences and their lives.
Qualitative Research Practice
According to Creswell (1994) and Merriam (1998), qualitative research examines how
people make sense of their lives and their experiences. It emphasizes the importance of
interactions between people and the meaning made from those interactions by the participants.
Qualitative research also allows the inclusion of the researcher with the research participants, and
accepts that there will be subjectivity on the part of the researcher. My choice to work with
students in a school setting, and to interrogate my teaching practices as well as their learning
made qualitative research an ideal fit for this project. It was important that these African
American girls’ points of view, experiences, and perceptions be expressed and understood,
without falling victim to a researcher’s need for quantification and generalization. A qualitative
approach allowed me to honor both the girls’ experiences and my own by utilizing a rich and
wide array of data collected across the many contexts of our lives and learning. Martin (2003)
points out that such a diversity of data sources, particularly when working with underrepresented
students, “will help us reformulate our understanding of both [their] failure and success.”
Teacher as Researcher
Teacher research is not uncommon, particularly when schools are progressive and student
achievement is high. Most teacher/researcher studies are qualitative and include tools like field
notes, analysis of lesson plans, audio or video taped recordings, outside observations by
colleagues, and student record keeping in a natural research setting (Baumann 1996). These
36
studies are attempts to illuminate pedagogical acts by researching experience. The aim of the
teacher/researcher is to make visible the knowledge that teachers implicitly employ (Posch 1992)
and embodies the complex, relational, and constantly negotiated risk between teacher and
student. Lytle & Cochran-Smith (1992) state this knowledge is such that teachers build from
their own histories and intellectual interests. That process comes easiest to those of us who not
only teach but also believe that there is an aspect of our vocation that is sacred; who believe that
our mission is to share the intellectual and the spiritual growth of our students, not merely to
share information.
Ritchie et al (2007) write that “Teacher research is a voluntary but systematic means of
gathering data, observing, and surveying students for results that can be used to improve you
own – and your colleagues’ – teaching” (42). Emily van Zee (2006) adds that “teachers who
conduct research in the context of their own teaching practices can contribute to knowledge
about reform-based instruction” (30). Hobson (2001) concurs, stating that, “One of the
fundamental benefits of doing teacher research is the opportunity it affords us for perceiving our
world a little more freshly. One of the purposes of the research process is to render the familiar a
little strange. We want both things at once, to be close to the matter at hand, but also to develop
the perspective that comes from a degree of distance” (8). The purpose, then, of teacher research
is threefold: 1) to investigate one’s own praxis to determine strengths and areas for improvement,
2) to improve instruction and learning for students, and 3) to contribute to the professional
learning community so that others may benefit from one’s work. As Ritchie et al (2007) writes,
“Teacher research gives me ownership of my professional growth. Because TR involves
reflecting upon one’s practice, it allows me to analyze and improve my teaching all year long”
(42).
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Self-Reflection
Reflection on one’s own perceptions, beliefs, experiences, and practices is core activity
for all teachers – pre-service and in-service, in schools and universities. Outwardly
challenging ideas that one holds dear is not always particularly comfortable, but as a
practice serves to affirm as well as to confront existing positions. (Walkington, 2005, 59)
One way to build from our histories is through the practice of self-reflection. While
reflective practice is important to the development of all professionals, it is particularly necessary
for teachers, and it is absolutely imperative for practitioners of teacher research. Hobson (2001)
notes: “This kind of work [teacher research] is personally grounded in a teacher’s own
experience and is expressed in his or her own voice. Reflection is a process of making sense of
one’s experience and telling the story of one’s journey” (8). If we are to become more effective
teachers, we need to become more reflective teachers. Webb (1996) states that we need to
articulate our theories of learning, critically examine them, and replace those parts that do not
work. Tite (1986) reminds us that the act of reflecting is a fundamental part of a teacher’s work
because reflection allows us to learn from our pedagogical practices. Citing the work of Schon
(1983) and Grant and Zeichner (1984), Hobson (2001) adds that “reflection leads to better
action” (9) and “the reflective teacher is a more effective teacher” (9).
When teachers reflect on their practice it is identical to ethnographic fieldwork in which
written accounts are viewed as texts in which the anthropologist is the principal protagonist
(Maynard, 2002). Reflecting on our own performances is one form of feedback that allows us to
continually challenge our classroom behavior so that teaching is enhanced and developed.
Irvine (2002) claims that teachers will not be effective in the classroom unless they first
confront their own worldviews, racism and biases, and learn about students’ cultures and
perceptions and how they view the world. Schon (1987) describes this as “reflection in action” –
an art that good teachers display daily. He adds that it doesn’t only take the form of words, it is
38
internalized and helps teachers become better at what they do. Beattie (2002) concludes that
self-reflection is a “holistic and narrative pedagogy” in which practices in the classroom are
focused on enabling teachers to find their voices in relation to the theory and practice of
teaching.
Reflective practice begins with critical reflection in which you question and examine
your own passionately held ideas about your teaching. In addition, examining your own positive
and negative learning experiences can help you understand why you gravitate toward certain
ways of doing things and avoid others (Brookfield 1995). Reflecting on your own performance
as a teacher is one form of feedback. Keeping a reflective diary about your experience as a
teacher helps you to reflect and learn from experience. McGill & Brockbank (1998) maintain
that consciously engaging in reflective practice enables the teacher to learn from and therefore
potentially enhance their practice.
This research will incorporate methodologies that are ethnographic and participatory.
Spradley (1979) reminds us of the impetus for utilizing life history in ethnographic research. He
further states that when life history information is gathered, it requires the researcher to do so
over time with high levels of rapport with the subjects. When gathering this kind of data, the
focus is on the meanings that the participants place on their life experiences expressed in their
own language. Ken Plummer (2002) goes on to say that life stories reveal historical shifts in
culture. “They tell of the concern of their time and place. They bridge personal history with
personal biography.”
I have chosen ethnography to privilege the voice of the subject – my voice. This strategy,
which anthropologists refer to as emphasizing the emic of “native” perspective, requires that the
opinions expressed by those natives be distinguishable from the voice of the researcher (Clifford
39
and Marcus 1986). Ethnography in education is viewed as research based on participant
observation and/or permanent recordings of everyday life in a naturally occurring setting
(Delamont and Atkinson 1995). It requires the researcher to use direct observation and to be
immersed in the field situation (Spindler 1982). Coffey (1996) points out that in educational
ethnographic research, researchers are implicated as experts in their field because of their
experience as students. This in turn lends authenticity and authority.
Action Research and Participatory Research
Popularized in the early 1950s by a group of professors at Columbia Teachers College,
action research is the practice of combining action, which is concerned with improving practice
and creating conditions for social change, and research, which attempts to create valid
knowledge about practice (Anderson et al, 1998, 12). According to Argyris and Schon (1991),
the goals and methods of action research include the following:
Action research takes its cues – its questions, puzzles, and problems – from the percepts of
practitioners within particular, local practice contexts. It bounds episodes of research according
to the boundaries of the local context. It builds descriptions and theories within the practice
context itself, and tests them there through intervention experiments – that is, though
experiments that bear the double burden of testing hypotheses and effecting some (putatively)
desired change in the situation (86).
It has come under scrutiny for being too ‘soft’, but action research as a method has a rich history,
“seeded in human rights activism, social reform movements like civil rights, women’s
movements, [and] peace and environmental movements” (Stout, 2006, 195). Since the 1970s, it
has evolved and proliferated into “participatory action research, feminist action research,
community-based action research, and of particular interest, classroom action research” (Stout,
2006, 195, emphasis mine).
40
Noffke & Stevenson (1995) state that all participatory research must benefit the subjects
of the research in some direct way. In this instance, the subjects of the research benefit by using
the information that is gained through the research as a means of better understanding and
controlling their world. Participatory research has its origins in research performed by the
members of one culture on another and so is informed by issues of colonialism and postcolonialism. As Freire (1993) has argued, participatory research was originally designed to resist
the intellectual colonialism of western social research into the third world development process.
Participatory research developed a methodology for involving disenfranchised people as
researchers in pursuit of answers to the questions of their daily struggle and survival.
Participatory research is a means of putting research capabilities in the hands of deprived and
disenfranchised people so that they can identify themselves as knowing actors; defining their
reality, shaping their new identity, naming their history, and transforming their lives for
themselves (Horton and Friere 1990). Brydon-Miller (2001) identifies three basic guidelines for
participatory research:
1.
2.
3.
The research focuses on communities and populations which have traditionally
been exploited or oppressed.
Participatory research works to address both the specific concerns of the
community as well as the fundamental causes of the oppression with the goal of
achieving positive social change.
Participatory research is at once a process of research, education, and action to
which all participants contribute their unique skills and knowledge and through
which all participants learn and are transformed. (p. 80).
Anderson et al (1994) add that in participatory research, “theory and practice are
integrated . . . [and] research and action (including education itself) become a single process”
(17). Participatory research embraces both feminist and post-colonial theory, and espouses a
41
wide range of methodologies, including qualitative analysis, observation, story-telling, and
ethnography.
In this study, I have chosen to employ a fusion of action research and participatory
research. By borrowing from both research practices, I have been able to fashion a study that
works from a feminist and a Freirean perspective, relying on the most relevant and applicable
methods of both research methodologies to investigate my research questions. Because action
research “tends to concentrate on an individual or group level of analysis of problems”
(Anderson et al, 1994, 17), it provided the perfect platform for examining my student
workgroup. However, while I was interested in examining ways to improve teaching practices in
the workgroup (a particular emphasis of action research), I was also “concerned with equity/selfreliance/oppression problems” (Anderson et al, 1994, 17), a hallmark of participatory research.
Creating this hybrid structure allowed me to fashion a workable and practical model for teacher
research, without compromising the integrity of my praxis for student empowerment in the
workgroup.
Research Process
The research questions were addressed using qualitative research methods. According to
Jackson (2005), “qualitative methods . . . afford [the researcher] . . . the opportunity to explore
participant behavior and expand [his/her] understanding of the interactions that exist within the
research context as well as [one’s] own subjective positioning within the project” (87). One
hallmark of qualitative research methodology is the variety of artifacts that can be collected,
providing a valuable breadth and depth of data for analysis. This variety is of critical importance
in qualitative research, as it “give[s] credence to the contextual nature within which both
42
researchers and their research phenomena abide, and to the fact that both are . . . shaped by and
embody passions and values that are expressed variably in time and place” (Patton, 2002). In the
course of my research, I collected and/or maintained: student work, my reflective journal, daily
agendas, lesson plans, observation logs, and taped classroom discussions. At the conclusion of
the study, these were sorted and coded according to similar emergent themes and categorized by
research question.
Although qualitative research allows for and encourages a diversity of data collection
sources and methods, educational research tells me that routine is of critical importance in
teaching, especially when working with at-risk/underperforming students. For this reason,
although the content of lessons varied daily, I instituted a daily agenda for students to follow,
thereby giving them the security of the routine, while still allowing for a multiplicity of learning
styles and corresponding activities. The first day the girls and I met, they were given a syllabus
in the form of a calendar which detailed activities and assignments we would be working on in
class and their due dates. The agenda and the syllabus/calendar were both flexible enough to be
changed or adapted to meet student needs and to allow students an opportunity to be engaged
during class time.
A typical day in our classroom began with students entering the room and taking a seat.
Seats were not assigned; students sat wherever they wanted to sit. Once seated, the girls
followed our daily agenda (see Appendix C), which was posted in the front of the room, attached
to the chalkboard. Our classroom was relatively mobile due to the school’s lack of classroom
space. The agendas were written on large post-it-note paper that could be easily removed and
transferred, when necessary. Our first three weeks were spent in a third grade classroom where
the desks were too small. The teacher who ‘owned’ the room served as a frequent and disruptive
43
visitor, which occasionally created a strain in our small learning community. We were
eventually moved into a more appropriate and less disruptive setting, and the remaining seven
weeks were spent in a classroom where the desks were large enough for eighth grade students.
The girls would follow the first two items on the agenda which told them to take out
materials and what materials to take out. Materials included loose-leaf paper, pen or pencil, a
copy of the story for the critical literature review, drafts of papers in progress, a copy of the
group novel we were reading, or journals. The rest of the agenda might consist of a mini-lesson
on some aspect of reading or writing, independent and/or group reading and writing activities, or
our critical literature review. The entire agenda was explained to students before they started on
any assigned task. This took from five to fifteen minutes daily, leaving the majority of class time
to work.
