Many teachers have a cursory understanding of culturally relevant pedagogy, and a desire to see it succeed in their classrooms. The problem is that in many cases, teachers have "only" a cursory understanding, and their efforts to bridge the cultural gap often fall short. "Culturally relevant pedagogy" is a term that describes effective teaching in culturally diverse classrooms. It can be a daunting idea to understand and implement. Yet even when people do not know the term, they tend to appreciate culturally relevant pedagogy when they see it. In this article, the author discusses some myths and misperceptions about culturally relevant pedagogy that often result in awkward classroom moments, ineffective instructional practices and counterproductive teacher-student and teacher-parent relationships. She provides an example to show how culturally relevant pedagogy works, and why it works for all students. She believes that many diverse students fail in schools not because their teachers don't know their content, but because their teachers haven't made the connections between the content and their students' existing mental schemes, prior knowledge and cultural perspectives. In helping learners make sense of new concepts and ideas, culturally relevant teachers create learning opportunities in which students' voices emerge and knowledge and meaning are constructed from the students' perspectives.