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Carrie Rothstein-Fisch and Elise Trumbull share a teaching approach that includes practical, culturally sensitive classroom organization. The book is based on research and trials in seven California classrooms over five years, during which time the authors  studied how teachers’ understanding of the deep meaning of culture impacts teaching and learning. Classroom organization and management, they learned, were the first things teachers changed as a result of a using a framework for understanding and responding to the particular culture of the students in their classrooms.

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Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students’ Cultural Strengths
By Carrie Rothstein-Fisch and Elise Trumbull
2008 (196 pp/paperback)
ASCD
ISBN: 978-1-4166-0624-6
$25.95 ($19.95 for members)

Reviewed by Marjorie Larner

While many of us have increased our awareness and understanding of how issues of equity and diversity impact our students’ possibilities, specific implications and applicable recommendations for classroom practice have been harder to come by.

In Managing Diverse Classrooms: How to Build on Students’ Cultural Strengths, Carrie Rothstein-Fisch and Elise Trumbull share a teaching approach that includes practical classroom organization based on research and trials in seven classrooms over five years. In this Bridging Cultures Project, they studied how teachers’ understanding of the deep meaning of culture would have implications for teaching and learning. Classroom organization and management, they learned, were the first things teachers changed as a result of a using a framework for understanding and responding to the particular culture of the students in their classrooms.

When I think of the importance effective teachers place on building learning communities, I can see how valuable this book would be as a resource for constructing a community that is reflective of students’ family cultures and “what is truly rewarding for them.” They provide guidance to consider such important culture-related questions as how we measure success, what we are working for (my learning or the good of the group) and how to connect to students’ families.

The book is very clearly laid out -- from its purpose, view of learning, definition of terms and recommendations, to its very practical guides, plans, and questions to consider. The authors state in the beginning that their approach will not be to give the reader a set of strategies or lists of identifiers but rather a framework that is easy to grasp and immediately useful to “see and learn and develop yourself -- making your (own) decisions and choices.”

From the beginning there are interesting insights to consider, such as their premise that there are two types of cultures: individualistic (which we typically value in our schools) and collectivistic (which we need to include more deliberately for students from non-European backgrounds).  They help the reader take an explicit look at aspects of classroom teaching and learning in the context of these cultural values of individualism and collectivism – and how to integrate both school and family values into our work.

While I found myself occasionally questioning the authors’ assumptions or arguing with some of the generalizations and interpretations based on only seven teachers in Southern California, this book does provide the foundation for some serious thinking with colleagues about classroom organization and management that recognizes diverse contexts. Immediately understandable, uncomplicated and basic, it could be a “vehicle for finding common ground”  in collaborative planning in a school.

If you feel the need to deepen your knowledge of cultural values systems as they impact the classroom -- or learn more about the role of those systems in human development -- this book will be an excellent starting point. And it can provide ongoing support for changing practice, as you reflect on your own attitudes and values and how they mesh with your school’s cultural patterns.

Marjorie Larner is an instructional coach in the Colorado public schools and a facilitator for the National School Reform Faculty.

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Nancy Feigenbaum, a former newspaper journalist, decides to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher at the age of 41. This easy-to-read, short book (52 pages) is an honest, humorous, realistic reflection of her first-year teaching Spanish in a middle school in Virginia. Reviewer Laurie Wasserman, a veteran middle grades educator, says Feigenbaum’s classroom strategies "and honest sharing of mistakes make this book a worthwhile read for any teacher new to the classroom."

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More than I Ever Imagined: A First-Year Teacher’s Discoveries
by Nancy Feigenbaum
2008 (paperback/54 pp.)
National Middle School Association
ISBN: 978-1-56090-216-4
$12.00 ($9.60 for members)

Reviewed by Laurie Wasserman, LD/NBCT
Middle Grades Special Education
Medford, Massachusetts

Nancy Feigenbaum, a former newspaper journalist, decides to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher at the age of 41. This easy-to-read, short book is an honest, humorous, realistic reflection of her first-year teaching Spanish in a middle school in Virginia.

Feigenbaum takes us on a journey through that difficult first year of teaching, as she shares stories, self-doubts, mistakes and her joys when she makes a successful connection to her 160 Spanish I and II students. She writes in short, succinct chapters, with such wonderfully told stories as “How Strict is Strict Enough?”, “What Young Adolescents Won’t Do”, “What Young Adolescents Will Do”, and the ever important, “First Days.”

She honestly shares some of the lessons she learned along the way that will help her in the future: “I plan to start with a different golden rule for controlling my class than ’start strict.’ Instead, I will keep ‘build relationships’ as my motto.”  

She describes the importance of respecting students’ feelings, encouraging them when they need it most; analyzing common conflicts such as changing and enforcing policies about lost pencils, incomplete homework or tardies, and then helping your students succeed once you’ve established them. My favorite: “Remember, they are still children. The worse the behavior, the more the student needs a good teacher to guide him through.”

In light but heartfelt detail, Feigenbaum describes the students who would rather paint their nails, play poker on their cell phones, or simply come to class unprepared with no interest in participating in her well thought-out activities and lessons. She accurately relates the frustrations of not having enough time to plan her lessons, as she is torn between her personal life and her professional commitments.

