"Teaching Toward a Decolonizing Pedagogy" outlines educational practitioner development toward decolonizing practices and pedagogies for anti-racist, justice-based urban classrooms. Through rich personal narratives of one teacher's critical reflections on her teaching, urban education scholarship and critical praxis are merged to provide…

In her new book, bestselling author Cynthia Ballenger explores the intellectual strengths of students that teachers find "puzzling"--poor, urban, immigrant, or bilingual children who do not traditionally excel in school. Ballenger challenges the assumption that these children--whose families in many cases have less formal education, read fewer…

This cutting-edge guide presents multiple approaches to teaching poetry at the middle and high school levels. The author provides field-tested activities with detailed how-to instructions, as well as advice for how educators can "justify" their teaching within a high-stakes curriculum environment. "Let's Poem" will show pre- and inservice teachers…

Discusses keys to success that secondary teachers should keep in mind when trying to teach world history to urban students deficient in basic skills. First, the objective of the lesson must be relevant to the student. Second, skill deficiencies must be provided for when planning the lesson. (RM)

Describes a 2-year series of critical discussions around literature with African American adolescents in an inner-city community. Explains the use of a Critical Discourse Analysis as a pedagogical and analytic tool. Presents an analysis that provides one way of conceptualizing the teaching and learning of critical literacy through a Critical…

Three high school teachers describe how they changed their approaches to the teaching of composition. (DD)

Studies and identifies the general problems that urban minority youths face in schools. Considers instructional practices impeding the academic growth of minority students. Recommends instructional strategies that are particularly beneficial to minority students. (HB)

Discusses how students in the author's classroom are challenged to think critically in a curriculum that focuses specifically on the health of the environment. Discovers that her own convictions about the importance of stewardship for the environment stood in stark contrast to the competitive, consumer-oriented values of the preadolescents in her…

There are increasing concerns regarding the inability of many teachers to effectively reach children living in inner city areas. Numerous data show that despite previous efforts toward reform, students are still performing below expectation. In an effort to rectify this problem, many are looking more closely at the underlying issues that may be…

Developed by educators in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, public schools, this book shows ways to engage students in high quality work, reveal information about students that cannot be seen through standardized tests, and help students become responsible for their own academic growth. The Assessment Portfolios described are used in 21 Milwaukee schools…

Suggests ideas for a teaching unit designed to help children learn about recreation, business and industry and shopping centers in urban areas. (CM)

Describes the Viva Kids! Program, in an inner-city elementary school in Florida, in which students create and produce their own opera, engendering great enthusiasm and giving students a new sense of responsibility. (SR)

Shows how secondary teachers can make world history more relevant and interesting to urban youth by using a social history approach. How to integrate social history into the curriculum, available materials, and teaching strategies are discussed. (RM)

This experimental curriculum guide for bicycle safety begins with a chapter listing vehicle and traffic laws pertaining to bicycling. Chapter 2 of the guide is organized by grade level. Appropriate lesson plans for bicycle safety are presented with aims, concepts activities and behavioral objectives. A 24-item list of activities summarizes these…

This guide is designed for New York City school teachers who will conduct tennis classes for about 50 students while using limited tennis facilities. The insides of school buildings and school playgrounds will constitute the "courts" for these lessons. This type of introduction to the sport is intended to give students a sense of the…