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 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.