Publication date:
29 March 2012Length of book:
100 pagesPublisher
R&L EducationISBN-13: 9781610487658
Stories of the lives of white teachers, as white teachers, too often simplify the complexities and conflicts of their work with students of color. Drawing on in-depth interviews with five white teachers, as well as on her own experiences, Audrey Lensmire provides generous, complex, and critical accounts of white teachers, against the backdrop of her sharp critique of schools and our country’s awful race history.
With Charlotte, Lensmire explores how hard it often is for white people to talk about race. Through Darrin’s stories, Lensmire illuminates this white teacher’s awakening as a raced person, his tragic relationship with a brilliant African-American student, and how his need for control in the classroom undermined his own sense of himself as a good person. In her interpretations of stories told by Paul, Frida, and Margaret, Lensmire examines how care and desire play out in teaching students of color.
In a society in which we avoid serious conversations about race and whiteness and what these mean for the education of our nation’s children, Lensmire’s book is an invaluable resource.
With Charlotte, Lensmire explores how hard it often is for white people to talk about race. Through Darrin’s stories, Lensmire illuminates this white teacher’s awakening as a raced person, his tragic relationship with a brilliant African-American student, and how his need for control in the classroom undermined his own sense of himself as a good person. In her interpretations of stories told by Paul, Frida, and Margaret, Lensmire examines how care and desire play out in teaching students of color.
In a society in which we avoid serious conversations about race and whiteness and what these mean for the education of our nation’s children, Lensmire’s book is an invaluable resource.
One seldom thinks of teachers as people locked in existential isolation when their days are spent interacting with others. One unwittingly concludes that a person trained to solve problems and, in the course of time, gain experience managing the awesome role of teaching children knowledge and the ability to “use your words,” has the skill and articulation to deal with her own insecurities. And if that teacher is white, liberal, and committed to her students, uttering her doubts and insecurities on racialized occurrences within an urban school environment, tends only to mark her with a stigma that few can remove. So she learns to hold it in while laboring to teach her kids to soar. In this, she is living her own version of, what W.E.B. Dubois called, “two warring ideals.”
This is an important book that calls the reader to acknowledge this paradox and consider ways to initiate on-going conversation that is both challenging but respectful. Indeed, it is a call to all who work in urban schools to understand that, as we expect teachers to nurture their students, we must likewise discover ways to nurture the teachers.
This is an important book that calls the reader to acknowledge this paradox and consider ways to initiate on-going conversation that is both challenging but respectful. Indeed, it is a call to all who work in urban schools to understand that, as we expect teachers to nurture their students, we must likewise discover ways to nurture the teachers.