Culturally Relevant Teaching and Curriculum Building in White Social Studies Teachers

Abstract

This dissertation makes a significant contribution to the literature for several reasons. In paper one, I argue that learning a set of useful concrete practices, in addition to CRP mindsets, can help White scholars and educators prepare to lead diverse classrooms, build culturally relevant curricula, and form strong relationships with students with various identities. To explore these practices, I analyze interview and classroom observation data from six White teachers who are experienced in employing CRP teaching practices. The goal of paper two is to understand the process of how White social studies teachers committed to using culturally relevant curricula make decisions about the curricula they will use in their courses and how they actually go about building said curricula. A culturally relevant curriculum includes the experiences of students in the classroom, values their diversity and the contributions of their community, and invites them to bring their identities into classroom discussions. Such a curriculum should therefore promote the academic success of all students, encourage cultural competence and acceptance of students’ own and others’ cultures, and stimulate an eye toward sociopolitical consciousness in which students analyze and explore how to confront real-world issues (Ladson-Billings, 2014). Paper two therefore focuses on social studies classrooms, in particular, and asks: What are White teachers doing to create culturally relevant social studies curricula and what goals do they have for these curricula? Finally, in response to a phenomenon that I observed emerging from my data, paper three asks: How do White teachers incorporate stories and tools of resistance, resilience, and hope while also teaching students about hard, historic realities and their lasting impacts? Studying the teaching of hard history and hope yields two benefits. First, it provides information on how, in practice, White teachers achieve balance in teaching these sometimes-competing goals. Second, understanding these practices has implications for the teacher training and professional development of White educators, especially as the teaching of hard histories becomes increasingly relevant, important, and common.