Distinguished multiculturalist Sonia Nieto speaks directly to current and future teachers in this thoughtful integration of a selection of her key writings with creative pedagogical features. Offering information, insights, and motivation to teach students of diverse cultural, racial, and linguistic backgrounds, this text is intended for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level students and professional development courses.
Examples are included throughout to illustrate real-life dilemmas about diversity that teachers face in their own classrooms; ideas about how language, culture, and teaching are linked; and ways to engage with these ideas through reflection and collaborative inquiry. Each chapter includes critical questions; classroom activities; and community activities suggesting projects beyond the classroom context.
About the Second Edition: Over half of the chapters are new to this edition, bringing it up-to-date in terms of recent educational policy issues and demographic changes in our society.
Sonia Nieto is Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy, and Culture, School of
Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
Introduction: Language, Literacy, and Culture:
Intersections and Implications 1
PART I
Setting the Groundwork 25
1 What is the Purpose of Schools? Reflections
on Education in an Age of Functionalism 27
2 The Limitations of Labels 36
3 Understanding Multicultural Education in a
Sociopolitical Context (with Patty Bode) 38
4 Multicultural Education and School
Reform (with Patty Bode) 66
5 Public Education in the Twentieth Century
and Beyond: High Hopes, Broken Promises, and an
Uncertain Future 88
6 We Speak in Many Tongues: Language
Diversity and Multicultural Education 112
PART II
Identity and Belonging 133
7 Culture and Learning 135
8 Lessons From Students on Creating a
Chance to Dream 160
9 Beyond Categories: The Complex Identities
of Adolescents (with John Raible) 199
PART III
Becoming Critical Teachers 215
10 Profoundly Multicultural Questions 217
11 Solidarity, Courage, and Heart: Learning
From a New Generation of Teachers 225
PART IV
Praxis in the Classroom 245
12 Affirmation, Solidarity, and Critique:
Moving Beyond Tolerance in Multicultural Education 247
13 Nice is Not Enough: Defining Caring for
Students of Color 264
14 What Does it Mean to Affirm Diversity in
Our Nation’s Schools? 269
Index 275