I designed classroom lessons with a multitude of factors in mind. I was always concerned
about student learning and achievement: at the end of each lesson, the girls needed to
demonstrate acquisition of new or improved knowledge and/or skills. I was further interested in
how classroom work could be used to support and encourage the development of adolescent
Black girls’ identity. Finally, I was passionately committed to the tenets of culturally relevant
pedagogy, and sought it in both the reading materials I selected and the writing tasks I assigned
to empower my students as learners and as human beings. Consequently, classroom lessons were
implemented with an eye towards each of these factors, resulting in a wide diversity of strategies
and approaches which aimed to address curricular requirements, learning style preferences, and
individual educational needs.
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Student Attrition in the Study
Prior to the commencement of classes, the girls were informed that they would be
participating in a research study, that their participation was voluntary, and that they could end
their participation at any time without incurring punitive consequences. Two and a half weeks
into the study, Jackee, Mesha, and Kendra chose to terminate their participation, opting instead
to return to their traditional, mixed-gender classes. They expressed dissatisfaction with learning
in an all-female environment and stated that they wanted to learn with boys, too. Interestingly,
in week nine of the study, two of the three girls sought me out and asked for permission to rejoin
the group. Unfortunately, at that point it was too late to reintroduce them to the group without
compromising the learning experiences of the rest of the class. However, the experiences of
Jackee, Mesha, and Kendra up to the time of their departure are also included as a vital part of
this study.
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CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS
This day was horrendous! My students can’t stay on task for more than 40 minutes. I attempted
to have individual conferences about their narrative papers. Most were way off. I have to come
up with a better plan to keep them all working and all completing work. Perhaps I can take the
next paper one paragraph at a time (but what about the accelerated students . . .)? Perhaps
making writing time only part of the day’s class would help. I dread collecting drafts from some
of them. . . . I need more help to give more students individual attention and there are only seven
of them!
From reflective journal, 9/9/02
When I began this work, I had ambitious and clearly articulated research goals; I planned
to use my own search for identity and empowerment in academic settings to help the girls in my
study find identity and empowerment in school, thereby increasing their academic success and
achievement. Having studied the tenets of Black Feminist Theory and the paradigms advocated
by culturally relevant pedagogy, I knew that a blending of these models would be best suited to
the achievement of my proposed outcomes. I entered the study fully committed to helping my
students be successful by utilizing the best elements of my own experiences and my knowledge
of evidenced-based best classroom practices.
Looking back at the reflective journal I kept during this study, I realize that I also entered
the study with a second set of goals and expectations. I expected, deep down, that the girls would
come to class excited about having a new academic experience. I thought that they would be glad
to work in the kind of classroom community advocated by culturally relevant pedagogy. And I
thought, in my heart of hearts, that they would be grateful to have an opportunity to openly
discuss their issues and concerns in our group, secure in the knowledge that they were supported
and appreciated by a Black woman who understood, at least in part, their experiences and
struggles. I neglected to take into account, however, that each girl in the study entered our
46
classroom with an agenda of her own, and that that agenda was in no way connected to or
informed by my own.
This disconnect between teacher and student expectations surrounding an educational
experience is a common occurrence. As is evidenced in the journal excerpt at the beginning of
this chapter, such a disconnect can create stress, anxiety, frustration, and disappointment for both
the teacher and students. It is all too easy to look at students’ lack of engagement and disruptive
behavior as solely a student issue; children are blamed and the teacher has an easy ‘out.’
Reflective practice, however, enables the teacher to discern what elements of her own identity –
her expectations, preconceptions, and personal desires – play a role in the discontent and
frustration being acted out in the classroom. This awareness then allows the reflective classroom
practitioner the opportunity to make revisions to her praxis.
After reviewing my journals and experiences, I determined that my own research goals
were getting in the way of my implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy with my students.
I narrowed the scope of my research, and in doing so I lightened the burden of expectation
placed on my students. Paradoxically, this limiting of the research to focus more closely on the
students’ needs and expectations is exactly the kind of evolving praxis and revision advocated so
strongly by proponents of culturally relevant pedagogy. By changing the parameters of my work,
I actually strengthened the quality of my investigation and the integrity of my findings.
Participant Profiles
Each of the ten student participants was a Black girl in the eighth grade. They constituted
approximately half of the girls in Beaumont’s eighth grade class. While they were chosen for a
variety of reasons (as outlined in chapter three), one of the biggest factors was that their lives and
backgrounds were similar to mine. All but one of the girls were being raised in a household
47
where there was a strong maternal influence. Black mothers’ influence on their daughters is far
reaching. Black daughters learn that they have an expectation to work, that they must succeed in
education to be self-sufficient, and that they bear the responsibility for upholding the family
(Joseph 1981). An assumption here is that a mothers’ influence on her daughter will affect the
way that she views the world and also views herself within the world. The daughters’ lived
experiences will, in turn, be shaped by her mothers’ influence.
Not surprisingly, the study participants’ lived experiences became evident during the
classroom lessons. Some of them were more outspoken than others depending on the particular
lesson being taught. Their responses were bold and detailed when they were passionate about
the subject matter. Once students were selected for participation in the project, I was able to
begin gathering data from and about each girl. I completed a profile of each student which
enabled me to further refine my instructional strategies to better meet their individualized needs.
The initial portion of the profile was gathered by talking to the student, other teachers, the
principals, and viewing school records. The second portion is the student’s own words. Each
participant profile is outlined below.
The findings of this research are presented as eleven case studies profiling the
backgrounds, participation, achievements and changes of the student participants and myself.
Each profile consists of direct quotations and researcher interpretations based on the literature
outlined in chapter two.
Candace
Candace is a thirteen year old whose family recently moved to the city from California.
She is a good student academically. Candace has two younger siblings who also attend the same
school. She watches out for them. She and her siblings live with their mother and mother’s
48
friend (male). Since the beginning of this research, Candace’s family has moved from the
community where the school is located to another part of town. Her mother has allowed her and
her siblings to remain at Beaumont until the end of the term.
Because Candace is new to Beaumont, she is just getting to know other students and
where she fits in. She is very attracted to the attention that she gets from the boys. This is how
Candace describes herself: I am caring, free, tall, stout, strong, willing, and kind of chunky.
When I look in the mirror I like what I see. My outside looks may not be charming and you may
not like what you see, but what’s on the inside is all that matters. Look past my clothes, skin,
face, and you just might see the real me.
Candace is eager to learn and school work is relatively easy for her. Her assignments are
done well and on time. She participates and gives good feedback. On Fridays, we have our
critical literature discussions. One Friday, we discussed the story “Lather and Nothing Else” and
we had a guest from the community join us. Early on, I acted as the facilitator by asking
questions to students and getting their response. Towards the end, this discussion follows:
Bennyce: Thank you. Thinking about this story, what keeps us from doing the wrong thing or
retaliating?
Jenae:
Your conscience. Think about consequences.
Candace: Your conscience, or another person, like the counselor at school. They might tell you
something that gives you a reality check.
Nicole: I think that it is your heart that keeps you from doing something wrong. Like these two
girls were about to fight, she said that her hands were telling her to hit her, but her heart
was telling her not to.
Candace: I think that it is probably a number of different things that keep you from doing bad
things. Like she said, your conscience, or a counselor, your inside, anything, you might
go read a book or something to keep you from being bad. It depends on what works best
for you. It might work best for you to talk to somebody, or just think about it, or go take a
shower.
Ms. Watson: Last night I had a situation that I had to handle, and I didn’t handle it the way that I
am used to handling situations. I try not to let people irritate me to the point where I lose control
with them, and I said something to this woman that I have never said before. She called me some
terrible names. First of all she was trespassing on my property and we had said something to her
49
before, so she was aware. And when she decided to do it last night, she had her head down and
just kept walking. I told her that we had asked her not to cut through our yard. She said that she
had to go over here, and she gave me all the explanations as to why she should be able to cut
through our yard. I told her that we would appreciate it if she would just walk around, and I tried
to stop her in time before she had gone further. Then she makes the statement, don’t you ever
come up behind me like that again. And I said, wait a minute, you are the one that is breaking the
law, you are on my land without my permission, and you are going to tell me not to come up
behind you, I don’t think so. So I said that I could let the dog loose, and that would create a whole
another problem, and then we called each other names. I yelled out “your momma”, and I have
never said that because it doesn’t get your point across, but she just aggravated me to no end. So
I said the next time I will call the police. You don’t want to go that route. You want people to
respect you. But I allowed myself to get angry and say some things. There is a right way to do
things. There are easier ways and we just have to find them.
Candace: May I ask what stopped you from hitting her?
Ms. Watson: As she said, and you said, you use conscience and she uses heart. The heart that we
normally talks about, only pumps blood, but the thing that we use to make decisions are our
conscience and our minds. And you never know, I may need this lady, or she may need me one
day. Those are the things that keep me in check. I am active in my church and I work a lot with
young people, and I don’t want my reputation ruined because I stooped to that level. I ended up
following her last night to see where she lived so that the next time I would summons her through
the police. The Lord dropped it in my heart that I would apologize when I found her. Because
calling her names was not in my nature. I had to remember who I was and who I represent.
Candace: So your story is pretty much like this one, like you said, your reputation was what you
thought about, and thought about what might happen after the actions like he did.
Nicole: I was hoping that you would say that in your heart I am not that way.
Ms. Watson: But it is my heart, these are where all of my emotions come from. It all starts up
here. But when bible or a book talks about the heart, they are talking about the very center, the
brain. This controls every muscle in your mind.
Bennyce: Do you have other questions for each other?
Candace: Ms. Grant, what stopped you and your family from doing things to that little girl?
Nicole: Because what I do reflects on my mom, and I have to think about everything else, like
consequences.
Bennyce: Closing thoughts?
Ms. Watson: I think what happened last night happened for a reason. It may have been to share
with you all, or to make me more aware of my responsibility to the Lord and to young people.
Can’t be an example if don’t live what you teach and preach. Sometimes must be reminded. My
husband said that I really think that the Lord is just testing us and trying us. And there are certain
things in our life that to see how we are going to react to it. My objective is that the life that I live,
that I will be a shining example. Not that I am perfect, but I want someone to see Christ in my life,
that they would inquire or they will take those qualities and start using them themselves. And last
night had any of you seen me, I would have been ashamed.
Candace: I agree with you about the part – we read a story about a girl named Abigail, and her
parents told her not to drink, but her father was an alcoholic, so I think that it is good that you
live what you preach, because more than likely, do what your parents do instead of what they say.
When I was six, my mom told me not to say bad words, and I told her that when she gets mad at
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dad, she says bad words. So I had to sit and think about it for a while, all of that came up, and I
believe every since then, that you should do what you tell other people to do, especially if it is an
older person, because going to look up with them, and do what they do more than what they say to
do.
Jenae: I agree, b/c I have four brothers and sisters, and my younger sister is always looking up to
me. And when I spend the night at a friend’s house or something, she starts crying because she
wants to go with me, because she looks up to me.
Candace: Have three younger sisters, and they want to do everything that I do. I showed them my
grades, and they say that they want to get As too.
Nicole: My little cousin is the same way. She is bad until she gets around me. She said a bad
word, and I asked her why she said that, and she said that she said it because I did. I told her that
she didn’t need to say everything that I say. And she got upset and started asking me if I still liked
her.
Ms. Watson: We don’t realize how many people are watching us, and it is a big responsibility to
live up to someone else’s expectation, but I do know that the Lord is able to help us do the right
thing. We tend to do things with our friends that if our parents weren’t around wouldn’t do. I had
seven siblings, and when my brothers got away from our parents they did some things that we
would never have done around our parents. One of my brothers who has passed away, I tried to
curse, and my brother told me that I couldn’t do that because people that curse do not have
enough vocabulary to express themselves, and that is something that is always that has stayed in
my mind. I have always tried to increase my vocabulary to that I could use words to express
myself without being derogative.
Candace: You said about your brothers and sisters doing different things. I was telling my mother
about how some of the students in our classroom don’t want to learn or don’t get it. She blamed
the parents for it. And I said, wait a minute, they don’t want to do it inside their heart. And it
seems like all they wanted to do was play. But I want to do it for myself, because my mom tells me
to go out and do my best, and regardless of what she had told me, I wanted to do it for myself. I
am quite sure that their parents don’t tell them to go to school and act up.
Ms. Watson: That is why this session is good, b/c it motivates you within your peer group to excel
or to achieve. I don’t think anyone that goes into the profession to teach, that they want anymore
than have their children achieve. When you come with the attitude, your parents may not know
what you know, or be as smart as you are, or have the opportunities that you did, they don’t tell
their children to get locked up, or sell drugs, or get in trouble. Every parent would like to look at
their child and hear good things about them. I used to tell my children, just do the best that you
can. If a C is the best that you can do, then I will praise you for that.
