Humanizing Pedagogy: Beliefs and Practices on the Teaching of Latino Children

Abstract

Recent research in teacher education has placed much attention on teachers' knowledge in subject matter and instructional practices and not enough on their attitudes and perspectives that contribute significantly to the pedagogy to which they adhere. In other words, teachers' prior knowledge and life experiences strongly influence the way they perceive the nature of learning and their students. This article describes an investigational ethnographic study that explored the pedagogical perspectives and teaching practices of four urban elementary school teachers whom Latino parents and students rated as effective in working with Latino students. Special emphasis is placed on a “humanizing” pedagogy (Bartolomé, 1994; Freire, 1987; Fránquiz & Salazar, 2004; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Nieto & Rolón, 1999) for the theoretical framework. This study found that these 4 teachers put into practice what they knew and believed. In general, they held a certain level of sociocultural knowledge. Based on this knowledge, they further built relationships with their students and created instructional practices based on students' realities, history, and perspectives in order to connect the subject matter to their students.