Culturally Relevant Teaching: A Pivot for Pedagogical Transformation and Racial Reckoning

Abstract

Gloria Ladson Billings dubbed culturally relevant teaching as an approach to teaching that positions instruction within a familiar cultural framework for diverse learners. This essay argues that culturally centered works require a fundamental pivot if they are to be embraced and enacted. They require (1) an anti-racism analysis; (2) complexification of culture; and (3) relational trust as a concept to build dynamic and culturally informed teacher students’ interactions.

Keywords:

• Culture
• pedagogy
• race
• education transformation