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reading_rainbow_with_chris's review
4.0
“Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom”
When I need to reorient my feminism, I go to bell hooks without question. Her writing has always been insightful and accessible to me in a way that truly spoke to me and awakened my critical feminist lens in a way no other writer did during my formative years. This book has once again proven why bell hooks is a virtually unparalleled cultural critic. This collection of short pedagogical essays truly demonstrate the practical wisdom the title claims. The essays cover a wide range of seemingly mundane topics in education, but hooks’ insights elevate the topics to a hallowed experience. Unfortunately, unlike her usual works, I found this collection a bit difficult to get into because of the syncopated rhythm of the very short chapters and the topics were so wide ranging that sometimes a central theme was lost. But it’s still bell hooks; even her slightly less perfect works are still phenomenal and will stay on my shelf to refer to over and over again.
When I need to reorient my feminism, I go to bell hooks without question. Her writing has always been insightful and accessible to me in a way that truly spoke to me and awakened my critical feminist lens in a way no other writer did during my formative years. This book has once again proven why bell hooks is a virtually unparalleled cultural critic. This collection of short pedagogical essays truly demonstrate the practical wisdom the title claims. The essays cover a wide range of seemingly mundane topics in education, but hooks’ insights elevate the topics to a hallowed experience. Unfortunately, unlike her usual works, I found this collection a bit difficult to get into because of the syncopated rhythm of the very short chapters and the topics were so wide ranging that sometimes a central theme was lost. But it’s still bell hooks; even her slightly less perfect works are still phenomenal and will stay on my shelf to refer to over and over again.
juliaogden's review
5.0
bell hooks is often quoted in my department. I have been teaching for eight years, and while I did not feel like I learned very much from reading this book, that is only because these are already things I try to embrace in my classroom thanks to the awesome teacher community I am surrounded by.
This was our 2014 department summer read.
This was our 2014 department summer read.
mrjess_bhs's review
4.0
I read hooks’s trilogy on teaching in the order they were published, but I actually think this one would have been better as the first entry. The chapters are short (4-6 pages), but it felt like I kept flipping through a preview. Especially when she quoted her other two works and had smaller essays on topics covered more in depth in her previous works. There is still some profound insight because she IS bell hooks, but the other two offer more substance. The chapter “Moving Past Race and Gender” is a must read that I will come back to.
aunnalea's review
I've been thinking a lot about several different topics in this book, the hierarchy between myself and the young people I work with, compassion, the place of love in my work, building trust. bell hooks seemed to read my mind and address all of these issues, and more. Here are a few of my favorite quotes...
"To honor a teacher with reverence does not require subordination. In a democratic society where there is so much emphasis on equality, there is a tendency to forget that inequality does not necessarily mean domination is taking place...We must be willing to acknowledge the hierarchy that is a real fact of our different status, while at the same time showing that difference in status need not lead to domination or any abuse of power." p. 114
"In dominator culture where bodies are pitted against one another and made to stand in a place of difference that dehumanizes, touch can be an act of resistance." p. 156
"It is essential for our struggle for self-determination that we speak of love, as love is the necessary foundation enabling us to survive the wars, the hardships, and the sickness and the dying with our spirits intact. It is love that allows us to survive whole.......to love ourselves no matter our circumstances is already to stand in the place of victory." p. 176
"To honor a teacher with reverence does not require subordination. In a democratic society where there is so much emphasis on equality, there is a tendency to forget that inequality does not necessarily mean domination is taking place...We must be willing to acknowledge the hierarchy that is a real fact of our different status, while at the same time showing that difference in status need not lead to domination or any abuse of power." p. 114
"In dominator culture where bodies are pitted against one another and made to stand in a place of difference that dehumanizes, touch can be an act of resistance." p. 156
"It is essential for our struggle for self-determination that we speak of love, as love is the necessary foundation enabling us to survive the wars, the hardships, and the sickness and the dying with our spirits intact. It is love that allows us to survive whole.......to love ourselves no matter our circumstances is already to stand in the place of victory." p. 176
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