91
Volume:
2020
,
February

OF NOTE: Inclusive Classroom > Divided World

Submitted By:
Kathleen Minahan, The Ethel Walker School, Simsbury, CT

Teaching While the World Is on Fire by Lisa Delpit (editor)
The New Press, September 17, 2019

Educators have long considered how to approach conversations about current events with students. These discussions become particularly complicated when public officials exhibit behavior that we would not permit in our own classrooms. In Teaching While the World Is on Fire, Lisa Delpit brings together both established and emerging voices in the field to try to provide guidance for teachers as they attempt to navigate discussions around race, gender, immigration, and a host of other topics that present themselves in classrooms today. Each of the essays presented here shares practical suggestions for supporting students’ intellectual growth while also ensuring that all students, especially those from marginalized communities, experience our classrooms as safe harbors. From Justin Christensen’s helpful tips to guide teaching government in the age of Trump to Pedro A. Noguera’s discussion of the importance of centering care when thinking about the real threat of school shootings to Deborah Almontaser’s suggestions for supporting Muslim students, Teaching While the World Is on Fire is essential reading for anyone contemplating how to shape an inclusive classroom in an increasingly divided world.

Categories
Current Events & Civic Engagement
Teaching Practice