by Brian D. Schultz
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Product Description
''Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way renewed my belief that it is possible to write authentic narratives about urban schools.... I plan to make this book required reading for my teacher education students...''
--From the Foreword by Carl A. Grant, University of Wisconsin, Madison
''Once I began reading, I couldn't put it down. The power here is in the details. It s a marvelous, important book and is badly needed at a moment when the values it upholds are under an unrelenting assault from forces of reactionary ignorance.''
--Jonathan Kozol, author of Amazing Grace.
''In a time of ever more testing and standardization, Brian Schultz demonstrates in powerful ways what the critically democratic alternative looks like. Anyone who wants to make a difference in urban education needs to read this book.''
--Michael W. Apple, author of Educating the ''Right'' Way
''An amazing tale of incredible fifth-grade citizen activists that reveals what education in America's inner cities could and should be.''
--Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor in Education Equity, UCLA
''The lessons about curriculum and teaching are powerful and the story is absolutely inspiring.''
--James A. Beane, author of A Reason to Teach: Creating Classrooms of Dignity and Hope
''Carr Community Academy is a crumbling elementary school in Chicago next to one of the largest and most perilous public housing projects-Cabrini Green. It also is the location of one of the more spectacular fifth-grade classes in the country.''
--Ralph Nader, consumer advocate, author, and founder, Public Citizen research group
''This fifth-grade class illustrates some important lessons about America: The neglect of the inner-city poor, the virtues of creative public service, of teaching to educate-not just to pass a test-and of perseverance.''
--Robert Siegel, All Things Considered, National Public Radio
''When city kids are thought to be nothing more than a tangle of pathologies and deficits who must be 'saved' by crusading, missionary teachers the result is always some form of colonization. In this extraordinary book, Brian Schultz, a courageous teacher writing here with clarity and passion, performs a radical reversal and provides an alternative.''
--William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago, and author of To Teach
''Through their compelling school improvement efforts, Schultz and his fifth graders clearly counter the colonizing policy that says only the privileged can be educated through freedom to pursue personal interests and collective commitments.''
--William H. Schubert, University Scholar, University of Illinois at Chicago
What happens when a teacher resists the pressures of ''teaching to the test'' and creates a curriculum based on student needs, wants, and desires? Brian Schultz did just that when he challenged his students from a housing project in Chicago to name a problem in their community that they wanted to solve. When the students unanimously focus on replacing their dilapidated school building, an unforgettable journey is put into motion. As his students examine the conditions of their blighted school and research the deeper causes of decay, they set off on a mission of remedy and repair. It is finally their own questions and activities that power their profound self-transformations. This moving story is a tribute to what determined teachers are able to achieve in the current stifling environment of high-stakes testing and standardization. Anyone who has faith in creativity, commitment, and the deep potential of inner-city children and youth will want to read this book.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
School is for more than English, Math, and Science - it's for the intangibles too, 2008-07-12
School is for more than English, Math, and Science - it's for the intangibles too. "Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons From an Urban Classroom" follows Brian Schultz as he teaches an inner city class something far more valuable than academics - determination and a feeling of self worth. An inspired and inspiring tale sure to give hope in the next generation ensues. "Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons From an Urban Classroom" is highly recommended for community library education collections.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
best book, 2008-07-09
I read this book and I loved it. You have to read the book because it shows the power of children to make the World better.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Spectacular book, 2008-07-09
One of the most important and challenging things we do in this country is educate our children. This becomes especially important when we think about how education can affect one's life. This book really highlighted for me the hope and possibilities for education in a time when all I hear about is that teachers are focused on standardized tests. Apparently, things can be different.
I must admit that at first I was resistant to some of the ideas presented early on in the book in terms of allowing the students' to guide the learning. I thought the students would naturally pick something that did not challenge them. But, boy was I wrong! It is almost as if my inclinations were the exact opposite. That is where this book has a extremely powerful hook. The students clearly went well beyond that simplicity. They clearly found something that mattered to them. They clearly became transformed in their learning.
While reading the book, I really want to know what happened next. The author does an excellent job of drawing the reader into the story. I felt like I was sitting in the dark classroom with my coat on as vividly described in the narrative. And, I found myself learning, questioning, and reflecting as I was reading. I especially learned what horrific conditions exist in some schools and better understood how that old mantra of picking oneself up by the bootstraps is not so easy when most things in some schools like the one in this book are stacked against you.
I strongly recommend reading this book. It is a page-turner. It will give you much to think about. I promise! What is especially great is that the students are front and center rather than it being all about the teacher. And, I believe that as the author states throughout the book, you will learn from the students in this story, just as he did.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A real look at education..., 2008-07-08
Brian D. Schultz's "Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom" is a beautifully written, well-researched, and heartfelt account of one classroom's journey from stereotyped and ignored to empowered, challenged and brilliant. Schultz's narrative intelligently interweaves the students thoughts, hopes, disappointments, work, and words with his own reservations, thoughts, struggles, and triumphs. Furthermore, he manages to connect, explain, and reinforce their story with some of the greatest educational philosophy and research available (e.g. Dewey. Kozol, Freire, etc.).
What is this read about?
It's about Room 405. In 2004, Schultz was a 5th grade teacher at Chicago's Carr Community Academy. And in short, Schultz participates in a workshop called Project Citizen, which in turn inspires Schultz to do something new with Room 405. He asks the students to identify a problem that they care about/want to solve, and from there, a year-long curriculum was created by the students and for the students of Room 405.
What do the students decide upon?
Room 405 decides that they need a new school because their school is obviously falling apart, so they set-up an Action Plan that consists of the ways in which they are going to go about this undertaking (e.g. writing letters to legislators, interviewing the principal, emailing newspapers, etc.).
What happens after they decide on their problem and what they are going to do?
Are you serious? Just read the book!
As an educator myself, I want to point out that Schultz's Social Justice teaching, as exemplified in this book, should have all of the skeptics and naysayers believing because the proof was and is in the students and the results of what they learned, shared, achieved, and experienced together.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A True Democracy, 2008-05-20
"Impressive..." or "Extraordinary..." may be a more appropriate title for this book. Schultz traces the both the history of a non-functional inner-city public school classroom all the way through the children's education achievements, and his personal growth along the way. Developing a democratic classroom with both the students and teacher learning from each other is truly amazing!
The book allows the reader to share, and understand, the successes and disappointments of both Schultz and his students. And throughout, the reader remains totally engaged.
The interaction between the students and politicians, the news media, and national organizations has demonstrated that we all have much to learn. Truly inspirational and extremely motivational. A must read.
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