What Should I Do?

What Should I Do? is a practical guide to the everyday dilemmas of the urban classroom. It offers a lifeline to both beginning teachers who are struggling to be successful and to the teacher educators who are trying to prepare them for these challenges. The author uses narratives of practice, written by novice teachers, to help readers experience a variety of dilemmas they are likely to encounter in the classroom. By engaging with and analyzing the cases, readers come to see that the "problems" of teaching are actually "dilemmas" that have no clear-cut right or wrong solution, thus reducing the potential for frustration and despair often felt by teachers. This practical resource will empower teachers to transform the unpredictable world of troubled schools into places of learning and hope, for both themselves and their students. As a former teacher said, "I wish I had read this book and realized that I wasn't expected to have all the answers. I would probably still be teaching.

Anna Ershler Richert is a professor in the School of Education at Mills College in Oakland, California, where she is also director of the Master of Arts in Education with an Emphasis on Teaching (MEET) Program, and faculty director of the Mills Teacher Scholars Program.

Series Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
The Book's Structure	p. 2
What Should I Do? Managing Teaching Dilemmas	p. 4
Solving Teaching Problems	p. 5
Managing Teaching Dilemmas	p. 6
Considering Context	p. 8
Layers of Complexity in Managing Context-Based Dilemmas	p. 14
Concluding Thoughts	p. 15
Who Am I as Teacher? Dilemmas of Professional Identity Development	p. 18
Becoming a Teacher	p. 20
Professional Identity and the Urban School Context	p. 21
Race and Language in the Urban School Context	p. 25
Becoming an Urban Schoolteacher	p. 34
Concluding Thoughts	p. 36
How Do I Care for Other People's Children? Dilemmas About Students	p. 38
Learning to Care for Students in the Urban Context	p. 40
Knowing Students and Meeting Their Needs	p. 41
Violence and Care for Students in Urban Schools	p. 49
Concluding Thoughts	p. 57
What Should I Teach and How? Curriculum and Instruction Dilemmas	p. 59
Teacher as Curriculum Developer	p. 62
Curriculum Development in the Urban Context-Responding to Diversity	p. 63
Race and Racism	p. 70
Concluding Thoughts	p. 75
What Have My Students Learned and How Will I Know?
Assessment Dilemmas	p. 77
Learning and Assessment	p. 79
Assessing Student Learning in Urban Schools	p. 80
Tests and Objectivity	p. 85
Subjective Factors and Grading	p. 89
Concluding Thoughts	p. 97
What Will I Do?	p. 100
The Moral Aspect of Teachers' Professional Responsibility	p. 101
A Commitment to Act	p. 102
Mitigating the Uncertainty of Teaching	p. 104
Sharing Dilemmas of Practice	p. 107
Learning from the Practice of Others	p. 109
Notes	p. 111
References	p. 113
Dilemma Authors	p. 117
Index	p. 119
About the Author	p. 127
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Summary

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