The Dreamkeepers : Successful Teachers of African American Children

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read Book for All to Keep The Hopes and Dreams Alive
Review: After reading Dr. Ladson-Billing's book, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children, I found it to be a truly inspiring and enriching book with a great perspective
and discourse for the terms of multicultural education in practice and culturally relevant teaching. The author uses a
great technique by telling her story in three voices. Her first written voice is; that of an African American scholar and researcher, second; that of an African American teacher, and third; that of an African American woman, parent, and community
member.

It is very well written and easy to read and comprehend for anyone. This should be a reference and resource book in the L.R.C. or library, as well as classrooms of all urban schools and teacher-training programs for teacher/educator skills and practices.

The author, Gloria Ladson-Billings, explains thourghly in, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African- American Children,
how these eight successful teachers of African American children, made the connection between the students culture, community, home and school. They did this by living and learning their students' culture and relating it to their teaching methods and practices.

This book has really helped me in my doctoral qualitative research studies; to have a better understanding of African American culturally relevant teaching pedagody, from theory to practice. It's a must and great resource book for all pre-service and in-service teachers, all educators, administrators, student teacher supervisors, college teacher training instructors, and parents too. We can keep the hopes and dreams of our African American and all other diverse children alive! The teachers can learn and become successful and feel good about themselves and be more competent about their teaching practices. Thus, as a result of this, the students will be successful too! We must think positive, if you believe it you can achieve it. African American children can have a quality of academic achievement and success.

Hats off to this author and to the field of EDUCATION! She gives us a complete and comprehensive knowledge base of what culturally relevant teaching, teacher efficacy and self-esteem are as well. I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially those in the field of education working with African American children!!!

Rating:
Summary: A Much-Needed Book and a Great Resource for All Teachers
Review: All too often, African American students are blamed as the ultimate cause of their own academic failure. Proposed reasons can span from ethnic or racial inferiority, to home neglect, to simple lack of motivation, or the notion that some students are just better than others.

I refuse to accept that the reasons offered above have everything to do with the disproportionate numbers of students of African heritage who consistently perform below the national averages on standardized tests and measures. I refuse these notions because I look to my brothers and sisters and I see intelligence, I see beauty, and I see wisdom.

In The Dreemkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children by Gloria Ladson-Billings, the author explores the issue of successful teaching of African American students. The text is based upon extensive research of eight excellent teachers of African American students. Ladson-Billings provides a colorful "snapshot" of each teacher. Through extensive qualitative research, she draws forth the common ideologies subscribed to by these teachers. These ideals are encompassed under the umbrella notion of "Culturally Relevant Teaching." This important piece is thoroughly explored in the text. Helpful comparative tables are interwoven throughout the book, which contrast Culturally Relevant Ideologies with the traditional Assimilationist Methods. This book is a valuable resource to all teachers, and can serve as a helpful model for qualitative researchers. Despite the unnecessary summaries which conclude each chapter, the text is very readable. I was impressed with the sincerity in the author's voice. Ladson-Billings acknowledges her own subjectivity in the Preface.

"I have written this book in three voices: that of an African American scholar and researcher; that of an African American teacher; and that of an African American woman, parent, and community member." (x)

Her use of story to convey ideas makes the book compelling and a quick read. Additionally, in several chapters, she offers clear and extended examples illustrating the finer points of Cultural Relevance in teaching. These examples are set off by bold type, and correspond directly to points previously highlighted in easy-to-read tables. As a resource, this format is especially helpful. At the end of the text, she provides two appendixes, one describing methodology, and the other describing the community in which the study took place. As a qualitative researcher, I found Appendix A, about methodology, to be particularly helpful after reading the excellent study.

Traditionally, research has focused upon white students and then generalized to the entire population. This book focuses on African American students, and the author is careful not to make any sweeping generalizations about that population, or the American population at large. However, the idea of Culturally Relevant Teaching is invaluable to all educators, as it can be applied to all students. The basic notion of tying in a student's life and existing knowledge into the curriculum has a natural place in the multicultural classroom. As the author states on page 52, these teachers share "an overriding belief that students come to school with knowledge...(that) must be explored and utilized in order for students to become achievers."

Creative methods used to "explore and utilize" this knowledge are described throughout the book. One of my favorite lesson "snapshots" uses the children's love of rap music to show them that they have a special knowledge in understanding the meaning of these songs. The teacher uses them as "translators," thereby empowering the students as negotiators of two languages. Certainly, the students attained a more personal and meaningful understanding of several words in "Standard" English.

In a country where much of the popular discourse about African Americans is limited to our failures, The Dreemkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children is a refreshing and inspirational perspective. In her concluding chapter, Ladson-Billings envisions an entirely Culturally Relevant school for African American children. Visions like this are the first step in making our dreams into reality. As the banner outside the imaginary school reads, "It takes a whole village to educate a child."

