Gloria Ladson-Billings
Full Day Presentation
Wednesday November 14, 2007 Atlas Communities and Wheelock College

Gloria Ladson-Billings used her presentation Wednesday morning to articulate what Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is. She apologized for presenting her earlier work but said it was still the best she had to offer.

CRP is based on three equal parts

Academic Achievement (Student Learning)

Cultural Competence -Culture is what makes sense and feel right; teachers need to understand their own culture; most teacher training is psychologically directed rather than culturally

Socio-Political Consciousness-helping kids understand that what they are learning has impact outside of school

Billings explained each area and then described what each looked like in a Cultural Relevant Classroom.


Academic Achievement (Student Learning)

teacher presumes educability of all children

teacher clearly delineates what achievement means in the classroom

teacher knows the content; the learner; and how to teach content to learner

teacher supports a critical consciousness toward the curriculum

teacher considers academic achievement a complex notion; not amenable to a single static measurement

In a Culturally relevant teacher’s classroom, academic achievement is shown by

clear goals for student learning

majority of class time dedicated to teaching/learning

teacher addresses student learning

teacher can articulate individual student progress

teacher is knowledgeable and skillful

Grading
Relative to the class
Relative to the national cohort
Relative to the child’s potential at that point