Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice) (Teaching for Social Justice) by Teachers College Press

	Title: Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice) (Teaching for Social Justice) Purchase Item Manufacturer: Teachers College Press List Price: $19.95 Our Price: $16.16
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Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice) (Teaching for Social Justice) by Teachers College Press Authentic learning at its best!
I have had the honor to not only know Dr. Schultz, but also his students from room 405. I was a fifth grade teacher at the time, and I tried to get my students involved with what his students were fighting for by them serving as pen pals and by personally making a visit to the school to witness their fight. Brian is a gifted educator who inspires the reader to reflect upon how they teach and learn. Whether or not the reader is a teacher is irrelevant. Humans constantly teach and learn throughout their lifetime. Brian demonstrates that when given some choice in what is deemed important to the student, authentic and meaningful learning can and will occur. This is true in both children and adults. This journey was important for the students of room 405 as well as for Brian. The students were given choice in what they would learn and how, and the teacher learned while taking the journey with them. Teaching and learning embrace each other, and Brian shows us that through his experiences with his students. This is a must-read not only for teachers and administrators, but for parents and those who are lifelong learners.
Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice) (Teaching for Social Justice) by Teachers College Press Great Read
In Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way by Brian Schulz we are given, what I believe to be a rather unique look at what it means to be a teacher. Many books in this genre tend to have a very narrow scope, they either only show you how difficult it can be to be an educator or they only focus on achievements while barely covering the hard work required to get there. This book however covers both sides of the table, showing the reader both the struggles of a teacher and his students, but also what can be achieved when those challenges are met. Perhaps my favorite aspect of Schultz's book is that it is not really about what adults should do to help children, as many of these education books are, it is about adults backing off and allowing children to help themselves. When many adults talk or write about children, in often becomes a story of what the adults did or should do in order to help children, this story however is about how capable children can be of solving their own problems and helping themselves, all they need is someone to let them try. These children many of whom had spent their lives being under served and not receiving the highest quality education, were capable of achieving so much more then most could have expected once they were just told that they could do it. This is a unique story about what children can achieve when given the chance. In an extremely honest manner this book describes how education can be changed when students are allowed to have a say in their education and teachers give some of the control of their classroom to their students.
Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice) (Teaching for Social Justice) by Teachers College Press A life changing read.
Spectacular Things...is an eye opener. It speaks the truth about the difficult lives of our students and the horrible conditions that some of them have no choice but to abide by. Yet, these fifth graders did not accept what was given to them. They knew that they deserved a comfortable and safe place to learn. The stereotyped inner city students achieve beyond even their own expectations. This book is filled with a teacher's thoughts and feelings as his students make their way to a life changing experience. It was so well written that I felt as if I was a visitor in their classroom suffering from their disappointments and celebrating their accomplishments first hand. As a first year teacher, I finished the book with one thought in mind. I can only hope that I have such an incredible and rewarding experience throughout my teaching career.
Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice) (Teaching for Social Justice) by Teachers College Press Spectacular Things Happen!
In his book, Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, author Brian D. Schultz, narrates the astonishing efforts of his class of fifth grade students who fight for basic resources in their school, William D. Carr Community Academy, in Cabrini Green neighborhood, located on the near North-side of the city of Chicago. Schultz' narrative account of this urban school is a teacher's voice echoed in the actions of his students who struggle to revive the empty promise made to them of a new school building by city officials. The students along with the teacher tap into the real life issues of politics and race. They voice their concerns and stand up for what they believe. Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way is a journey of these children along with their mentor from their classroom walls into the practical world of reality. Together, they move every nook and cranny of political reform that is in their reach to work towards their goal and discover that amazing things have happened along the way of constant pursuit. This book is a celebration of all those spectacular things. From the countless stories that can be told from this experience, Schultz had authentically captured in a beautiful narration an example of democratic education in a real-life account. This book takes the readers on an emotional roller coaster of astonishment, a virtual struggle, and unbelievable exhilaration. This real-life story is the voice of an inner struggle of a teacher with his teaching philosophy juxtaposed with the outer struggle of the students trying to understand their situation, concluded with a celebration of the efforts and lessons learned. Teacher Brian Schultz builds the background of the importance of democratic teaching, and focuses on his theory of education in the light of the restraints put on educators in the wake of No Child Left Behind of 2001. He struggles with the association of academically inept and formulaic constraints on a child's learning and his ideology of providing opportunity and space for students. His beliefs give rise to a team of civic leaders who struggle to reach their aspirations and get their voices heard. The fifth-grade students learn to work with an amazing real life "curriculum" which helps them dip into the politics of education. Along the way, they learn skills and connect with concepts that they would not have learned with their basic textbook work. The book ends with the emphasis that sometimes learning along the way in the pursuit of achieving the goals is more valuable than the actual goal itself.
Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice) (Teaching for Social Justice) by Teachers College Press Great book
At a time when gentrification is more influential than education, this is a wonderful and unique read that highlights discrepancies in learning environments in the United States. It is eyeopening. The day-to-day activities in the classroom, the students' interactions with political people and their struggle of demanding what is rightfully theirs--a decent school building in the midst of gentrification reigning over rightful education--makes this book one powerful read. I highly recommend it to readers at-large. My occupation is not based in education, but found the story to be extremely informative and engaging.
Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice) (Teaching for Social Justice) by Teachers College Press Product Description
''Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way renewed my belief that it is possible to write authentic narratives about urban schools.... I plan to make this book required reading for my teacher education students...'' --From the Foreword by Carl A. Grant, University of Wisconsin, Madison ''Once I began reading, I couldn't put it down. The power here is in the details. It s a marvelous, important book and is badly needed at a moment when the values it upholds are under an unrelenting assault from forces of reactionary ignorance.'' --Jonathan Kozol, author of Amazing Grace. ''In a time of ever more testing and standardization, Brian Schultz demonstrates in powerful ways what the critically democratic alternative looks like. Anyone who wants to make a difference in urban education needs to read this book.'' --Michael W. Apple, author of Educating the ''Right'' Way ''An amazing tale of incredible fifth-grade citizen activists that reveals what education in America's inner cities could and should be.'' --Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor in Education Equity, UCLA ''The lessons about curriculum and teaching are powerful and the story is absolutely inspiring.'' --James A. Beane, author of A Reason to Teach: Creating Classrooms of Dignity and Hope ''Carr Community Academy is a crumbling elementary school in Chicago next to one of the largest and most perilous public housing projects-Cabrini Green. It also is the location of one of the more spectacular fifth-grade classes in the country.'' --Ralph Nader, consumer advocate, author, and founder, Public Citizen research group ''This fifth-grade class illustrates some important lessons about America: The neglect of the inner-city poor, the virtues of creative public service, of teaching to educate-not just to pass a test-and of perseverance.'' --Robert Siegel, All Things Considered, National Public Radio ''When city kids are thought to be nothing more than a tangle of pathologies and deficits who must be 'saved' by crusading, missionary teachers the result is always some form of colonization. In this extraordinary book, Brian Schultz, a courageous teacher writing here with clarity and passion, performs a radical reversal and provides an alternative.'' --William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago, and author of To Teach ''Through their compelling school improvement efforts, Schultz and his fifth graders clearly counter the colonizing policy that says only the privileged can be educated through freedom to pursue personal interests and collective commitments.'' --William H. Schubert, University Scholar, University of Illinois at Chicago What happens when a teacher resists the pressures of ''teaching to the test'' and creates a curriculum based on student needs, wants, and desires? Brian Schultz did just that when he challenged his students from a housing project in Chicago to name a problem in their community that they wanted to solve. When the students unanimously focus on replacing their dilapidated school building, an unforgettable journey is put into motion. As his students examine the conditions of their blighted school and research the deeper causes of decay, they set off on a mission of remedy and repair. It is finally their own questions and activities that power their profound self-transformations. This moving story is a tribute to what determined teachers are able to achieve in the current stifling environment of high-stakes testing and standardization. Anyone who has faith in creativity, commitment, and the deep potential of inner-city children and youth will want to read this book.