Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in Action: Views From Inside a Secondary Social Studies Teacher's Classroom

• In Event: Examining Issues of Language, Culture, and Power Through Culturally Sustaining and Revitalizing Pedagogies

Abstract

Objective
This paper describes a case study of a secondary teacher, Mrs. L., whose teaching incorporates culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) into U.S. and a World History classrooms in order to meet the academic and linguistic needs of her specific student populations.
Theoretical Framework
Paris (2012) asks us to extend the idea of culturally relevant pedagogy and offers the term of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) for our consideration. CSP requires that we as educators provide our students with opportunities and support to sustain their cultural and linguistic competence provided to them by their communities while simultaneously helping them develop competence in the dominant culture.
Method
This case study is embedded in an alternative high school for pregnant and parenting teen girls within one of the largest public school districts in southern California. It is located in a predominantly Latino community.
Using a case study approach (Merriam, 1988), the research question guiding this study was, “What specific strategies are used by the classroom teacher in secondary classrooms to develop U.S. History and World History content knowledge?” The analysis of the data focused on the interview data, the unit and lesson plans, and the observation and field notes. Pattern matching (Yin, 1984) and thematic connections were used (Siedman, 1998).
Results
Five major themes emerged. Mrs. L’s methods for incorporating CSP into her U.S. and World History content focused foremost on establishing and building relationships and rapport with each student in her class. The second theme was her ability to demonstrate the relevance of the content material to the students’ lives and the practical applications of the material along with the value of sustaining the linguistic and cultural capital that the students bring to the classroom. The third theme was an emphasis on varying instructional techniques. Along with addressing various learning styles, the fourth theme focused on scaffolding instruction for each student. The fifth theme was Mrs. L’s commitment to developing her students’ higher order thinking skills, especially pushing her students to think critically about issues of social justice and likewise fostering the students’ understanding of the importance of sustaining their own cultural and linguistic identities. In addition, three specific examples from her teaching using CSP are discussed.
Discussion
Mrs. L implements a number of strategies that help meet the linguistic and academic needs in her specific population of students who take U.S. and World History content courses. The themes that emerged are all themes that have been identified in the literature as being effective in educating all students. While culturally sustaining pedagogy is central to Mrs. L’s teaching and her strategies reflect that commitment, it was not supported at either of her school settings by administators nor by colleagues.
Significance
For those of us that work with future teachers in university teacher education programs, we need to provide teachers not only with the theoretical frameworks that help them understand their practices, but also with concrete strategies that will help them with the day-to-day challenges that they will face in their classrooms.

Authors

• Margarita Jimenez-Silva, University of California Davis

• Ruth Luevanos, Los Angeles Unified School District