White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms: A Guide to Building Inclusive Schools, Promoting High Expectations, and Eliminating Racism (White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms Companion Products)

For African Americans, 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.

Black and White teachers here provide an insightful approach to inclusive and equitable teaching and illustrate its transformative power to bring about success.

This book encourages reflection and self-examination, calls for understanding how students can achieve and expecting the most from them. It demonstrates what’s involved in terms of recognizing often-unconscious biases, confronting institutional racism where it occurs, surmounting stereotyping, adopting culturally relevant teaching, connecting with parents and the community, and integrating diversity in all activities.

This book is replete with examples of 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. Its empowering message applies not just to teachers of Black students, but illuminates teaching in every racially diverse setting.

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 has published numerous articles in journals such as Educational Leadership and Teachers and Writers Collaborative. She is the author of Basic Needs: A Year With Street Kids in a City School; A White Teacher Talks About Race; and Growing Up White: A Veteran Teacher Reflects on Racism, all three published by Rowman Education. She has also published behavior guide called Tips For Creating a Manageable Classroom with Milkweed Editions. Julie Landsman authored Welcome To Your Life: Writings for the Heart of Young America, with David Haynes also with Milkweed. She also edited From Darkness to Light, Teens Write About Overcoming Trouble, with Fairview Press. Julie writes poetry and fiction and recently won the New Letters Prize for her short story, “Suspension”. She is currently co-editing a new book for Stylus with Robert Simmons and Steven Grineski entitled Going Deeper: Ideas From The Field For Having Open and Honest Conversations About Race. (tentative title) Julie is a frequent speaker and consultant around the country and abroad. She can be reached by email at jlandsman@goldengate.net or through her website at jlandsman.com

Chance W. Lewis is the Houston Endowment Inc., Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of Urban Education and the Co-Director of the urban education graduate program in the College of Education at Texas A&M University. Additionally, Dr. Lewis is the Co-Director of the Center for Urban School Partnerships at Texas A&M University. Dr. Lewis also serves as the Deputy Director for the Center of African American Research and Policy (CAARP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During his career, Dr. Lewis has over 100 publications include over 50 refereed journal articles in some of the leading academic journals in the field of urban education and teacher education. Additionally, he has received over $4 million in external research funds to support his research. To date, Dr. Lewis has author/co-authored/co-edited 4 books: White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms: A Guide for Building Inclusive Schools, Eliminating Racism and Promoting High Expectations (Stylus, 2006), The Dilemmas of Being an African American Male in the New Millennium: Solutions for Life Transformation; An Educator’s Guide to Working with African American Students: Strategies for Promoting Academic Success (Infinity, 2008); and Transforming Teacher Education: What Went Wrong with Teacher Training and How We Can Fix It (Stylus, 2010). Finally, Dr. Lewis has provided consultative services (i.e., professional development and research services) to over 100 school districts and universities across the United States and Canada. Dr. Lewis can be reached by e-mail at chance.lewis@tamu.edu or via his website at http://www.chancewlewis.com