Candace: I am not saying that parent involvement is not important, because it is. If she hadn’t
told me to do right, then I probably never would. I think that it helps you to have other people
teach you to do good. I think about acting up, but I know that my mother is counting on me to do
the best that I can, and do good. And I made a promise to her, and myself to do that. So I think
that it is good to have someone else involved. For example, I know that Star plays volleyball. Say
she lost a game, she has her aunt to talk to her and tell her that she can keep trying. But if she
went home alone and didn’t have anybody there to talk to, she might just give up and stop playing.
I think parent involvement is good, and you have to want to do it for yourself to get there.
Bennyce: Okay, I think that we will end our discussion there. First thing, please thank Ms.
Watson for joining us today. I just want to tell you all in front of her how truly brilliant, awesome,
smart, remarkable, and wonderful you are Nicole, Star, Jessica, Candice, Jenae. You all are
remarkable, all that I ask is that you come in here. Keep it up. I hope that some of your parents,
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relatives, and friends can come in and join us at some point too, because everyone needs to see
how wonderful you are.
Class Transcript: Class 7/09/2002
Geneva Gay (2000), in her book Culturally Responsive Teaching, tells us that culturally
responsive teaching is validating and affirming. It builds bridges between home and school
experiences as well as between academic abstractions and lived sociocultural realities. The
exchange between Candace and our guest is a clear example of how this process should work.
Candace offers advice to our guest by highlighting her personal (lived) experiences and asking
additional questions (critical thinking).
Black students are bombarded by negative images of self; the classroom is one place
where teachers can play a role in breaking down those stereotypical and maligning images.
However, students must be an active part of the change process; they will only be empowered if
they can critically analyze their lives (King, 1994, 38). Candace’s ability to critically view Ms.
Watson’s situation is evidence that she is taking an active role in the change process. The use of
critical literature review in the classroom provides a forum for this exchange.
Jacqueline Jordan Irvine (2002) notes several strategies that Black teachers need to
incorporate into their classrooms for student success. They include cooperative education,
values and character education, performance, high involvement and active learning, use of
community dialect and language, and discipline (pp. 41-45). The critical literature review (CLR)
was a formal discussion where students acknowledged each other by raising hands and calling
each other by last names (i.e. Ms. Brown or Miss Johnson). They also respected the opinions of
other students, though they did not have to agree with them. Prior to the first CLR, the students
and I came up with “rules we could all live with.” Using the critical literature review method in
class incorporated each of the strategies outlined by Irvine. For students there was active learning
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and participation, use of community language, and performance. Inviting guests captured the
cooperative education component. The stories themselves taught a lesson of some sort (character
education) and the discussion was an extension of that concept. Discipline was maintained
through the formality of the approach. It allowed for all students’ voices to be heard.
Candace was able to speak out and offer advice based on her life experiences. She
benefited greatly from this experience. She became more self-confident and her school work
improved also. While she was always a good student, she was pushed beyond her limits in our
class, and began to excel in new ways.
DaRhonda
DaRhonda lives with her mother and an older brother who has multiple sclerosis. Her
mother works during the day. DaRhonda is a follower and has gotten into trouble trying to be
part of the “in crowd”. Her grades are average. She has grown up in the neighborhood and
attended Beaumont from kindergarten through eighth grade. She is thirteen years old. She
describes herself in this way: I am a young, Black teenager. I am a smart eighth grader at
Beaumont. I can sing and dance. I am pretty, dark, strong, bold, sexy, and goofy. I am always
in trouble. I don’t like some children. I am respectful, clean, neat, and outgoing. I’m wild and
crazy. I’m not nasty, hateful, or stupid. I’m loving, fun to be with, and a good friend. I’m
ghetto, thirteen years old, and love to eat.
DaRhonda was somewhat disruptive when we started. When other students were
participating in off task behavior, DaRhonda participated as well. The difference was that when
she participated, she did so for their approval. The very same students she sought to emulate
often made fun of her.
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DaRhonda’s writing was not on grade level. This became evident in her first writing
assignment – the narrative paper. I explained to the students that writing a narrative was writing
a story, and that stories generally include dialogue. I taught them how to write the story and how
to write dialogue using mini-lessons with many examples to follow (See Appendix D).
DaRhonda wrote her narrative paper and failed to follow the examples for writing dialogue in
her first draft. I had a conference with her and pointed out her mistakes, while also pointing out
that her paper had many terrific elements, including great content, good story development,
strong characters, and effective use of humor. She proceeded with draft two. I was so sure she’d
gotten it! During her second conference, much to my dismay, I discovered that she’d rewritten
the SAME paper. She had not “gotten it” at all! I sat down and conferred with her again. I told
her that her paper still wasn’t right; she was furious. I emphasized to her that her paper was one
of the best in the class; it was just her technique that was wrong. We once again looked at the
samples. I worked with her to show her exactly what I wanted and finally she really did get it.
Her finished paper was much better, and we both felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. (See
Appendix E)
Gay (2000) states that culturally responsive teaching is both validating and affirming.
DaRhonda sought validation from her peers. She needed to be accepted by them and participated
in behaviors that got their attention. All too often, students seek validation from their peers
because they don’t get it otherwise. In the classroom, my challenge was to get DaRhonda to
believe in herself and her work. This was a challenge because she did not like to be critiqued.
At the end of our second conference, she slammed her paper down and verbalized her
displeasure with the writing assignment. Again, I affirmed and validated her writing and gave
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her concrete examples of what was expected. Eventually, my use of praise and encouragement
motivated her to try again.
Gay (2000)) further points out that culturally responsive teachers use multiple
instructional strategies that are connected to different learning styles. DaRhonda and her
classmates were given writing samples, read from a text that contained dialogue which was
followed by a discussion, and participated in a hands-on exercise prior to beginning the narrative
paper. None of these methodologies were successful with DaRhonda. It wasn’t until our second
conference, where we discussed her paper in depth, that she began to put the pieces together.
DaRhonda still wanted to give up. Opting out of the assignment in this way, while resulting in a
failing grade for the class project, would also be seen as an act of rebellion and thereby gain
DaRhonda the acceptance of her peer group. In her mind, giving up made sense because it had a
tangible benefit. My challenge, then, was to help her see the benefits of completing the narrative
paper as more significant than the benefits of quitting.
When DaRhonda began to feel validated through her work and personally, she no longer
needed to be accepted by those students that she had sought approval from. At first look,
DaRhonda could not see that she was capable of writing a good paper. All she heard was that “it
wasn’t right.” Ladson-Billings (1994) states, “When students are treated as competent they are
likely to demonstrate competence.” DaRhonda was definitely competent and capable. During
that second conference, it was as if the light bulb went off and she had an “aha” moment.
Culturally relevant teaching methods incorporate strategies that allow students to see that they
are capable of learning. I would not let DaRhonda “quit” the task of writing the narrative paper.
When she wanted to give up, I gently nudged her in the opposite direction, first with positive
reinforcement and then by highlighting the good features of her paper. She completed the
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assignment and her narrative was one of the best in the class. Teachers who integrate culturally
relevant teaching strategies set high expectations for their students and do not allow their
students to fall short of their established goals.
Jackee
Jackee is a fourteen year old student who is a loner. Her grades are below average and
she is frequently absent. Jackee lives with her mother and siblings. She has attended Beaumont
since third grade. Jackee views herself in this way: I am nice, quiet, and funny. I like to make
people laugh. I am fourteen years old. My favorite subject is math. I like music and money.
Jackee is frequently absent. She doesn’t contribute during CLR unless prompted, and she
finally began writing her narrative just before she decided to leave the group. I think that Jackee
could have benefited from this class. In my reflections, I found that I had written very little
about her. All too often, students fade into the background and are forgotten. Like Jackee, they
aren’t disruptive, so they don’t attract much adult attention. When they are also frequently
absent, they get bogged down with makeup work and never seem to be able to get ahead. This
leads to feelings of frustration and a further sense of alienation from the class community.
Lacking any deep connection with the class, the teacher, or the learning process, students like
Jackee are absent, even when they’re physically present in school. Their eventual, almost
inevitable, physical departure from school is therefore barely noticed and rarely commented on.
In spite of Jackee’s departure from the group, I learned much about myself as a teacher
from her. On the first day of the class, I introduced myself and told the girls about me and my
interests. In turn, I asked them to introduce themselves and tell me what they were interested in
reading about. Jackee’s reply was, “I am interested in violence.” I had not realized this until I
was reviewing my transcribed materials. Those few words said so much about what might have
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been going on in Jackee’s life. Perhaps if I could have suggested some age appropriate materials
for her to read, she would have remained a part of the group. Lisa Delpit (2002) says, “We must
make children feel welcomed and invited by allowing their interests, culture, and history into the
classroom” (p. 48). I opened the door by finding out Jackee’s interests, but never invited her in
by providing the necessary tools and materials.
An alternate view of this situation is from the perspective that Jackee made the comment
to get attention. If that was the case, it did not work because I had a few other students who
detracted from Jackee’s cry for attention. She was quiet and faded into the background. I’ve
learned that some students’ inability to speak, their very voicelessness is, in fact, a cry for help.
It is my responsibility to pay attention to the silent messages, as well as the loud, glaring ones.
Jenae
Jenae is a thirteen year old who is new to Beaumont this year. She lives in the
neighborhood with her parents and younger siblings. She attended a charter school until this
year. She is an excellent student academically. She, like Candace, is trying to see where she fits
in at Beaumont. For the most part, Jenae is quiet and soft spoken. Here are her words to
describe herself: I am a thirteen year old student at Beaumont. I am an African native and a
little Irish. I am smart, pretty, and cute. I like to sing and dance. I like some boys. I enjoy
cooking and baking. I am a funny person. I love to laugh and watch television. I like hanging
out and talking on the phone. I grew up in (the neighborhood) so I am sort of ghetto. I am
young, a lady, talented, and proud.
Highly motivated and diligent are two terms that describe Jenae well. She applies 100%
of herself to everything we do in the group, and she is a frequent and positive participant in CLR
sessions. She never misses class. Jenae is also a positive leader; she takes direction well and
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helps others to do the same. Her writing, already strong when she began the program, continued
to improve as she was given more frequent opportunities for practice and increasing amounts of
constructive feedback and critique.
Jenae came to the class as ‘the complete package’ – every teacher’s dream student. Yet
something was still missing. Ladson-Billings (1994) proposes that effective teaching involves
both in-depth knowledge of the student and the subject matter and that real education not only
informs students, but extends their thinking and abilities as well. As I reflected on my
interactions with Jenae and performance in class, it occurred to me that I knew nothing about
Jenae except that she was a good student. Good is a subjective term. Jenae did do very good
work, but she had never been pushed to do great work. The work that she did in my class pushed
her a lot. It had not been part of her past curricula to speak out and form her own opinions or to
give a speech. Lisa Delpit (2002), in her book The Skin That We Speak, says that teachers must
reconnect students to their own brilliance and gain their trust so that they will learn from us. I
pushed Jenae and supported her for taking small steps. It took no time at all for her to emerge as
a leader in our group.
Perry et al (2003) believe that African American students will achieve in school
environments that have a leveling culture of achievement that extends to all its members and a
strong sense of group membership, where the expectation that everyone achieves is explicit and
regularly communicated. Jenae achieved and excelled because she was pushed by me, with
underlying support from me and others in the group.
Jessica
Jessica is a fourteen year old student. She is quiet and shy. Her grades are average.
Jessica has an individual education plan for her academic success. She lives with her mother and
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two younger siblings. After the death of her grandmother (when she was six years old), her
family split apart. This is who she says she is: I am strong, pretty, and kind. I am a singer. I
am who I think I am. I am somebody that everybody needs to know about. I am a woman. I am
fourteen years old and ghetto all the way. I love to eat food. I am special.
Jessica is very shy in class unless she has a reason to speak up. When we first started the
CLR process, she began to speak out. As the class continued, she opened up even more and
often surprised me and her classmates with her comments. Jessica’s writing skills are weak and
significantly below grade level. This can be attributed in part to the limitations outlined in her
Individual Education Plan (IEP). While her writing did improve marginally over the course of
our time together, it was her speaking ability that really blossomed. The improvement in quality
of her oral contributions was so significant that it sometimes caught even me off guard,
providing a delightful surprise in one CLR discussion after another.
