The dreamkeepers : successful teachers of African American children / Gloria Ladson-Billings.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ladson-Billings, Gloria, 1947- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Education.

African Americans.

Teaching.

Educational anthropology--United States.

Educational anthropology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (274 pages)

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

2022.

San Francisco, California : Jossey-Bass, [2022]

Summary:

"The Dreamkeepers, Gloria Ladson-Billings explored the positive signs for the future of education for African American students. Who are the successful teachers? What do they do? And how can we learn from them? Her portraits of eight exemplary teachers who differ in personal style and methods but share an approach to teaching that affirms and strengthens cultural identity are inspiring and full of hope. Through these outstanding teachers, she shows that culturally relevant teaching is not a matter of race, gender, or teaching style. What matters most is a teacher's efforts to work with the unique strengths a child brings to the classroom. Written in three voices--that of an African American scholar and researcher, an African American teacher, and an African American parent and active community member, this book is a mixture of scholarship and storytelling. Ladson-Billing's portraits, interwoven with personal reflections, challenge readers to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students, but all children"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Foreword to the Third Edition

Preface

The Author

Introduction

Chapter 1 A Dream Deferred

The Current Climate

Separate Schools or Special Schooling?

A Study of Effective Teaching for African Americans

Chapter 2 Does Culture Matter?

The Notion of Cultural Relevance

How Teachers See African American Students

A Group Profile of the Teachers Who Participated in the Study

Chapter 3 Seeing Color, Seeing Culture

The Basics of Culturally Relevant Teaching

Teachers with Culturally Relevant Practices Have High Self-Esteem and a High Regard for Others

Teachers with Culturally Relevant Practices See Themselves as Part of the Community, See Teaching as Giving Back to the Community, and Encourage Their Students to Do the Same

Teachers with Culturally Relevant Practices See Teaching as an Art and Themselves as Artists

Teachers with Culturally Relevant Practices Believe that All Students Can Succeed

Teachers with Culturally Relevant Practices Help Students Make Connections Between Their Community, National, and Global Identities

Teachers with Culturally Relevant Practices See Teaching as "Digging Knowledge Out" of Students

Chapter 4 We Are Family

We're All in This Together

The Teacher-Student Relationship in the Culturally Relevant Classroom Is Fluid and "Humanely Equitable"

Culturally Relevant Teaching Involves Cultivation of the Relationship Beyond the Boundaries of the Classroom

Teachers with Culturally Relevant Practices Are Careful to Demonstrate a Connectedness with Each of Their Students

Teachers with Culturally Relevant Practices Encourage a Community of Learners

Culturally Relevant Teaching Encourages Students to Learn Collaboratively and Expects Them to Teach Each Other and Take Responsibility for Each Other.

Concluding Thoughts

Chapter 5 The Tree of Knowledge

Culturally Relevant Conceptions of Knowledge

Culturally Relevant Teaching Views Knowledge as Something That Is Continuously Re-created, Recycled, and Shared

Culturally Relevant Teaching Views Knowledge Critically

Culturally Relevant Teaching Is Passionate About Knowledge

Culturally Relevant Teaching Helps Students Develop Necessary Skills

Finally, Culturally Relevant Teaching Sees Excellence as a Complex Standard That Takes Student Diversity and Individual Differences into Account

Concluding Thoughts

Chapter 6 Culturally Relevant Teaching

The Focus on Literacy

Ann Lewis: A Literacy Revival

Julia Devereaux: "Gimme That Old-Time [Religion] Teaching"

Lewis versus Devereaux

Math in a Culturally Relevant Classroom

Telling Isn't Teaching

Chapter 7 Making Dreams into Reality

The Classroom Teacher's Power and Responsibility

Motivating Teachers

Changing Teaching Practices

A Vision of a Culturally Relevant School

Afterword

We Got Bars

Chad Martin

Bakari Karamu

Vinny Roberts

Gemma Lowenstein

F. Kemper

Dahia Armstrong

Frances Jennings

Barry Moskowitz

Jamal Richardson

SAYS

Where Are They Now?

Appendix A: Methodology

Teacher Selection

Teacher Interviews

Classroom Observations

Collective Interpretation and Analysis

Self-Critique

Theoretical Considerations

A Basis of Concrete Experience

The Use of Dialogue

An Emphasis on Caring

An Emphasis on Personal Accountability

Appendix B: Context

Pinewood Community

Pinewood City Schools*

A Final Note About the Teachers

Notes

Index

Discussion Questions

EULA.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-119-79194-4

1-119-79195-2