Julie Landsman – författare

Voices for Diversity and Social Justice: A Literary Education Anthology is an unflinching exploration through poetry, prose, and art of the heart of our educational system—of the segregation, bias, and oppression that are part of the daily lives of so many students and educators. It is also a series of poetical insights into the fights for liberation and resistance at the heart of many of the same students’ and teachers’ lives. The contributors—youth, educators, activists, others—share what it is like to face discrimination, challenge unjust policy, or subvert monotony by cultivating a vibrant, equitable, revolutionary school environment. This is not a prescriptive text, but instead a call to action. It is a call from many literary voices to create schools where social justice is at the core of education. Stunning in its revelations, Voices for Diversity and Social Justice is an anthology by educators and students unafraid to be passionate about what is missing, what is needed, and what is working in order to make that vision a reality.

Voices for Diversity and Social Justice: A Literary Education Anthology is an unflinching exploration through poetry, prose, and art of the heart of our educational system—of the segregation, bias, and oppression that are part of the daily lives of so many students and educators. It is also a series of poetical insights into the fights for liberation and resistance at the heart of many of the same students’ and teachers’ lives. The contributors—youth, educators, activists, others—share what it is like to face discrimination, challenge unjust policy, or subvert monotony by cultivating a vibrant, equitable, revolutionary school environment. This is not a prescriptive text, but instead a call to action. It is a call from many literary voices to create schools where social justice is at the core of education. Stunning in its revelations, Voices for Diversity and Social Justice is an anthology by educators and students unafraid to be passionate about what is missing, what is needed, and what is working in order to make that vision a reality.

As schools grow more and more vulnerable to the whims of profiteers and, as a result, become less and less a sacred public space of learning and justice, the voices of everyday educators and students are increasingly marginalized. This is the tyranny of neoliberal school reform: silence the people who know education, the people committed to equity and justice, and elevate the voices and desires of the privileged few whose knowledge of education is peripheral and profit-driven. Talking Back and Moving Forward: An Education Revolution in Poetry and Prose is a collective response to this tyranny, a collecting rallying cry for reclaiming our schools. It is a chorus of voices from teachers, educators, and educational justice advocates who refuse to be silenced—who are standing up and responding to the imposition of damaging school reform initiatives. Unconfined by the conventions of the traditional scholarly voice, the contributors use poetry, memoir, short stories, and photography, choosing the expressions that most effectively capture their experiences and their demands for educational and social justice.

As schools grow more and more vulnerable to the whims of profiteers and, as a result, become less and less a sacred public space of learning and justice, the voices of everyday educators and students are increasingly marginalized. This is the tyranny of neoliberal school reform: silence the people who know education, the people committed to equity and justice, and elevate the voices and desires of the privileged few whose knowledge of education is peripheral and profit-driven. Talking Back and Moving Forward: An Education Revolution in Poetry and Prose is a collective response to this tyranny, a collecting rallying cry for reclaiming our schools. It is a chorus of voices from teachers, educators, and educational justice advocates who refuse to be silenced—who are standing up and responding to the imposition of damaging school reform initiatives. Unconfined by the conventions of the traditional scholarly voice, the contributors use poetry, memoir, short stories, and photography, choosing the expressions that most effectively capture their experiences and their demands for educational and social justice.

In Basic Needs: A Year With Street Kids in a City School, Julie Landsman chronicles one year as a teacher in a program for students in such serious trouble they are asked to leave their middle schools and attend a special program for disruptive students. Landsman allows her readers to get to know the students, their home and street situations, and how their stories develop over the year, and in doing so, shows the complexity of young people, their beauty, and their individuality.This second edition is as current a story as the original: about kids in trouble and their resiliency. Landsman has added a foreword, afterword, and an extensive Resource Guide, which includes all the text of activities from Diversity Days, revolving around how to create a community in your classroom and includes ideas for every week of the school year. Landsman also includes a list of books to read over the summer for busy teachers. In total, the second edition of Basic Needs is a worthy follow-up to the highly praised original.

Veteran teacher and writer Julie Landsman takes the reader through a day of teaching and reflection about her work with a group of ethically and racially diverse high school students in an inner city school.