Jacqueline Jordan Irvine (2002) suggests that culturally responsive pedagogy includes
building bridges between the instructional content, materials, and methods and the cultural
background of the students. She also outlines instructional strategies for Black teachers’ success
in the classroom. Among those strategies are cooperative learning and values and character
education. Each of the short stories that was used in the CLR process took into account those
strategies. By using carefully selected short stories, I was able to build a bridge between
home/community and school. For Jessica, this connection gave her the opportunity and forum to
exercise her voice with confidence and without fear.
Julena
Julena is thirteen and has attended several schools in the district. She lives with her
mother and younger siblings. Since the beginning of the school year, she and her family have
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moved into a temporary housing facility. She has frequent absenteeism and her grades are
average. Julena is quiet and observant. She describes herself as follows: I am smart, nice,
generous, and special. I am in love with guys. I am a Taurus. I’m neat and clean. I am smart
and a music fanatic. I don’t like to talk to most people. I love animals more than anything in the
world. My favorite hobbies are listening to music and going shopping. I like riding bikes and
making scrapbooks. I am easygoing. I hate little kids and disrespectful kids. I am a Girl Scout.
Beginning the first week of class I noticed that Julena was absent quite a bit. One week, she
missed three days and began to fall behind in her work. At the start of week three, I talked with
Julena about her absences. I addressed the issue, asking her what was going on, and if there was
anything I could do to help. At that time, all she said was, “I’ll work on it” and “Everything is
okay.” Her absences decreased and her classroom participation improved. It wasn’t until week
four of the study that I got some insight into what Julena was dealing with at home.
During one class period that week, the girls and I were having a discussion about things
of interest to them. We talked about nothing in particular and the dialogue was unstructured.
Julena spoke up and told me that she had recently moved. When I asked her where she had
moved, she replied, “We moved to the Armada.” My immediate response was, “Great! Now
that you moved closer to me, maybe I’ll see you more often.” She smiled. Sometimes it’s what
we don’t say that is most important. In this instance, what I didn’t say was, “Child, be careful!”
or “Oh my God, not that place!” The Armada is as close to homelessness as one can get. But
here, Julena trusted me enough to share this information, secure in the belief that I wouldn’t
judge her or her family. We had a rule in class that said, “Whatever happens in class stays in
class” (the exception being anything that was an immediate danger to life or health). That rule
gave students, like Julena, the freedom to talk about a number of issues from racism to politics to
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gender issues. Julena needed to know that she was in a safe space to talk, voice her concerns
without fear of repercussion, and to be nurtured and accepted.
Historically, schools for Blacks were places of resistance and offered students a safety net
in the community to voice concerns. These safe places, as Sondra O’Neale (1986) are especially
essential for young Black women:
These spaces are no only safe – they form prime locations for resisting objectification as
the Other. In these spaces Black women observe the feminine images of the ‘larger’
culture, realize that these models are at best unsuitable and at worst destructive to them,
and go about the business of fashioning themselves after the prevalent, historical black
female role models in their own community (139).
Diana Beth Waters (2004) contends that Black women and girls often use the public educational
system to resist oppression and achieve. Julena, whether consciously or not, used our classroom
to express herself and her concerns. She was a child coping with circumstances beyond her
control – poverty, welfare, and homelessness. Her weapon of choice, to fight back, became her
voice. Weiler (1988) notes that Black girls frequently use school as a tool to fight against
oppressive forces like racism, and for upward mobility. Julena began to use school as the forum
to display her weapon. Her attendance improved a great deal, she never missed a class when we
had critical literature discussions, and she voiced her opinion more frequently during those
discussions.
Students like Julena need to feel accepted, safe, and cared for. Black feminist theory
advocates the use of dialogue to show connectedness and the ethic of caring (talking with the
heart). These are skills that require some work on the part of the teacher. Anyone can carry on a
conversation, especially from a place of power and control. True connectedness is having a
student like Julena feel safe enough to tell you that her family just moved to the local hotel for
people who have no place else to live. True connectedness is responding with, “Great! Now that
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you moved closer to me, maybe I’ll see you more often.” True connectedness is saying without
using words, “I’ll be checking on you to make sure you’re okay.” This talking from the heart is
a component that many public school classrooms are missing.
The ethic of caring suggests that personal expressiveness, emotions, and empathy are
central to the knowledge validation process (Collins 2000). There are three components that are
essential to this theme: emphasis placed on individual uniqueness, the appropriateness of
emotions in dialogue, and developing the capacity for empathy (Collins, 2000, 263). My
interaction with Julena demonstrated the ethic of caring. I placed myself in her shoes and
imagined how difficult it might be for me. She did not need my sympathy; she needed my
genuine understanding and support, and that’s what she received.
Kendra
Kendra is a thirteen year old girl. She is Mesha’s best friend. Kendra, along with her
siblings (older sister and younger brother), live with their grandmother. Their mother abandoned
them due to her own drug use and abuse. Kendra is a below average student and has been at
Beaumont since kindergarten. She sees herself like this: I am cute, smart, talkative and fun. I
like boys a lot. I play basketball and cheer. I like to dance and sing. My favorite class is Ms.
Bogan’s class. When I grow up I want to be happy and rich.
Kendra was greatly influenced by Mesha. On our first day of class, the two of them
talked to each other during the entire session while I gave classroom instruction. I tried to stop
them by calling their names, but to no avail. I talked; they talked. When I stopped talking, they
stopped talking. This continued for the rest of that class period. So that this did not happen
again, I made a few changes. I thought, “I am smarter than 8th grade girls.” I rearranged their
seats so that they were all facing me in a semi-circle, instead of allowing them to face each
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other. I also got color-coded folders and gave them choices of colors – hoping that the two of
them would not pick the same color. There were five different colors and two folders in each
color. The colors determined who the girls would work with in class. It gave them choices in
the learning process, while it also allowed me to separate Kendra and Mesha.
Kendra came to the group with an “I don’t want to be here and you can’t tell me
anything” attitude! It was obvious that this setting was not for her, or so I thought. At the end of
week two, we began our critical literature review (CLR). We had already talked about the
process and agreed on rules for participation. The first step was to read a story. Each of the girls
had their own copy of the story. I chose to read a story called “Abigail.” It was about a tenth
grader whose family sent her to a home for unwed teen mothers when she got pregnant. The
setting was the 1960s. As I began to read the story, several other students were off task and
talking or adding inappropriate comments. Kendra yelled to them, “Shut up so I can hear the
story!” During the reading, I asked several questions to the students for content and clarity.
Kendra spoke up often to contribute. This was new for her. After class, I pulled her aside and
thanked her for her participation. I also told her that she had really good insight and to keep it
up. She smiled, said thank you, and went to lunch. I found out later that Kendra could relate to
that story because it was about a young woman who had gotten pregnant in the 10th grade. Her
older sister had a baby in high school.
Kendra quit our class mid-way through the next week. She later asked me if she could
return. I declined her request because by then we were already into the 9th week of our 10-week
session, and I was only there for one term.
One of the things that I did right with Kendra was acknowledge her without embarrassing
her in front of her peers. She might have reacted differently in front of them. I also found a
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connection with her by using that story. If I could do things differently, I would have
approached her individually, as I had before, and asked her not to quit. I would have told her
how much she contributed to the class, and how much she could have gotten out of it. She is one
of the girls who could have benefited most from individualized attention.
Making connections, or the notion of connectedness, is a significant theme among Black
feminist scholars. Collins (2000) states that it should be used as the conceptual lens to link
home/community and school. For Kendra, the link became evident through the story “Abigail”.
When the story was read, her behavior changed immediately and she participated in the CLR
process. I chose that story not knowing about Kendra’s sister, but thinking that each of the girls
could find some relevance.
Collins (2000, p.257) further states that Black feminists use lived experiences as criteria
for credibility. Kendra’s experience with the pregnancy of her sister became the vehicle through
which I could reach her. While the story we read took place in the past, teen pregnancy is still a
relevant issue today, particularly in the neighborhoods surrounding Beaumont. My selection of
this story stemmed from my knowledge of the communities my students lived in, and my desire
to provide them with reading material they could relate to. Though it hit especially close to home
for Kendra, each of the other girls knew someone, or knew of someone, they could connect to the
story.
Mesha
Mesha lives with her mother and has attended Beaumont since she was in kindergarten.
She is fourteen years old. Mesha is a leader and is often followed by Kendra. She is frequently
absent and her grades are reflective of this. She is a below average student academically and is
frequently off-task in the classroom. Mesha is, however, also a very smart and engaged student
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when she chooses to be. Mesha describes herself as follows: I am cute and fun. I like to read
and talk on the phone. I like to hang with my friends. My boyfriend is Chaz. I like singing and
dancing.
I am unsure about Mesha’s ability to write or read because she never did either in class.
She spent most of her time trying to make my life miserable (or so I felt). I responded to her off
task behaviors by ignoring them and focusing on the students who were completing tasks. I
thought I would silence her by ignoring her. This did not work. I often wished for her to be
absent from class because when she was in attendance, her behavior was invariably disruptive.
She was also influential on a few other students. Roughly three weeks into the program, she
withdrew from our group. When she made the choice to leave, I have to say, I was relieved.
Upon reflection, I realize Mesha could have benefited a lot by being a part of our group.
She could have received more individualized attention; she could have learned more; and she
could have seen how her change in behavior could have a positive impact on the rest of her
peers. This was a missed opportunity to talk to a young lady who, in my opinion, was in
desperate need of mentoring, of someone to care about her academic success, and someone who
could make a positive impact on her life. If I could do it over again, I would spend more time
with her. I would find out what her strengths are, and attempt to incorporate those into our
classroom.
I had the things that she liked, but I never got the opportunity to pull them into our
classroom activities because she was not there long enough, and when she was there I spent so
much time trying to keep her on task that there was no time left for her individual instruction.
Black feminist thought emphasizes connectedness. But how do you make connections when
most of your time is spent trying to make students stay on task? The reality is that connection
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with all students may not occur, but as educators, we must acknowledge that we need to offer the
tools to allow learning to take place for all students, despite their best and most concerted efforts
to avoid it.
Mesha obviously felt safe with her inappropriate behavior in the classroom. She saw how
her behavior impacted me and her classmates, and enjoyed that power. She got approval from
classmates through their laughter, which made me angry, thus further validating her position of
dominance in the group.
Through my experiences with Mesha I learned that typically, when students are off-task,
it is because there is something missing. That missing piece could be attention, affection,
inability to read or write, or any number of other things. I never found out which of these
applied to Mesha because I was too busy trying to ignore her.
By ignoring Mesha and her misbehavior, I unwittingly replicated what often happens to
students of color. Ignoring students equates to silencing them, as opposed to teaching them.
Friere (1972) wrote about a ‘culture of silence’ where the voice of the oppressed is silenced by
the voice of the dominant. Yet Mesha had a great deal to say. Gitlin et al (1992) tell us that
when a person is silenced for a long time, their silence is not manifested through an absence of
voice, but through a lack of acceptable voice. I allowed Mesha’s lack of acceptable voice to
become the driving force in our group; she was in control of my classroom.
Finally, I’ve had to acknowledge that power is very different from empowering. Mesha
had the power and she used it to her advantage. In our small group, she asserted control over at
least two other students, Kendra and DaRhonda. They followed her lead. When she did not
want to work, she convinced them not to work as well by starting inappropriate, off-task
conversations and sometimes activities.
(Student becoming disruptive and cheerleading in class)
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Bennyce: Ladies, this is not cheerleading practice or gym class. Mesha, although you’re an
excellent cheerleader, this is not the time or place to showcase your skills. Right now, we are
focusing on pre-writing. Perhaps you can write about cheerleading as your story. You need to
get started on your pre-writing. If you need to move someplace that is more comfortable, please
feel free to do so. Your question was – you get a week to get pre-writing. When you come in
tomorrow, we will be working on something else. So if you don’t get it done today, then that is
okay, that is why it is called a writing workshop. People are always going to be in different places
and that is okay. What do you do when you get it done?
Class Transcript, Class 2, 09/04/02
Similarly, when she didn’t attend school, she was able to convince her friends to join her. When
she was absent, at least one of them (Kendra or DaRhonda) was absent, too. Kunjufu (2002)
writes that “Many teachers think that they are the leaders of the class, but they fail to realize that
their students are taking cues from their peer leader. Once a student leader is sold on academic
achievement, the rest of the class will come along” (114). Unfortunately, I was never able to
‘sell’ Mesha on academic achievement; she didn’t see the “payoff” (Kunjufu, 2002, 101) in
education, and refused to buy into the academic community. As a result, her leadership abilities
were used in resistance to, rather than in support of, classroom and academic goals.
