Abstract
According to Ross (2008), there has been a cultural mismatch the American public school system due to a misunderstanding of the basic tenets of culture. Considering that the cultural mismatch that exists between the majority of teachers and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students influences teachers' cultural perspectives (Wildhagen, 2012), social justice educators can commit to "knowledge building" through cultural competence (Fullan, 2001). In order to understand cultural differences, educators can learn to re-interpret their views of "cultural normality" onto their diverse students (Ross, 2008). Further, guiding teachers to become more culturally competent involves exploring educators' perspectives about CLD learners, and reflecting on how their perspectives impact their instructional practice (Guerra & Nelson, 2014). This article explores the author's culturally and linguistically diverse students' demonstration of the peach crayon phenomenon. Over the course of a decade, the author's elementary-age students marginalized their racial and cultural identities through their use of an innocuous peach crayon. Further, this article considers how non-CLD educators view their CLD students of color and the necessity of culturally competency professional development and culturally responsive instructional strategies to create equitable learning environments for CLD learners of color to bridge the achievement gap.
Recommended Citation
Collazo, Judith
(2019)
"The peach crayon phenomenon: How inequitable perspectives influence the CLD achievement gap,"
Teacher Education Journal of South Carolina: Vol. 12:
No.
2, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/tejsc/vol12/iss2/2