For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood Review

For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood by Christopher Emdin

In For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Education and Urban Teaching , Christopher Emdin shares his experience of learning and education in an urban setting and offers upwardly a new approach to education. He dismantles stereotypes and advocates for a student-centered arroyo, even in "at-risk" classrooms. In this volume, he shares the tenants of Reality Pedagogy.

"Merging existent stories with theory, research, and practise, a prominent scholar offers a new approach to teaching and learning for every stakeholder in urban education." –Goodreads

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This book is not an indictment of white educators, but rather a revocation of an outdated educational activity that utilized ane arroyo to transmit one worldview to all students, regardless of race and culture. Basically, public teaching in the U.s. is an inherently racist and classist organisation, and we need to exist taking steps to dismantle the inequity. This book is total of actionable tips for the white teacher who wants to "know better, exercise better."

I loved this book from the beginning, and I strongly encourage every white educator (in any locale, really) to read it. It is a call to activeness for you to understand the 'new' culture of your students. The tone is conversational, while still remaining highly reminiscent of a social scientist – namely, an educational anthropologist. The book unfolds equally a connected comparing between Emdin's neoindigenous population (our students) and indigenous populations living with a civilisation and worldview sometimes misunderstood past white people.

 

Some Ideas for Your Classroom fromFor White Folks Who Teach in the Hood

Emdin shares his "seven C's" for Reality Pedagogy, and you can implement some of these in your classroom over time. Here are a few that actually inspired me.

1. Metalogues (from Curation and Computing)

Metalogues are shared journals that are a type of informal communication between students and the teaching. At any given moment, the instructor can ask students to bring out their group'due south journal, and and so requite them a prompt. Students write for a certain amount of time earlier passing the notebook to the side by side grouping member. They are sharing their ideas almost the learning process, all while solidifying new concepts or making connections to quondam ones.

2. Coteaching

And then, the thought of letting the pupil "be the teacher" has been around for a while, but Emdin calls u.s.a. to this arroyo for new reasons. Essentially, nosotros remain the content experts, only not the delivery masters. He urges us to let our students prove us how to teach more effectively, then that we aren't fierce our hair out when a perfectly planned lesson falls apartment.

Emdin says that coteaching is not relinquishing control of the classroom, but rather a way to signal to your students that y'all value improving yourself every bit an educator. Emdin writes, "the neoindigenous student is positioned every bit the expert (in delivering data to other neoindigenous students), and the teacher is positioned equally the person who needs to learn about the ways to teach to the neoindigenous" (89). He goes on to suggest that this method would work especially well if you accept multiple preps – you could take a pupil coteach the lesson in your first class of the day, and implement what you've learned from them as you pick back upwards pedagogy your other iv (v? half-dozen?) classes.

3. Due west Board (from Context and Content)

I also loved Emdin'south accept on the "W Board", which is a defended bulletin board or whiteboard where students tin post content-related questions at whatever time. This specially resonated with me as an introvert, since I would take enjoyed this platform for participation that wasn't every bit public as asking a question in class. Emdin encourages students to inquire questions that tin stump even the instructor – and then the class can explore the question together later. He calls this board "a parking lot", since tangential questions don't take to disrupt the menses of the lesson, but can be addressed at any fourth dimension (149).

What's Next?

If you haven't read this book, definitely add it to your list! Yous can order a re-create on Amazon through my affiliate link, and I'd dear you to come back and let me know what you thought. 🙂

If you lot've already read this volume, what did you call back? What were your "aha!" moments? What tips are you implementing in your classroom?

Happy teaching!

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Source: https://teachnouvelle.com/book-review-for-white-folks-who-teach-in-the-hood/

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