Description
Book SynopsisVeteran teacher Julie Landsman leads the reader through a day of teaching and reflection about her work with high school students who are from a variety of cultures. She speaks honestly about issues of race, poverty, institutional responsibility, and white privilege by engaging the reader in the experiences of a day in the classroom with some of her remarkable students. Throughout the day, we meet bigotry head-on, struggle with questions of racial identity, and find cultural conflict in the corridors of the school building. Along the way, we come face to face with Tyrone, a young African-American student grappling with the realities of discrimination in suburbia. We encounter Sheila, a teenage mother struggling to raise her baby in poverty, and we get to know Sarah, a white girl living on the streets of Minneapolis. Through the author's eyes, we begin to understand the complexities of teaching in today's society and we learn within the pages of this book, if only just for a moment, what it feels like to be the other.
Trade ReviewLandsman's intellectual and personal rapport with her students is impressive...this balanced, quietly impassioned account affords insight into race relations in the classroom and will appeal to parents and educators who are struggling with these issues. * Publishers Weekly *
If you are one of the teachers exhausted by the ways that systemic race and class dynamics play out in school, Landsman's stories may give you courage....This is a teacher I would cherish for my children: wise about power dynamics, committed to justice, engaged with students, and never self-righteous. -- Peggy McIntosh, associate director, Wellesley College Center for Research on Women and author of "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
Landsman brings keen observation and empathy to her recollections of working as a writer and teacher with racially diverse students at a public high school in Minneapolis....She lifts some of those blinders in this insightful presentation on the intersection of race, poverty, and culture in an increasingly divers nation. * Booklist *
Table of ContentsPart 1 Introduction: Our Changing World: A Cause for Celebration Chapter 2 Before School: What I Bring Chapter 3 Waiting for First Hour Chapter 4 First Hour: Recognizing Oneself Chapter 5 Second Hour: History and Literature Chapter 6 Third Hour: Student Voices as the Center of the Class Chapter 7 Lunch Hour: Students' Lives Chapter 8 Fourth Hour: Connections Chapter 9 Interlude: Twenty-Four Seven Chapter 10 Fifth Hour: Representing Chapter 11 My White Power World Chapter 12 Sixth Hour: Expectations Chapter 13 After School: Training Teachers Chapter 14 At Night: Community Chapter 15 Living in Different Worlds Chapter 16 Celebrations at Home Chapter 17 Resistance: The Power of White Activism Chapter 18 Epilogue
