Description
Book SynopsisFor a moment, consider you don't know what you don't know. What individuals know about urban schools is often based on assumptions and perceptions. It is important for individuals to examine these assumptions and perceptions of urban schools and the students who attend them. While many textbooks support how teachers should teach students in urban settings, this book asserts individuals can be effective teachers in these settings only if they first develop an understanding urban schools and the students who attend them. As readers progress through the chapters, they will realize they don't know what they don't know.Within a framework of cognitive dissonance, readers will continuously examine and reexamine their personal beliefs and perceptions. Readers will also investigate new information and varied perspectives related to urban schools. When readers finish this book, they will be on their way to becoming effective teachers in urban environments.
Trade ReviewThat teachers need to understand themselves—their talents as well as their shortcomings, their sensitivities as well as their biases—before they can be effective with students of all backgrounds is by now fairly well accepted. In Questioning Assumptions and Changing Perceptions, authors Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Corine Meredith Brown go beyond platitudes to explore not only why but also how teachers and other educators can do so. This book will be useful for novice as well as veteran teachers who want to make a difference for themselves and their students. -- Sonia Nieto, Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita, Language, Literacy, and Culture, College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Building on an urban ecological framework, this book powerfully shepherds preservice and inservice teachers into processes of reflection on unexamined assumptions that can lead to practices detrimental for youth. Educators interested in learning more about how their beliefs and mindsets shape their practice should read this book. The authors remind educators that they must be audaciously deliberate in their efforts to learn and develop as they work to support their students in urban environments who deserve our best everyday! This is an important book! -- H. Richard Milner IV, author of Rac(e)ing to Class, Confronting poverty and race in schools and classrooms
Table of ContentsABOUT THE COVER ART FOREWORD-JACK MCKAY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: PERSONAL EXPLORATION How do you define yourself culturally? establishing a frame of reference ABC’s of cultural understanding and communication CHAPTER TWO: CREATING A DEFINITION OF URBAN graffiti wall sphere of influence within the social context definitions of urban based on population definitions of urban based on social context broadening the definition of urban moving beyond a single story of urban schools CHAPTER THREE: THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS case study 3.1: the story of amie maslow’s identification of human needs poverty mural the complexities of poverty case study 3.2: the bank street school CHAPTER FOUR: STAGES OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: INTERNAL REFLECTIONS stages of cognitive dissonance related to urban schools creating the felt need a kwl chart on urban schools shifting from apprehension to appreciation culture walks moving beyond the deficit approach common scenarios CHAPTER FIVE: STAGES OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: EXTERNAL IMPLICATIONS value line part one closing the gaps value line part two teaching for social justice teaching for social justice gallery walk CHAPTER SIX: TRANSFORMING KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION teachers as activists imagining a socially just classroom personal sphere of influence model identifying elements in your personal sphere of influence CHAPTER SEVEN: TRANSLATING THEORY INTO ACTION case study 7.1: Ruby bridges INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHORS
