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202 reviews for:
For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'All Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education
Christopher Emdin
4.11 AVERAGE
202 reviews for:
For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'All Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education
Christopher Emdin
4.11 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
One of the best books on education I've read! I was expecting dense writing about race and education, but really this is a little bit of commentary followed by practical tips that truly center students in the classroom. I've already been trying some of these activities in my student teaching. I'll be coming back to this again and again.
Only knocked .25 points off because some of the social media stuff was outdated & I don't know how useful or necessary "neoindigenous" was to describe students of color.
Only knocked .25 points off because some of the social media stuff was outdated & I don't know how useful or necessary "neoindigenous" was to describe students of color.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Emdin in 2016. I started reading his book then. Now that it's on audio, I can listen to it whenever I need a reminder of what I'm working for and how to avoid the pitfalls of "white savior" mentality. My kids don't need saving, they need the ability to show what they know and learn in meaningful ways. While the focus of this book is about white teachers, whether "white" by skin, behavior, or both, teaching urban students, the advice and examples in this book can be adapted for any combination of student and teacher. I started out teaching in a small, more inner city than not, all black high school. Though I'm at a school about the same size now, the population is more diverse in every way. The advice in this book still applies. My middle schoolers are amazing individuals. I hope to live up to their potential.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Very thought provoking and challenging- this book make me reflect deeply on many of the assumptions and attitudes I had been bringing into my own classroom. Absolutely a book that I will come back to again, not only to revisit the ideas for concrete and specific activities to make my teaching better, but also as a reminder to keep my outlook productive and focused on the success of all students.
The line "You cannot teach someone you do not believe in" will stick with me for a long time.
I had read several chapters of this book before, but since I just picked up Emdin’s new book Ratchetdemic, I wanted to go back through and read the full text. It’s a powerful texts with a lot of insights and I sincerely hope white teachers, like myself, will do the real work of reflection and growth to be able to implement what Emdin shares with authenticity. There are several strategies in here I have used, and while some may wonder if they are the right approaches for the population they teach, that is the whole point. Your students should get to decide and choose what is effective and what engages them. I deeply appreciate his use of neoindigenous for black folks in the US as it honors the complexity of decolonizing in a nation that has both indigenous peoples and descendants of those stolen from their homelands and brought here. My one critique is he mentions extra credit a lot, and while I can see where he is getting at (that students should be rewarded for their authentic learning and engagement), I think this should be done by writing those possibilities into the goals of the course and the “standards” we are assessing.
I do not take issue with Emdin's strategies. In fact, I gleaned a lot from this book and would recommend it to any teacher ( regardless of where they taught). I take issue with Emdin's mistaken conflation of white folks and the discourse of power. While I recognize that the "pedagogy of power" is often implemented by white pedagogues in urban schools, teachers of all backgrounds teach this way, and to name it white pedagogy ( or associate it with whiteness) is to engage in reductionism. Though it makes for a clever title, the book's title suggests that the problem is with white teachers, not a particular teaching method, and that students in the " the hood" would all benefit from reality pedagogy ( a point that rests on the mistaken oversimplification that all students from the hood prefer the pedagogy Emdin is selling, a point I find hard to believe).
Overall, however, I learned a lot from reading this book and would recommend it. His language, however, is at times alienating.
Overall, however, I learned a lot from reading this book and would recommend it. His language, however, is at times alienating.
This book really made me think and reflect on the teaching practices of so many schools and teachers. Highly recommend for anyone looking to challenge their thinking about working with students of color. While I really struggled with some of his suggestions (mainly practicality reasons), I think the examples and lessons he shares indicate where barriers to forming relationships, which are key to student success, exist and how they can be overcome. I recognize that some of my hesitancy toward his suggestions come from fear of causing more harm than good, and that worries me, but I am thankful that I was challenged so much.
This has a lot of great ideas on teaching! And as someone that approaches education from a policy standpoint instead of a teaching standpoint, it still offers a lot of food for thought.
I need to pick up a hard copy of this and go back through with a pen. So many notes! So much to learn! Very applicable to public libraries, which was the lens I was using to process everything. Wish my coworkers would read this!