Sketches in Democracy: Notes from an Urban Classroom
DeLorenzo (music education, John J. Cali School of Music) provides powerful insight into the complexities of urban teaching and learning through her reflections as a teacher educator returning to the classroom for a year to teach music in a new high school. DeLorenzo's audience is teacher educators, and through this book she practices what is often preached--she connects theory and practice through the process of reflection by integrating ethnographic excerpts with an extensive discussion of the educational literature in order to understand urban classrooms and make them more effective. In particular, DeLorenzo is interested in developing urban schools where democracy is practiced by both teachers and students within the context of the arts. However, all teacher educators have a great deal to gain from this book because of the important questions it raises about navigating large urban bureaucracies, entering the teaching profession, developing meaningful curriculum, managing a classroom, and motivating students. The book also investigates the role of race and class. DeLorenzo does not provide easy answers but rather invites teacher educators into the complex world of urban teaching and learning through her own experiences. The concluding lessons-learned section suggests new questions, and readers also learn what happened to the school after its first year.Summing Up:Recommended.(CHOICE)In this remarkable and very personal book,Sketches in Democracy,Lisa DeLorenzo explores what happens when educators come together in a new school designed to promote democracy and confront structural obstacles at every turn. One can see the impact of the experience on inner city students and their teachers. By connecting the daily work with theory and our hopes for renewing public education to secure democratic life, she provides important opportunities for insight into the hope, promise, and obstacles for moving ahead.(John Goodlad, president, Institute for Educational Inquiry, Professor Emeritus, College of Education, University of Washington)Amidst all the policy literature, this is what we really need. Thanks, Lisa. Until we get clearer about what happens inside schools we cannot suggest, much less prescribe, solutions.(Deborah Meier, McArthur Fellowship recipient, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University)Lisa DeLorenzo’sSketches in Democracyis an honest, in-depth, and unbiased view of teaching in the urban schools. This book is a must read for persons interested in working with children. It will prove to be a valuable asset for professionals and non-professionals alike.I have one word …………EXCELLENT!!!!! It was like you have been in my classroom.(Jennifer Ransom, Music Specialist, East Orange Public Schools)I found your ideas and experiences thought provoking, and appreciated the lived experiences you threaded throughout.(Alison M. Reynolds Ph.D, Associate Professor of Music Education. Boyer College of Music and Dance, Temple University)The author sings in two voices—the urban classroom teacher and the educational researcher—artfully harmonizing her journal writings and recollections about specific events within her teaching day with her analyses of those events within the larger educational and social system. By using a narrative style, the author’s hope is to provide a rich contextual description of what it means to be an urban teacher that also serves as a jumping off point for preservice teachers to develop appropriate urban teaching philosophies. She bolsters the narrative with relevant and poignant findings from educational research, greatly increasing the ability to generalize from her singular experience.The author never uses deficit language in discussing these difficult topics, instead choosing to focus on what the students have instead of what they do not. The author displays amazing empathy as she attempts to really understand who her students are while at the same time discovering herself.This book would be a valuable resource in a preservice teacher preparation program, with an eye toward aiding the development of a critical pedagogy framework that is better fit to current urban teaching contexts. This book would also provide a seed for in-service teachers to critically reflect on their practice through a book study group or personal journaling. Educational administrators might consider this book in re-evaluating the negative and pervasive effects of inequity of power within their school communities. Ultimately, this book argues for the inherent connection between education and democracy. To that end, this book offers a pragmatic and philosophical beacon of hope(Democracy and Society)