Collins (2000) states that Black teachers have a responsibility to protect students from the
maligning images that are so prevalent in our society. We must empower students to resist
oppressive forces through dialogue. Because I didn’t get to the root of Mesha’s behavior
problems, she became a victim once again. I chose to silence her in order to take back my power
in the classroom. So often this same image is played out in classrooms across the country where
Black students become voiceless and silenced. Mesha chose to leave the study in our second
week, so there was never an opportunity for growth or change. Had she stayed, I might have had
the opportunity to get to the root of the problem. Was it her reading or writing? Was it her lack
of attention? Culturally responsive teachers use a wide variety of instructional strategies that
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allow them to teach students with varied learning styles. Would Mesha have learned more from
a hands-on approach? Was it me and my approach to teaching?
Janice Hale (2001) offers this model for educating Black students:
A model of classroom instruction for African American students should diminish the use of
xeroxed work sheets, workbooks, textbooks, and a skill and drill orientation. Emphasis should
be placed on hands-on activities, projects, interrelated learning experiences, field trips, speakers,
and classroom visitors. The intent is to create a learning environment that complements the
culture of the African American community and stimulates higher order thinking and creativity
among African American children (p 122). This model of culturally relevant teaching provides
students with an opportunity to participate in a community-centered, creative learning
environment – an environment that students like Mesha need to support and nurture them
through the educational system. This environment also holds students accountable for learning
and participating thereby making them important stakeholders in the process as well.
Nicole
Nicole lives with her mother and younger sister. She is thirteen years old. She has
attended Beaumont since kindergarten. Her grades are outstanding. She is an exemplary student
both academically and socially. When asked to describe herself, this is what she had to say: I
am an eighth grade African American student. I am intelligent. I like the colors green, red, and
blue. I enjoy reading and math classes. I am unknown, energetic, kind, and lively.
Nicole is a good student who makes frequent contributions to our CLR discussions. She
only missed one day of class, and that was for a school-sponsored field trip. Nicole is a true
leader in group sessions; she is willing to share both her own experiences and her personal
insights during the CLR process.
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Nicole is truly in her element when she is given the opportunity to speak. This was noted
during the CLR sessions and during the poetry unit. Each student had to write, memorize, and
recite a poem. Janice Hale (1982) equates the use of oral activities in the classroom with the
tradition of the Black preacher in the pulpit. She says, “Black culture gives rise to highly
charismatic and stylistic uses of language. The oratory and homiletics of the Black preacher are
examples of charismatic language in Black culture.” (p. xiii). Incorporating classroom activities
that allow my students to express themselves orally also allows them to showcase their ability to
use language stylistically. Hale (1992) goes on to say that it is imperative that Black
professionals identify the intelligences found especially in Black children and support the pursuit
of these strengths.
“I Had a Dream” – Nicole
I had a dream yesterday
that everyone looked the same
but wore nametags.
Everyone got along – no racism, sexism or
anything of that nature. Everyone
had the same everything.
Our skin was black with bright orange eyes
and purple hair. If life was like that,
everything would be okay.
I had a dream yesterday.
(09/30/02)
Nicole is highly motivated and therefore easy to teach. When teachers have classrooms
full of students like Nicole, our task becomes simple. But since this is not a reality in most
classrooms, we often teach to the middle. The most intelligent students and the students with the
most difficulty suffer. Ladson-Billings (1994) believes that teachers of culturally relevant
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pedagogy provide their students with intellectual challenges and teach to the highest standards as
opposed to the lowest common denominator. Nicole thrived because she was continually pushed
to her limits and challenged.
When students are bored in the classroom, it becomes difficult to keep them on task.
When students are challenged, they don’t have time to be bored. Incorporating culturally
relevant pedagogical practices into the school’s curriculum allowed me to teach all students,
particularly Nicole, based upon her strengths.
Starr
Starr is thirteen and lives with her aunt. Her mother died during her seventh grade year.
She has attended Beaumont since kindergarten. She is an above average student who frequents
the neighborhood library. She is aware of and has read many of the most popular books for
young teens. Here is how she describes herself: I am a shining star. I am a multi-talented
young lady. I am in love with boys. I am a friendly, sweet, fun-loving girl. I am the girl in every
boy’s dream. I am the girl who most likely cares about her education. I am the girl who would
like to have a lot going for her. I am the girl who likes kids. I am the female that makes
everyone want to say good morning or good night. I am a daddy’s girl and a mother’s best
friend. I am (best friend’s name) best friend in the whole wide world. I am (sister’s name) sister
and (mother’s name) daughter. I am God’s child. I am (aunt’s name) favorite niece and
(father’s name) daughter. I am tall, brown-skinned, beautiful, intelligent, friendly, and very
spontaneous.
Starr and I had an instant connection through our love of literature. When I chose a class
novel, Starr would go to the library, check it out, and finish it before our next class if she hadn’t
already read it. Starr is often criticized by her classmates for speaking up. She always has
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something to say and never minds anybody knowing it. She doesn’t back down when her
opinions differ from others. She thrives on praise, works hard, and is her own person. Black
women teachers often become “othermothers” to students (Collins, 2000). Teachers who serve
as othermothers to their students focus on believing in their students, demanding their best work,
and disciplining them for their own good (Irvine, 2000). I praised Starr when she did not back
down from her fellow students by voicing her own opinions. She in turn challenged me to find
young adult literature that she had not already read. Such was the case for our last group novel.
During the eighth week of class we started reading a book called Silent to the Bone. We
got to the part of the book just before the climax and as we discussed it, Starr began to ask
questions of her classmates about one of the main characters. She was using her ability to view
literature through a critical lens in order to figure things out. Her questioning revealed that she
was making the process work for her. This is the point of using culturally relevant pedagogy in
the classroom – so students begin to ask their own questions and think critically – a scaffolding
process.
Ladson-Billings (1994) tells us that when teachers provide instructional scaffolding,
students can move from what they know to what they need to know. Instructional scaffolding
allows students to reach higher levels of understanding and master tasks that would otherwise be
too difficult. The notion of scaffolding is embedded in Black feminist thought and culturally
relevant pedagogy. Each talks about linking an individual’s experiences and ideas and building
bridges between home and school. The experiences are a starting point for learning and the
bridging means taking those experiences and bringing them into the classroom as a valued part
of a lesson or student work. Starr taught me the importance of using a culturally relevant
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pedagogical perspective in the classroom. This method worked well for her especially in our
reading lessons.
Starr also made me look at myself through the eyes of the ‘fictive kin’ or othermother
persona that is so needed and missing from the Black community today. As an othermother
figure, I garnered respect, admiration, and authority without being authoritative.
Patricia Hill
Collins (2000) explains it this way, “…the ‘mothering the mind’ relationship can develop
between African-American female teachers and their female students. It is unlike a mentoring
relationship in that it goes beyond just providing students with technical or academic skills” (p
191). Like the mother-daughter relationship, ‘mothering the mind’ among Black women seeks
to move toward a shared sisterhood that binds African-American women as community
othermothers (Wade-Gayles 1996 in Collins 2000 p 191). Because Starr had recently lost her
mother, she invited and allowed me to step into that role for her during our class sessions. The
larger lesson here is that there are and will be students who are without a mother figure. This
could be due to death, incarceration, drug abuse, neglect or any number of other reasons.
Students need to feel honored, respected, trusted, and secure – this sometimes stretches beyond
the boundaries of a classroom teacher’s role, and into the realm of family bonds through
othermothering and fictive kin relationships.
The Teacher’s Perspective
As a teacher, my aim was to teach using a culturally relevant pedagogy. I taught using a
variety of teaching methods and strategies that connected with varying learning styles (Gay
2000). I always had an agenda on the board. The agenda told the girls what we would be
covering in class. It also gave them some choices so that the students who were farther along did
not have to wait for others to catch up. I used mini-lessons which were short lessons with
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examples for students to follow. This gave the girls more time to work on assignments. Other
strategies included collaborative exercises like peer conferences and student- teacher conferences
for checking work. Additionally, our critical literature review (CLR) was a collaborative
exercise where students learned from each other. Peter Murrell, Jr (2002) writes in African
Centered Pedagogy that accomplished teachers of African American children create an
intellectual and cultural environment that stimulates learning. They understand and appreciate
African American culture, history, and language and continue to study and learn more.
Accomplished teachers of African American students understand the distinction between training
and educating and choose the latter. Their desire is to produce academically sound,
compassionate, Afrocentric students who cope successfully in a Eurocentric society. They stress
raising expectations and increasing time on task (cited in Kunjufu, 2002, p 70).
Using the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) does not make you a culturally
relevant teacher. There is a great deal more involved. Skills do not equal success. I thought that
employing the tenets in class would be enough. Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994) outlines eight
factors that make a culturally relevant teacher. They are 1) high self-esteem and high regard for
others; 2) view self as a professional and strongly identify with craft; 3) view self as part of the
community; 4) view teaching as giving something back to the community; 5) helps students
make connections between community, national, and global identities; 6) believes that all
students can succeed; 7) teaching is like mining (extracting knowledge); and 8) helps students
move past the “blaming the victim mentality.” Figure 4.1 illustrates these tenets and the ways in
which I interpreted and incorporated them into my classroom practice.
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Figure 4.1
Gloria Ladson-Billings’ –
Specific Classroom Examples of
Factors that make a Culturally Relevant
Culturally Relevant Teaching
Teacher
High self-esteem and high regard for others
Compliments in front of guests and during
conferences. Constant reinforcement of the
fact that they are smart.
View self as a professional and strongly
identify with craft
Always prepared for class. Used class time
wisely. Checked in with other teachers about
students and student work.
View self as part of the community
While I did not live in community, I attended
church in community. Met with librarian in
community. Took students to radio station in
community to broadcast school lunch menu for
one week.
View teaching as giving something back to the
community
Invited community person and parents into
classroom to participate in critical literature
review process.
Helps students make connections between
community, national, and global identities
Used literature from local author as well as
literature that took place in other countries.
Reading literature was followed by discussions.
Believes that all students can succeed
Used multiple teaching strategies to teach.
Varied lessons to include reading, writing,
speaking, and listening. Mini-lessons to allow
more work time.
Teaching is like mining (extracting knowledge)
Scaffolding process. Built upon what students
already knew.
Helps students move past the “blaming the
victim mentality”
Open discussions. Built trust. Never put
students down or demeaned them. Set high
expectations and helped students achieve them.
I believe that I met my goal as a teacher of culturally relevant pedagogy. However,
employing culturally relevant instructional strategies in a classroom of Black, eighth-grade girls
was very challenging. The girls were not used to structure and order. They were used to chaos
and not being held accountable for learning. Seven of the ten girls adjusted to this style of
learning. Three girls either could not adjust or chose not to adjust. In the end, it was the seven
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girls who benefited most. They were empowered to be free and open critical thinkers. This sort
of empowerment is advocated by Black feminist theory.
As a Black feminist I was charged with incorporating lived experiences into daily
classroom lessons, using dialogue to show connectedness, having a genuine care for my students
(ethic of caring), taking personal responsibility for my students’ achievement, and using
knowledge to empower students. The first two were easily incorporated into lessons. The latter
three were a bit more difficult to achieve and demonstrate.
The ethic of caring or caring with the heart goes beyond normal teacher expectations. As
a Black teacher of Black girls, this caring from the heart meant listening to my students and
getting a deeper understanding of who they were – often by hearing what was not said aloud.
Students and people in general often ‘hint at’ who they are and what they need. The seven girls
who participated in this research from beginning to end took something from the class that they
needed; someone to listen, someone to care, someone who was genuinely interested in them,
someone to set high expectations; and someone to give them the freedom to use their voices.
Inhabiting the dual roles of teacher and student, I realized that I didn’t have all of the
answers and I didn’t have to have them. My girls respected the fact that I let them create their
own understanding and do some of their own problem solving. They were the producers of
knowledge. The girls were active participants in their own learning through critical literature
review, peer conferences, and other course lessons.
Additionally, as a student I consider myself a work in progress. I have a deeper
understanding of the concept that change is dynamic (Collins 2000). No two students are alike
and no two classes are alike, so they should not be treated as such. Approaching students as a
work in progress means that I am still learning. It also means accepting the fact that I will not
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necessarily reach all students, nor empower all students. It means that I may have to work harder
to reach and empower some students. In either case, I must reflect on the work that I do in the
classroom in order to improve. Reflecting allows me to take an introspective look at the work I
am trying to accomplish, and whether or not my methods are useful or counterproductive to
accomplishing it.
