This article describes a community mapping project that urban-based teachers and teacher-candidates did as part of their graduate courses. New teachers are often strangers to the urban communities where their schools are located and often come from very different social and cultural backgrounds than the students they teach, which can cause missed…

Racial injustice in U. S. society cannot be separated from that which happens in U.S. classrooms. Indeed, many battles between white supremacy and antiracism are waged in the public school arena---such as, the whitewashing of slavery in textbooks, and the Supreme Court decision to ban Mexican American Studies in Arizona. Thus, this dissertation…

It is sometimes assumed that "digital natives" will more easily integrate new literacies into their classrooms once they begin their careers. This study followed preservice teachers at the junior level who were taking part in a year-long field experience set in an urban high school. This field experience was set in the context of an…

This article documents what happened when a teacher in an urban school shifted classroom practice through changing participation structures to incorporate digital technology and multiple modalities into a fifth grade literacy curriculum. This shift in teacher practice provided opportunities for immigrant students to become more visible in the…

Teaching quality impacts classroom instruction. Teaching is difficult, demanding and draining work; teaching in urban environs exacerbates the difficulties, the demands and the complexities of teaching. Through the eyes of an assistant superintendent, charged with implementing a new vision for literacy teaching and learning, this manuscript…

This case study is an examination of one pre-service teacher's experience in a reading methods course, entitled Reading Models and Methods, and corresponding urban reading practicum. Jennifer (a pseudonym) participated in a program aimed to address varying dilemmas that persist in the field, including: pre-service teachers' discomfort with…

This research was an exploratory study in a large city in central Canada that examined kindergarten teachers' beliefs about students' knowledge of print literacy, as well as their beliefs about parental involvement with children in print literacy activities. The role of families' socioeconomic status was examined in relation to teachers' beliefs.…

This in-depth case study explores a modern approach to education: the benefits of using film, technology and other creative, non-conventional pedagogical methods in the classroom to enhance students' understanding of literature. The study explores the positive effects of introducing a variety of visual-based (and auditory-based) teaching methods…

This study is the result of my work as a teacher educator in an English methods course and a member of an inquiry community I formed with eight of my students, all middle and secondary student English teachers at the University of Pennsylvania. I investigate what was at stake for them in learning to teach English in Philadelphia urban schools in…

This article describes introductory practices used to prepare future urban teachers to implement critical literacy strategies in their classrooms. Based in a teacher education program designed to prepare teachers for urban multicultural settings, the authors provide an overview of critical approaches to literacy instruction, a rationale for why…

The second edition of "19 Urban Questions: Teaching in the City" adds new questions to those in the original volume. Continuing the developing conversation in urban education, the book is provocative in style and rich in detail. Emphasizing the complexity of urban education, Shirley R. Steinberg and the authors ask direct questions about what…

The English-only initiatives sweeping the United States are mainstreaming English language learners into content-area classes designed for native or fluent English speakers, with little, if any, English as a second language (ESL) support. This spells trouble for the ever-growing population of Latinos because ESL teachers are not likely to have the…