1. The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children
Gloria Ladson Billings

2. Effective teaching of African American students
Inner-city schools are de facto segregated schools
Public schools have not sustained an effort to provide quality education for African American students
African American students attending small African American schools perform better
Separate schools?
Culturally relevant teaching

3. Does culture matter? “I don’t really see color” ‘Dysconsciousness’
…these attempts at colorblindness mask a ‘dysconscious racism,’ an “uncritical habit of mind that justifies inequity and exploitation by accepting the existing order of things as given.” This is not to suggest that these teachers are racist in the conventional sense.
It is about being culturally unaware

4. Does culture matter?
Culturally diverse students’ failure stems from societal conflict and a struggle for power; specifically for African American students, there are special historical, societal, economic and political aspects to the role race plays in that struggle.
Aim is develop a “relevant black personality” that allows African American students to choose excellence in school yet still identify with African and African American culture.
Students should be able to hold their own in the classroom without forgetting their community.

5. Cultural relevant teaching is…
An approach that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally and politically by using cultural references to impact knowledge, skills and attitudes.

6. CRT Communication of high expectations Active teaching methods
Teacher as facilitator
Inclusion of culturally and linguistically diverse students
Cultural sensitivity
Reshaping the curriculum
Student-controlled classroom discourse
Small group instruction and academically-related discourse

7. Seeing color, seeing culture
Teachers who practice culturally relevant teaching use student culture in order to maintain it and to transcend the negative effects of the dominant culture.
Empowers student by using cultural references to impart knowledge; moves between two cultures but recognizes each as legitimate
Antithesis of assimilation – emphasizes sharing responsibility

8. We are family
Teachers establish strong, caring relationships with all students
Recognize that teachers perceptions of students have a significant impact on student learning
View themselves as part of the community, and as giving back to that community
Connectedness between themselves and their students
Teaching is an art not a skill

9. Tree of knowledge
Knowledge is continuously recreated, recycled and shared by teachers and students
Knowledge is viewed critically
Teacher is passionate about content and helps students develop necessary skills
Teacher takes student diversity and individual differences into account
Knowledge builds on what students already know
There is more than one way of knowing, and there is more than one side to a story
Highlights students’ strengths and gives them confidence to confront their weaknesses

10. Lewis vs. Deveraux
Students whose educational. Economic, social, political and cultural futures are most tenuous are helped to become intellectual leaders in the classroom.
Students are appreciated in a learning community rather than taught in an isolated and unrelated way.
Students’ real-life experiences are legitimized as they become a part of the ‘official’ curriculum.
Teachers and students participate in a broad conception of literacy that incorporates both literature and oratory.
Teachers and students engage in a collective struggle against the status quo.
Teachers are cognizant of themselves as political beings.

11. Dreams into reality
Administrators and Teachers’ power and responsibility:
Administrators should recruit teachers who have expressed an interest and desire to work with African American students.
Provide educational experiences that help teachers understand the central role of culture
Provide opportunities to critique the system in ways that will help them choose a role as a challenger of or a defender of the status quo
Require teachers to have prolonged immersion in African American culture
Provide opportunities for observation of culturally relevant teaching
Conduct student teaching over a longer period of time and a more controlled environment

12. What a school would/should look like:
Dreams into reality
What a school would/should look like:
Provide educational self-determination
Honor and respect the students’ home culture
Help African American students understand the world as it is and equip them to change it for the better

13. “From the spirituals of enslaved African Americans to the powerful oratory of civil rights leaders, African American dreams have challenged the “American Dream” to make itself manifest for those citizens who have been excluded from full citizenship. African Americans have believed that as long as they continued to dream, there was still a reason to look toward tomorrow. One of the most tangible vehicles for these dreams has been education – even when it was substandard and alienating. African Americans believed that somehow education could make their dreams a reality. I too believe and hope that if we can dream it, we can surely do it.”
~ Gloria Ladson Billings

14. Resource
Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). " The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children." San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.