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Identity Safe Classrooms, Grades K-5: Places to Belong and Learn
Every child valued and empowered to learn—this book shows you how!
This book is focused on a set of strategies that have a positive effect on student learning and attachment to schooling, in spite of real and powerful social inequalities. This evidence-based book is drawn from research showing that students from all backgrounds in identity safe classrooms learn better and like school more than their peers in other classrooms.
In identity safe classrooms, teachers strive to ensure that students feel their identity is an asset rather than a barrier to success at school. Elementary teachers will learn the importance of teaching pro-social skills and cooperative learning in the context of high expectations and challenging curriculum.
Use these strategies, rooted in social psychology research and child centered teaching practices, to build communities of learners in diverse classrooms. Invaluable teacher vignettes, reflective exercises, and practical advice make this comprehensive guide a must for creating an inclusive, academically challenging classroom where students come to understand the empowering message that who they are and what they think matters.
"In this timely, engaging, and needed book, Steele and Cohn-Vargas describe creative and captivating ways in which teachers can construct identity safe classrooms where students from diverse racial, social, economic, and linguistic groups can learn and flourish." —James A. Banks, Professor, University of Washington Founding Director, Center for Multicultural Education
"This timely and pragmatic book thoughtfully lays out a new vision of education with design principles for inclusive, respectful, and rigorous classroom environments that promote expansive and culturally validating forms of learning." —Kris D. Gutierrez, Professor of Learning Sciences and Literacy University of Colorado at Boulder
"The authors combine their scholarship, experience, and wisdom in this amazing book. We all want to How can we help students enjoy school and become eager learners? Educators, read this book and find out!" —Carol Dweck, Professor Stanford University
This book is focused on a set of strategies that have a positive effect on student learning and attachment to schooling, in spite of real and powerful social inequalities. This evidence-based book is drawn from research showing that students from all backgrounds in identity safe classrooms learn better and like school more than their peers in other classrooms.
In identity safe classrooms, teachers strive to ensure that students feel their identity is an asset rather than a barrier to success at school. Elementary teachers will learn the importance of teaching pro-social skills and cooperative learning in the context of high expectations and challenging curriculum.
Use these strategies, rooted in social psychology research and child centered teaching practices, to build communities of learners in diverse classrooms. Invaluable teacher vignettes, reflective exercises, and practical advice make this comprehensive guide a must for creating an inclusive, academically challenging classroom where students come to understand the empowering message that who they are and what they think matters.
"In this timely, engaging, and needed book, Steele and Cohn-Vargas describe creative and captivating ways in which teachers can construct identity safe classrooms where students from diverse racial, social, economic, and linguistic groups can learn and flourish." —James A. Banks, Professor, University of Washington Founding Director, Center for Multicultural Education
"This timely and pragmatic book thoughtfully lays out a new vision of education with design principles for inclusive, respectful, and rigorous classroom environments that promote expansive and culturally validating forms of learning." —Kris D. Gutierrez, Professor of Learning Sciences and Literacy University of Colorado at Boulder
"The authors combine their scholarship, experience, and wisdom in this amazing book. We all want to How can we help students enjoy school and become eager learners? Educators, read this book and find out!" —Carol Dweck, Professor Stanford University
222 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 3, 2013
12 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 18, 2019
One of the best “professional development” books I have read — I felt like it had the right mix of theory, immediately applicable strategies, and sections that prompted me to reflect on my own practice. While there seems to be an elementary slant to this book with the teachers they interviewed, overall I felt like this book captured what I am striving to create in my classroom and gave me a lot to reconsider as well. This is one I’ll be hanging on to!
September 9, 2021
Dr. Steele and Dr. Cohn-Vargas present us with and engaging new way to navigate a long, deeply rooted racially charged society. Sometimes we are unaware of simple actions that affect our children, but this wonderful book seeks to engage the teacher in an easy, yet powerful way. I recommend it to everyone wanting to interact with our culturally rich world in a sensitive and more enriching way. Perfect for teachers and educators. A must read!
December 24, 2017
A lot of great theory and some nice vignettes of how this was put into practice. I felt myself wanting a few more strategies at the end of each chapter.
February 13, 2016
This was one of three books that we could choose to read as a (elementary school) staff last summer in preparation for some professional development around cultural competency. The ideas were good, but fairly vague in their application in the classroom. A few anecdotes to illustrate certain ideas, but nothing really concrete to try to apply. I agreed with almost everything in the book, although almost none of it felt particularly new or enlightening. If your school is very traditional or its pedagogical approach is based around discipline and teacher authority, this would be a good book to read as a staff to begin moving to a more whole-child approach.
The one big idea that I came away with was the idea of "stereotype threat"- the idea that a person's behavior or performance can be negatively affected by the fear that they will accidentally do or say something that will reinforce a negative stereotype that already exists for a group with which they identify. The author did not come up with the idea of stereotype threat, but this was my first encounter with the term, so it was new to me as I read.
The one big idea that I came away with was the idea of "stereotype threat"- the idea that a person's behavior or performance can be negatively affected by the fear that they will accidentally do or say something that will reinforce a negative stereotype that already exists for a group with which they identify. The author did not come up with the idea of stereotype threat, but this was my first encounter with the term, so it was new to me as I read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews