In Our Own Words StudentsO Perspectives on School

by Shultz, Jeffrey; Cook-Sather, Alison; Alfaro, Maribelis; Judon, Quentina; Dunderdale, Kristin; Marzan, Steven; Holt, Dorothy V.; Bates, Darreisha; Strucker, Margo

• ISBN13: 9780847695669
• ISBN10: 0847695662
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-09
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

If educational reform is to succeed, it must attend to the perspectives of students--those most directly affected by schooling, but least often consulted about its efficacy. This is the premise of the first book both to feature student perspectives on school and to foreground student voices; middle and high school students are the primary authors of the eight chapters collected in this volume aptly titled In Our Own Words. Reflecting differences of gender, racial, and ethnic background, and school context, the student authors write passionately and eloquently about their experiences of and desires for school.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction: Starting Where the Learner Is: Listening to Students	1	(18)
Alison Cook-Sather
Jeffrey Shultz
Our World	19	(20)
Maribelis Alfaro
Lornaliz Letriz
Maritzabeth Santos
Mariela Villanueva
Rebecca Freeman
Speaking Out Loud: Girls Seeking Selfhood	39	(18)
Quentina Judon
Jessye Cohen-Dan
Tyeasha Leonard
Sharita Stinson
Tara Colston
Jody Cohen
Diane Brown
What's Your Bias? Cuts on Diversity in a Suburban Public School	57	(16)
Kristin Dunderdale
Sara Tourscher
R.J. Yoo
Ondrea Reisinger
Alison Cook-Sather
Cutting Class: Perspectives of Urban High School Students	73	(20)
Fredo Sanon
Maurice Baxter
Lydia Fortune
Susan Opotow
An Education for What? Reflections of Two High School Seniors on School	93	(12)
Steven Marzan
Amy Peterson
Ceci Lewis
Scott Christian
Eva Gold
Caught in the Storm of Reform: Five Student Perspectives on the Implementation of the Interactive Mathematics Program	105	(22)
Dorothy V. Holt
Emily Gann
Sonia Gordon-Walinsky
Elissa Klinger
Rachel Toliver
Edward (Ned) Wolff
Reflections: Writing and Talking about Race in Middle School	127	(22)
Darreisha Bates
Noah Chase
Chris Ignasiak
Yvette Johnson
Tina Zaza
Tricia Niesz
Patti Buck
Katherine Schultz
Writing the Wrong: Making Schools Better for Girls	149	(16)
Margo Strucker
Lenelle N. Moise
Vicki Magee
Holly Kreider
Negotiating Worlds and Words: Writing about Students Experiences of School	165	(14)
Alison Cook-Sather
Jeffrey Shultz
Index	179	(4)
About the Authors	183