Finally, as a researcher seeking to improve my teaching I looked at what other
researchers had done. Reflexive culturally relevant pedagogy (RCRP) is a useful term that
reflects the necessary elements of best classroom practice. It is not enough to embrace the
components of culturally relevant teaching, and it is not enough to isolate reflexivity. By
combining the two, I had to look at myself and the positions that I held about teaching Black
eighth grade girls in a community school setting. I had to look at all of the things about myself
that stood in the way of effective teaching. I had to really examine my values and beliefs and see
how they detracted from my ability to reach the girls and teach them
Generalizations of Research Outcomes
The utilization of culturally relevant pedagogy in public school classrooms is an effective
way to create a culture of classroom community, which in turn acts as both a catalyst to and a
support of student learning and achievement. Over the course of our time together, the girls
participating in the study began to view themselves less as individuals in opposition to our
classroom group, and more as individuals intact on their own, but able to contribute to and
interact meaningfully with the community created in our class. As their sense of self solidified,
and their trust in our community increased, their willingness to work hard and well grew and
their academic work improved. This growth and improvement was not limited to the walls of our
classroom; it spread and was recognized at other levels of the school building. The principal of
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the school even commented on the girls’ increased maturity and poise, and chose to feature them
on a school radio program.
Limitations/Failures
When selecting any research approach, other approaches are, by virtue of that choice,
excluded. I chose to create and analyze my research from a qualitative perspective. By default,
therefore, quantitative applications were not utilized. Therefore, while I can point to significant
anecdotal data to support my claims that the students in my study experienced increased
academic success and improved as writers and learners, I do not have the benefit of statistical
analysis to add to that anecdotal evidence. Given the size of my sample group, however, this is
not a significant limitation. Statistics compiled on a group of only 10 students would not be
considered particularly convincing; anecdotal data, however, particularly when transmitted in the
students’ own words, makes a powerful contribution to the body of research literature on
students’ lived experiences in public school classrooms.
Similarly, my choice to analyze the data collected through the combined lenses of
culturally relevant pedagogy and Black Feminist Theory precluded the utilization of other forms
of analysis and theories of interpretation. Though the composition of my research group (all
Black females) made Black Feminist Theory a particularly appropriate choice, I am cognizant of
the fact that other theories (i.e. – critical education theory, critical race theory) could also have
been applied. Further, had my study group not been homogenous, other theories might even have
proved more useful in interpreting the results of my research.
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CHAPTER FIVE: APPLICATION
Bennyce
I am a forty-one year old student, feminist, teacher, and researcher. I am a strong Black
woman who was raised primarily by two strong Black women, my mother and maternal
grandmother. They taught me to have a strong sense of self and to overcome obstacles. I am
also the torch that leads the way for the young Black women who follow me.
When I was a grade school student, school was never very difficult for me. I was not a
straight “A” student nor was I an “F” student. I was somewhere in the middle. When my
teachers engaged me, I performed well. When I was not engaged in the classroom, I struggled.
Being able to engage my students in the process of education is my immediate goal.
As a Black feminist and teacher, I am obliged to take an active role in the educational
success of Black children. It is not enough to have the skill without utilizing the skill where it is
most needed. I want to work in a public school system with Black children, and poor children,
and children who have been relegated to the margins of society through the media and
stereotypes and research. I was that child. I want to help children believe in themselves when
no one else believes in them.
I am a researcher looking for answers. The overarching question is: How do I
successfully educate Black students? This is a question that plagues many researchers interested
in the plight of those students who have been maligned or miseducated in educational systems
across the country.
Time and time again as I worked through the process of developing a reflexive approach
to culturally relevant pedagogy, an approach that would eventually evolve into the entirely new
teaching methodology I’ve christened RCRP, I was brought back to my own memories of my
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school experiences and the ways that those experiences shaped the teacher and scholar I’ve
become. When I started this research, it was with the lofty, and laudable, goal of reaching out to
children who’d been lost, left behind, or abandoned by the educational system. I wanted to draw
them into my sphere of learning and influence their lives in a positive way. I learned, however,
that to truly reach children, ‘lost’ and otherwise, it is imperative first to reach oneself, and then to
move into the spheres of the children you are hoping to reach, rather than trying to bring those
children to you. As I worked to develop a model of teaching practice that embodied the best of
all my studies, and as I made mistakes and sought to learn from them, I realized that while I had
read many wonderful theories, I’d seen very little on how to practically integrate those theories
into practice.
Wake Up Call
My first day with the girls was a disaster. They had been told by their English teacher
that they would no longer be in her English class but would be taught by me for the term. This
was accompanied by loud groans and a barrage of questions. “Why do we have to go?” Why
can’t we be in class with the boys?” “Are we being punished?” “Where are we going?”
I had been given a small classroom that was not being used during the time that our class
met in another part of the school building. When I say small – that is an understatement. The
classroom was set up for third grade students and my students – my girls as they came to be
known, were eighth graders. We walked into the room and more complaints and questions
erupted. I tried to explain them away as best as I could so that I could get to the lessons which I
had prepared. This was not quite what some of the girls had in mind in this quaint space that was
given to us for the purpose of educating young, Black, female, eighth grade minds.
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The room had three separate spaces. As we walked in the door, there was a teacher’s
desk piled high with books and papers. Then there was the area where the students’ desks were
located. There were about twelve square desks that could be opened by lifting the top to store
items. They were turned inward so that students faced each other as opposed to facing the
teacher at the front of the room. This was a bad idea. Having students face each other
encouraged off-task behavior – like talking to each other instead of listening. The third area was
the most intriguing – even for eighth graders. It was a group of tables that contained games,
puzzles, and books (for third graders). This space immediately caught the attention of my eighth
graders. Why didn’t I see this before? Why didn’t I prepare for the girls’ reactions to this space?
It took the first five minutes of that class to get them into the third grade desks only to be
followed by another ten minutes of question answering and moaning and complaining.
“Why are these desks so small?” asked Kendra.
“This is the only space available”, I replied.
“Why are we in here?” asked Jackee.
“Because your teacher picked you!” I answered.
When I thought I had finally gotten them settled, I pointed their attention toward the
board where I had neatly placed an agenda. My agenda was written on a piece of post-it note
paper that was designed for presentations, but that could also be removed without the hassle of
having to erase it from a chalk board or dry erase board. The first agenda item told the girls what
an agenda was and how to use it (see Appendix C). I explained to them that they could expect to
see one daily and that the agenda is where they should look to find out what materials they would
need and what lessons we would cover that day. This was the lesson that I taught to those
students who were listening.
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This is when I discovered that having desks face each other is not a good idea. It is not
conducive to nor does it contribute to an effective learning environment. Several girls thought
that me talking meant that they should talk too. And they did! When I talked, they talked.
When I stopped talking, they stopped talking. Finally, I stopped, paused, took a deep breath and
in my frustration spouted these words: “I am not here to yell at you, to scream at you, or to blast
you out! I am here to teach you and that is exactly what I am going to do! Even as eighth
graders, you make choices and your choices come with consequences. There will either be a
reward or a punishment! You choose!”
Their behavior, as a whole, became a little better and I was able to get through the rest of
the lesson. I couldn’t help but think about the cliché, “one bad apple don’t spoil the whole
bunch.” I thought to myself, what about two or three? I had been given ten girls to teach and
two or three could ruin the experience for the rest. I couldn’t let that happen. I also echoed the
girls’ question – why are we being punished – but I wondered, was it them or me suffering
punishment here?
I closed that first session by giving them journals to write in. Their first journal prompt
was: What do you expect to learn in this class? As they wrote, I did also. What did I expect to
get from this class? Moreover, what could I do to make the learning experience better for them
and inevitably for me? As I began to write I was consumed with thoughts like: why am I here?
What could I possibly expect to accomplish? How could (and for all intents and purposes) why
would any teacher ever come back here? Why would she want to teach these young Black girls?
I walked into the classroom on the first day poised for success. I was armed with several
college degrees, dressed as a professional should be, and equipped with perfect grammatical
skills and a wealth of knowledge to disseminate. I had my agenda, materials for my students,
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and lofty ideas as to what I was going to do for them. I walked into the classroom believing that
I could teach these students based on the fact that ‘they were me’. They were Black, they were
girls, and they attended school in the neighborhood where they were raised. More importantly, I
had something to offer them. I was the catalyst to get them out of the ghetto; to make them
successful; to help them be ‘somebody’. What I found was that these girls were much smarter
than I thought I was. Nobody can humble you like a child can. These girls had lived through
hardship and disappointment and not just any person could come in and change who they were.
It would take a lot of work. I was the one who would be taught many lessons.
. When I walked into that classroom the first day poised for success, I forgot to look in
the mirror. I wasn’t poised for teaching Black eighth grade girls; I was poised for failure. I
entered that classroom with an air of superiority and those girls knew it. I couldn’t hide it from
them. I entered that classroom with an “I have something you need and I am going to give it to
you” attitude. That approach did not work. I had to be humbled by some really smart, Black,
eighth grade girls who had a lesson to teach me. What I learned from this experience is that I did
possess the tools to teach them, but my approach was all wrong. In looking back at my daily
journal writings, I discovered that I was part of the problem. I was listening to them with my
ears but not with my heart. When I read my journals from the first week, I wanted to blame them
for their behavior. As I thought about it, I realized that they were misbehaving because I had
disrupted their daily routine. I had taken them out of their comfort zones. It was then that I
looked at myself for solutions.
Making Progress
Around week four my girls were finally settling in. We had a few bumps, but all teachers
get those as students test the waters and use their newfound voices. By this time Mesha, Jackee,
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and Kendra had had enough of our class and decided to return to their mixed gender classroom.
I continued to teach the remaining girls and establish routines with them. One activity that was
constant was our weekly critical literature review (CLR).
Once a week (usually on Thursdays) we would read a short story aloud. Sometimes I
would read to the girls and sometimes they would take turns and read to each other. On Fridays
we would have a formal discussion about the story. The desks were arranged in a circle and the
only items on each desk would be a copy of the story and a name card with (Ms.) and the
students’ last name. The girls acknowledged each other by last name and raised their hands to be
recognized.
This particular week, we read a story entitled “Adjo Means Goodbye” by Carrie Allen
Young. The story is about a young Black girl whose parents move to an affluent suburb that is
predominately White. The daughter becomes best friends with another student who is White and
they spend a great deal of time at each other’s houses until other White parents protest the
friendship by not allowing their children to come to the birthday party of the White girl. The
friendship takes a back seat due to the racist attitudes of the other parents.
On this particular CLR Friday we had a guest (Ms. Auciello) participate. Ms. Auciello
was a teacher at the school who did not have a class during the time that we met. She had been
briefed about the process and given a copy of the story to read ahead of time. Ms. Auciello came
in and took a seat. There were no assigned seats for our discussions. My girls sat wherever they
felt comfortable.
“Who can give us a summary of the story?” I asked. Several students raised their hands.
“Okay Ms. Jones (Starr), tell us what this story is about.”
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“Well, it’s about a Black girl and a White girl who become friends until the White girl
had a birthday party and the White parents wouldn’t let their kids go to it,” said Ms. Jones.
Several other hands were waving frantically. “Ms. Jones,” said Starr. There were two girls with
the same last name Jones (Starr and Nicole).
“It was a story about racism and how parents’ attitudes affect their children,” said the
other Ms. Jones (Nicole) and our discussion had begun.
My role was as a facilitator and Ms. Auciello followed my lead. She raised her hand and
was called on by Ms. Jones (Nicole).
“Ms. Auciello.”
“Why do parents teach their children to be prejudiced?” asked Ms. Auciello. Again
several hands went up. “Ms. McSayles.” (Jenae)
“I think parents teach their kids to be prejudiced because that’s what their parents taught
them. Ms. McNeal.” (DaRhonda)
“I think children are prejudiced because they be scared,” said Ms. McNeal.
Our discussion continued on until I brought it to a close with a final question: “What can
you do to fight prejudice?” Each student and our guest answered the question. As the discussion
came to a close, Ms. Auciello raised her hand again.
“I have to say, this is the first time that I have seen you girls in this setting and I am very
impressed. You all had a lot to say!”
“My girls are brilliant!” I told her. “I tell them that all the time when it is just us, but this
is the first time that someone else has gotten a chance to see exactly what I’ve been saying. I
hope you will come back again sometime, Ms. Auciello.”
“I will, and thanks again!” she said. “You girls keep up the good work!”
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The girls smiled as Ms. Auciello left and we continued with the lesson.
At the end of every class, I began to make little notes to myself in a journal. They might
read: invite guests again – opportunity to brag on girls, or shorten lesson – too much free time.
