Synopses & Reviews
Ladson-Billing's portraits, interwoven with personal reflections, challenge readers to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students but all children. Quality education remains an elusive dream for most African American children. Historically, they have been denied schooling, subject to separate and unequal education, and forced into unsafe, unhealthy, substandard schools. In The Dreamkeepers, Gloria Ladson-Billings explores the positive signs for the future. Who are the successful teachers of African American students? What do they do? And how can we learn from them? Her portraits of eight exemplary teachers who differ in personal style and methods but share an approach to teaching that affirms and strengthens cultural identity are inspiring and full of hope. Written in three voices—that of an African American scholar and researcher, an African American teacher, and an African American parent and active community member, this book is a mixture of scholarship and storytelling. Ladson-Billing's portraits, interwoven with personal reflections, challenge readers to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students, but all children.
Review
"This is an eloquent, optimistic, and extremely useful book." (Joe Nathan, director, Center for School Change, Humphrey Institute, and author of Charter Schools: Creating Hope and Opportunity in American Education, from a review in Teacher)
"Capture(s) the complexity of race relations in education by describing and analyzing how low teacher expectations detrimentally affect interpersonal relationships as well as student learning.... In addition to being informed of the pedagogical and personality orientation of culturally relevant teachers, the reader is exposed to an excellent example of the effective use of researcher subjectivity in a qualitatitve study.... Ladson-Billings' research methodology, her use of narratives, and her 'unconventional' writing style are of great value in expanding the range of what can be defined as solid qualitative research." (Communication Education)
"Education, like electricity, needs a conduit, a teacher, through which to transmit its power--i.e., the discovery and continuity of information, knowledge, wisdom, experience, and culture. Through the stories and experiences of eight successful teacher-transmitters, The Dreamkeepers keeps hope alive for educating young African Americans. (ReverAnd Jesse L. Jackson, president and founder, National Rainbow Coalition)
"In this beautifully written book Ladson-Billings illustrates the inspiring influence of a select group of teachers who keep the dreams alive for African American students." (Henry M. Levin, David Jacks professor of Higher Education, Stanford University)
"The Dreamkeepers is an immensely important and useful book for teachers and teacher educators...In a creative, credible, and persuasive way, Gloria Ladson-Billings has made a major contribution to the field of multicultural education." (Jaqueline Jordan Irvine, Candler Professor of Urban Education, Emory University)
Synopsis
"Education, like electricity, needs a conduit, a teacher, through which to transmit its power— i.e., the discovery and continuity of information, knowledge, wisdom, experience, and culture. Through the stories and experiences of eight successful teacher-transmitters, The Dreamkeepers keeps hope alive for educating young African Americans." —ReverAnd Jesse L. Jackson, president and founder, National Rainbow Coalition Ladson-Billing's portraits, interwoven with personal reflections, challenge readers to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students but all children.
Synopsis
"Education, like electricity, needs a conduit, a teacher, through which to transmit its power— i.e., the discovery and continuity of information, knowledge, wisdom, experience, and culture. Through the stories and experiences of eight successful teacher-transmitters, The Dreamkeepers keeps hope alive for educating young African Americans." —ReverAnd Jesse L. Jackson, president and founder, National Rainbow Coalition Ladson-Billing's portraits, interwoven with personal reflections, challenge readers to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students but all children.
Synopsis
In the first edition of
The Dreamkeepers, Gloria Ladson-Billings examined eight exemplary teachers, their unique styles and methods, and how each affirmed and strengthened the cultural identity of their students. In this updated edition, Ladson-Billings provides a new introduction and conclusion, where she revisits the original teachers profiled and introduces us to a new set of teachers who are current exemplars of good teaching. Strengthening her case for culturally relevant teaching, Gloria Ladson-Billings explores the positive signs for the future of education for African-American students.
Gloria Ladson-Billings (Madison, WI) is the Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Synopsis
Education, like electricity, needs a conduit, a teacher, through which to transmit its power-- i.e., the discovery and continuity of information, knowledge, wisdom, experience, and culture. Through the stories and experiences of eight successful teacher-transmitters, The Dreamkeepers keeps hope alive for educating young African Americans.
--ReverAnd Jesse L. Jackson, president and founder, National Rainbow Coalition
In this beautifully written book Ladson-Billings illustrates the inspiring influence of a select group of teachers who keep the dreams alive for African American students.
?Henry M. Levin, David Jacks professor of Higher Education, Stanford University
Ladson-Billing's portraits, interwoven with personal reflections, challenge readers to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students but all children.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-181) and index.
About the Author
GLORIA LADSON-BILLINGS is a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has served on the faculties of Santa Clara University and Stanford University, and has spent over ten years working as a teacher and consultant in the Philadelphia public school system.
Table of Contents
Foreword to the New Edition.
Preface.
The Author.
1. A Dream Deferred.
2. Does Culture Matter?
3. Seeing Color, Seeing Culture.
4. We Are Family.
5. The Tree of Knowledge.
6. Culturally Relevant Teaching.
7. Making Dreams into Reality.
Afterword.
Appendix A: Methodology.
Appendix B: Context.
Notes.
Index.
Discussion Questions.