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…

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.…

This book reports on conversations in which elementary schoolteachers--who have taught in urban settings for an average of 20 years each--reflect on their professional work. The conversations in the book testify to the teachers' ability to engage young people in active learning--and their stories of teaching and learning verify that difference…