White Urban Teachers

One seldom thinks of teachers as people locked in existential isolation when their days are spent interacting with others. One unwittingly concludes that a person trained to solve problems and, in the course of time, gain experience managing the awesome role of teaching children knowledge and the ability to “use your words,” has the skill and articulation to deal with her own insecurities. And if that teacher is white, liberal, and committed to her students, uttering her doubts and insecurities on racialized occurrences within an urban school environment, tends only to mark her with a stigma that few can remove. So she learns to hold it in while laboring to teach her kids to soar. In this, she is living her own version of, what W.E.B. Dubois called, “two warring ideals.” This is an important book that calls the reader to acknowledge this paradox and consider ways to initiate on-going conversation that is both challenging but respectful. Indeed, it is a call to all who work in urban schools to understand that, as we expect teachers to nurture their students, we must likewise discover ways to nurture the teachers. -- William D. Green, Associate Professor of History, Augsburg College, former Superintendent, Minneapolis Public Schools
Audrey Lensmire provides a powerfully engaging opportunity for readers to seriously consider the multiple and varied complexities of being a white teacher in urban classrooms. Anyone interested in resisting simplistic explanations, in favor of seriously examining the ongoing and shifting paradoxes and struggles that white teachers and students of colors experience, should read this important book. -- Mark D. Vagle, Associate Professor, College of Education, The University of Georgia, principal author & editor of Not a Stage! A Critical Re-Conception of Young Adolescent Education
Lensmire's book is an ethnographic study of five urban white teachers using a single interview question: ‘Tell me the story of your work as a white teacher.’ Through the lens of critical race theory and whiteness studies, the author analyzes the words of these teachers, seeking to avoid generalizations or comparisons. She urges the reader to see each teacher's story as an individual experience in order to explore very challenging questions related to race, class, gender, and sexuality. An interesting and unique aspect of the book is how Lensmire (Augsburg College, Minneapolis) resists orderly summaries of each teacher's experience in urban classrooms. Instead she examines each issue from multiple possible interpretations and acknowledges the dynamic quality of teacher identities that shift and change depending on a variety of factors as they live the experience of teaching. Equally intriguing and compelling is Lensmire's honesty about her own experiences and thinking, as well as that of the participating teachers. Because there are no clear answers, the book leaves the reader with new, challenging questions and concerns related to the work of white teachers in urban settings. The book includes a very helpful appendix documenting the research methods used. Summing Up: Recommended. * CHOICE *