Full Description
Embracing Diversity is about the craft of teaching, with a particular focus on celebrating the myriad of human identities through classic, contemporary, and unconventional texts. Experienced secondary English language arts educators narrate their own experiences and provide insights through reflecting upon aspects of everyday pedagogy. Featuring a rich array of texts designed to be both familiar and unfamiliar to the reader, the authors explore complex issues raised by a diverse body of writers, while simultaneously sharing methods that engage students to think critically. Topics include how students' learning is influenced by their identities; the importance of building relationships; creating a balanced curriculum; developing cultural responsivity and cultural sustainability; confronting (dis)comfort zonesadapting to different educational contexts; and considering how the COVID-19 pandemic changed teaching. This teacher-friendly resource illustrates how reflective practitioners are assisted in their goal of teaching literacy skills while encompassing issues of social justice.
Book Features:
Multiple examples of classroom activities for the secondary ELA classroom.
User-friendly text boxes highlighting points of interest.
Questions at the end of each chapter to help readers reflect on their own practices.
Detailed appendices featuring recommended books and practical resources.
Contents
Foreword by Sonia Nieto
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Who Is This Book For?
Why Did We Write This Book?
Theoretical Grounding in Social Justice
Why is it Important for Teachers to Critically Reflect?
Critical Self-Reflection and Whiteness
Structure and Content of Chapters
A Note on How We Developed Text
1. Assessing How Students' Identities and Communities Influence Their Learning and Our Teaching
Why Contemplating Student Communities and Identities Matter
Selected Practices
Giving Students the Opportunity to Explain Themselves
Reflection and Risk-Taking
Summary
Questions for Further Reflection
2. Building Relationships
Why Relationships Matter
Selected Practices
Summary
Questions for Further Reflection
3. Creating a Balanced Curriculum
Why a Balanced Curriculum Matters
Coda
Summary
Questions for Further Reflection
4. Developing Cultural Responsivity and Cultural Sustainability
Why Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Pedagogies Matters
Selected Practices
Summary
Questions for Further Reflection
5. Confronting (Dis)comfort Zones
Why Confronting (Dis)comfort Matters
The Pedagogy of Discomfort and the Importance of (Dis)Comfort Zones
Selected Practices
Embracing Diversity
Reflecting on Morality
Summary
Questions for Further Reflection
6. Adapting to Different Educational Contexts
Why Adapting to Educational Contexts Matters
Selected Practices
Considerations and Implications for Centering Diversity in Your New Position
Summary
Questions for Further Reflection
7. Considering What the Pandemic Has Taught Us About Teaching
Why Considering What the Pandemic has Taught us About Teaching Matters
Some Benefits of Online Teaching
Some Cautions About Online Teaching
Selected Practices
Things We Wonder About
Summary
Questions
8. Reflecting Upon What Teaching Has Taught Us
Endnotes
References
Index
About the Authors
