White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579225950 ISBN 13: 9781579225957

Publisher: Routledge, 2011

Synopsis

The point of departure for this new edition, as it was for the first, is the unacceptable reality that, for students of color, school is often not a place to learn but a place of low expectations and failure. In urban schools with concentrations of poverty, often fewer than half the ninth graders leave with a high school diploma.

This second edition has been considerably expanded with chapters that illuminate the Asian American, Native American, and Latina/o experience, including that of undocumented students, in our schools. These chapters offer insights into the concerns and issues students bring to the classroom. They also convey the importance for teachers, as they accept difference and develop cultural sensitivity, to see their students as individuals, and avoid generalizations. This need to go beneath the surface is reinforced by a chapter on adopted children, children of mixed race, and “hidden minorities”.

White and Black teachers, and teachers of different races and ethnicities, here provide the essential theoretical background, and share their experiences and the approaches they have developed, to create the conditions – in both urban and suburban settings – that enable minority students to succeed.

This book encourages reflection and self-examination, and calls for recognizing and reinforcing students’ ability to achieve. It also calls for high expectations for both teachers and students. It demonstrates what it means to recognize often-unconscious biases, confront institutional racism where it occurs, surmount stereotyping, adopt culturally relevant teaching, connect with parents and the community, and integrate diversity in all activities.

This book is replete with examples from practice and telling insights that will engage teachers in practice or in service. It should have a place in every classroom in colleges of education and K-12 schools. Its empowering message applies to every teacher working in an educational setting that recognizes the empowerment that comes in celebrating diversity.

Each chapter concludes with a set of questions for personal reflection or group discussion.

About this title

About the Author

Julie Landsman has taught in Minneapolis Public Schools for 25 years. She has also been a visiting Professor at Carleton College in Northfield Minnesota, and an adjunct professor at Hamline University and Metro State University in St. Paul. She is the author of numerous books on race and education and a frequent speaker and consultant around the country and abroad. She can be reached through her website at jlandsman.com

Review

Acclaim for the first edition:

"Black and White teachers here provide an insightful approach to inclusive and equitable teaching and illustrate its transformative power to bring about success.” (Education Digest)

"Practical advice for teachers and administrators on ways to improve the education of students of color, emphasizing that low expectations are the worst form of racism.” (Education Week)

"This is a very good book for teachers to put on their shelves; I recommend its use at the university level as a teaching tool as well.” (Multicultural Review)

"The second edition of White Teachers, Diverse Classrooms adds seven essays to 14 of the original chapters. In the first edition, the editors selected essays about pedagogical methods that might close the achievement gap between white and African American students. The new edition contains sevena rticles describing approaches for teachers working with Latino, Asian, or Native American students. Summing Up: Recommended." (Choice 2012-01-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1579225950
• ISBN 13: 9781579225957
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 376
• Editor: Landsman Julie, Lewis Chance W.