Mostly my notes consisted of comments to myself about how a particular lesson turned out and
what I might do to change my approach to teaching. I found that the more reflexive I was, the
more grounded I became and in turn the more genuine I was able to be with my students. One
such entry reads:
I prepared the girls for guests by suggesting to them that we would invite their parents to
participate in a Critical Literature Review (CLR). They thought this was a great idea.
When Ms. Auciello came to participate in the CLR process, she added a great deal to the
discussion. Additionally, she represented the community participation that Irvine (2002)
and Gay (2000) talk about. Inviting guests into our classroom community gave me the
opportunity to demonstrate genuine praise. In what other ways can I get the girls to see
how phenomenal they really are? How can I show them off without overdoing it and
maintaining realism and authenticity? Am I giving them what they need? Am I an
othermother and do they feel safe in my classroom space?
I think the answer to these questions is as follows: The girls “stepped up” their game in
class. They rose to the occasion when Ms. Auciello came to class. My praising them was
obviously genuine because I also praised them in the absence of guests. I often told them how
smart, brilliant, and wonderful they were. My persona as an othermother was both enabled and
enhanced by the girls’ perception of safety in the classroom community we created together.
Safety takes many forms; and in this school, our classroom became one such place. It’s not
always safe for a young, Black child to be smart or to exhibit those characteristics in school. In
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our classroom, intellectual excellence was the rule rather than the exception. It was okay to be
smart and to demonstrate that in the presence of others.
RCRP is Born
By the time week eight of a ten-week term came, everybody knew Ms. Hamilton and Ms.
Hamilton’s girls including the Principal, Ms. Ware. One morning, as I entered the school, Ms.
Ware motioned for me to come into her office.
“Have a seat, Ms. Hamilton,” she said. “How are things going?”
“Fine!” I replied. “My girls are great!” I asserted confidently. I was a little concerned as
to why she called me into her office.
“So I’ve heard,” she said quickly. “So I’ve heard. I guess you’re wondering why I called
you in.”
“Yes!’ I replied half excited, half anxious.
“I was wondering if you and your girls would like to be on the radio.”
“Sure!” I said. “Doing what?”
“I got a call from WCIN radio station and they want to invite some students from
Beaumont to record the lunch menu and I thought of you and your girls.”
“That’s terrific!” I replied, happy to know that we weren’t in any trouble. “We would
love to!” She gave me the contact information and I bounced out of her office like I was walking
on air.
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I picked up the girls, as usual, and walked them down to our classroom (we had finally
been given a classroom that was more suitable for eighth graders). I could hardly contain my
excitement.
“Guess what?” I asked them with a hint that I had a secret and I couldn’t wait to share it.
“What?” they said in unison.
“You all have been chosen to be on the radio!”
“When?” asked Starr.
“What station?” asked DaRhonda.
This was followed by more questions like, “who picked us” and “why did we get
picked?”
“I’ll tell you when we get to the classroom,” I said. I was trying to regain some control in
the hallway. There were other classes going on.
When we got to our classroom, I explained to my girls that their principal, Ms. Ware, had
approached me and suggested that “my girls” would be perfect to record the weekly lunch menu
for the entire public school system. My girls! The sound of that resonated through me.
It wasn’t just me that called them by that title. Other people (like Ms. Ware)
acknowledged them by that title as well. That seemed so far away from week one – day one; so
far from questioning my ability to teach and be effective. So far from ten, young, Black eighth
grade girls wondering why they had been chosen to be separated from their classmates. What
made the difference? Was it incorporating a culturally relevant pedagogical (CRP) philosophy
or being self-reflexive?
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I think it was a combination of the two. The tenets of CRP are wonderfully outlined in
the research publications of Patricia Hill Collins and Jacqueline Jordan Irvine. However, being
self reflexive made me stop pointing fingers at other factors to explain away why Black children,
and as is the case here, Black girls are failing. I had to turn the mirror on me. I had to look at
who I am and how that contributed to my success as a classroom teacher. It was not enough to
acknowledge all of the intricate parts that made up the whole of me. I had to figure out how
those intricate parts detracted from me being able to teach my girls. I had to pick myself apart.
The first journal that I had my students write asked them what they expected to learn
from our class. I, too, responded to that journal prompt. Little did I know then that that journal
prompt would make me examine more than what I expected to learn. It made me look at what I
expected to learn about myself in the process.
At the end of each class session with my girls, I would write. I would write about how the
class made me feel that day, and about how I felt when I was a student in school. What was it
that my favorite teachers did to make school so much fun, so exciting for me? Was it their
enthusiasm? Their genuine concern for my well-being? These are things that cannot be taught or
constructed in CRP. These are things that only come from a deep soul searching and personal
commitment to becoming an agent of change in the classroom. RCRP forced me to do that – to
look at myself, analyze my character, and create in myself the kind of teacher I would want to
have in the classroom.
Making RCRP Your Own
In this chapter, I hope to offer the reader some guidelines for the successful
implementation of Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. In doing so, I realize that I’m
creating something of a paradox – true RCRP will be as varied and look as different as the
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spectrum of practitioners implementing it. However, I believe that while the appearances of
application may differ, the actual practices involved in application are not so dissonant. The
following guidelines are just that – guidelines; like a compass, they can be applied to whatever
map you choose to follow. They are also interconnected; it is impossible, for example to
encourage truth-telling and authenticity without also applying them to self-knowledge and the
explicit revelation of personal identity.
Know Who You Are
The heart of education is discovery; new concepts, new ideas, new stories about the
world. Perhaps the greatest discoveries, however, are the discoveries learners make about
themselves. As a teacher, I constantly looked for ways to help my students to relate to our
curriculum; in order to do that, I asked them to think about who they were and then to figure out
how they were connected to what we were studying. Education programs focus on one small part
of this when they teach pre-service teachers about metacognition – knowing how you learn. This
is important, but insufficient. Students need to know how they learn and who they are as
learners. Perhaps they learn best through stories (the how), but the reason that works for them is
that they were raised by a grandmother who told tales while she taught them to cook or stitch a
button (the who). While some students, perhaps even many students, are able to succeed with
only knowledge of the how, knowledge of both is a pathway not just to learning, but to
empowerment. And, as with so many things in teaching, this pathway can’t be taught without
being modeled.
As teachers, it is imperative that we know exactly who we are when we walk into a
classroom. When I entered my classroom of eighth grade girls, I knew I was a strong Black
woman who’d been mothered and mentored by strong Black women and who had a lot to teach
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and to offer, especially to young Black girls. Had I been unaware of those influences on my
identity, I would not have been able to reflect on and identify the preconceived goals and
expectations that caused my first days in the classroom to be so stressful and failure-filled.
Without the awareness that came from that reflection, I would never have been able to connect
with my girls and we would not have been able to create a learning community together.
Before entering a classroom, it is absolutely necessary to think about the person you are,
not just as a teacher, but as a member of the human race. What influences have shaped and
molded your beliefs and ideals? What experiences have harmed and helped you? Who has
mentored you? What are your goals as a teacher? Everyone will answer these questions
differently, but every set of answers is important. Reflecting on questions such of these, and just
as importantly, reflecting on the answers to these questions, is the best possible preparation for
successful interactions with students. Knowing who you are enables you to be authentic in the
classroom, and when students sense that authenticity (and they do sense it whenever it’s truly
present), they begin to feel safe enough to explore and express themselves.
Create a Safe Space
It is a touchstone of almost every entry-level teacher-education class – Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs; and the foundation of Maslow’s hierarchy is a sense of safety (Slavin,
2005). While it’s true that Maslow was primarily writing about one’s need for a sense of physical
safety, the importance of a sense of intellectual and interpersonal safety cannot be
overemphasized. True learning, and the willingness to embark on a journey of discovery,
requires that learners are open in order to be receptive to new thoughts and ideas. Openness
cannot be achieved in a space that feels threatening, hostile or unsafe. It is the prime directive of
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the classroom teacher to establish a sense of safety and security for all students, regardless of
their background, personalities, or interest level in the teacher’s class.
One of the first steps to creating that sense of safety is the teacher’s own willingness to
open herself up before her students. By being willing to take the first step in revealing some of
her authentic self, the teacher communicates in both word and deed that in this space, everyone is
safe to be themselves, to say what is on their minds, to learn what their hearts are seeking, to be
brave and daring in the pursuit of learning and discovery. One caveat – it is easy to confuse
being open with the over-sharing that has been the stuff of recent news stories about teachers
who party with their students, teachers who treat their students as confidantes rather than as the
children that they are. Being open with students does not mean venting your feelings or sharing
all your personal business with the children in your class. Rather, it is a willingness to own
confusion, to admit to mistakes, to share personal successes and missteps on the path to learning.
Teachers who are genuinely, and appropriately, open with their students understand that by
offering themselves up as transparent examples of learners, they are giving their students the
profound gift of a model of learning to follow, to emulate, and, when necessary, to resist. In this
way, the journey of learning becomes less a course fraught with danger and more a well-lit path
to follow.
Listen In Order to Learn
It is an old and time honored saying in the community of Black grandmothers: “God gave
you two ears and one mouth for a reason.” While the saying may be amusing to modern ears, it is
no less relevant, especially in the case of teachers who wish to truly reach their students. It is an
all-too-easy thing to do – to be the voice of authority in the front of the classroom, pouring words
into children’s ears from the lectern on high. Easy and right, as my mother used to say, are not,
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however, the same thing. The teacher who genuinely wants to connect with students in a way
that feels safe and is empowering for them must be willing to close her mouth and become the
student of her students. She must be willing to listen to their words, and to listen beyond their
words.
Black Feminist Theory advocates “listening with the heart” (Collins, 2000). This suggests
that one must listen not only to what is said, but to the feelings behind what is said; that what is
not verbalized is just as important, and perhaps more important, than the words that are spoken;
that empathy must walk hand in hand with simple linguistic understanding. In my experience
with the eighth grade girls at Beaumont, reflection made it imminently clear with whom I had
used my heart to listen, and sadly, with whom I had not. The girls who remained in the study
continually affirmed, in their spoken words and their classroom actions, that they felt validated,
appreciated and understood in our classroom community. The three girls who withdrew from the
program, however, did not share that experience. Although I made inroads with both Jackee and
Kendra, I was unable to establish sufficient connections to keep them in the program. With
Mesha, I’m afraid that her behavior and my need to keep the group together and functional
prevented me from hearing what her actions were screaming to be understood. Only in
retrospect, with the clarity of hindsight and the balm of time passed, was I able to identify, and
own, my failure to truly listen to the girls we left behind. While such learning is small comfort
after the fact, it is useful for future practice by myself and other teachers wishing to avoid the
same mistake.
Risk Versus Reward
In any human interaction there is the potential for risk, and the possibility of reward.
Teachers often focus on their own risks in the classroom: the risk of missing the performance bar
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on high stakes exams, the risk of alienating or offending a child, the risk of arousing the ire of
parents or administrators through either classroom content or teaching style. We often speak of
the rewards of our profession in terms of ‘aha’ moments for students, of high test scores, of
thank you notes from parents or former students for a job well done. We forget, however, that
there are risks and rewards for our students in the classroom.
It takes a great deal of courage for students to analyze their risk and reward potential and
decide in favor of the classroom community. Students who prioritize education risk alienation
from their peer group, distancing themselves from family members, and changing themselves in
unforeseen and sometimes frightening ways. All this risk, in the face of rewards that are often
almost completely intangible: the satisfaction of a task well performed, the inner glow of new
knowledge acquired, the feeling of fulfillment that comes with applying what one has learned to
one’s life. These intrinsic rewards are often difficult to communicate with schoolchildren. This
is why the aforementioned teacher qualities – honesty, authenticity and genuine two-way
communication are so important. With these traits as the foundation of a teacher’s relationships
with her students, those students are more likely to believe her when she tells them about the
intrinsic, invaluable rewards of learning.
In my group of eighth graders, I struggled to communicate these rewards in a way that
made sense to my girls, and in a way that demonstrated their higher value when compared to the
rewards of peer support alone. DaRhonda, for example, really struggled with the conflict
between acceptance from her peers and affirmation from me. In the end, because I was honest
with her, because I listened to her with my ears and my heart, because I affirmed her worth,
intelligence, and value, she was able to choose the struggle of learning over the easier path to
popularity with her peers. When her peer group left the group, DaRhonda stayed and achieved
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success after success, courageously challenging her own and others’ preconceptions of both her
personality and her abilities.
