ABSTRACT

In the preceding chapter, the complex, context-specific nature of teaching is evident in K.Hollins’ description of her experiences in an urban inner-city third-grade classroom. The social dynamics and pedagogical and contextual issues with which she grappled, and the pathway that led to her success were clearly dependent on her ability to relate the knowledge she had acquired about instruction to the context and population of students in her classroom. In order to plan productive learning experiences, it is necessary to have sufficient knowledge of the students’ home-culture and experiential background and the specific ways in which these factors have influenced how the students learn. The ability to make authentic linkages between approaches to

instruction and the learning propensities of a particular group of students requires both inquiry and reflection.