Culturally-Relevant Pedagogy in
the English Classroom
A Workshop with Tracy Wagner
May 28, 2004
The College of New Jersey
In this workshop, you will:
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Learn about culturally-relevant pedagogy in theory and in
practice
In theory: learn the tenants of Gloria Ladson Billing’s
philosophy of culturally-relevant pedagogy
In practice: see examples of how teaching through the lens
of culturally-relevant pedagogy influences my daily lessons,
curriculum construction, and teaching philosophy.
A Short Intro to Me
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Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Creative Writing
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Secondary English Teaching Certification from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison
Masters in Learning and Teaching from the Harvard
Graduate School of Education
English 9 and 10 teacher in a large urban public high school
Writer, researcher, and activist
White woman from a working-class background seeking to
effectively work with urban students of color and effect social
change through school reform
And you?
What is “Culturally-Relevant
Pedagogy?”
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An educational theory pioneered by Gloria
Ladson Billings

The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African
American Children (1994). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Publishers. (a)
“Towards a Theory of Culturally-Relevant Pedagogy” (b)
“But That’s Just Good Teaching! The Case for CulturallyRelevant Pedagogy” (1995) in Theory Into Practice (34) no.
3, 159-165. (c)
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What is “Pedagogy” and Why Should
I Care?
“Pedagogy” is the
theoretical framework
on which I stand as a
teacher.
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“Pedagogy” is the lens
through which I
construct, conduct,
and reflect on my
teaching.
Pedagogy builds who I
am as teacher, and I
come back to it again
and again.
Then what is “Culturally-Relevant
Pedagogy?”
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Culturally-relevant pedagogy is “committed to collective, not
merely individual, empowerment” (160c).
It has three components:
“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” (160c).
This looks like…
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Teachers incorporating
students’ “home languages”
into the curriculum – like
writing poetry in home
languages and then
translating them into
Standard English.
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Proud teachers who show
“enthusiasm and vitality
about what was being
taught and learned” (163c)
Teachers using their
students’ cultures “as a
vehicle for learning” (161c)
– like using rap music to
teach about meter and
rhyme in poetry.
Teachers using students’
cultures as “bridges to
school learning.”
Teachers Who Practice CulturallyRelevant Teaching:
View teaching as a “art,” not a “technical skill.”
 View themselves as a part of the community in which they
teach.
 View themselves as giving back to this community.
 See a “connectedness” between themselves and their
students.
 Foster a “community of learners.”
 “…believe that knowledge is continuously re-created,
recycled, and shared by teachers and students alike.”
 “Build bridges and scaffolding for learning.”
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So, what does this look
like in practice?
How can culturally-relevant
pedagogy benefit my teaching?
How can it benefit me as a
teacher?
Some questions you might be
thinking about are:
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Do I have to know the
cultures of all my
students? That’s a lot
to know!
 What if all my students
are white?
 What if I don’t know
anything about my
students’ cultures?
What if the book I’m
teaching doesn’t have
any characters of
color?
 What if my students
don’t want to talk about
race?
 Can I use culturallyrelevant pedagogy with
white students?
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A “photo” of the classrooms in which
I teach:
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Large urban public school
Primarily lower-income students
Primarily African American students
Also white, Latino, and Hmong
Many students who receive Special Education
services
“Regular” level label
A wide variety of learning styles, life experiences,
home languages, and academic skills
A “photo” of the school in which I
taught:
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Heavily-tracked into: self-contained Special Education
classrooms; “Regular” education; ACAMO (“AcademicallyMotivated”); and TAG (“Talented and Gifted”).
Only ACAMO and TAG students were seen by the school at
large as wanting/going to attend college.
Many of my “Regular” students were only passing my
class…and, then, with a “A” or “B” average.
Students were regularly moved from other teachers’ classes
to mine.
Working with culturally relevant pedagogy allowed me to be
a successful teacher of the students who were not seen as
“successful” within our school environment.
