Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom

196 Pages·2008·28.07 MB·English

by  Brian D. Schultz

The Teaching for Social Justice Series
William Ayers-Series Editor
Therese Quinn-Associate Series Editor
Editorial Board: Hal Adams, Barbara Bowman, Lisa Delpit, Michelle
Fine, Maxine Greene, Caroline Heller, Annette Henry, Asa Hilliard
(1933-2007), Rashid Khalidi, Kevin Kumashiro, Gloria Ladson
Billings, Charles Payne, Mark Perry, Luis Rodriguez, Jonathan Silin,
William Watkins
Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom
BRIAND. SCHULTZ
Social Studies for Social Justice: Teaching Strategies for the Elementary Classroom
RAHIMA C. WADE
Pledging Allegiance: The Politics of Patriotism in America's Schools
JOEL WESTHEIMER, EDITOR
See You When We Get There: Teaching for Change in Urban Schools
GREGORY MICHIE
Echoes of Brown: Youth Documenting and Performing the Legacy of Brown v. Board
of Education
MICHELLE FINE
Writing in the Asylum: Student Poets in City Schools
JENNIFER MCCORMICK
Teaching the Personal and the Political: Essays on Hope and Justice
WILLIAM AYERS
Teaching Science for Social Justice
ANGELA CALABRESE BARTON, WITH JASON L. ERMER, TANAHIA A. BURKETT, AND
MARGERY D. OSBORNE
Putting the Children First: The Changing Face of Newark's Public Schools
JONATHAN G. SILIN AND CAROL LIPPMAN, EDITORS
Refusing Racism: White Allies and the Struggle for Civil Rights
CYNTHIA STOKES BROWN
A School of Our Own: Parents, Power, and Community at the East Harlem Block
Schools
TOM RODERICK
The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power in America, 1865-1954
WILLIAM WATKINS
The Public Assault on America's Children: Poverty, Violence, and Juvenile Injustice
VALERIE POLAKOW, EDITOR
Construction Sites: Excavating Race, Class, and Gender Among Urban Youths
LOIS WEIS AND MICHELLE FINE, EDITORS
Walking the Color Line: The Art and Practice of Anti-Racist Teaching
MARK PERRY
A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools
WILLIAM AYERS, MICHAEL KLONSKY,AND GABRIELLE H. LYON, EDITORS
Holler If You Hear Me: The Education of a Teacher and His Students
GREGORY MICHIE
Advance Praise for Spectacular Things Happen Along the
Way
"This fifrh-grade class illustrates some important lessons about America: The neglect
of the inner-city poor, the virtues of creative public service, of teaching to educate
not just to pass a test--and of perseverance. "
-Robert Siegel, All Things Considered, National Public Radio
"Stories about these problems ... had turned Carr into a national symbol of the
squalid inequalities in public education. And Schultz's pupils had come to represent
the frustrations and untapped determination of children who attend dilapidated
schools."
-Chicago Tribune
"Carr Community Academy is a crumbling elementary school in Chicago next to one
of the largest and most perilous public housing projects-Cabrini Green. It also is the
location of one of the more spectacular fifrh-grade classes in the country. "
-Ralph Nader, consumer advocate, author, and founder, Public Citizen research
group
"When city kids are thought to be nothing more than a tangle of pathologies and
deficits who must somehow be 'saved' by crusading, missionary teachers, the result is
always some form of colonization. In this extraordinary book, Brian Schultz, a
courageous teacher writing here with clarity and passion, performs a radical reversal
and provides an alternative."
-William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education, University of Illinois at
Chicago, and author of To Teach
"In this era of high-stakes testing and prescriptive curriculum, it is essential that we
have books like this one to act as a counterweight to many of the grim realities new
teachers are facing."
-Celia Oyler, Teachers College, Columbia University
"Creating curriculum together, Brian Schultz and his Room 405 warrior students
studied through struggling for a new school. A torrid tale of hope for us all."
-William F. Pinar, Canada Research Chair, University of British Columbia
"Through their compelling school improvement efforts, Schultz and his fifrh graders
clearly counter the colonizing policy that says only the privileged can be educated
through freedom to pursue personal interests and collective commitments."
-William H. Schubert, University Scholar, University of Illinois at Chicago
Spectacular Things Happen
Along the Way
LESSONS FROM AN URBAN CLASSROOM
Brian D. Schultz
foreword by
CARL A. GRANT
Teachers College
Columbia University
New York and London
Cover photo copyright © 2008 Phyllis Burstein
Published by Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027
Copyright © 2008 by Teachers College, Columbia University
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schultz, Brian D.
Spectacular things happen along the way: lessons from an urban classroom/ Brian D.
Schultz ; foreword by Carl A. Grant.
p. cm. - (The teaching for social justice series)
Includes bibliographical reference and index.
ISBN: 978-0-8077-4857-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)-ISBN: 978-0-8077-4858-9
(hardcover: alk. paper)
1. Community and school-United States. 2. Home and school-United States. 3.
School improvement programs-United States. I. Title.
LC215.S388 2008
370.9173'2-dc22
2007048322
ISBN: 978-0-8077-4857-2 (paper)
ISBN: 978-0-8077-4858-9 (cloth)
e-ISBN: 978-0-8077-7358-1
To the former students of Room 405 at Carr Community Academy,
without whose creativity, imagination, and fortitude these stories
would not have been possible.
And, to Jenn and Addison, with love
I
LEARN FROM CHILDREN
-Caroline Pratt
Contents
Foreword by Carl A. Grant
Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Embracing Students' Interests for Schoolwork
What's Worth Knowing?
"Inverting" the Curriculum
Education as a Two-Way Street
2. Our School Is a Dump! Identifying a Problem That Needs
Solving
This Ain't No Schoolwork, This Is Important!
Feelin' Like a Big and Powerful Grown-up
Needin' Them Pizza Things
3. Getting the Word Out: Sharing Authority in Room 405
You Wouldn't Let Your Kids Come to a School That Is Falling
Apart
When Are We Going to Do Work?
Just Like a Record Deal
4. Seeking a Perfect Solution
The Chicago Tribune
Young Warriors
Carr's "Savage Inequalities"
Television, Radio, and Protecting the Kids
5. Process as Product
Practicing What I Preached
Do You Have Any Pets?
The Bestest Year Ever
Nader Comes to Carr
Bittersweet Final Days
6. Justice-Oriented Teaching
Negotiating Risks
Needing Support
Theorizing with Students
Education with Authenticity and Purpose
Developing Classrooms for Social Action
Progressive Education in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods
Complicating Good Intentions
7. Conclusion
How Ya Gonna Help Us?
Understanding Each Other
Let Those Voices Be Heard!
Enduring Achievement and Impact
References
Index
About the Author