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It’s Not Hard Work; It’s Heart Work: Strategies of Effective, Award-Winning Culturally Responsive Teachers

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Abstract

With an increasingly diverse, K-12 public school student population, adequately teaching and instructing all student demographic groups is a pertinent educational issue. As such, there has been an ensuing need for teachers to develop the knowledge, dispositions, and pedagogical skills and competencies necessary to teach children from diverse backgrounds. Acknowledging this need, this qualitative analysis examines the teaching strategies that seven award-winning teachers of students in urban schools use to cultivate culturally responsive classroom environments. Considering the disparaging academic achievement of many U.S. public school students, culturally responsive teaching may assist in closing enduring achievement gaps. To this end, this study’s findings indicate four major themes that may inform the classroom pedagogical practices of practitioners.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Urban Education, University of Pittsburgh, 5115 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, 230 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Abiola Farinde-Wu

  2. Early Childhood Education, Curriculum and Pedagogy Department, Richard W. Riley College of Education, Winthrop University, 232-P Withers/WTS Building, Rock Hill, SC, 29733, USA

    Crystal P. Glover

  3. College of Education, Department of Educator Preparation, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Nakeshia N. Williams

Authors
  1. Abiola Farinde-Wu
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  2. Crystal P. Glover
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  3. Nakeshia N. Williams
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Correspondence to Abiola Farinde-Wu.

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Farinde-Wu, A., Glover, C.P. & Williams, N.N. It’s Not Hard Work; It’s Heart Work: Strategies of Effective, Award-Winning Culturally Responsive Teachers. Urban Rev 49, 279–299 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-017-0401-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-017-0401-5

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