Feigenbaum reflects on where all her time goes and how can she do things differently so she can “have a bit of my private life back.” She walks us through a typical day, arriving at school at 7:00 a.m. and leaving at 5:40 p.m. so she can eat dinner with her family, then working at home for another 3 hours. She makes us smile as she shares the story of a custodian who guessed that she doesn’t know how to cook, and another who asks, “Don’t you like your family?” She explains how easy it is to put in 20-35 hours a week on top of her classroom instruction time, planning periods, and working on the weekends.

Feigenbaum compares her 14 years as a writer for various daily newspapers, where she had an audience of 400,000, with the nervousness she felt the first day she faced 27 young adolescents. She reflects on how she decided to “test the waters” by substitute teaching, and how the responsibilities of running a classroom are very different.

I thoroughly enjoyed her sharing of activities she previously used as a substitute teacher and later utilized when she had to cover for colleagues who had to leave the room briefly, like Family Feud, classroom style, where the class tried to predict the results of a survey they could relate to (calling on students who followed class rules). Another favorite was Hot Seat, in which a volunteer sits in front of the room and asked audience members whose hands are raised to try to stump them with a question about recent classroom studies. What a great review activity before an upcoming test!

Although geared for teachers who work with middle school students, or who may teach a single subject, Feigenbaum’s classroom strategies and honest sharing of mistakes make this book a worthwhile read for any teacher new to the classroom.
 

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Elementary principal Joanne Rooney remembers the days when she and her faculty invested a lot of time and energy in enforcing long-standing rules like "no gum chewing," maintaining careful records of chewers and spelling out the evils of gum. "But our efforts were of no avail. Defeated, we regrouped to analyze the point of it all." Ultimately, the faculty settled on five rules of behavior "in harmony with our work as educators, not prison guards." Something significant happened, Rooney says, "as teachers spent less time deciding on rules and complex consequences: The more seriously we attended to the matter of successful student engagement in learning, the less we needed to address rule-breaking and consequences. When students' daily experiences in the classroom were positive and successful, misbehavior became less of an issue."

Rooney, J. (2006). The principal connection: Picking our battles. Educational Leadership (April 2006, Vol. 63 No. 7). Retrieved from ASCD 13 May 2008. http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.459dee00...

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This 2002 Edutopia tells the story of a New York City high school, part of the Julia Richman Education Complex, a "second chance" school where students who have struggled or dropped out learn and are graded with flexible, innovative methods.

Furger, R. (2002). Urban academy: Where testing is anything but standard. Edutopia (11 Feb 2002). Retrieved from Edutopia 5 May 2008. http://www.edutopia.org/urban-academy-testing-anything-standard

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Sherry L. Annee, an Indiana teacher, says, "The book is divided into three major categories of challenges: dealing with students, dealing with yourself, and dealing with others." Specific challenges, such as planning effectively or resisting the urge to gossip, are examined in four-page chapters.

Breaux, A.L. & Breaux, E. (2004). Real teachers, real challenges, real solutions: 25 ways to handle classroom challenges effectively. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education

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Real Teachers, Real Challenges, Real Solutions: 25 Ways to Handle Classroom Challenges Effectively

By Annette L. Breaux and Elizabeth Breaux
2004 (120pp/paperback)
Eye on Education
ISBN: 1-930556-64-0
$24.95

Reviewed by Sherry L. Annee
Science Department Chairperson
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School
Indianapolis, IN

If you are looking for a book that offers quick solutions to common challenges faced by educators, then purchase a copy of Real Teachers, Real Challenges, Real Solutions by Annette Breaux and Elizabeth Breaux.

The book is divided into three major categories of challenges: dealing with students, dealing with yourself, and dealing with others. Examples of student challenges include managing student talking, getting students to participate, and dealing with disrespectful students. Personal challeges might include planning effectively, resisting the urge to gossip, or controlling your own actions and reactions in the classroom and other professional settings. The challenges addressed in “dealing with others” include things like working with parents, administrators, or co-workers.

Each challenge is discussed in a separate four-page chapter, which allows the reader to either read the book cover-to-cover or quickly turn to a challenge of immediate interest. Like good teaching, the authors begin each chapter with a compelling fact or original poem to capture the attention of the reader. This is followed by a brief description of the challenge in the form of a classroom scenario, which often contrasts the actions and reactions of two stereotypical teachers, one of whom is effective while the other is not. Each challenge is then analyzed in terms of “What’s Effective?” and “What’s Ineffective?” — thereby providing the reader with explicit advice about how to best handle the given challenge. Finally, each chapter ends with a “bottom line” as a means of reviewing the best ways to manage the challenge.

Although the authors rarely cite research other than from their previous works, the solutions are believable and able to be implemented with little difficulty. For example, the authors remind the reader “that treating students fairly does not always mean treating all students the same,” and that an “I don’t care” attitude “usually means, ‘I don’t understand, but I am not willing to admit that I don’t understand.’” Breaux and Breaux also highlight the importance of a good sub plan — not just a well-designed lesson but also the necessity of preparing students for a substitute in the classroom by assigning them different roles and tasks.

Real Teachers, Real Challenges, Real Solutions is a worthwhile addition to a novice or veteran teacher’s professional library. The authors utilize an engaging tone while motivating and empowering teachers to respond to common classroom challenges with compassion, courage, and a sense of humor. This book would prove especially helpful as a means of sparking conversation and brainstorming between a mentor and mentee.

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