Dates Read: December 2012
My adviser at Teachers College was Erica Walker. While I was there, I had the pleasure of working as a mentor for a peer tutoring project she was developing. Last year she published this book, which is about that project. I LOVED this book! So many educational books have a doom and gloom feel and ramble on and on about the problems in education. Erica does a great job of saying "here's the problem, but look, here's a way to fix it." I found this book to be very motivational. I also loved how real it was - although peer tutoring is great and can have some wonderful results, it is not a process that will be implemented without bumps along the way and Erica is very honest about that aspect. Teachers are often told to implement strategies that will work, improve test scores, yadda yadda, but teachers aren't told how to get past the hurdles or the low times and are led to believe every day will be a good day. I truly appreciate the honesty in this book. In fact, the only downside of this book is that it made me sad that I don't currently have a job where I can implement some of the strategies she recommends.
Summary: (from Amazon.com)
Drawing on perceptions, behaviors, and experiences of students at an urban high school--both high and low achievers--this timely book demonstrates how urban youth can be meaningfully engaged in learning mathematics. The author presents a ''potential'' model rather than a ''deficit'' model, complete with teaching strategies and best practices for teaching mathematics in innovative and relevant ways. This resource offers practical insights for pre- and inservice teachers and administrators on facilitating positive interactions, engagement, and achievement in mathematics, particularly with Black and Latino/a students. It also examines societal perceptions of urban students and how these affect teaching and learning, policies, and mathematics outcomes.
