Give students the power of language by using the inspiring ideas in this very readable book.

Shows how teachers may provide students with the necessary tools and strategies for understanding their world, and how teachers can combine critical skills with content-area knowledge in project-based invitations that encourage educated, engaged citizenship. Grades 7-12.

Mathematics education in the United States can reproduce social inequalities whether schools use either "basic-skills" curricula to prepare mainly low-income students of color for low-skilled service jobs or "standards-based" curricula to ready students for knowledge-intensive positions. And working for fundamental social change and rectifying injustice are rarely included in any mathematics curriculum. Reading and Writing the World with Mathematics argues that mathematics education should prepare students to investigate and critique injustice, and to challenge, in words and actions, oppressive structures and acts. Based on teacher-research, the book provides a theoretical framework and practical examples for how mathematics educators can connect schooling to a larger sociopolitical context and concretely teach mathematics for social justice.

Teaching for Joy and Justice is the much-anticipated sequel to Linda Christensen's bestselling Reading, Writing, and Rising Up. Christensen is recognized as one of the country's finest teachers. Her latest book shows why. Through story upon story, Christensen demonstrates how she draws on students' lives and the world to teach poetry, essay, narrative, and critical literacy skills. Teaching for Joy and Justice reveals what happens when a teacher treats all students as intellectuals, instead of intellectually challenged. Part autobiography, part curriculum guide, part critique of today's numbing standardized mandates, this book sings with hope -- born of Christensen's more than 30 years as a classroom teacher, language arts specialist, and teacher educator. Practical, inspirational, passionate: this is a must-have book for every language arts teacher, whether veteran or novice. In fact, Teaching for Joy and Justice is a must-have book for anyone who wants concrete examples of what it really means to teach for social justice.

Laced with atmospheric poetry and literature and set in the heart of Denver's black community, this gripping crime novel pits three characters in a race against time to thwart a gross miscarriage of justice—and a crooked detective who wreaks havoc…with deadly consequences. What happens to a deferred dream—especially when an innocent man's life hangs in the balance? Langston Brown is running out of time and options for clearing his name and escaping death row. Wrongfully convicted of the gruesome Mother's Day Massacre, he prepares to face his death. His final hope for salvation lies with his daughter, Liza, an artist who dreamed of a life of music and song but left the prestigious Juilliard School to pursue a law degree with the intention of clearing her father's name. Just as she nears success, it's announced that Langston will be put to death in thirty days. In a desperate bid to find freedom for her father, Liza enlists the help of Eli Stone, a jazz club owner she met at the classic Five Points venue, The Roz. Devastated by the tragic loss of his wife, Eli is trying to find solace by reviving the club…while also wrestling with the longing to join her in death. Everyone has a dream that might come true—but as the dark shadows of the past converge, could Langston, Eli, and Liza be facing a danger that could shatter those dreams forever?

This timely book focuses on different social justice pedagogies and how they can work within standards and district mandates in a variety of English language arts classrooms. With detailed analysis and authentic classroom vignettes, the author explores how teachers cultivate relationships for equity, utilize transformative language practices, demonstrate critical caring, and develop students’ critical literacies with traditional and critical content. Boyd offers a comprehensive model for taking social action with youth that also considers the obstacles teachers are likely to encounter. Presenting the case for more equity-oriented teaching, this rich resource examines the benefits of engaging students with critical pedagogies and provides concrete methods for doing so. Written for both pre- and inservice teachers, the text includes adaptable teaching models and tested ideas for preparing to teach for social justice. “This is an appealing vision for the future, for it bears much promise—for our classrooms, and also for the future our students will both shape and inhabit.” —From the Foreword by Deborah Appleman, Carleton College “Through the careful observation and analysis of three teachers with different approaches to teaching critical literacy, Ashley Boyd provides a repertoire of practices rich with detail.” —Hilary Janks, Wits University, South Africa “This important book counters the belief of so many teacher educators who think that social justice asks too much of teachers.” —George W. Noblit, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This volume brings together respected scholars to examine the intersections of race, justice, and activism in direct relation to the teaching and learning of critical literacy. The authors focus on literacy praxis that reflect how students--with the loving, critical support of teachers and teacher educators--engage in resistance work and collaborate for social change. Each chapter theorizes how students and adults initiate and/or participate in important justice work, how their engagements are situated within a critical literacy lens, and what their engagements look like in schools and communities. The authors also explore the importance of this work in the context of current sociopolitical developments, including police shootings, deportations, and persistent educational inequities. Book Features: The most recent work of both emerging and well-known literacy and social justice scholars. Examples of student activism across multiple geographic contexts in the United States. Accessible questions to help guide discussions related to the overall topics, theories, and methods. Artifacts, such as images and artwork, from students and educators to allow readers multiple ways of entering the text.

Fraser argues that advocates of the public schools must recapture and redefine democracy so that it becomes both the purpose of public education and the model on which schools are structured. Defending an inclusive understanding of democracy, in which every citizen's contribution is essential to the health of the whole, Fraser responds to mean-spirited attacks on multicultural education, on school funding, and on progressive education itself. Finally, he explores the democratic and antidemocratic potential in increased use of computers in schools and in the reform of teacher education. This is a book for teachers, parents, and other concerned citizens who care about public education, who want schools to be democratic in the best sense, and who seek ammunition for defending schools and for placing school issues in the larger context of the long struggle for a more just and humane society.

This book helps education professionals understand the changing social, political, and economic conditions for language and literacy instruction and second language learning in particular contexts.