The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities

In The Light in Their Eyes, Sonia Nieto makes student learning the primary objective of multicultural education. Going beyond “curriculum integration,” Nieto draws on a host of research in learning styles, multiple intelligences, and cognitive theories to portray the ways in which students learn. Nieto then takes us beyond individual learners to discuss the social context of learning, the history and manifestations of educational equity, the influence of culture on learning, and critical pedagogy. Centering on multicultural education as a transformative process, the text includes many reflections of teachers who have undergone this process and whose experiences will be invaluable to other teachers.

Sonia Nieto is professor emerita of language, literacy, and culture at the College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the bestselling author of The Light in Their Eyes, 10th Anniversary Edition, Why We Teach, and What Keeps Teachers Going?