Culturally Relevant Pedagogy & Place-Based Learning

In the article Culturally relevant pedagogy and critical literacy in diverse English classrooms: A case study of a secondary English teacher’s activism and agency it clearly outlines the important aspects of culturally relevant pedagogy while explaining what it could look like, sound like, and feel like. To begin, it’s important to note that one of the most important of using culturally relevant pedagogy is to want to create a socially just society. In the reading, Lopez explains a secondary highschool English teacher and how she used culturally relevant pedagogy. This teacher had her students engage with performance poetry while encouraging each student to share their thoughts about topics surrounding the social issues that students in their school face everyday because of their race. My future classroom will be a secondary science highschool setting, so introducing culturally relevant pedagogy will definitely pose a slight challenge. I think that allowing each student engage in a variety of cultures is vital to their success and their sense of belonging. In science classes, I believe it will be very important to include the Indigenous narratives of science, and to push that their way of knowing has just as much value as the Western ways of knowing. It’s important to teach students in meaningful ways, and to include a culturally diverse way of understanding the world around us, is just as important as the Western scientific way of knowing. Hopefully, this will allow students to feel more comfortable with their identities and view their culture in a positive light.

The second article that I read was Placing elementary music education: a case study of a Canadian rural music program. The author discussed the importance of place-based education and looked at this through the lens of music education. In the article the author explains “Connecting to the local gives students agency to showcase positive aspects of their places to the larger world, thus strengthening their connection to their local place and strengthening their connections to the various performance places”. The importance of including place-based learning is imperative to creating a sense of place for students. Although this article used music as their lens, I would like to consider this through the lens of a future science teacher as well. Luckily, science is all about learning about the world, so what better way for students to understand the world around them then actually experiencing their community and surrounding areas. Including items such as field trips and even just doing classes outside will help students create a better sense of belonging in their community. Additionally, combining culturally relevant pedagogy with place-based education will allow students that are culturally diverse to get an even deeper sense of connection with the material and the land. It’s beyond important to give students the chance to feel connected with their communities in ways that supports each students’ diverse background.

References:

Brook, J. (2013). Placing elementary music education: a case study of a Canadian rural music program. Music Education Research, 15(3), 290-303. 
Lopez, A. (2011). Culturally relevant pedagogy and critical literacy in diverse English classrooms: A case study of a secondary English teacher’s activism and agency.English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 10(4), 75-93.