Teaching with a culturally-relevant
pedagogy allows me to:
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Hold high expectations
 Teach challenging
material in a way that is
student-centered
 Create real world ties
Use “bridges” and
scaffolding to increase
my students’ interest
and knowledge
 Keep myself growing
and learning as a
teacher
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But the challenges of doing this in a
new classroom are:
The student demographics may be different.
 How does a teacher approach learning about
her/his students’ cultures, in order to use
them as a base for teaching and communitybuilding?
 What if I have a class where the majority of
students are white?
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Examples of how a teacher can learn
about her students’ cultures:
Giving a “student
survey,” as in Fires in
the Bathroom on the
first day
 Giving a “History of You
as an English Student”
writing exercise on the
first day
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Begin with a studentcentered poetry unit,
like “Where I’m From”
in Reading, Writing,
and Rising Up
 Start early! Read
newspapers, have
lunch in a popular
neighborhood spot, talk
to community
members.
Example: “History as an English
Student”
English 9
Ms. Wagner
Your History as an English Student
 What do you like about English class? What do you hate?
 What’s the best/the worst book you’ve read in English class? Outside of English
class?
 Do you think that your grades in English classes this far reflect your skills in
reading, writing, and communicating? Why/why not?
 What have you learned about yourself through English classes?
 What do you what to learn in English class this year? What will help you learn
this?
Believe it or not, at this point in your life you’ve had at least nine years of English
classes! How have these classes influenced who you are? And, importantly, how have
these classes influenced your expectations of this English class? Write!
Example: “Where I’m From” poems
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Read models and analyze in
groups
Learn poetry terms that will be
used throughout the year
Brainstorm sheet
Quiz on terms
Rough draft
Peer editing
Final draft
Read-Around
Rubric for assessment
The Amazing Childhood of R.A.
I am from Chicago to Madison
from Racine to Worthington,
from Dominick’s to Kohl’s
and from Ford City Mall to East
Towne Mall.
I am from hoopin’ at Foster Park Gym
to the Salvation Army Gym,
from BB gun wars in Chicago
to quiet, lonely streets in Madison.
I am from wearing “top of the line” Air
Force 1’s
to big screen TV’s,
from playing the best gaming
systems
to watching movies on cable and
DVD’s.
I am from living with Debra and Rob
to living with Tonya and Walter,
from “stay smart son”
to “keep it up nephew.”
I am from eating pizza and lasagna
to macaroni and cheese to sweet
potatoes,
from having a good family dinner
to eating in the park at barbecues.
I am from thinking about the Past
to dreaming on to the Future,
from what I want to be
to what I am now.
That’s where I’m from.
Carrying culturally-relevant pedagogy
throughout the school year looks like:
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Tying the literature to
students’ lives
 Starting with students’
lives, then bridging to
the literature
 Incorporating small and
large group work
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Involving parents and the
community in the
classroom
Keeping constant notice of
what students are reading,
listening to, watching on tv,
etc.
Learning about students’
cultures through their
writing and work in the
classroom
Think about all the different contexts
of “culture” in your students’ lives:
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Being a teenage boy or
being a teenage girl
Socio-economic status
Tracking
Cliques
Race and ethnicity (and
how these correlate
with all of the above)
Other examples?
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With some thinking,
you can apply these
“categories of culture”
to almost any text you
are teaching.
 Even though all of
these apply, don’t do
them “instead of”
including discussions of
race and ethnicity.
A few examples of lessons and units created
with culturally-relevant pedagogy as my base:
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Mary J. Blige and Romeo and Juliet (English 9)
 Old School English 9 (English 9)
 Who is Singing this Song? (English 10)
 Other examples from English 10, or, how to teach
with a culturally-relevant pedagogy in a class of
white boys.
