The Question and The Answer
As an educator on Long Island, New York, I had a blessed and privileged career. Starting as a house parent at a private school for seriously emotionally handicapped students (later to be known as severely autistic), I learned a great deal about my students and their parents. Heartache was a daily occurrence.
I went on to teach special education in a public school for the next eight years, before devoting the rest of my 45 year career to school and district administration, while teaching part time at a local University.
My first leadership role was as Director of a federally funded Teacher Center, serving the fifty-six independent school districts of Nassau County. In this role I was empowered to bring in the most highly respected educators in the field to work hands-on with teachers. Dr. Madeline Hunter, for example, stayed in my home, while she was instructing teachers in the use of her Mastery Teaching model. Robert Slavin (Cooperative Learning), Marie Clay (Reading Recovery), Howard Gardiner (Multiple Intelligences) and many other wonderful educators worked with us. For me, it was an amazing opportunity to see master teachers in action.
Throughout my life I have been a voracious reader of research and professional literature and took great pleasure in identifying and sharing successful practices with my colleagues. I mention all of this to make the point that I have been lucky enough to work with educators who were masters at translating theory into practice. I also directly supervised teachers for much of career.
I am writing today to share an amazing resource with all of my white colleagues who have been seeking answers to the question of the day. “How do I bridge the cultural divide between me and my Black and Hispanic students?”
Having read the major authors in the field of race relations, I feel reasonably well informed about the issues, problems, history and depth of the pain involved. Yet, the question about effective teaching remained. That is, until I read For White Folk Who Teach in the Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too, by Christopher Emdin (Beacon Press, 2018). I hope you will believe me when I say that this book is a masterpiece. It is written in language that is clear, highly descriptive, challenging, motivating, and most importantly, it answers “the” question!
Emdin describes the changes in pedagogy that are needed, why they are needed, and then he tells us white folks how to go about making it happen! Astounding! Dr. Emdin’s personal experiences are woven into the text to make it real and relatable. The examples he uses effectively demonstrate the validity of the strategies he supports. The stunning analogy of the struggles of America’s indigenous people to those experienced by so many of today’s students is so apt. Instructional strategies such as co-generative dialogues (“cogen”) and reality pedagogy-based co-teaching practically jump off the page, they are so powerful! (Don’t be put off by the terminology sounding a bit like traditional education jargon. The terms are fully explained and are very practical.)
I can’t begin to tell you how deeply this book moves me! So…if you are still seeking the answer to “the” question, I believe this is it!
