Build learning environments that support Black girls' excellence and academic achievement. In this thought-provoking and illuminating book, former educator and social justice advocate Monique W. Morris addresses the harmful policies, practices, conditions, and assumptions that too often criminalize Black girls' behavior and steer them down "school-to-confinement pathways" in disproportionate numbers. The key to disrupting such punitive pushout is for educators to develop meaningful relationships with Black girls—connections that are grounded in cultural understanding and focused on helping Black girls develop their identities as valued individuals and contributors to the larger community. Such relationships, Morris argues, can shift Black girls' schooling from a punishment-oriented experience to one that is joyful, healing, and transformative. Along with her own research and experience, Morris explores the topic through in-depth conversations with three distinguished educators and clinical practitioners: Venus Evans-Winters, Janice Johnson Dias, and Kakenya Ntaiya, who provide insights about the challenges of educating Black girls and uplifting accounts of success in promoting their excellence and achievement. These conversations and takeaways for practice are essential guideposts for any teacher, school leader, and policymaker committed to creating learning environments that dispel damaging attitudes and practices and allow Black girls to flourish.

Drawing from bell hook’s 1999 book All About Love, this volume builds on theories of love as they relate to Black Girlhood in education, shedding light on educational practices rooted in love and exploring strategies for centering Black girls and love in Grades K-12. Bringing together voices of scholars, poets, and visual artists who theorize Black Girlhood, the collection pays particular attention to practices, acts, communities, and pedagogies of love. An antidote to the physical, emotional, and psychological violence to which Black girls in the United States are subjected on a daily basis at the hands of those who work in schooling environments, it shows how teachers, school leaders, community educators, and researchers might use love as a framework for changing the narrative and experiences of Black girls. Crucially, though, in conversation with negative aspects of how Black girls experience school, it argues for a shift in perspective that highlights the myriad of ways Black girls do and can receive love within schooling spaces. Read through one of the most influential Black feminist scholars of all time, it presents a novel alternative to the dearth of research that focuses on the violence, neglect, and exclusion Black girls experience in schools, expands the scholarship on Black girls, (re)centers love in the work that educators do, and connects theoretical orientations that characterize Black girl love to practice both in and outside of classrooms. It will appeal to scholars, researchers, and educators working in the fields on urban education, race and ethnicity in education, gender studies, literacy, multicultural education, and diversity and equity in education.

This edited book shows how critical race theory (CRT) can shape teacher practices in ways that improve educational outcomes for all children, especially those most marginalized in PreK-20 classrooms. The volume bridges the gap between the theoretical foundations of critical race theory and its application in formal and informal learning environments. To promote an active and interdisciplinary engagement of critical race praxis, it illuminates the pedagogical possibilities of using CRT while explicitly addressing grade span-specific content area standards and skills. Each chapter explores how educators use a critical race theory lens to deepen student learning, teach honestly about racism and white supremacy, and actively prepare learners to equitably participate in a multiracial democracy. Written for pre- and in-service teachers, teacher educators, and anti-racist community stakeholders, the text addresses the applicability of CRT as a pedagogical practice for PreK-20 educators seeking to meaningfully combat intersectional racial injustice and to create a more just democracy. This book is necessary reading for educators, and courses in Educational Foundations, Anti-Racist Education, Social Justice Education, Curriculum Studies, Educational Leadership, and Multicultural Education.

Locating Black girls’ desires, needs, knowledge bases, and lived experiences in relation to their social identities has become increasingly important in the study of transnational girlhoods. Black Schoolgirls in Space pushes this discourse even further by exploring how Black girls negotiate and navigate borders of blackness, gender, and girlhood in educational spaces. The contributors of this collected volume highlight Black girls as actors and agents of not only girlhood but also the larger, transnational educational worlds in which their girlhoods are contained.

Build learning environments that support Black girls' excellence and academic achievement. In this thought-provoking and illuminating book, former educator and social justice advocate Monique W. Morris addresses the harmful policies, practices, conditions, and assumptions that too often criminalize Black girls' behavior and steer them down "school-to-confinement pathways" in disproportionate numbers. The key to disrupting such punitive pushout is for educators to develop meaningful relationships with Black girls—connections that are grounded in cultural understanding and focused on helping Black girls develop their identities as valued individuals and contributors to the larger community. Such relationships, Morris argues, can shift Black girls' schooling from a punishment-oriented experience to one that is joyful, healing, and transformative. Along with her own research and experience, Morris explores the topic through in-depth conversations with three distinguished educators and clinical practitioners: Venus Evans-Winters, Janice Johnson Dias, and Kakenya Ntaiya, who provide insights about the challenges of educating Black girls and uplifting accounts of success in promoting their excellence and achievement. These conversations and takeaways for practice are essential guideposts for any teacher, school leader, and policymaker committed to creating learning environments that dispel damaging attitudes and practices and allow Black girls to flourish.