“Forever No More”
And translating
Romeo and Juliet
An Excerpt from “Forever No More”
By Mary J. Blige
No more invisible speechless, deaf and blind
With neglected pleasures being addicted to denial
Floating through time, gravitating towards a warm arm
With an appetite for the emptiness that promises to harm.
No more uncontrollable eruptions of emotional depression
A primal S.O.S. from the barren prison of selfless expression
That only the guilty with the innocent souls
Know buried in social scar tissue of defective ego.
No more relentless sifting through bodies seeking self
Settling through competitive combat for what’s left on the shelf
A mad melee of supply and demand driven by gullible pride
That leads to sedating the you that suffocates inside.
No more – forever no more – because I’ve unshut my eyes
And the differences between God’s word and Man’s Wills was realized
Seeing opposing parallel lives some liquid, others frozen
Let me to never seek from man what God has chosen.
Shakespeare & Mary J.
Directions: If you can understand rap & hip hop, you can understand Shakespeare.
So, before we even begin to read any of Shakespeare’s work, we will use Mary J.
Blige’s poem “Forever No More” to learn how to read his language. If you can figure
out what her poem means, you can read Shakespeare.
Steps:
1. Listen to a recording of Mary J. reading “Forever No More.” Then, listen to it
while following along with the words.
2. With a partner, get assigned a stanza of the poem. Write the number of your
stanza here: ______
3. On a lined sheet of paper, rewrite your stanza exactly like it looks in the poem.
Skip a space between lines. You and your partner may share this (you do not both
need to rewrite it).
4.
Read through your stanza out loud once. What do you think the TONE of
the stanza is? How do you know?
Tone:
I know this because…
5. Go through your rewritten stanza, and underline words that seem important
to the meaning of the line. Then, write down the definition of the words
you know, and look the definition of the words you don’t know. Write all
definitions beside the words. See the example below.
(had handwritten example here)
6.
Lastly, use the definitions to rewrite the stanza in your own words. Be
prepared to get up in front of the class and read the stanza in your own
words. Example:
(had handwritten example here)
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Directions: Last week, we learned how to translate “Forever No More” and how to
find rhyme scheme. This week, you will use these skills to translate and understand
one of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
First, you need to know some background information about sonnets.
1. Around what time were the sonnets written?
2. Are we going to be able to understand EVERY word of the sonnets? Why/why
not? What are some examples of words you use that people probably won’t
understand in 500 years?
3. Who were the sonnets written for? How are they titled?
4. What things make a sonnet different than a “regular” poem?
Each group will be given a different sonnet. Today, you will be using the steps below
to figure out what your sonnet means and how it is structured. Tomorrow, you will
be presenting some details about your sonnet to the class. Note: Like last week, if
you follow each of these steps in order, you will be able to translate your
sonnet. Stay on track, and follow the
directions.
STEPS:
1. Write the first line and number of your sonnet here:
2. Have one person read the sonnet out loud to your group. What do you think the
TONE of the sonnet is? How do you know?
3. Figure out the rhyme scheme for your sonnet (write this on your sonnet).
4. Using the overhead as a guide, mark the following on your sonnet:
Couplet
Quatrain
5. On a lined sheet of paper, rewrite your sonnet, skipping a space or two between
lines. This week, everyone in your group needs to do this.
6. Go through your rewritten sonnet, and underline words that seem important to
the meaning of the line. Then, write down the definition of the words you know,
and up look the definition of the words you don’t know. Write all definitions
beside the words. See the example below.
7. Next, use the definitions to rewrite the sonnet in your own words. Lastly, tell
what you think this sonnet means. If you’re stuck, work through these questions:
Who is talking in this poem? Who is this person talking to? What message is
Shakespeare trying to tell you in this poem? What does he want you to learn?
Old School English 9
And Addressing the “Grammar
Basics” all Students Should Know
Old School English 9 #1:
Homonyms
Directions: For the next week, we will be taking a closer look at grammar problems
that many, many people had in the final drafts of their TKM essays. You may already
know some of the things we will cover, and you might not.
