"Is This English?": Race, Language, and Culture in the Classroom (Practitioner Inquiry Series, 28)

This work presents a method of "critical inquiry" that allows students and teachers to take intellectual and social risks in the classroom to make meaning together and, ultimately, to transform literacy education. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Foreword......Page 12 1: A Sense of Beginning; A Beginning of Sense......Page 16 MAKING MEANING......Page 17 WHAT THIS BOOK IS AND WHAT THIS BOOK ISN’T......Page 18 BUILDING A FRAMEWORK......Page 24 2: Hopelessness and Possibility......Page 27 MAKING MEANING......Page 28 THE SETTING: APATHY AND ALIENATION......Page 29 WHAT COUNTS AS LEARNING......Page 32 RACE, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE......Page 33 REASONS FOR BEING......Page 35 FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE......Page 37 3: Two’s Company; Three’s a Small Learning Community......Page 41 MAKING MEANING......Page 42 SKEINS OF UNDERSTANDING......Page 43 REALITY, FICTION, AND TWO WEEKS IN THE HAMPTONS......Page 45 SWIMMING WITH COLLEAGUES......Page 47 CREATING A SMALL LEARNING COMMUNITY......Page 49 4: Some of My Best Friends Are Theorists......Page 54 MAKING MEANING......Page 55 TRYING TO SIT ON A CLOUD......Page 57 AN ARGUMENT FOR THEORY......Page 59 INVITING LOUISE......Page 60 INVITING PAULO AND LISA......Page 61 ROOM 256 AS SALON......Page 64 5: Yo, Wazzup?......Page 66 MAKING MEANING......Page 68 A TEACHABLE, RESEARCHABLE MOMENT......Page 69 SETTING UP AN INQUIRY INTO LANGUAGE......Page 71 STUDENTS INQUIRING INTO LANGUAGE......Page 72 SEEING LANGUAGE DIFFERENTLY......Page 81 CODA......Page 84 6: Why Are You Doing This?......Page 85 MAKING MEANING......Page 86 ACKNOWLEDGING THREAT......Page 88 A CLASSROOM INQUIRY: CROWN HEIGHTS, 1991......Page 90 A MOTHER’S CONCERNS......Page 91 TRUTH AS WE PERCEIVE IT......Page 94 THINGS NOT TAUGHT IN METHODS COURSES......Page 96 NARROWING VIEWPOINTS......Page 98 DEEPENING PERSPECTIVES......Page 100 MAKING SENSE OF OUR THREATENING EXPERIENCE......Page 102 7: Learning as Aaron (with Aaron Green)......Page 106 MAKING MEANING......Page 108 THE STORY OF THE QUESTION......Page 109 TAKING AN EXISTENTIAL VIEW OF IDENTITY AND LITERACY......Page 111 THE RAP, THE ESSAY, AND THE OP-ED PIECE......Page 112 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER......Page 115 SEEING THE WHOLE STUDENT......Page 124 CODA......Page 126 8: Refusing to Go Along with the Joke......Page 128 MAKING MEANING......Page 130 LISTENING TO STUDENT CONCERNS......Page 132 RECOGNIZING DIFFERENCE......Page 135 THE STUDENTS AND THEIR PREVIOUS LEARNING EXPERIENCES......Page 136 CROSSING CULTURE......Page 137 INTERROGATING SELF AND OTHERS......Page 141 TAKING RESPONSIBILITY AND BEING RESPONSIVE......Page 145 SO WHAT?......Page 150 9: In Search of Wise Beauty and Beautiful Wisdom......Page 153 MAKING MEANING......Page 154 THE CRITICAL INQUIRY CLASSROOM......Page 157 SO WHERE AM I GOING WITH ALL THIS?......Page 164 CRITICAL INQUIRY AS A WAY OF LIFE......Page 171 Notes......Page 174 References......Page 176 C......Page 180 H......Page 182 L......Page 183 S......Page 184 U......Page 185 W......Page 186 About the Author......Page 188 This is the story of a white high school English teacher, Bob Fecho, and his students of color who mutually engage issues of literacy, language, learning, and culture. Through his journey, Fecho presents a method of “critical inquiry” that allows students and teachers to take intellectual and social risks in the classroom to make meaning together and, ultimately, to transform literacy education. Features the voices, beliefs, and struggles of urban adolescents and their teachers.“This is a book about what it means to care about both who you teach and what you teach. It is a book about what it means to understand the broader social purposes of schooling and education as possible sites for the advancement of human liberation and the cultivation of democracy. Is this English? Probably. But it is also life.”—From the Foreword by Gloria Ladson-Billings“At a time when most discussion of literacy focuses on either high-stakes tests or phonics, it is refreshing to read Bob Fecho's journey in doing critical inquiry, crossing cultural borders, and engaging passionately and totally with high school students in an urban school.”—Sonia Nieto, author of What Keeps Teachers Going?“Issues of race and struggles with self-identity eloquently permeate this text. This book is a fascinating read about life in a small urban learning community. I highly recommend it to others.”—Jennifer Obidah, University of California, Los Angeles This Is The Story Of A White High School English Teacher, Bob Fecho, And His Students Of Colour Who Mutually Engage Issues Of Literacy, Language, Learning, And Culture. Through His Journey, Fecho Presents A Method Of Critical Inquiry That Allows Students And Teachers To Take Intellectual And Social Risks In The Classroom To Make Meaning Together And, Ultimately, To Transform Literacy Education. Featuring The Voices, Beliefs, And Struggles Of Urban Adolescents And Their Teachers, This Important Book: Describes How Critical Inquiry Enabled Students And Teachers To Cross Cultural Boundaries And Enact A Pedagogy That Empowers Students; Provides A Much-needed Alternative To Current Best Practice Thinking And Educational Mandates That Demean Teacher Knowledge And Alienate Adolescent Students; And Demonstrates How Difficult Realities Can And Should Enter The Classroom, Showing Teachers How To Channel Them Into Language, Discourse, And Classroom Projects That Improve Students' Literacy And Thinking. Through his journey, the author presents a method of "critical inquiry" that allows students and teachers to take intellectual and social risks in the classroom to make meaning together, and, ultimately, to transform literacy education Bob Fecho ; Foreword By Gloria Ladson-billings. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 161-163) And Index.