Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Despite decades of research on classroom management and school discipline, so-called bad behavior nevertheless persists in every kind of classroom in every kind of school. Even as the harsh disciplining of adolescent behavior has been called out as part of the school-to-prison pipeline, the diverse problem children in Troublemakers Zora, Lucas, Sean, and Marcus reveal how a child s path to excessive punishment and exclusion in fact begins at a much younger age.
Former elementary school teacher Carla Shalaby delves into the everyday lives of young children to challenge the endless pursuit to moderate, punish, and (often) medicate each child instead of transforming our institutions, systems, and structures, large and small. By seeing school through the eyes of those who know firsthand what it means to be labeled a problem via Zora s proud individuality and Sean s persistent struggle with authority educators, parents, and readers of all sorts will gain insight into how schools, often unintentionally,
engender, exclude, and then ultimately try to erase trouble, along with the young people accused of making it.
With empathetic, elegant prose, Troublemakers offers a deeply textured look at what student noncompliance signals about the environments we require students to adapt to in our schools and how our typical expectations for young children undermine the pursuit of a free and just society."
Synopsis
In this dazzling debut, Carla Shalaby, a former elementary school teacher, explores the everyday lives of four young troublemakers, challenging the ways we identify and understand so-called problem children. Time and again, we make seemingly endless efforts to moderate, punish, and even medicate our children, when we should instead be concerned with transforming the very nature of our institutions, systems, and structures, large and small. Through delicately crafted portraits of these memorable children Zora, Lucas, Sean, and Marcus Troublemakers allows us to see school through the eyes of those who know firsthand what it means to be labeled a problem.
From Zora s proud individuality to Marcus s open willfulness, from Sean s struggle with authority to Lucas s tenacious imagination, comes profound insight for educators and parents alike into how schools engender, exclude, and then try to erase trouble, right along with the young people accused of making it. And although the harsh disciplining of adolescent behavior has been called out as part of a school-to-prison pipeline, the children we meet in these pages demonstrate how a child s path to excessive punishment and exclusion in fact begins at a much younger age.
Shalaby s empathetic, discerning, and elegant prose gives us a deeply textured look at what noncompliance signals about the environments we require students to adapt to in our schools. Both urgent and timely, this paradigm-shifting book challenges our typical expectations for young children and with principled affection reveals how these demands despite good intentions work to undermine the pursuit of a free and just society."
Synopsis
A radical educator's paradigm-shifting inquiry into the accepted, normal demands of school, as illuminated by moving portraits of four young "problem children" In this dazzling debut, Carla Shalaby, a former elementary school teacher, explores the everyday lives of four young "troublemakers," challenging the ways we identify and understand so-called problem children. Time and again, we make seemingly endless efforts to moderate, punish, and even medicate our children, when we should instead be concerned with transforming the very nature of our institutions, systems, and structures, large and small. Through delicately crafted portraits of these memorable children--Zora, Lucas, Sean, and Marcus--Troublemakers allows us to see school through the eyes of those who know firsthand what it means to be labeled a problem.
From Zora's proud individuality to Marcus's open willfulness, from Sean's struggle with authority to Lucas's tenacious imagination, comes profound insight--for educators and parents alike--into how schools engender, exclude, and then try to erase trouble, right along with the young people accused of making it. And although the harsh disciplining of adolescent behavior has been called out as part of a school-to-prison pipeline, the children we meet in these pages demonstrate how a child's path to excessive punishment and exclusion in fact begins at a much younger age.
Shalaby's empathetic, discerning, and elegant prose gives us a deeply textured look at what noncompliance signals about the environments we require students to adapt to in our schools. Both urgent and timely, this paradigm-shifting book challenges our typical expectations for young children and with principled affection reveals how these demands--despite good intentions--work to undermine the pursuit of a free and just society.