A) Pre-writing Questions. I believe that students learn grammar best through
writing, writing, and more writing. However, the skills you will learn in the next week
are going to be learned on their own – hence, this short unit is called “Old School
English 9.” Answer the following questions to think more about what this might
mean, and why we are doing it in the first place.
1. What does it mean to call something “Old School?” What are some examples of
things that are Old School?
2. What is “grammar”? What does it mean to “study grammar”?
3. Why is it important to know “proper” grammar? Explain.
This theme continued into:
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Homonyms
“Weird Sentences”
Titles and punctuation
New “Old School”
albums added to the
classroom collections
everyday
Creation of an “Old
School English 9” cd
“Jeopardy” test review
with categories from
the lessons, plus “Old
School English 9”
 Extra credit on the test
 Prince poster
 Many students
commented on this unit
in their final exam
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Let me show you another example that shows the theme of loneliness. Its that
the sheriff didn’t want to put Boo Radley in jail with black people, so Boo Radley
remained at home. Without company, sitting in the basement. I’m sure Boo was
extremely lonely. Here’s a quote that shows this: but to climb the Radley’s front
steps and call Hey! on a Sunday afternoon was something Boo’s neighbors never did
(pg. 9). Explains how the community felt about the whole Radley family. And the
Radley family must have been completely lonely because no one ever talked to them
and they never left and that would be lonely.
------------------------Extra Credit: Choose two songs or artists and argue why they should be included on
my “Old School English 9” cd next year.
Conflicts of this Unit:
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Did all of my students know who the Isley Brothers,
Earth Wind and Fire, and Prince were? No,
probably not.
 Students pointed out what wasn’t included in my
“Old School” compilation (no Pink Floyd, Led
Zeppelin, Ozzie, etc.)
 Don’t want to “reduce” African American students’
culture into soul, rap, hip hop, etc. music.
Who is Singing this Song?
And Getting to Know my
English 10 Class of White
Boys
Like the “Where I’m From” poems,
this unit included:
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“Base” of a published poem
by a Japanese-American
woman poet
Learning of poetry terms
that would be used
throughout the year
Reading students’ poems
from the previous year
Reading a poem I’d written
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Writing workshop:
brainstorm, rough draft,
peer editing, final draft,
Read-Around, and
assessment with a
rubric
This unit allowed me to:
Learn about my white students’ culture.
 Learn strategies to “build bridges” into other
work during the school year
 Begin building community in my classroom
 Begin to “break through” the racial gender
role of white boys not writing poems, not
showing emotion, not working well in groups,
etc.
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English 10
Ms. Wagner
Who Is Singing Your Song?
prewriting questions
Answer these questions thoughtfully & honestly – they will help you discover possible themes for
your poem. If you would like me to read your responses, please write “OK” at the top of the
page. Otherwise, I will merely skim the page and give you credit for completing the work.
1. We’re not born with opinions, they’re created throughout our lives. What people/events/places
have helped to form what’s important to you? List movements/people/issues that you feel
strongly about, and give examples from your life that have helped to form these opinions.
Examples: being followed in a music store because you’re African American makes you work
towards the end of racial profiling; watching a special about Mathew Shepard on MTV makes
you want to end hate crimes.
Issues:
Personal experience:
1. Who is singing your song? What artists/activists/role models would you like to
honor? What books/poems/songs say exactly what you want to say? Back up your
answers!
books/poems/songs/films:
(examples: To Kill A
Mockingbird; Monster; Theme
for English B; Independent
Women Part 1)
historical
figures/activists/role
models:
(examples: Harriet Tubman;
Maya Lin; Gloria Steinem; Dr.
King)
2. You’ve just listed many forms of art that have influenced who you are. What makes
art such a powerful form of expression?
3. Finish the phrase “I am ____________________” in as many ways as you can. Try
to make the sentence apply only to you, and not to anyone else!
