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…

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…

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…

Presents an example of how professional development measures and an integrated approach to literacy positively affected one urban high school. Notes that the reading achievement of these urban high school youths was influenced by quality instruction and support for classroom teachers. Indicates that school structures influence student achievement.…

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…