Teaching matters Stories from inside city schools

Review by Choice Review

Based on studies from the course on inquiry research that the authors teach at City College, this book recounts changes resulting from the research of urban teachers who investigated various problems. Divided into four sections on culturally responsive teaching, school-family relationships, differentiated teaching, and the constraints on urban teaching, respectively, this brief volume illustrates well the authors' claim that "teaching is a process of research." Observing children's behavior and giving them opportunities to make learning meaningful to them is a recurrent theme. These accounts should encourage other teachers to engage in a similar process. At the end of each chapter, the main ideas gleaned from the teachers' experiences are outlined. Respect for the professionalism of educational practitioners is evident throughout, as teachers find creative ways to assist children's learning within an educational system that seems to respect neither children nor teachers. Besides demonstrating what is possible within the limitations of current educational policies, the book might well be required reading for the politicians who advocate a rigid curriculum and standardized testing to the detriment of actual learning on the part of students. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduate students and above. S. Sugarman emerita, Bennington College,Vermont State Colleges

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Library Journal Review

Like Marcus A. Winters's similarly titled Teachers Matter, this book is about the importance and value of good teachers. Falk (early childhood education, City Coll. of New York; Teaching the Way Children Learn) and Blumenreich (childhood education, Sch. of Education, City Coll. of New York; The Power of Questions) feature the stories of teachers who have succeeded in challenging environments. Each of the 15 chapters is based on a single teacher's study of his or her own classroom or school environment with the aim of better understand an issue he or she was facing and to propose solutions. These studies were done as part of a project that Falk and Blumenreich assign in their teacher-preparation course each year. The chapters are organized into four broad categories that mirror the focus of the teachers' inquiries: culturally responsive teaching, school/family partnerships, differentiated teaching, and constraints of urban teaching. VERDICT This informative look at the process as well as the practical results of action research in the classroom will be of interest to practicing teachers and those pursuing (or thinking about) a career in education.-Sara Holder, McGill Univ. Lib., Montreal, Quebec (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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