Tyrisha Brown Dre Housen
Dafney Brown Jacob Horne
Aleka Francis Brittani Justice
Courtney Thomas
PRESENTS
Chapters• Chapter 1- A Dream Deferred• Chapter 2- Does Culture Matter?• Chapter 3- Seeing Color, Seeing Culture• Chapter 4- We Are Family• Chapter 5- The Tree of Knowledge• Chapter 6- Culturally Relevant Teaching• Chapter 7- Making Dreams Into Reality
Chapter 6 Culturally Relevant Teaching• “One of the critical national indicators of
educational progress (and national development) is the literacy rate (Billings, p. 102).”
• “Literacy has been seen as a process of consciousness-raising aimed at human liberation (Arnove and Graff, p. 103)”
Chapter 6 Cont.• “For African Americans learners, in
particular, literacy has been an especially tenuous struggle, from outright denial during slavery, to limited access in the early 1900s, to segregated schools with often outdated textbooks well into the 1960s, to–many might argue–marginal acceptance of their culture and capacity as learners even in the 1990s (Gadsden, p. 103).”
Ann Lewis• A Literacy Revival• First introduced in Chapter 3• Lewis is an Italian American in her mid-
forties• Lived most of her life in a largely African
American community• She always wanted to be a teacher but did
not have to until she divorced and had to get support her family
• Lewis was very involved in the politics of teaching and was elected as the president of the teachers’ association
Ann Lewis Cont.• Since Lewis was so involved with fighting
the school board she often was given “subtle forms of harassment” such as she was given the students that the other teachers did not want
• Lewis rethought her career as a teacher until one of her friends told her about a writing seminar offered at UC Berkley
• This experience caused Lewis to change her whole curriculum around writing and literature
Ann Lewis Cont.• Lewis began teaching books that were
culturally relevant to her class• Since the students were anxious to ask
questions, Lewis began to encourage interaction with each other and help answer one another’s question, while Lewis posed questions such as “How can you relate this to your life?”
• This kind of interaction between student and teacher and student and student helped the explosion of literacy and thinking
Ann Lewis Cont.• Larry- the oldest boy in the class because he
had been left back and had a slew of bad history including a drive-by shooting of his favorite aunt
• “An accident waiting to happen” one teacher said.
• Lewis referred to Larry as:• A piece of crystal. He’s strong and beautiful but
fragile. I have to build a safe and secure place for him and let him know that we-the class and I-will be here for him.
• By the end of the year Larry had been elected 6th grade class president, involved in peer conflict, and had A’s and B’s in every class
Julia Deveraux• “Gimme that old-time [religion] teaching.”• Deveraux grew up in the same community
as Lewis and was her successor as the president of the teachers’ association
• African American• Unlike Lewis (who taught whole literacy),
Deveraux taught direct reading instruction (basal text)
Deveraux’s Teaching• Fourth grade teacher• First 30 minutes students can do any
activity (spelling assignments, journal writing)
• At 9:00 everyone is quiet and in their desk with a basal reader on the desk
• Deveraux starts out with phonics• Justice• Kinsman• Veranda
Deveraux’s Teaching• Once the phonics drill is done Deveraux
recaps with her students about the last story that was read
• After the story is recapped the class goes over new words such as:
• Demonstrate• Influence
• As you see Deveraux is a much more organized and structured compared to Ann Lewis
Deveraux’s Speech• Billings says the experience is “boring” and
when she talks to her Deveraux says:• “I know it seems old-fashioned but I believe
the students benefit from the structure…I have children in her who other teachers told me could not read. Heck, they told me they couldn’t read. But I look them squarely in the eye in the beginning of the school year and tell them, you will read, and you will read soon…I award prizes for completing the reading logs…I am pretty easy going about a lot of things, but I keep my reading time sacred.”
Deveraux Cont.• Book of the Month Club (rewards are “intrinsic”)• Michael- his file was “two inches thick”
• In and out of foster homes• Mother was a drug addict and neglected him• Every teacher had given up on Michael but
Deveraux
• When asked why he just now started reading he said:• “I don’t know, she just told me that I could read
if I wanted to and she was going to help me want to.”
• Deveraux had got Michael to start reading by giving him books about athletes and rap stars
Margaret Rossi• 6th grade math teacher, strict, but well respected• Taught her students by teaching about the African
origins of Algebra (Jaime Escalante)• Rossi constantly tells her students how perfect they
are and that they are capable of mastering the problems
• The atmosphere was much like Lewis with everyone helping each other and cheering each other on
• Rossi to recycles the students question so that they understand that they are capable of answering their own questions
Chapter 7 Making Dreams Into Reality • In the introduction, Billings says that she
will be addressing two separate but related ideas in this chapter:• The Classroom Teacher’s Power and
Responsibility• A Vision of a Culturally Relevant School
The Classroom Teacher’s Power and Responsibility• To be a good teacher of an African
American student, the teacher should be able to get the students to choose academic excellence and not have to compromise his or her cultural identities
• Culturally relevant teaching is about questioning and preparing the student to question the inequalities and injustices that they will face
The Classroom Teacher’s Power and Responsibility• All of the teachers Billings studied work in
opposition to the system that employs them
• They do this because it is what is best for the students.
• Some of the teachers said that their administrators let them teach the way they want because of the great results they are seeing from the students
The Classroom Teacher’s Power and Responsibility• Working in opposition to the system is the
way that students will most likely achieve educational success, but how do we get the oppositional nature to be expressed in teachers?
• A conscious effort must be made to reconstruct the teacher preparation program for prospective teachers. They should be better prepared to be in a culturally relevant classroom
A Vision of a Culturally Relevant School• She began the book with the question: Do African
American students need separate schools? • She concludes the book with the answer: What
they need are better schools• Billings wonders what a classroom that followed
these practices would look like. She gives a fictional description of what a culturally relevant school looks like:• The school she described was an effective
educational environment where the community, faculty, parents and students play equally vital roles in the students’ educational success
• Billings ends by saying that African Americans have long challenged the “American Dream” and believed that education is the key to making their dreams come true
A Vision of a Culturally Relevant School
THE END