For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education (Race, Education, and Democracy)

by Christopher Emdin

In research projects across schools in cities like New York and Philadelphia, researchers who have implemented cogens with their students find that teachers emerge from the dialogues with a deeper understanding of their students and the various strengths they bring to the classroom.

Invite students who are identified as possible participants to take part in the dialogues. The purpose of the selection of students who are opposites, or who represent the diversity of the classroom, is to allow for different voices to be heard. However, students will be reluctant to come to the dialogues if they misperceive the intention of the teacher, or feel like they are being singled out (this is particularly the case with students who struggle academically or are from groups viewed as “less than” in the classroom). Therefore, it is important for the teacher to be very deliberate about not only who is invited, but also how they are invited. The invitation process should be respectful of students, their time, and their status/reputation in the classroom.

“I would like to have a conversation with you and a few of your classmates for two to three minutes after class. No, you’re not in trouble [before the student even responds]; I just wanted to get your thoughts on a few things.” This type of nonconfrontational invitation, coupled with the use of humor in letting the student know immediately that they are not in trouble, eases tensions.

In each of these studies, the key theme that emerged was the potential of youth language and experience to positively impact teaching.

disrespect for the other. In each of the scenarios described above, the potential of coteaching to significantly affect the learning of the neoindigenous is never truly actualized because the responsibility to teach is never placed in the hand of those best equipped. In fact, coteaching, despite its potential as a transformative academic tool, has done little to close achievement gaps or make neoindigenous youth feel like part of the teaching and learning process. I argue that this is the case because increasing the number of teachers in the classroom without increasing these teachers’ knowledge about the students and where they come from does not amount to much change. This is evident when we consider the fact that neoindigenous youth overpopulate special education classes that are mostly taught by two teachers, and that the chances of leaving special education after being placed in that system is slim for all students, and consequently, close to impossible for the neoindigenous.2

One of the chief goals of coteaching in reality pedagogy is to train the teacher to teach in a way that reflects the needs of the student by creating classroom spaces where teachers are being trained by their students. Coteaching in this model is predicated on the fact that the teacher cannot fully meet the needs of students unless the students have an opportunity to show the teacher what they need and then demonstrate what good teaching looks like for them. This requires the teacher to be transparent about aspects of their work that students do not usually know about. The teacher has to present the students with the larger contexts/information that shape how and why they teach the way they do so that the students can model how to work with the existing structures/resources and still be effective. I argue that the resilience required for being neoindigenous in contemporary America equips young people for being able to navigate the challenges of urban teaching.

You know how many issues I have in my life? You don’t see me complaining all day.” In that moment, I was reminded of the resilience and grit that the neoindigenous naturally possess by simply existing within challenging socioeconomic environments. It also reminded me that when given an opportunity to teach with the same challenges that traditional teachers do, they will show how it can be done because they are well equipped to adapt to conditions that are less than ideal.

He asked, “Are you saying that a master’s degree in education is useless? Aren’t you sayin’ that the job is so easy that even a kid can do it?” My response was “That is exactly not what I am saying. I am saying that the job is so layered and complex that those who live it every day are probably better equipped for it than those who don’t. An advanced degree in education is absolutely necessary for anyone who is going to teach. However, for white folks who teach in the hood, it must be supplemented with much more.” Coteaching in reality pedagogy requires that teachers acknowledge that they may be an expert in their content, or at teaching that content in another location/setting, but not at teaching it to the neoindigenous. The process also requires that teachers let their students know that they are not only students but teaching experts whose knowledge about how to teach has tremendous value.

Later that day, with another class, I decided to see what would happen if I gave students the opportunity to teach the same lesson. I invited two students to coteach the lesson I had previously taught. I handed them the materials I used to design my lesson, gave them a quick tutorial on the concept, and assigned them to write a lesson plan instead of completing a traditional homework assignment. The next day, after reviewing their lesson plan, I was astounded by the depth and detail in the lesson they had designed. I then invited the students to teach their lesson later in the day. As they stood in front of their peers, I became so enamored with their teaching style that I began to note how they engaged with their peers. The new coteachers gave everyone equal attention, walked around the classroom freely, and most importantly, instead of giving an example about marbles on a frictionless surface like I did, they used an example of someone riding a New York City subway, and what forces acted on the person’s body after someone pulled the emergency brake. Instead of the disinterest that came from my example the previous day, the student coteachers’ example sparked a powerful conversation about unbalanced forces, Newton’s laws of motion, and how they apply to everyday

Assign coteachers a homework project in which they are asked to enhance the lesson that was begun in the cogen, and provide them the tools, feedback, and reinforcement to further develop the lesson.

Immediately prior to the students’ teaching the lesson, perform a quick review of the students’ lesson plan to ensure that content is accurate. This step is purposeful, simple, and quick, and is intended to ensure that the content the students are teaching is correct. They may already have been graded for their lesson, encouraged for being willing to teach it, and supported by their peers in the design of the lesson. This is simply a final affirmation of the students’ work. It provides the teacher with the opportunity to give the students a final vote of confidence that conveys to them that the teacher is comfortable having them take the helm of the classroom.

For example, in one of the coteaching sessions I observed, a student who was teaching the class used the terms distance and displacement interchangeably as she taught. However, she gave such amazing examples about how to measure distance and the units for measuring different distances that stopping her lesson before she even started would have been counterproductive. Here’s how the lesson proceeded:

In this class, a student once stood up in the class without being called on, walked to the front of the classroom, grabbed the marker from the teacher, and began teaching when she thought he was being ineffective. When situations like this happen, the reality pedagogue knows that it is the responsibility of the teacher to simply move out of the way and allow the student to teach. In another classroom in this traditional urban school, walking up to the front of the class and interrupting the teacher in this way would be considered threatening, disruptive, or disrespectful. However, when coteaching is established in the classroom, students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning process.

Another way to consider the aesthetics of the neoindigenous is to create a graffiti wall in the classroom. This is a place where youth are allowed to write and draw freely on the wall. In classes where this has worked best, the teacher identifies a wall and paints it with blackboard paint. Youth are then allowed to use chalk with different colors to create murals, draw, write their nicknames or “tags,” and exchange messages with one another. Allowing for this space in classrooms not only makes the class more attractive, but serves as a therapeutic space for students.