White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms: Creating Inclusive Schools, Building on Students' Diversity, and Providing True Educational Equity

by Landsman, Julie G.; Lewis, Chance W.

• ISBN13: 9781579225964
• ISBN10: 1579225969
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-08-30
• Publisher: Stylus Pub Llc

Summary

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 Shidden 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.

Author Biography

Julie G. Landsman has taught in Minneapolis Public Schools for 25 years. Chance W. Lewis is the Houston Endowment Inc. Endowed Chair, associate professor of urban education, and Co-Director of the urban education graduate program, in the College of Education at Texas AM University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Call to Action and Self-Reflection for White Teachers in Diverse Classrooms	p. 1
Foundations of Our Work: Recognizing Power, Privilege, and Perspectives
Being White: Invisible Privileges of a New England Prep School Girl	p. 11
Questions	p. 24
Reflections on Education: A Two-Way Journey	p. 2
Questions	p. 30
Culturally Relevant Teachers: Foundations and Personal Engagement
ôYes, But How Do We Do It?ö: Practicing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy	p. 33
Questions	p. 46
The Empty Desk in the Third Row
Experiences of an African American Male Teacher	p. 47
Questions	p. 55
But Good Intentions are Not Enough: Doing What's Necessary to Teach for Diversity	p. 56
Questions	p. 74
The Unintentional Undermining of Multicultural Education: Educators at the Equity Crossroads	p. 75
Questions	p. 92
White Women's Work: On the Front Lines of Urban Education	p. 93
Questions	p. 109
When Truth and Joy are at Stake: Challenging the Status Quo in the High School English Class	p. 110
Questions	p. 122
Color Blindness, Unconscious Bias, and Student Achievement in Suburban Schools	p. 123
Questions	p. 135
Tips for School Principals and Teachers: Helping Black Students Achieve	p. 136
Questions	p. 148
How Can Service-Learning Increase the Academic Achievement of Urban African American Students?	p. 149
Questions	p. l69
Knowing Who is in the Classroom: How White Teachers Can Ensure All Children Achieve
What Are You? Are You Indian? Are You Chinese?: The Lifelong Journey of an Adopted Latina	p. 173
Questions	p. 179
Daring to Teach: Challenging the Western Narrative of American Indians in the Classroom	p. 181
Questions	p. 196
Educating Black Males: Interview With Professor Emeritus Joseph White, Ph.D., Author of Black Man Emerging	p. 198
Questions	p. 206
Black/African American Families: Coming of Age in Predominately White Communities	p. 208
Questions	p. 227
Understanding Korean American Students: Facts, Not Myth	p. 228
Questions	p. 242
Low Expectations are the Worst form of Racism	p. 243
Questions	p. 254
How Educators Can Support the High Expectations for Education That Exist in the Latino Family and Student Community	p. 255
Questions	p. 268
I Don't Understand Why My African American Students are Not Achieving: An Exploration of the Connection Among Personal Power, Teacher Perceptions, and the Academic Engagement of African American Students	p. 269
Questions	p. 283
African American Male Student-Athletes and White Teachers' Classroom Interactions	p. 284
Implications for Teachers, Coaches, Counselors, and Administrators
Questions	p. 296
Creating Classrooms for Equity, Activism, and Social Justice
Educators Supporting Dreamers: Becoming an Undocumented Student Ally	p. 299
Questions	p. 313
Preparing Teachers to Develop Inclusive Communities	p. 314
Questions	p. 328
Culturally Responsive School-Community Partnerships: Strategy for Success	p. 329
Questions	p. 343
About the Editors	p. 347
About the Authors	p. 349
Index	p. 357
Poems
Becoming Joey	p. v
Walking Down the Corridor is Being in Another Country	p. 345
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.