ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a pedagogy of "culturally relevant" and argues for its centrality in the academic success of African American and other children who have not been well served by nation's public schools. It provides some background information about other attempts to look at linkages between school and culture. The chapter discusses the theoretical grounding of culturally relevant teaching in the context of a 3-year study of successful teachers of African American students. It illustrates some examples of this pedagogy in action. The teachers exhibited a passion about what they were teaching—showing enthusiasm and vitality about what was being taught and learned. When students came to them with skill deficiencies, the teachers worked to help the students build bridges or scaffolding so that they could be proficient in the more challenging work they experienced in these classrooms.
