What students bring to the classroom?
Every student carries more than a backpack to school. They also bring their experiences, their family histories, their skills, their wants and needs with them. Unfortunately, our education system has too often focused on student deficits at the expense of their assets. Resource pedagogies are an attempt to counter this narrative.
Django Paris writes that resource pedagogies “repositioned the linguistic, cultural, and literate practices of poor communities – particularly poor communities of color—as resources to honor, explore, and extend in accessing Dominant American English (DAE) language and literacy skills and other White, middle-class dominant cultural norms of acting and being that are demanded in schools” (Paris, 2012). Teachers who use resource pedagogies seek to leverage student strengths to raise engagement and achievement in academic settings. They draw on student resources such as language, community knowledge, and cultural heritage to improve student achievement in academic disciplines.
This page will focus on three resource pedagogies: Culturally-Relevant Pedagogy, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, and Culturally Sustaining/Revitalizing Pedagogy.
Django Paris writes that resource pedagogies “repositioned the linguistic, cultural, and literate practices of poor communities – particularly poor communities of color—as resources to honor, explore, and extend in accessing Dominant American English (DAE) language and literacy skills and other White, middle-class dominant cultural norms of acting and being that are demanded in schools” (Paris, 2012). Teachers who use resource pedagogies seek to leverage student strengths to raise engagement and achievement in academic settings. They draw on student resources such as language, community knowledge, and cultural heritage to improve student achievement in academic disciplines.
This page will focus on three resource pedagogies: Culturally-Relevant Pedagogy, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, and Culturally Sustaining/Revitalizing Pedagogy.
culturally-relevant pedagogy
Culturally relevant pedagogy exists to not only make content relevant to students, but to empower students through those learning experiences (Ladson-Billings, But That's Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, 1995).
Gloria Ladson-Billings describes three criteria for teaching which is culturally relevant:
The following set of questions is useful for any teacher engaging with Ladson-Billings' theories:
By reflecting on their pedagogical approach using questions such as these, a teacher can ensure that their academic space better meets their students' needs.
Gloria Ladson-Billings describes three criteria for teaching which is culturally relevant:
- Students must experience academic success
- Students must develop and/or maintain cultural competence
- Students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the status quo of the current social order
The following set of questions is useful for any teacher engaging with Ladson-Billings' theories:
- What meaning does a student’s culture have for academic success?
- What practices can schools use to leverage a student’s culture to produce greater academic success?
- What meaning does the development of cultural competence mean for schools?
- What practices can schools use to develop cultural competence among their students?
- What does it mean for students to develop a critical consciousness?
- What practices can schools use to help students develop a critical consciousness?
- What does it mean for a student to learn to challenge the social order?
- What practices can schools use to help students learn to challenge the social order?
By reflecting on their pedagogical approach using questions such as these, a teacher can ensure that their academic space better meets their students' needs.
cultually-sustaining pedagogy
In his work on a culturally sustaining pedagogy, Django Paris seeks to “perpetuate and foster – to sustain – linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling” (Paris, 2012). If one of our goals as educators is the creation of a pluralistic society, we must embrace pedagogical practices that actively push back against the creation of a monoculture. Educators can engage in cultural sustenance by, among other things, evaluating their own attitude towards student linguistic and cultural practices, developing a dialogue with their students about their attitudes towards linguistic and cultural practices, and prioritizing the intent rather than the mode of student speech (Lyiscott, 2017).
If we are to sustain student cultures, it is not sufficient to teach them only as they are. We must look at culture as a developing, living force rather than a static construct. As such, teaching practices that are culturally-sustaining should not “respond” to or “tolerate” student cultures, but rather actively engage the modes students use when interacting with the world.
If we are to sustain student cultures, it is not sufficient to teach them only as they are. We must look at culture as a developing, living force rather than a static construct. As such, teaching practices that are culturally-sustaining should not “respond” to or “tolerate” student cultures, but rather actively engage the modes students use when interacting with the world.
culturally sustaining/revitalizing pedagogy
Culturally sustaining/revitalizing pedagogy seeks to not only sustain cultures within the context of a pluralistic society, but to revitalize those that have been “disrupted and displaced by colonization” (McCarty & Lee, 2014). McCarty and Lee examine CSRP in the context of creating a resource pedagogy for students who identify as Native American. In the context of relations with the United States federal government, Native American tribes are already engaged in the act of cultural sustenance. Tribal organizations must continually assert their sovereignty in the face of federal and capitalistic pressures, as in the recent protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline led by residents of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Among these pressures, McCarty and Lee note, is the environments students face at western-style schools, many of which do not actively nurture Native American cultures, and in fact have historically sought to suppress and eradicate them.
The authors propose a pedagogy which not only sustains but revitalizes. They articulate three responsibilities for educators serving Native American communities:
The authors propose a pedagogy which not only sustains but revitalizes. They articulate three responsibilities for educators serving Native American communities:
- Challenging asymmetrical power relations, assist the struggle for self-determination, and transform the legacies of colonization;
- Reclaiming and revitalizing aspects of culture that have been “disrupted and displaced,” including vulnerable languages; and
- Accountability to the community, with a focus on promoting respect, reciprocity, responsibility, and relationships.