Urban Classroom Portraits begins with a summary of the research on effective schools and classrooms and outlines a theory for urban education. Seventeen profiles of successful urban teachers follow; based on observations and interviews, these often let the teachers speak for themselves. The last chapter considers the range of skills and personal qualities which enable some teachers to be successful against the odds.

Urban Narratives foregrounds previously silenced voices of young people of color who are labeled disabled. Overrepresented in special education classes, yet underrepresented in educational research, these students - the largest group within segregated special education classes - share their perceptions of the world and their place within it. Eight 'portraits in progress' consisting of their own words and framed by their poetry and drawings, reveal compelling insights about life inside and out of the American urban education system. The book uses an intersectional analysis to examine how power circulates in society throughout and among historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal domains, impacting social, academic, and economic opportunities for individuals, and expanding or circumscribing their worlds.

Discover the teaching practices that make the biggest difference in student performance! This practical, research-based book gives principals, teachers, and school administrators a direct, inside look at instructional practices from top award-winning urban schools. The authors provide detailed examples and analyses of these practices, and successfully demystify the achievement of these schools. They offer practical guides to help educators apply these successful practices in their own schools. Teaching Practices from America's Best Urban Schools will be a valuable tool for any educator in both urban and non-urban schools-schools that serve diverse student populations, including English language learners and children from low-income families.

The change needed in urban music education not only relates to the idea that music should be at the center of the curriculum; rather, it is that culturally relevant music should be a creative force at the center of reform in urban education. Teaching Music in the Urban Classroom: A Guide to Leadership, Teacher Education, and Reform is the start of a national-level conversation aimed at making that goal a reality.

A New York Times Best Seller "Essential reading for all adults who work with black and brown young people...Filled with exceptional intellectual sophistication and necessary wisdom for the future of education."—Imani Perry, National Book Award Winner author of South To America An award-winning educator offers a much-needed antidote to traditional top-down pedagogy and promises to radically reframe the landscape of urban education for the better Drawing on his own experience of feeling undervalued and invisible in classrooms as a young man of color, Dr. Christopher Emdin has merged his experiences with more than a decade of teaching and researching in urban America. He takes to task the perception of urban youth of color as unteachable, and he challenges educators to embrace and respect each student’s culture and to reimagine the classroom as a site where roles are reversed and students become the experts in their own learning. Putting forth his theory of Reality Pedagogy, Emdin provides practical tools to unleash the brilliance and eagerness of youth and educators alike—both of whom have been typecast and stymied by outdated modes of thinking about urban education. With this fresh and engaging new pedagogical vision, Emdin demonstrates the importance of creating a family structure and building communities within the classroom, using culturally relevant strategies like hip-hop music and call-and-response, and connecting the experiences of urban youth to indigenous populations globally. Merging real stories with theory, research, and practice, Emdin demonstrates how by implementing the “Seven Cs” of reality pedagogy in their own classrooms, urban youth of color benefit from truly transformative education.

A seven-step plan for really engaging our urban students Every day, thousands of students sit in our city classrooms, emotionally, intellectually, and behaviorally disengaged. Teachers have their success stories; still, the ability to create and sustain an engaging practice remains elusive. This important book offers new hope. Drawing on his more than twenty years of experience working with high-poverty, urban, minority students, Jelani Jabari delivers Seven cohesive steps for planning, delivering, and reflecting on captivating learning experiences Techniques for gathering critical information about your students to forge deeper connections Strategies to transform students' perceived "deficits" into instructional assets An emphasis on teaching methods and classroom culture, not simply standards and accountability The INSPIRE process will take you beyond discrete, isolated techniques to develop a comprehensive approach to building students' personal and academic success. You'll quickly discover that there's no better guide to implementing real and lasting change in our toughest classrooms.

This book explores the circumstances of at-risk students and argues that well-intentioned policymakers and educators run the risk of making matters worse rather than better for these students, even if their actions are based on the best social science evidence available. The book demonstrates the diverse, idiosyncratic nature of these students, argues that traditional social science methods cannot capture this idiosyncrasy and diversity, and presents research methods, policies, and programs that can accommodate student diversity.