Full Description
From his own background growing up on the drug-tainted projects of Manhattan, Jose Vilson takes the reader on the coming-of-age story of a naive young man struggling to mature through the first few years of his career, balancing the lows of murder, poverty and academic failure to the highs of growth and triumph. In this collection of essays, he provokes discussion on issues of race, class and education with stories from his classroom seen through the eyes of a Black-Latino educator. Vilson calls for the reclaiming of the education profession while seeking social justice.
Contents
Table of Contents
ON PERSPECTIVE [AN INTRODUCTION] 3
PLEASE PUT YOUR PENCILS DOWN 9
PRELUDE TO A HURRICANE 20
CAN IT BE THAT IT WAS ALL SO SIMPLE THEN? 32
A SYNOPSIS OF THE ROAD LESS WANTED 44
FALSE KINGS 54
THE ANSWER 65
The Post-TFA Assessment 72
BLUE MAGIC 80
THE HOMEROOM IS A HOME 87
SNITCHES OPEN STITCHES 96
ON THE REASON WHY YOU DON'T SEE MORE BLACK / LATINO TEACHERS ... YET 102
THE FINE ART OF THE CLASSROOM JOKE 117
WHAT HAPPENED 123
IT DOESN'T MATTER WITH ME NOW 132
RACE AND EDUCATION WRITING IN THE 21ST CENTURY 139
TECHNICALLY, IT'S CALLED CONVENIENT IGNORANCE 147
WHY YOU POST-RACIALISTS GET IT WRONG ... AGAIN 153
BAND OF BROTHERS 159
GOD GOT JOKES (THE CASE OF 702) 172
IT'S THE LIFE 180
GENESIS OF A NEMESIS 187
WHITE NOISE (ON BEHALF OF RUBEN REDMAN) 193
GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD 198
A CAUTIONARY NOTE TO BURGEONING TEACHER LEADERS [THE EAGLE VS THE HUMMINGBIRD] 206
CONSIDER TEACHING 211
ON THE STATE OF TEACHER VOICE 216
AFTERWORD 232