What is it that gives many of us White people a visceral fear about discussing race?Do you realize that being able to not think about or talk about it is a uniquely White experience?Do you warn your children about how people might react to them; find store staff following or watching you; get stopped by the police for no reason?The students of color in your classroom experience discrimination every day, in small and large ways. They don’t often see themselves represented in their textbooks, and encounter hostility in school, and outside. For them race is a constant reality, and an issue they need, and want, to discuss. Failure to do so can inhibit their academic performance.Failure to discuss race prevents White students from getting a real, critical and deep understanding of our society and their place in it. It is essential for the well-being of all students that they learn to have constructive conversations about the history of race in this country, the impact of racism on different ethnic communities, and how those communities and cultures contribute to society. The need to model for our students how to talk openly and comfortably about race is critical in America today, but it is still an issue that is difficult to tackle.To overcome the common fear of discussing race, of saying “something wrong”, this book brings together over thirty contributions by teachers and students of different ethnicities and races who offer their experiences, ideas, and advice. With passion and sensitivity they: cover such topics as the development of racial consciousness and identity in children; admit their failures and continuing struggles; write about creating safe spaces and the climate that promotes thoughtful discussion; model self-reflection; demonstrate the importance of giving voice to students; recount how they responded to racial incidents and used current affairs to discuss oppression; describe courses and strategies they have developed; explain the “n” word; present exercises; and pose questions. For any teacher grappling with addressing race in the classroom, and for pre-service teachers confronting their anxieties about race, this book offers a rich resource of insights, approaches and guidance that will allay fears, and provide the reflective practitioner with the confidence to initiate and respond to discussion of race, from the pre-school and elementary classroom through high school.

What is it that gives many of us White people a visceral fear about discussing race?Do you realize that being able to not think about or talk about it is a uniquely White experience?Do you warn your children about how people might react to them; find store staff following or watching you; get stopped by the police for no reason?The students of color in your classroom experience discrimination every day, in small and large ways. They don’t often see themselves represented in their textbooks, and encounter hostility in school, and outside. For them race is a constant reality, and an issue they need, and want, to discuss. Failure to do so can inhibit their academic performance.Failure to discuss race prevents White students from getting a real, critical and deep understanding of our society and their place in it. It is essential for the well-being of all students that they learn to have constructive conversations about the history of race in this country, the impact of racism on different ethnic communities, and how those communities and cultures contribute to society. The need to model for our students how to talk openly and comfortably about race is critical in America today, but it is still an issue that is difficult to tackle.To overcome the common fear of discussing race, of saying “something wrong”, this book brings together over thirty contributions by teachers and students of different ethnicities and races who offer their experiences, ideas, and advice. With passion and sensitivity they: cover such topics as the development of racial consciousness and identity in children; admit their failures and continuing struggles; write about creating safe spaces and the climate that promotes thoughtful discussion; model self-reflection; demonstrate the importance of giving voice to students; recount how they responded to racial incidents and used current affairs to discuss oppression; describe courses and strategies they have developed; explain the “n” word; present exercises; and pose questions. For any teacher grappling with addressing race in the classroom, and for pre-service teachers confronting their anxieties about race, this book offers a rich resource of insights, approaches and guidance that will allay fears, and provide the reflective practitioner with the confidence to initiate and respond to discussion of race, from the pre-school and elementary classroom through high school.

· Interviews with Black students and experienced educators provide guidance on how to teach successfully in multicultural classes· Insights and ideas to promote observation, reflection, and effective classroom practice· Ideal for initiating constructive discussion in pre-service courses, and for professional development· Defines the seven characteristics of successful multicultural teaching· Based on the acclaimed book These interviews with Black students, White and Black teachers, educational experts and school administrators poignantly bring to life the issues, strategies and competencies that teachers need to engage with–if they are to create the conditions that will enable their students of color to succeed and excel.From these candid, unscripted interviews, there emerge seven key drivers of inclusive teaching.The ideas and insights captured in this DVD are placed in context by short introductory and concluding commentaries by the editors of the acclaimed companion book, White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms.The feature 33 minute track is enhanced by a further 83 minutes of additional footage that presents more extensive interviews with many of the participants, to add depth to pedagogical approaches they advocate.This DVD is effective both for group viewing and discussion, and for individual study. It will spur debate, stimulate ideas and reflection, and inspire.White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms DVDRegion: 0 / NTSC. Can be played on any computer worldwide / Plays on North American TVs onlyClosed captioning for the hearing impaired. Includes educational performance rights.

