Half an Inch from the Edge

Teacher Education, Teaching, and Student Learning for Social Transformation

Richard Ayers author Noah Borrero author Patrick Roz Camangian author Sharim Hannegan-Martinez author Esther Flores author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Rowman & Littlefield

Published:25th Oct '19

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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Half an Inch from the Edge cover

Half an Inch from the Edge: Teacher Education, Teaching, and Student Learning for Social Transformation is a book about the tensions and opportunities reflected in today’s public school classrooms in the U.S. Through detailed case studies of four classrooms, the authors explore socially transformative pedagogy in action. The result is a narrative that intertwines a critical social analysis of our educational system with real-life examples from K-12 classrooms. The four teachers highlighted in the book are new, urban, socially-conscious educators of Color who strive to make their classrooms something new and something different—spaces where youth can learn about and express their own cultural identities as a part of the curriculum.

These stories are told through the creation, implementation, analysis, and assessment of teachers’ action research projects as they complete their Masters degrees and begin their first years as full-time teachers. Central to each of the case studies—which span multiple grade levels and content areas—is a focus on self-reflection, a deep desire to build meaningful relationships with students, and a quest to make learning relevant to students’ lived experiences. Also painfully clear is the role of failure, and the tremendous creativity, ingenuity, and persistence of these new teachers, as they learn alongside their students and together fight the injustices inherent in their schools, districts, and the national system of education. Ultimately, the portraits of these teachers show that amidst all of the forces working against them and their students, there is hope—hope that the great experiment of American public education can transform into a system that serves all students.

This wonderfully readable, highly insightful, text gets at the heart of socially transformative pedagogy. Written with affectionate regard for both the lives of early-career teachers and their students, the key is a critical pedagogy of self-reflection and analysis that leads them to invest deeply in their students’ lives, and in so doing, re-define teaching as less a career and more a way of life where radical hope and possibility reside. -- Angela Valenzuela, professor, department of educational administration, University of Texas at Austin; director, University of Texas Center for Education Policy
Half an Inch from the Edge offers powerful insights of socially transformative approaches to data collection, assessment, classroom management, and pedagogy – a must read by all stakeholders concerned with treating teachers and students as critical and organic intellectuals. -- Tyrone C. Howard Ph.D, Director of UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families
This powerhouse team of authors has provided a tremendous gift to those of us concerned with preparing the next generation of social justice educators. By pulling back the curtains of their graduates’ k-12 classrooms, they have shown us the impact that liberatory urban teacher preparation has on young, dedicated teachers and the students who they stand beside on a daily basis. Providing vision, reflection, and action, this book clears a path to support, or to become, urban educators who build authentic relationships and transform injustice in their schools. -- Bree Picower, PhD, Associate Professor, Montclair State University; Co-Editor, Confronting Racism in Teacher Education: Counternarratives of Critical Practice
This book is a must read for teachers whose work is rooted in education for social change and justice. -- Herb Kohl, author, "I won't learn from you"

ISBN: 9781475832525

Dimensions: 234mm x 159mm x 16mm

Weight: 372g

132 pages