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Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms
 Multicultural
education isn't a specialty; it's how teaching and learning should happen
in all schools, with all students. Gloria Ladson-Billings, education professor
at the University of Wisconsin, studies the habits of mind required of
beginning teachers who are prepared to support diverse classrooms. Drawing
on her own memories of her start in teaching and the experiences of eight
students participating in Madison's Teach for Diversity program, Ladson-Billings
clearly defines multicultural education and forcefully raises expectations
for teacher education programs.
Ladson-Billings observes, "Teaching with a sociopolitical consciousness
is not easy." Nor is the education that teachers need to become culturally
aware, as the final chapter, "A Vision of the Promised Land,"
reveals, describing the mythical Urban Teacher Academy. Briefly and inspirationally,
Ladson-Billings points toward ways to make teacher education more challenging,
prestigious and meaningful. Her vision of how teacher education ought
to be conducted is tremendously exciting.
Crossing Over to Canaan establishes that multicultural education's goal
is to
use students' experiences as the foundation for understanding and learning.
Excerpting pieces from student teachers' journals and interviews, Ladson-Billings
demonstrates that novice teachers need coaching to understand both their
own perspectives and their students' cultures. Both new and veteran teachers
will empathize with what it feels like when teachers challenge their own
assum-ptions and acknowledge areas of needed growth as they seek to teach
for social justice and equity. Ladson-Billings' descriptions of the ways
teachers skilled in multicultural education think will be useful to schools
as they evaluate prospective teachers and help them embark upon their
teaching careers.
reviewed by Jill Davidson
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This resource last updated: April 15, 2003
Database Information:
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Source: Horace. Vol.18, #4. Summer 2002.
Publication Year: 2002
Publisher: CES National
School Level: All
Issue: 18.4
Focus Area: School Design
STRAND: School Design: teacher collaboration & learning
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