Cultural resources to make connections in education

Nghana Lewis is the founder and executive director of Encouraging Student Scholarship and Excellence through Native-Centered Education (ESSENCE), which creates classroom lesson plans that teach using African American Louisiana culture to encourage students to see themselves in what they are studying. In this video, Lewis discusses how using what is familiar to students gets them invested in their education.

Lewis, the Louise and Leonard Riggio Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Tulane, is an associate professor of English and African and African diaspora studies.

“Studies show that when students have the ability to connect and relate to what they're learning, it makes the process much easier,” Lewis says.

Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio and his wife Louise made the professorship possible.

This video is part of a series introducing the five endowed social entrepreneurship professors at Tulane as they discuss the field of social innovation and its effect on Tulane and other communities, near and far.