African-Centered Pedagogy

Cover

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Title Page, Copyright

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CONTENTS

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pp. v-

TABLES AND FIGURES

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pp. vii-

PREFACE

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pp. ix-xvii

This book is a practical guide to teaching and learning. The book is written specifically for teachers of African American children who are struggling to translate contemporary educational theory into successful practice, given the demands and constraints of public schooling in urban America. I wish to reach all those who are invested in the academic achievement and personal development...

INTRODUCTION

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pp. xix-xxxix

In the midst of national conversations and initiatives concerning how to improve curriculum in our increasingly diverse urban public schools, African American children continue to be the most severely shortchanged. It is not news to you that in virtually every major urban school system, African American children, particularly males, fare less well than their European American...

PART I. FRAMING THE WORK

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pp. 1-

CHAPTER ONE. THE WRONG FRAMES FOR THE RIGHT PROBLEM

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pp. 3-17

Writing this book has been, in a sense, a journey home. It has been a process of coming to a deep sense of quality education from a belated (but intentional) rediscovery of African American intellectual and cultural traditions. Who I am as an educator is a reflection of the wisdom and educational experience of my mother and father. Who I am as an educator is, therefore, also a reflection...

CHAPTER TWO. TRADITIONS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION—A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

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pp. 19-36

There is a cultural integrity in the way that African American families and communities construe quality education, exemplary teachers, and academic achievement. African Americans have a collective history and a collective memory that circumscribe a significant and tangible cultural heritage. In this cultural heritage, views on school achievement are not necessarily consistent...

CHAPTER THREE. CULTURE, COGNITION, AND THE COMMUNITY OF ACHIEVEMENT

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pp. 37-55

Almost every teacher has heard the phrase “community of learners.” By that is meant viewing one’s classroom as a collective dedicated to learning and development in all of its rich and variegated forms. It is a charming vision and an engaging metaphor for one’s classroom. What would a community of learners be like if it were specifically designed to promote the achievement...

PART II. PEDAGOGICAL THEORY FOR BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT

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pp. 57-99

CHAPTER FOUR. OVERVIEW OF THE PEDAGOGICAL THEORY

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pp. 59-73

This chapter lays out the remaining conceptual framework and the theoretical underpinnings of the African-centered success pedagogy. This discussion will entail explanation of several key ideas in the internal circle of the theoretical model depicted in Figure 3—activity setting, practice, accomplished practice and community of practice. This chapter introduces the key theoretical formulations...

CHAPTER FIVE. FROM A COMMUNITY OF CARING TO A COMMUNITY OF ACHIEVEMENT

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pp. 75-101

This chapter interprets the theory of African American educational achievement in terms of existing frameworks on learning communities and culturally responsive teaching—using the notion community of practice to construct an African-centered community of achievement in public schools. I should say at the outset that many such projects already exist as private schools and independent...

CHAPTER SIX. TEACHING AS ASSISTED PERFORMANCE IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN TRADITION

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pp. 103-114

Tharp (1997) describes a community of practice and inquiry that we currently have the know-how to create. Why then is it with so many powerful articulations of pedagogy for African American children (cf. Jackie Jordan Irvine, Janice Hale, Michele Foster, Vanessa Siddle Walker, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Carol Lee, Asa Hilliard, Mwalimu Shujaa, Kofi Lomotey) that public school educators...

CHAPTER SEVEN. THE CLASSROOM ECOLOGY OF CULTURE AND LANGUAGE

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pp. 115-124

A growing ethnographic research literature has identified instances of cultural incompatibility between dominant mainstream culture and the cultural set represented by urban African American children. Although this research has provided examples of cultural incompatibilities that depress academic achievement, the conception of cultural incompatibility is an insufficient explanation for...

CHAPTER EIGHT. DISCOURSE PRACTICES IN A COMMUNITY OF ACHIEVEMENT

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pp. 125-133

This chapter describes the social and intellectual practices that are important for successful work with African American children. As I discussed in the last chapter, classroom discourse has become an increasingly important area of research in education, and has produced useful insights as to how discourse processes mediate social, intellectual, and cultural practices of a classroom as a...

CHAPTER NINE. TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING, LEARNING FOR LIBERATION

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pp. 135-154

This chapter develops the concept of a critical literacy in the African-centered pedagogy. The significance of “Blackness” in the White literary imagination—as well as in the symbols, emblems and icons of “Blackness” in popular culture—is examined in the context of development of literacy learning for African American...

CHAPTER 10. APPRAISING MY OWN PRACTICE: AFRICAN-CENTERED PEDAGOGY IN PREPARING TEACHERS

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pp. 155-170

Doing African-centered pedagogy involves research and development into Black culture and history as much as does planning a lesson; it involves critical analysis of standard practice as much as it does culturally responsive practice. The critical part, the working part, of African-centered pedagogy is the appraisal of practice in five critical areas of cultural activity and at three levels...

APPENDICES

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pp. 171-

APPENDIX I. BOOK LIST FOR AFRICAN CENTERED GRADUATE MODULE

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pp. 173-175

APPENDIX II. VIDEO REVIEW ASSESSMENT SHEET

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pp. 177-

For this paper you are critically reviewing the video material from the perspective of using it for teaching history. You will either review the film Amistad or the film Race to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad. Part of this effort replicates the work you do as a teacher, trying to be a good critical consumer...

APPENDIX III. EVALUATION SHEET FOR CURRICULUM BLUEPRINT

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pp. 179-180

REFERENCES

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pp. 181-191

INDEX

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pp. 193-196