Confidence, Competence, and Connection: Reality Pedagogy in Urban Classrooms

• In Event: Teaching and Learning Symposium Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 1: Experiential and Community-Engaged Pedagogy

Abstract

Teacher education programs often fail to address the cultural disconnect between a largely white teaching force and an increasingly diverse student body which results in ineffective teaching of students of color (Singun, 2025). The problem examined in this study is the lack of culturally relevant practice in urban schools, which prevents educators from promoting culturally sustaining relationships with children of color (Henshaw, 2022; Thomas & Larwin, 2023). The study investigates the impact of Reality Pedagogy on enhancing cultural competence among teachers in an urban charter school in the Bronx, New York. Emdin (2016) describes Reality Pedagogy as “an approach to teaching and learning that has a primary goal of meeting each student on his or her own cultural and emotional turf” (p. 27). Reality pedagogy focuses on making the local experiences of the student visible and creating contexts where there is a role reversal of sorts that positions students as the expert in their own teaching and learning, and the teacher as the learner” (Emdin, 2016, p. 27).
The purpose of this study was to engage in a case study of a charter school in the Bronx, that sought to transform to better meet the needs of their diverse urban students; the case study spanned across the 9th to 11th years of the school’s existence. At the core of the case study was the secondary analysis of existing data, as the charter school had engaged in an internal evaluation of professional development and other special training, including a survey of staff that provided quantitative and qualitative data. The findings indicate that Reality Pedagogy offers a viable model for transforming urban schools by creating more inclusive, culturally responsive environments, addressing the achievement gap for marginalized students (Goudeau et al., 2021; Henshaw, 2022). It is essential to integrate cultural competence into the core of teacher education and professional development, it fosters equitable educational outcomes for students of color.

Author

• Folakemi Williams, City College