The new kid
Who is singing my song
I am
A boy who moved to a new school called Madison East High from
Poynette
The boy sitting next to the girls in his classes
The clueless boy
The boy who is reaching out to make new friends at the new school
The boy
Keeping
The boy
Who has
who sits in the corner of the room
to himself
who shows who he is by his shoes
lots of money to spend
Who wants to sing this song?
I do
Where were my friends when I needed them?
They were gone in the town I left behind
Who am I?
The kid who drives a pt cruiser
With a remote
The boy that wont everything but wont work for anything
The boy who has changed
Now the young man who is trying to get a job
The boy that used to fight with his mom
The new kid
That is who I am.
Other Examples from English 10
Choosing Texts and Creating
Curriculum Using CulturallyRelevant Pedagogy When the
Students are White
Joy Luck Club Masks
“Queen Mother of the Western Skies”
Directions: In each of the stories in this section, the women describe how it is
important for women in China to have what shows on their face be different than
what they feel like on the inside. When the women move to America, they each
describe how their “American face” is different from their “Chinese face.” In this
way, these women are always wearing “masks.”
In order to better understand this idea, your assignment is to draw at least TWO
masks that you wear. Masks should have some color, and you will be explaining
them to a group. Your masks should show the “different faces” you wear in your
life. Each should include 2-3 sentences of explanation.
To decide what your masks might look like, think about the following questions:
 How is what you look like at school different than what you look like at
home?
 How are you different with your friends than with your family?
 How is your interior (what’s inside) different than your exterior (what shows
on the outside)?
 Show how what you look like in a photo is different than what you felt like at
that moment.
 Show how what you feel like matches or does not match what you look like.
A) Telling:
Second Grade Cinderella
I remember that I always wanted to wear the yellow dress. One day, my best
friend Brenda Lee came over and asked if she could wear it. I had always made her
wear the blue dress instead of the yellow one. I don’t know why. So I let her wear it,
and my mom took this photo.
B) Using the Five Senses:
Taste: I’d laugh, and as I pulled on the dress over my head, little tags of yellow fuzz
that tasted like Styrofoam would stick in my mouth.
Touch: The blue dress felt like a washcloth. The yellow dress had a delicate pattern
of raised yellow dots, with white lace at the collar and sleeves. It scratched my neck
when I wore it.
Smell: The dresses smelled like me as a girl: Bonnie Bell lip gloss, jars of canned
peaches, and handfuls of fresh alfalfa.
Sound: Our laughter was unstoppable. It danced from behind my closed bedroom
door, down the steep stairwell, and into the kitchen where my mom was ironing.
See: Brenda Lee fidgeted with her fingernails, and tugged the cuffs over her hands.
When she was finally able to wear the dress, she didn’t feel so pretty in it, after all.
C) SHOWING:
I’d laugh, and as I pulled on the dress over my head, little tags of yellow fuzz tha
tasted like Styrofoam would stick in my mouth. The blue dress felt like a washcloth,
and I always gave it to Brenda Lee to wear. The yellow dress had a delicate pattern o
raised yellow dots, with white lace at the collar and sleeves. It scratched my neck
when I wore it. The dresses smelled like me as a girl: Bonnie Bell lip gloss, jars of
canned peaches, and handfuls of fresh alfalfa.
On the day I finally let Brenda Lee wear the yellow dress, our laughter was
unstoppable. It danced from behind my closed bedroom door, down the steep
stairwell, and into the kitchen where my mom was ironing. When my mom arrived with
the camera, Brenda Lee fidgeted with her fingernails. She tugged the cuffs over her
hands. When Brenda Lee was finally able to wear the dress, she didn’t feel so pretty
in it after all.
Of Mice and Men Curley’s Wife Discussion Questions
1. How do the main characters in the book describe Curley’s wife? Give at least three
quotes from the book.