Learn how to cultivate student voices and facilitate equitable participation so that young people are prepared to speak up and lead when the moment calls for it. In a world where public speaking often determines whose needs are addressed and whose values prevail, how can we create brave classroom spaces where young people can effectively express their thoughts and advocate for themselves and others? In Amplify Student Voices, AnnMarie Baines, Diana Medina, and Caitlin Healy introduce Expression-Driven Teaching to show how centering youth voices and expression in the classroom meets both academic and social and emotional learning goals. The authors promote instruction in various forms of public speaking—storytelling, debate, poetry, presentation, and self-advocacy—as a way to pursue equity in education and counter the oppression that has long silenced the voices of marginalized groups. This engaging book features extensive first-person accounts from young people who describe their journey toward effective public speaking and how it has helped them affirm their identity, confront life's many challenges, and pursue opportunities with increased confidence. Their insights also inform and supplement the authors' practical recommendations and how-tos for incorporating the various public speaking formats into everyday instruction at all grade levels and across subject areas. Both informative and inspiring, Amplify Student Voices challenges traditional notions of "good" public speaking, broadens its definition, and demonstrates how to engage learners to create a world that is more inclusive and just.

Learn how you can succeed with the students who need you most in ways you never thought possible. In this thought-provoking book, renowned educator and learning expert Eric Jensen takes his most personal, profound look yet at how poverty and inequity hurt students and their chances for success in life—and how teachers across all grade levels and subject areas can infuse equity into every aspect of their practice. Drawing from a broad survey of research, personal and professional experience, and inspiring real-life success stories, Teaching with Poverty and Equity in Mind explains how teachers can * Build relationships with students and create a classwide "in-group" where all learners feel a sense of safety and belonging. * Incorporate relevance and cultural responsiveness into curriculum and instruction, increasing student buy-in and replacing compliance with collaboration and leadership. * Use the uplifting power of stories to optimize energy and engagement and foster growth mindsets. * Provide clear, actionable feedback that empowers students to evaluate and direct their own learning. * Shift from disciplining students to coaching them with empathy, de-escalating disruptions and fostering more productive behaviors. * Build stronger brains and cultivate capacity through powerful accelerated learning tools. * Take steps to become a reflective and equitable educator, examining and debunking harmful biases and establishing personal and professional habits for a lifetime of growth. This insightful, comprehensive guide also includes reflection prompts and downloadable tools and templates to help you move forward with implementation. If we truly believe all students deserve a high-quality education, we need to commit to equity. It starts with each one of us. It starts with you.

Learn how you can successfully address persistent teaching dilemmas by reframing how you think about and respond to them. The authors show how adopting habits of mind, including curiosity and an asset-based teaching approach, is necessary for tackling teaching challenges more effectively and equitably. Chapters explain how you can then apply frame shifting by considering your dilemma in three domains - relationships, classroom management, and curriculum and instruction. Practical examples, exercises, and discussion questions throughout the book will help you apply the concepts to your own teaching situation. In addition, a bonus online study guide contains reproducible templates, additional examples, suggested answers, and more. Appropriate for teachers to read independently or through book studies and PLCs, the book will leave you with new strategies for changing your beliefs and reactions, and ultimately improving how you approach and reach your students.

Explore the web of factors that influence your power as a teacher—and how you can better use that power to foster student agency and empowerment. What kind of power do teachers have? What influences their instructional decision making—and how does that affect students, particularly Black students and other students of color? How can educators move away from practices that oppress and devalue students to practices that support and empower them? These are just a few of the questions that author Tanji Reed Marshall answers in Understanding Your Instructional Power. Countering the notion that teachers are powerless in the classroom, she introduces the Power Principle to help teachers unpack how they understand and use the power associated with their authority and responsibility as an educator. Drawing from her own experience as a classroom teacher and coach, Reed Marshall explains how the Power Principle reveals itself through various elements, including language use (by both students and teachers), "hidden curriculum," and classroom culture. She identifies four levels of curricular autonomy that teachers have (Unfettered, Calibrated, Restricted, and Minimal) and four dimensions of instructional power that characterize their classroom environment (Empowering, Agentive, Protective, and Disenfranchising). Reflection exercises throughout the book guide readers through a deep analysis of their personal and professional histories and ideologies, including how these influence students' learning experiences. Reed Marshall shares her own journey of setbacks and progress as she offers support and encouragement to K–12 teachers seeking to use their power in productive ways so that all students can bring their full selves to class and receive the education they deserve.

A four-step process for effective equity practices in schools, with an array of professional development activities, leadership tips, and downloadable tools. Recent years have brought new calls to dismantle discriminatory policies and practices in U.S. schools. But adopting an equity focus doesn't guarantee the desired results. There's a risk that doing equity will be toothless—surface level and designed more to avoid tension and blame than to build a better educational system. In Leading Your School Toward Equity, veteran educator Dwayne Chism shows district, school, and teacher leaders a four-step process for taking equity work beyond talk and into effective action. You'll learn concrete ways to * Define and clarify equity. Guide even reluctant staff to a consensus understanding of what equity is, why it's necessary, and what it will look like. * Create productive discomfort. Use intentional dialogue to lead staff to a place where they can talk frankly about privilege, bias, racial inequality, and how these affect students' experience of schooling. * Build efficacy. Help staff develop higher levels of individual and shared professional efficacy—the number one factor influencing equitable educational outcomes—and create an empowered group of educational equity allies united for results. * Normalize action. Support the day-to-day use of an equity lens, a mindset that empowers all teachers to counteract stereotypes and rectify conditions that negatively affect students of color. To make this complicated work a little easier, Chism provides an array of assessments, coaching guides, and activities to use with staff. If you're committed to creating a true equity-driven culture, if you're ready for courageous leadership, this book is for you.