Culturally Relevant Pedagogy ─ Clashes and Confrontations

"Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Clashes and Confrontations is important, moral, relevant, and eminently readable. The concept of culturally relevant pedagogy is illuminated beautifully and clearly through chapters that alternate between thought-provoking academic discussions and heart-wrenching accounts of life in school. The questions this book raises, the awareness it fosters, will move us toward understanding ourselves as well as our students in ways that truly count."---ReLeah Cossett Lent, coauthor of Adolescents on the Edge: Stories and Lessons to Transform Learning

"Culturally Relevant Pedagogy reveals many unexpected difficulties educators may face when attempting to create a culturally relevant classroom and curriculum. As educators, the importance of addressing cultural needs in our classrooms is often emphasized, but oftentimes it doesn't seem to work quite like we expect. Through the sharing of personal experiences and reflections of educators testing the theories behind culturally relevant pedagogy, this book provokes reflection on the process of creating and implementing more culturally relevant classrooms."---Jennifer N. Ollis, English teacher

"Culturally Relevant Pedagogy goes beyond where other texts on CRP tend to stop---this volume takes an honest look back at the context and a priori assumptions that once ensconced CRP and help walk it forward into the new millennium by acknowledging that there is no longer a `one theory into pedagogy fits all' for any classroom practice. These authors take the reader along with them as they brazenly reflect on their teaching journeys by admitting that their CRP praxes were laden with blind spots and show us through various situated practices how they have come to find deeper meaning and connection for students' lived experiences---in both their in - and out-of-school contexts. Their chapters humbly offer that, as cultures change over time and in context, CRP must also honor these shifts. They leave us with hope that we can listen and that, as we listen to students' lived experiences, CRP can fearlessly evolve with and for students by remaining flexible, fluid, and adaptive as each of us confronts our personal and collective ethical dilemmas along the way."---S. J. Miller, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, director, Master of Arts in Teaching English

The authors in this edited volume reflect on their experiences with culturally relevant pedagogy---as students, as teachers, as researchers---and how these experiences were often at odds with their backgrounds and/or expectations. Each of the authors speaks to the complexity and difficulty in attempting to address students' cultures, create learning experiences relevant to their lives and interests, and enact pedagogies that promote academic achievement while honoring students. At the same time, every author shows the clashes and confrontations that can arise between and among students, teachers, parents, administrators, and educational policies.

Lisa Scherff is associate professor of secondary English education and literacy at the University of Alabama. A former high school English and reading teacher, her research focuses on the opportunities to learn and teacher preparation, induction, and mentoring.
Karen Spector is assistant professor of secondary English education and literacy at the University of Alabama. Her research and teaching involves critical literacies across disciplines.