2. What’s Curley’s wife’s name? What does this say about her value as a woman in the
1930’s? What does this say about her value to the men on the farm?
3. What do women get called when they sleep around? Are these positive or negative
words? What are men who sleep around called? Are these positive or negative
words? Why is there a difference?
4. What role did women play in 1930’s society? What options did Curley’s wife have if
she wanted to gain power?
5. Do you think that John Steinbeck is sexist, or do you think that he has a point to
showing Curley’s wife as a stereotype?
6.
Do you think that Curley’s wife really is constantly flirting, or do the men just see her
this way? Explain.
Twilight: Los Angeles Oral History Assignment
Directions: To further explore this semester’s theme of conflict &
perspective, we will be viewing the film Twilight: Los Angeles. In
preparation for viewing & discussing this film, interview one person over
the age of 25 about their memories of the 1991 beating of Rodney King
and the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Your goal is to create a history through someone else’s perspective.
A) Basic Information
Your name & age:
Your interviewee’s name, age (age only if your interviewee is comfortable
telling you), and relation to you:
Time & place of interview:
B) Explain your purpose
Tell your interviewee that we are exploring the concepts of conflict &
perspective this semester, and that to further explore these themes, we
will be watching a film told in different people’s perspectives about the
1991 Rodney King incident.
C) Ask questions & record answers. Use additional paper, if necessary.
CONFLICT Personal Narrative Assignment
Twilight, Lord of the Flies, and our next book Speak all deal with how people handle conflict in
their lives. In this assignment, you will analyze a moment in your life when you have had to deal
with conflict. What happened? How did you respond? What was the other person thinking?
What could you have done differently? This assignment is worth a total of sixty points, and has
three parts:
A) 10 points -- FREEWRITE/PREWRITING. For twenty minutes, freewrite about a time in your
life when you have experienced conflict. If you’re stumped, remember the five types. Try to
record the moment like a reporter: use as many details, bits of dialogue, and exact details as
possible. Try writing “just the facts.” Remember the senses (smell, taste, touch, sight, sound)
and the plotline structure.
B) 20 points -- ROUGH DRAFT. Next, take your prewrite and rewrite it into a 2-3 page (typed
or handwritten) rough draft. This time, include the perspective of someone else in the
memory. Try to imagine what the other person (or another side of you...) was thinking. You
may represent this in any way you like, for example: typing the other perspective in italics;
writing it in a different color or in a different kind of handwriting, etc.
30 points -- FINAL DRAFT. This may be typed or neatly written. Your final draft should include
a last paragraph where you reflect on what you wish you had done differently OR how thinking in
someone else’s perspective has changed your understanding of what happened.
Revisiting questions from the
beginning of the presentation:

Do I have to know the
cultures of all my
students? That’s a lot
to know!
 What if all my students
are white?
 What if I don’t know
anything about my
students’ cultures?
What if the book I’m
teaching doesn’t have
any characters of
color?
 What if my students
don’t want to talk about
race?
 Can I use culturallyrelevant pedagogy with
white students?

I write because…
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I see it as part of my
activism as a teacher and
as a community member.
It is my way to thank and
commemorate the people
who have made an impact
on my life.
It connects me to other
professionals, providing
community in a job that is
often isolating.
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It fulfills me to always be
actively writing.
It provides me with a space
for reflection.
It allows me to hold my
“practice” and my “theory”
side by side, to see where
things match, and to
evaluate “what went wrong”
when something doesn’t.
A few last thoughts…

Culturally-relevant pedagogy influences not only my
lesson plans and curricular choices, but my every
interaction with a student.
 Culturally-relevant pedagogy calls on me to think
about my place as a white, female teacher working
with students of color and in lower-income
communities of color.
 Culturally-relevant pedagogy creates a “lens” with
which I view my curriculum and teaching.
Questions? Comments?
Thank you for attending, and special thanks
to Emily Meixner for inviting me.
tjwagner12@comcast.net