A Quick Preview of The Dreamkeepers

One of the things I found most powerful in the Foreward of The Dreamkeepers was the fact that at least one powerful and effective teacher came from the classroom of one of the original eight teachers that the author, Gloria Ladson-Billings, studied. It would be highly likely that other good educators came out of the classrooms of these teachers, whether Ladson-Billings was able to track them down or not. I like the idea that a good teacher has an unofficial apprenticeship with his or her students; that, if the students can pick up on the teacher's effective techniques and replicate them, so many more students' lives can be supported or transformed. I can imagine that there are many rewarding things about teaching, but that one of the most would be finding out that one (or more!) of my students grew up and decided to teach because he or she learned something from me.

I appreciate that Ladson-Billings declares that she wrote the book from three points of view: African American scholar and researcher, African American Teacher, and African American woman/parent/community member. Having so many different points of view within the community on this specific topic of African American education makes her an ideal person to discuss it. These different voices within one voice seem to give her credibility, which I suppose will either be confirmed or disconfirmed once I read the rest of the book. I admire that she is straightforward about the fact that she is not impartial or trying to act "removed", as some researchers may.

Over the summer, I read Teach Like a Champion, and expect this book to have some similar insights as to the best practices for teaching students with more of a focus on the factor of culture in education, and with perhaps a few more emotional anecdotes (but that is just a guess).

This is a test. This is only a test.

I am just posting my first blog post ever. This is a momentous occasion. I don't feel any different, though.