Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom

Rick and William Ayers renew their challenge to teachers to teach initiative, to teach imagination, to “teach the taboo” in the new edition of this bestseller. Drawing from a lifetime of deep commitment to students, teaching, and social justice, the authors update their powerful critique of schooling and present classroom stories of everyday teachers grappling with many of today’s hotly debated issues. They invite educators to live a teaching life of questioning—to imagine classrooms where every established and received bit of wisdom, common sense, orthodoxy, and dogma is open for examination, interrogation, and rethinking. Teaching the Taboo, Second Edition is an insightful guide to effective pedagogy and essential reading for anyone looking to evolve as an educator.

What’s new for the second edition of Teaching the Taboo!

  • A deeper exploration of issues of white privilege and racism and war and peace.
  • A more thorough examination of the problems with math and science education, including possible solutions.
  • An expanded exploration of the importance of creative writing for validating individual and community experiences.
  • A more thorough discussion of Freire’s work and comparison to the radical teaching projects of African American activists in the south during the Freedom Schools. 
  • An in-depth look at how students can be part of co-constructing historical narratives and analyses.
  • An update on school struggles in Atlanta, Chicago, and Seattle.

Praise for the first edition of Teaching the Taboo!
“For those frustrated by the thrust of educational 'reform'…this book provides what can be described as both a challenge and a set of alternatives.”
Education Review

“Drawing from a lifetime of deep thinking about education and courageous commitment to precious students, Rick and William Ayers have given us a marvelous book. Their devastating critique of the pervasive market models in education and their powerful defense of democratic forms of imagination in schools are so badly needed in our present-day crisis!”
Cornel West, Princeton University

Teaching the Taboo is provocative, challenging, funny in places, wild but sensible enough to be useful, inspiring, and practical for educators who are working to negate the educational madness that is infecting the schools.”
Herb Kohl, author of 36 Children and Painting Chinese

Rick Ayers is a university instructor and founder of the Communication Arts and Sciences small school at Berkeley High School, and teaches at the University of San Francisco. William Ayers is a school reform activist and a Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

1127957048
Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom

Rick and William Ayers renew their challenge to teachers to teach initiative, to teach imagination, to “teach the taboo” in the new edition of this bestseller. Drawing from a lifetime of deep commitment to students, teaching, and social justice, the authors update their powerful critique of schooling and present classroom stories of everyday teachers grappling with many of today’s hotly debated issues. They invite educators to live a teaching life of questioning—to imagine classrooms where every established and received bit of wisdom, common sense, orthodoxy, and dogma is open for examination, interrogation, and rethinking. Teaching the Taboo, Second Edition is an insightful guide to effective pedagogy and essential reading for anyone looking to evolve as an educator.

What’s new for the second edition of Teaching the Taboo!

  • A deeper exploration of issues of white privilege and racism and war and peace.
  • A more thorough examination of the problems with math and science education, including possible solutions.
  • An expanded exploration of the importance of creative writing for validating individual and community experiences.
  • A more thorough discussion of Freire’s work and comparison to the radical teaching projects of African American activists in the south during the Freedom Schools. 
  • An in-depth look at how students can be part of co-constructing historical narratives and analyses.
  • An update on school struggles in Atlanta, Chicago, and Seattle.

Praise for the first edition of Teaching the Taboo!
“For those frustrated by the thrust of educational 'reform'…this book provides what can be described as both a challenge and a set of alternatives.”
Education Review

“Drawing from a lifetime of deep thinking about education and courageous commitment to precious students, Rick and William Ayers have given us a marvelous book. Their devastating critique of the pervasive market models in education and their powerful defense of democratic forms of imagination in schools are so badly needed in our present-day crisis!”
Cornel West, Princeton University

Teaching the Taboo is provocative, challenging, funny in places, wild but sensible enough to be useful, inspiring, and practical for educators who are working to negate the educational madness that is infecting the schools.”
Herb Kohl, author of 36 Children and Painting Chinese

Rick Ayers is a university instructor and founder of the Communication Arts and Sciences small school at Berkeley High School, and teaches at the University of San Francisco. William Ayers is a school reform activist and a Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom

Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom

Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom

Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom

eBook

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Overview

Rick and William Ayers renew their challenge to teachers to teach initiative, to teach imagination, to “teach the taboo” in the new edition of this bestseller. Drawing from a lifetime of deep commitment to students, teaching, and social justice, the authors update their powerful critique of schooling and present classroom stories of everyday teachers grappling with many of today’s hotly debated issues. They invite educators to live a teaching life of questioning—to imagine classrooms where every established and received bit of wisdom, common sense, orthodoxy, and dogma is open for examination, interrogation, and rethinking. Teaching the Taboo, Second Edition is an insightful guide to effective pedagogy and essential reading for anyone looking to evolve as an educator.

What’s new for the second edition of Teaching the Taboo!

  • A deeper exploration of issues of white privilege and racism and war and peace.
  • A more thorough examination of the problems with math and science education, including possible solutions.
  • An expanded exploration of the importance of creative writing for validating individual and community experiences.
  • A more thorough discussion of Freire’s work and comparison to the radical teaching projects of African American activists in the south during the Freedom Schools. 
  • An in-depth look at how students can be part of co-constructing historical narratives and analyses.
  • An update on school struggles in Atlanta, Chicago, and Seattle.

Praise for the first edition of Teaching the Taboo!
“For those frustrated by the thrust of educational 'reform'…this book provides what can be described as both a challenge and a set of alternatives.”
Education Review

“Drawing from a lifetime of deep thinking about education and courageous commitment to precious students, Rick and William Ayers have given us a marvelous book. Their devastating critique of the pervasive market models in education and their powerful defense of democratic forms of imagination in schools are so badly needed in our present-day crisis!”
Cornel West, Princeton University

Teaching the Taboo is provocative, challenging, funny in places, wild but sensible enough to be useful, inspiring, and practical for educators who are working to negate the educational madness that is infecting the schools.”
Herb Kohl, author of 36 Children and Painting Chinese

Rick Ayers is a university instructor and founder of the Communication Arts and Sciences small school at Berkeley High School, and teaches at the University of San Francisco. William Ayers is a school reform activist and a Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780807772867
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Publication date: 03/26/2014
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 349 KB

About the Author

Rick Ayers is an assistant professor in teacher education at the University of San Francisco and founder of the Communication Arts and Sciences small school at Berkeley High School. William Ayers is a school reform activist and bestselling author. He is a distinguished professor of education and senior university scholar (retired) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Table of Contents

Foreword Haki R. Madhubuti vii

Prelude xi

Introduction 1

1 Emancipate Yourselves from Mental Slavery 17

2 Make Conflict Visible: The Darkness in Our Own Hearts 38

3 Into the Woods 50

4 Tell No Lies: Science and Math Matters 58

5 Banned, Suppressed, Bound, and Gagged 71

6 Queer the Common Sense 78

7 Teaching Lives 91

8 Release the Wisdom in Room: Language and Power 103

9 Voyage to the Unknow 114

Coda 123

Endnotes 128

References 129

About the Authors 132

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“What makes this book important is that it represents an invitation to wrestle with deep-seated assumptions.”
—From the Foreword by Carol D. Lee, Northwestern University

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