Integrating RCRP in Classroom Practice
There is a lot of focus in teacher preparation programs on methods and techniques,
sometimes called “skill and drill,” for communicating content to students. Proponents of
standardized testing would have us believe that only measurable outcomes connected to formal
assessment are valuable indicators of learning (Kohn, 2000; Kozol, 2004). This, however,
neglects to take into account the importance of more affective learning indicators. These socalled ‘soft skills’ are absolutely necessary for the meaningful acquisition and retention of
knowledge. Students who are unable to value their learning and progress are unlikely to pursue
additional learning. They will not be driven towards scholarship, and their innate curiosity will
be crushed by the minutiae of the day-to-day requirements, rather than inspired by the potential
for discovery. In practical terms, they will not be motivated to strive for success academically,
and will be unlikely to pursue exceptionality in their career fields once they’ve left our
classrooms. It is important to remember that, as teachers, we are the preparers of tomorrow’s
doctors, attorneys, and politicians. I want tomorrow’s doctors to be curious and to advance
medicine beyond the boundaries that contain today. If that is my goal, then I must empower my
students, who may become those future doctors, by encouraging them to embrace the discovery
of new learning and to be fearless in the pursuit of knowledge. Of course there are tests to be
passed and set skills to be mastered, but this need not be done at the expense of exploration and
adventure in the classroom.
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CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS
I feel like I have so much work to do. I make an opening and take ten steps back. Reading,
writing, speaking and listening are all skills that eighth graders should have mastered.
Sometimes it’s like teaching first graders. What has happened to our school system? What can I
give to the girls that they haven’t gotten?
I can give them tools – like confidence, affirmation, and self-awareness. The rest is up to them.
What they do with the tools can make the difference in where they end up.
Lesson: Find resources that allow me to give my girls everything possible. In the process – give
also to self.
From reflective journal, 9/24/02
Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy as a Model for Teaching and Learning with Black
Students
When a certain segment of society is victimized, it often becomes easy to continue in that
tradition. As teachers, we sometimes fall prey to this with our students. In the classroom,
teachers often ask “What’s wrong with that student?” instead of asking “What could I have done
differently with that student?” When we begin to ask ourselves questions as teachers, then we
begin to be open to other possibilities, to explore more creative methods of teaching, and to
change our expectations of outcomes for students. Black students are no exceptions to this rule;
they are often marginalized and set up as victims. In turn, they are marginalized and treated as
victims in the classroom. Reflexive Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (RCRP) encourages teachers
to examine their teaching methods and to evaluate them in terms of meeting students’ needs, and,
where they fall short, to revise them accordingly. It allows to teachers to be more creative,
driving them down alternative avenues to guide their students to increased learning, and
consequently to increased success in meeting state and district academic standards.
Pre-service teachers must be taught to look at their own teaching skills, utilizing a journal
or some other reflective media, so that they can adapt themselves and their skills to their
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students’ needs. Teachers recognize the importance of journaling for students; it is imperative
that we not exempt ourselves from this necessary and valuable practice. Pre-service teachers, if
trained to do this as regularly as they write lesson plans, will be stronger, more creative, and
therefore more effective teachers. More effective teachers in turn produce more successful
students. The documentation of both successes and failures means that failures are less likely to
be repeated, and successes are more likely to be multiplied.
Suggested Uses for Research
There are three key components to the successful implementation of reflexive culturally
relevant pedagogy in the classroom. They are:
1. Identify and implement techniques to support personal (teacher) reflexivity;
2. Identify and implement strategies supporting students’ reflexivity; and
3. Identify ways to incorporate RCRP in the classroom.
The importance of self-reflection on the part of the teacher seeking to create a reflexive and
culturally relevant pedagogy in his/her classroom cannot be overstated. The editors of New
Skills for New Schools (1997) note that self-reflection “helps teachers process what they are
learning and make the experiences personally meaningful. Self-reflection is also useful for
addressing cultural differences . . . [and] uncover[ing] any negative feelings and assumptions
they might have which may inhibit [their work]”
(http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NewSkills/chptr4.html). They observe that techniques for selfreflection are many and varied, and that while journal writing is a common staple of selfreflective practice, such practice includes any task “that ask[s] teachers to think about their own
family backgrounds, their assumptions about other families, and their attitudes for working with
families. The goal [then] is for prospective teachers to consider how their own perspectives will
influence their work . . .” According to Jeffrey (2004), teacher diaries can be referred to as
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“agents for change by laying the foundation for professional development.” Bailey (2001)
recommends that teaching experiences be “documented through regular, candid entries in a
personal journal and then analyzed for recurring patterns or salient events” (215). This rereading
of a teacher’s reflective journal is a critical element of the reflective process – while there are
certainly a myriad of benefits to expunging a full teaching day into the compliant and
cooperative embrace of a blank page, such a purge will not lead to professional improvement
unless it is reviewed and analyzed by the teacher who wrote it. It is in this analysis that teachers
learn about themselves; their hidden agendas and expectations, their emotional attachments and
disengagements, and their perceptions of their own, and their students’ successes and failures.
Reflexivity on the part of the teacher, while necessary, is not sufficient for the full
implementation of RCRP. It is vitally important to create a classroom environment and learning
structure that supports students’ personal reflexivity. According to Allen and Farnsworth (1993),
reflexivity promotes self-awareness, scholarly accountability, and recognition of a range of
human truths, and helps students learn to observe and locate themselves as knowers. The
practice of reflexivity, then, gives students an opportunity to use their personal experiences as a
lens through which to view and critique what passes as accepted knowledge on a subject, and to
make sense of and filter their own personal experiences in light of that accepted knowledge.
Sinacore, et al (1999) suggest several strategies for supporting student reflexivity. These include:
-
selecting course content and materials that “reflect the diversity of lived experience”
and “facilitate the integration of scholarly knowledge” (268);
modeling personal reflexivity by openly acknowledging and explaining the thought
processes involved in planning a course and selecting course readings;
inviting speakers from traditionally marginalized groups to share their experiences
with students in class;
facilitating class discussions in which students can “share their understanding of
readings and use personal experiences to reveal points of congruency and
contradiction with course materials” (268);
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-
designing assignments which “encourage awareness of self and others while
respecting the importance of academic scholarship” (269); and
implementing a grading system that is mindful of the need for balance between
traditional grading values (i.e. – correct answers, an accurate final product) and the
goals and values of a reflexive classroom (i.e. – the process is valuable, not just the
finished product).
In 1933, John Dewey wrote that true learning can occur only through reflecting on
experiences. If the goal of education is, in fact, truly learning, then the importance, indeed, the
necessity, of a classroom built on reflexive practice by both teacher and students cannot be
overestimated.
The idea of implementing a pedagogical approach emphasizing both reflexivity and
cultural relevance may seem overwhelming. It can be achieved, however, without unduly
overburdening the teacher committed to its practice. Two central pillars in structuring an RCRP
classroom are: 1) selecting course materials that are relevant to students’ lives and experiences,
and 2) structuring opportunities for reflection into assignments and daily routines. When looking
for relevant course materials, consider the age, race, and gender of the students in class. It is
sometimes helpful to look to local authors for materials, as their work is often especially relevant
(ex. – Sharon Draper in Cincinnati, Walter Dean Myers in New York’s Harlem, Christopher Paul
Curtis in Detroit). Bringing in guest speakers from the community, and actively involving
parents in classroom activities are other ways to increase the cultural relevance of classroom
learning. As the relevance of learning increases, so does the opportunity for students to practice
reflection. Obviously, students can, and should, be encouraged to write reflectively and to
complete assignments connecting their own experiences to classroom content. Additionally,
however, there are a multitude of benefits to be gained from having students reflect on the how
of their learning, guiding them, through carefully designed discussion and assignments, to a
place of metacognition. In this way, they are being both reflective and culturally relevant because
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they are focusing on their own experiences and ways of learning, inclusive of their culture and
background. Students can learn a lot from themselves. They can also learn a lot from each other,
and the RCRP classroom respects and honors that by providing opportunities for students to
work together in order to facilitate the acquisition of skills and knowledge. In addition, the
practitioner of RCRP acknowledges that students know what kind of classroom protocols and
procedures they need in order to be successful, and consequently gives them a voice in designing
class rules and procedures, while providing a structure to encourage student feedback while
guiding student learning. Creating an RCRP classroom does not involve a redesign of
curriculum; it simply involves a shift in thinking about the curriculum and different instructional
choices in presenting it.
Suggestions/Implications for Further Research
As the parameters of this study were limited to a small sample of Black adolescent girls,
there are several readily apparent ways to extend and expand this study. First, it would be useful
to work with a larger sample of Black girls. Assuming the data gathered in a larger group with
similar research subjects is resonant with the results of my own study, the sample could be
expanded to include first both Black and White girls, and then to include both Black and White
girls and boys. Extending the time frame of the research from one quarter to a full semester, or a
full year, would also yield valuable insight into both the feasibility of implementing reflexive
culturally relevant pedagogy on an ongoing basis, and into the long-range academic effects (as
evidenced by student work samples, quarterly and semester grades, and annual standardized test
scores) and social/behavioral changes (i.e. – student attendance, behavioral issues – detentions,
suspensions, etc., and class participation). Again, assuming that the data continue to support the
use of RCRP, I recommend broadening the scope of the study to include students from schools in
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different neighborhood and from different socioeconomic backgrounds. This will demonstrate
that this research is both internally and externally valid.
Good research is only as good, really, as its application. Consequently, I recommend the
formation of a mixed-gender, mixed-race cohort of teachers to implement RCRP in their
classrooms and to analyze the results of that implementation together over an extended period of
time. The data gleaned from that analysis can then be used to create the foundation of a course
designed for pre-service teachers in the theory, uses, implementation, and benefits of reflexive
culturally relevant pedagogy. As more teachers are trained in the use of RCRP, more students
will experience both the personal empowerment and the academic success that often accompany
it.
Conclusion
To acknowledge privilege is the first step in making it available for wider use. Each one
of us is blessed in some particular way, whether we recognize our blessings or not. And
each one of us, somewhere in our lives must clear a space within that blessing where she
can call upon whatever resources are available to her in the name of something that must
be done. If one Black woman I do not know gains hope from my story, then it has been
worth the difficulty of telling (Lorde 1988).
In many ways, this dissertation is an homage to privilege. Without the privilege of a
strong mother committed to my success in school, I might never have seen the value of
education. Without the privilege of attending good schools, with caring and invested teachers, I
might never have become interested in teaching as a profession. Without the privilege of my own
engaged and supported intellect, I would have been unable to complete my bachelor’s degree, or
to glimpse the opportunities available in graduate school. Yearning toward those higher ed
opportunities, it was the privilege of my professional career that allowed me the time and
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funding necessary to pursue an M.Ed., and then to complete the research and classroom
requirements for this Ed.D. Privilege, then, is really the story of my life.
I have enjoyed living in privilege. This research taught me to recognize that privilege, to
respect it, and, perhaps most importantly, as Audre Lorde wrote, to share it. When I was able to
acknowledge and articulate the privileges of my past and their impact on my present, I was able
to look for ways to recreate those privileges in the lives of my students. In the end, that has been
the greatest privilege of all.
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Appendix A
Story Name
Author
One Small Torch
Sharon Draper
A Spark Neglected
Leo Tolstoy
Priscilla and the Wimps
Richard Peck
A Man Who Had No Eyes
Mackinlay Kantor
Lather and Nothing Else
Hernando Tellez
Momma at the Pearly Gates
E. L. Konigsburg
Adjo Means Goodbye
Carrie Allen Young
A Just Judge
Leo Tolstoy
Abigail (Three Teenagers-Case Studies)
www.personal.psu.edu/faculty
109
Appendix B
Critical Literature Review Rules
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
You must raise your hand to be acknowledged – every student has something
valuable to contribute so we can’t all talk at once.
Students will acknowledge each other formally (i.e. Ms. Jones, Ms. Swain,
etc).
You will decide who speaks next by calling on another student with a raised
hand or by calling on a classmate who you want to hear from that doesn’t
have their hand raised.
You must participate because this is part of your grade!
It is okay to disagree with one of your classmates!
110
Appendix C
Sample Agenda
9/5/02
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Take out materials.
Materials: pen/cil, journal, folder, looseleaf paper
M.L.: Attributes of a Critical Thinker
M.L.: Procedures for Critical Literature Review (CLR)
Reading Workshop
‰ Story web
‰ Read story
Writing Workshop
‰ Journal #2: Who are you? Tell me all about yourself. Use complete
sentences. List your attributes.
‰ Work on Narrative pre-write (PW) – work to completion
‰ Begin Narrative Draft One (D1)
111
Appendix D
112
113
114
Appendix E
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122