native

It was evident that these teachers affirmed their students’ native languages. The teachers focused on the content that the students were learning and allowed students to respond in whatever language they preferred. The teachers’ affirmation of the students’ native languages ended up affirming the students themselves. This maximized student involvement, participation and understanding.

The traditional schooling model is not meeting the needs of minority students. Research shows that many of these students are not succeeding in the American educational system. With the rapid growth of minority populations in the U.S., this problem needs to addressed before minority students fall further behind.

One way educators can help minority students better succeed is through the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy. This strategy focuses on the importance of integrating minority students past experiences and culture into the classroom. This can only be done when teachers are knowledgeable about their students’ native cultures and take time to get to know their individual students. Once this takes place, educators must make changes to their pedagogical methods and academic curriculum to help bridge the cultural gap that often exists between minority students’ homes and American schools.

Research shows that there is a positive correlation between culturally relevant pedagogy and minority students’ success. In classrooms where culturally relevant teaching was implemented, minority students became more interested in the subject matter, were more focused and engaged, and participated more during the lessons. In several cases, students improved academically and raised their standardized test scores.

Culturally relevant pedagogy i...

... middle of paper ...

...by enabling teachers to put several aspects of culturally relevant pedagogy into practice. Resources that focus on other minority groups are needed to put the theory of culturally relevant pedagogy into practice.

Works Cited

Au, K. (1980). Participation structures in a reading lesson with Hawaiian children: Analysis of a culturally appropriate instructional event.

Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 11(2), 91-115.

California Department of Education: Educational Demographics Unit. Retrieved on

February 21, 2007, from http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest

Baker, C. (2001). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (3rd ed.).

Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Benally, A., Lynch, R. H., McCarthy, T.L., & Stephen, W. (1991). Classroom inquiry and Navajo learning styles: A call for reassessment. Anthropology &

Education Quarterly, 22(1), 42-59.