· Interviews with Black students and experienced educators provide guidance on how to teach successfully in multicultural classes· Insights and ideas to promote observation, reflection, and effective classroom practice· Ideal for initiating constructive discussion in pre-service courses, and for professional development· Defines the seven characteristics of successful multicultural teaching· Based on the acclaimed book These interviews with Black students, White and Black teachers, educational experts and school administrators poignantly bring to life the issues, strategies and competencies that teachers need to engage with–if they are to create the conditions that will enable their students of color to succeed and excel.From these candid, unscripted interviews, there emerge seven key drivers of inclusive teaching.The ideas and insights captured in this DVD are placed in context by short introductory and concluding commentaries by the editors of the acclaimed companion book, White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms.The feature 33 minute track is enhanced by a further 83 minutes of additional footage that presents more extensive interviews with many of the participants, to add depth to pedagogical approaches they advocate.This DVD is effective both for group viewing and discussion, and for individual study. It will spur debate, stimulate ideas and reflection, and inspire.White Teachers / Diverse Classrooms DVDRegion: 0 / NTSC. Can be played on any computer worldwide / Plays on North American TVs onlyClosed captioning for the hearing impaired. Includes educational performance rights.

Through a rich mix of essays, memoirs, and poetry, the contributors to The Poverty and Education Reader bring to the fore the schooling experiences of poor and working class students, highlighting the resiliency, creativity, and educational aspirations of low-income families. They showcase proven strategies that imaginative teachers and schools have adopted for closing the opportunity gap, demonstrating how they have succeeded by working in partnership with low-income families, and despite growing class sizes, the imposition of rote pedagogical models, and teach-to-the-test mandates. The contributors—teachers, students, parents, educational activists, and scholars—repudiate the prevalent, but too rarely discussed, deficit views of students and families in poverty. Rather than focusing on how to “fix” poor and working class youth, they challenge us to acknowledge the ways these youth and their families are disenfranchised by educational policies and practices that deny them the opportunities enjoyed by their wealthier peers. Just as importantly, they offer effective school and classroom strategies to mitigate the effects of educational inequality on students in poverty. Rejecting the simplistic notion that a single program, policy, or pedagogy can undo social or educational inequalities, this Reader inspires and equips educators to challenge the disparities to which underserved communities are subjected. It is a positive resource for students of education and for teachers, principals, social workers, community organizers, and policy makers who want to make the promise of educational equality a reality.

Through a rich mix of essays, memoirs, and poetry, the contributors to The Poverty and Education Reader bring to the fore the schooling experiences of poor and working class students, highlighting the resiliency, creativity, and educational aspirations of low-income families. They showcase proven strategies that imaginative teachers and schools have adopted for closing the opportunity gap, demonstrating how they have succeeded by working in partnership with low-income families, and despite growing class sizes, the imposition of rote pedagogical models, and teach-to-the-test mandates. The contributors—teachers, students, parents, educational activists, and scholars—repudiate the prevalent, but too rarely discussed, deficit views of students and families in poverty. Rather than focusing on how to “fix” poor and working class youth, they challenge us to acknowledge the ways these youth and their families are disenfranchised by educational policies and practices that deny them the opportunities enjoyed by their wealthier peers. Just as importantly, they offer effective school and classroom strategies to mitigate the effects of educational inequality on students in poverty. Rejecting the simplistic notion that a single program, policy, or pedagogy can undo social or educational inequalities, this Reader inspires and equips educators to challenge the disparities to which underserved communities are subjected. It is a positive resource for students of education and for teachers, principals, social workers, community organizers, and policy makers who want to make the promise of educational equality a reality.