“Educate Your Heart Before Your Mind”: The Counter-Narratives of One African American Female Teacher’s Asset-, Equity- and Justice-Oriented Pedagogy in One Urban School

Abstract

This article narrates one African American female teacher’s asset-, equity-, and justice-oriented pedagogy with foci on culturally responsive pedagogy and authentic caring in teaching in an urban school from the joint perspectives of community cultural wealth, funds of knowledge, and funds of identity. Drawing upon humanizing counter-narrative research methodologies, this article foregrounds traditionally oppressed groups’ repressed voices concerning culturally responsive pedagogy and authentic caring for improving culturally and linguistically diverse students’ academic achievements. These findings show how culturally responsive pedagogy can facilitate students’ learning cognitively, culturally, and politically. Furthermore, this research illustrates how authentic caring—the supportive reciprocal rapport between teachers and students—helps to increases the students’ academic achievement but also fosters teachers’ implementation of the asset-, equity-, and justice-oriented pedagogy. Finally, the implications for facilitating urban school teachers’ asset-, equity-, and justice-oriented pedagogies and the praxis for critical transformative pedagogy are discussed.