Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the Language Arts Classroom

Description

Teaching for Joy and Justice is the much-anticipated sequel to Linda Christensen's bestselling Reading, Writing, and Rising Up . Christensen is recognized as one of the country's finest teachers. Her latest book shows why. Through story upon story, Christensen demonstrates how she draws on students' lives and the world to teach poetry, essay, narrative, and critical literacy skills. Teaching for Joy and Justice reveals what happens when a teacher treats all students as intellectuals, instead of intellectually challenged. Part autobiography, part curriculum guide, part critique of today's numbing standardized mandates, this book sings with hope -- born of Christensen's more than 30 years as a classroom teacher, language arts specialist, and teacher educator. Practical, inspirational, passionate: this is a must-have book for every language arts teacher, whether veteran or novice. In fact, Teaching for Joy and Justice is a must-have book for anyone who wants concrete examples of what it really means to teach for social justice. Review: A Cool Drink of Water - This book changed my life. Linda Christensen is a goddess, a wonderful pioneer of progressive teaching. She shows you how teaching goes beyond standards and can get at the soul of your students. This book is everything I aspire to be as an English teacher. Everyday when I walk into my classromo, I hope to embody the spirit of this book and this wonderful woman. If you are a teacher that feels uninspired and burned out with lesson plans, bureaucracy, meetings, and grading, read this book to quench your parched spirit. I promise it will not disappoint. Review: A "must-have" for teachers who want to make a difference - I bought this book as a required text for a graduate-level English Education course I am taking this semester, and quickly realized that this is a fantastic text about teaching writing from a social justice perspective. Linda Christensen, a veteran English/Language Arts teacher (or, as she puts it in the introduction, "a social justice educator in a language arts classroom"), enthusiastically shares her classroom-tested ideas for making writing instruction a central part of the curriculum by empowering students of all backgrounds and skill levels to write about their lives and experiences. She discusses ways to teach writing genres (poetry, narrative writing, and essays), ways to link writing instruction to literature, the relationship between language and power, and her philosophy regarding responding to and grading student work. Additionally, Christensen provides several examples of student work throughout the text to complement and illustrate her points. Even when addressing complex, theoretical concepts, the book remains easy to read and understand. The rich content found in this book is well worth its $20 price tag. Every English/Language Arts educator should not only own a copy--they should also immediately incorporate Christensen's philosophy into their own classrooms for the benefit of their students.