Rating:
Summary: Dated, weak on causes and solutions of achievement gap
Review: Another book of wishfull thinking and reflective racism all written under the guise of acadamia. The author begins her premise by stating that when she was in school that she could not keep up with white students because of their competitiveness (read:bad white kids, bad bad. Ladson wished that she had come from an idealistic afrocentric school where children learned and produced together (can anyone say Neo-Marxism)...
The majority of her book follows in typical order; Ladson claims that black children make up a unique cultural group whose very presence requirers that we all change our particular world views to fit theirs whether it may be destructive or not.
Ladson's main emphasis is on what she calls Culturally Relevant Teaching; ie., both color and culture do matter. Yet those who supposedly teach that way are just modeling a generic respectfull ethos and not a particular cultural standard as Ladson wants us to believe.
Only in the appendix of the book do we really understand the authors agenda. Guess what? all bad things lead to the white man!!!...Ladson lauds black feminists as "having developed an ethic of caring suggesting that personal emotions, expressiveness and empathy are central to knowledge (read black knowledge) and only black women have this....as for the white male he is dispassionate and objective!! nuff said!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Dream On
Review: Another book of wishfull thinking and reflective racism all written under the guise of acadamia. The author begins her premise by stating that when she was in school that she could not keep up with white studens because of their competitiveness (read:bad white kids, bad bad)while she had come from an idealic afrocentric school where children learned and produced together (can anyone say Neo-Marxism)...
The majority of her book follows in typical order; Ladson claims that black children make up a unique cultural group whose very presence requirers that we all change our particular world views to fit theirs whether it may be destructive or not.
Ladson's main emphasis is on what she calls Culturally Relevant Teaching; ie., both color and culture do matter. Yet those who supposedly teach that way are just modeling a generic respectfull ethos and not a particular cultural standard as Ladson wants us to believe.
Only in the appendix of the book do we really understand the authors agenda. Guess what? all bad things lead to the white man!!!...Ladson lauds black feminists as "having developed an ethic of caring suggesting that personal emotions, expressiveness and empathy are central to knowledge (read black knowledge) and only black women have this....as for the white male he is dispassionate and objective!! nuff said!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A very inspirational tool for young aspiring educators.
Review: Currently I am a student at Macon State College, and I am enrolled in the Introduction to Education Course 2000 and my major is Middle School Education. I really enjoyed the book and its' content. I think the book provided excellent examples of how culturally relevant teaching could help not only African American students but all student involved in the program. The book caused me to look back in retrospect at my primary years of education. I've seen a great number of people that probably could have benefitted from this teaching style. I don't think it would hurt to try this teaching method if it will help decrease the dropout and illiteracy rate present in todays' society. Usually, I sell back books after the semester is over, but I think this one I will keep as reference material when I eventually become a teacher. I highly recommend this book to all aspiring educators.

Rating:
Summary: subtle racism
Review: During the past 40 some years the white race in America has been blamed for societies wrongs. Even whites who have never committed an act of overt or covert racism are a part of the problem; in fact as critical race theory goes the concept of a white Race must be abolished. Feeding on the notion that minorities cant be racist she gleefully states that skin only matters when your black. Somehow black skin has made students and their black teachers into models of openess, kindness, consideration and co-peration (has she visted the D.C schools lately?)....To prove her point that women, esp black feminists, are the only true models of caring. In her so called research she describes 3 (CARING) and experienced female teachers with a young white (boo, hiss) male. Of course the white guy can't win, but not because he is inexperienced, but because he is a white male who uses objective reasoning while the women use the far superior expressive approach (ok chillrenn who can say MF 30 tmes and then divide it by 5?)...This ain't research it's social engineering with an agenda..The same feel good agenda that tells black children that their Egyptian ancestors (not) helped to build the pyramids or that they are decendants of kings and queens....the author's appproach is not differant than that of the slave masters of long ago.

Rating:
Summary: Dated, weak on causes and solutions of achievement gap
Review: Gloria Ladson-Billings needs to read No Excuses, Closing the Racial Gap in Learning by Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom. Ladson-Billings' book, Dreamkeepers, is lacking profound impact to the way we think about education and the problems faced in meeting the problems of the minority population of African-Ameican students. It is missing sufficient, current research to support causes and solutions to the achievement gap between African-American students and all other students. Frank, honest dialogue is needed to change the outcomes of the black population. Her book is just more lip service to examples of good teaching that are obvious to most educators. It is neither helpful nor thought-provoking.

Rating:
Summary: Successful teachers culture do matter when it comes learning
Review: I am a college student at Macon College majoring in Education. I had the opportunity to read "Dreamkeeper" which was an inspiration. The author deals the African American student's learning and how that culture does influence learning. The book examine the effective teaching for African American students and how much teachers has helped students not only achieve academic success while mentoring a postive attitude. The author deals with the ideology and common behavior, not at individual teaching styles. This book I recommend to any teacher (s) and perpective teachers. This is a good reference book

Rating:
Summary: College Student
Review: I am a college student majoring in Education and I had to read this book for my Education class. I really enjoyed the book. It provided excellent examples of how culturally relevant teaching can help African American students.I would suggest that all teachers, student teachers, and parents of African American children read this book. The book explain prospects for improving the academic performance and school experience for students.The book not only stated facts; but also gave examples of how to be successful in your teaching.This book will be a good reference book for anyone interested in educating African American children.

Rating:
Summary: The Book For All Teachers
Review: I am a college student majoring in education and I had to read this book for my Education class.This book provides exemplars of effective teaching for African American students.I agree with the statement that teachers must take care not to ignore color.It examined the prospects for improving the academic performance ,and the school experiences of African American students.We must make a serious effort toward preparing teachers to teach in a culturally relevant manner.I think every beginning teacher(of all races),should read this book.The book not only stated facts,but gave examples to support the facts.This book was enjoyable, and I definitely would read it again.