Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom / Edition 1

by Brian D. Schultz, Carl A. Grant

Overview

This is an inspiring story of one teacher who resisted the pressures of "teaching to the test" and created a curriculum based on his students' needs, wants, and desires. When Brian Schultz challenged his fifth-grade students to name problems in their community, they unanimously focused on replacing their dilapidated school building. This book portrays the students' attempts at solving this real-world problem through a year-long project that they developed together with their teacher. Throughout his narrative, Schultz shares the difficulties he encountered with the curriculum, the school system, the students, and himself, as well as the successes and discoveries made along the way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807748572
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	04/12/2008
Series:	Teaching for Social Justice Series
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.48(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword   Carl A. Grant     ix
Preface and Acknowledgments     xi
Embracing Students' Interests for Schoolwork     1
What's Worth Knowing?     1
"Inverting" the Curriculum     11
Education as a Two-Way Street     16
Our School Is a Dump! Identifying a Problem That Needs Solving     24
This Ain't No Schoolwork, This Is Important!     24
Feelin' Like a Big and Powerful Grown-up     33
Needin' Them Pizza Things     40
Getting the Word Out: Sharing Authority in Room 405     53
You Wouldn't Let Your Kids Come to a School That Is Falling Apart     53
When Are We Going to Do Work?     60
Just Like a Record Deal     68
Seeking a Perfect Solution     76
The Chicago Tribune     76
Young Warriors     82
Carr's "Savage Inequalities"     86
Television, Radio, and Protecting the Kids     93
Process as Product     102
Practicing What I Preached     102
Do You Have Any Pets?     107
The Bestest Year Ever     113
Nader Comes to Carr     121
Bittersweet Final Days     124
Justice-Oriented Teaching     126
Negotiating Risks     126
Needing Support     128
Theorizing with Students     134
Education with Authenticity and Purpose     136
Developing Classrooms for Social Action     139
Progressive Education in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods     141
Complicating Good Intentions     144
Conclusion     149
How Ya Gonna Help Us?     149
Understanding Each Other     152
Let Those Voices Be Heard!     154
Enduring Achievement and Impact     156
References     159
Index     163
About the Author     173