Teacher Embodiment of Care: Living Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in a High School African American Studies Class

• In Event: Centering the Experiences and Needs of BIPOC+ Students in K–12 Teaching

Abstract

Race and language are increasingly understood as proxies for social identification, particularly in confronting the linguistic racism African Americans and Black Language speakers face in schooling. While culturally responsive pedagogies have a lineage in seeking to ameliorate the school lives of culturally and linguistically diverse students, its approaches remain elusive and implemented at the mercy of teachers who prioritize equity. Contextualized within the literature surrounding why and how teachers of color matter, this paper features one Black high school teacher in his African American studies class, and the ways he embodies and lives a pedagogy of care by freely inviting Black Language into his classroom and through his curricular design and relationships with students and their families.

Author

• Alice Y Lee, University of California - Riverside