This article explicates the Cultural Modeling Framework for designing robust learning environments that leverage everyday knowledge of culturally diverse students to support subject‐matter‐specific learning. It reports a study of Cultural Modeling in the teaching of response to literature in an urban underachieving high school serving African‐American students from low‐income communities who are also speakers of African‐American English. The study is situated in the history of research on African‐American English as a resource for academic learning, particularly in relation to literacy. Results document the ways that African‐American rhetorical features served as a medium for complex literary reasoning and provided contextualization cues to enhance participation.
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