Julie Landsman is Benedict Distinguished Visiting Professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Until her recent retirement, she had spent many years working with both troubled and gifted students in middle and high schools in the Minneapolis Public School System. She continues to teach in Minneapolis as a Writer in the Schools. Ms. Landsman presently has a monthly column in the Skyway News in Minneapolis.

Unique, vital kids and a great teacher, yet it is also larger than that...Inspiring, gorgeous, heart-breaking prose...A must-read for anyone who claims to be alive, awake, alert—or who wants to get there. This is an important book!

• Part 1 Introduction Our Changing World: A Cause for CelebrationChapter 2 1 Before School: What I BringChapter 3 2 Waiting for First HourChapter 4 3 First Hour: Recognizing OneselfChapter 5 4 Second Hour: History and LiteratureChapter 6 5 Third Hour: Student Voices as the Center of the ClassChapter 7 6 Lunch Hour: Students' LivesChapter 8 7 Fourth Hour: ConnectionsChapter 9 8 Interlude: Twenty-Four SevenChapter 10 9 Fifth Hour: RepresentingChapter 11 10 My White Power WorldChapter 12 11 Sixth Hour: ExpectationsChapter 13 12 After School: Training TeachersChapter 14 13 At Night: CommunityChapter 15 14 Living in Different WorldsChapter 16 15 Celebrations at SchoolChapter 17 16 Celebrations at HomeChapter 18 17 Resistance: The Power of White ActivismPart 19 EpiloguePart 20 A Final Note to My ReadersPart 21 ReferencesPart 22 AcknowlegmentsPart 23 About the Author