Teaching While Black: A New Voice on Race and Education in New York City

by Pamela Lewis

Overview

Teaching should never be color-blind. In a world where many believe the best approach toward eradicating racism is to feign ignorance of our palpable physical differences, a few have led the movement toward convincing fellow educators not only to consider race but to use it as the very basis of their teaching. This is what education activist and writer Pamela Lewis has set upon to do in her compelling book, Teaching While Black: A New Voice on Race and Education in New York City. As the title suggests, embracing blackness in the classroom can be threatening to many and thus challenging to carry out in the present school system.

Unapologetic and gritty, Teaching While Black offers an insightful, honest portrayal of Lewis's turbulent eleven-year relationship within the New York City public school system and her fight to survive in a profession that has undervalued her worth and her understanding of how children of color learn best. Tracing her educational journey with its roots in the North Bronx, Lewis paints a vivid, intimate picture of her battle to be heard in a system struggling to unlock the minds of the children it serves, while stifling the voices of teachers of color who hold the key. The reader gains full access to a perspective that has been virtually ignored since the No Child Left Behind Act, through which questions surrounding increased resignation rates by teachers of color and failing test scores can be answered.

Teaching While Black is both a deeply personal narrative of a black woman's real-life experiences and a clarion call for culturally responsive teaching. Lewis fearlessly addresses the reality of toxic school culture head-on and gives readers an inside look at the inert bureaucracy, heavy-handed administrators, and ineffective approach to pedagogy that prevent inner-city kids from learning. At the heart of Lewis's moving narrative is her passion. Each chapter delves deeper into the author's conscious uncoupling from the current trends in public education that diminish proven remedies for academic underachievement, as observed from her own experiences as a teacher of students of color.

Teaching While Black summons everyone to re-examine what good teaching looks like. Through a powerful vision, together with practical ideas and strategies for teachers navigating very difficult waters, Lewis delivers hope for the future of teaching and learning in inner-city schools.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823271412
Publisher:	Fordham University Press
Publication date:	03/16/2016
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Pamela Lewis is an educator, writer and activist in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Invisible Woman: A Teacher's Fade to Black
Chapter 2: The Honeymoon Song
Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Love Don't Live Here Anymore
Chapter 4: Chapter 4: I'm Looking for a New Love, Baby
Chapter 5: Chapter Five: Caught Out There
Chapter 6: Invisible
Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

Ms. Lewis, in this must read tome, highlights how all people are not one identity.

The Huffington Post

Teaching While Black is one of the most searing, brilliant, heart-rending, brutal, but in the end hopeful reflections on urban education I have ever read. Possessing the analytical insight of a young Du Bois, Pamela Lewis explores the racial, class, and gender elements that shape education for young students of color. Eschewing a mythical color-blind approach to education and insisting on grappling with the pain and possibilities of radically identifying with one’s students—and, ultimately, taking their side in the war against educational inequality and instructional mediocrity—Lewis offers us a dramatic peek into the desires, vulnerabilities, conflicts, defeats, mistakes, and, finally, triumphs of the conscientious and committed black female urban teacher.

Michael Eric Dyson

This riveting and personal narrative is critical to Black, Brown, and White teachers. I can’t wait to pass it on to my novice teaching granddaughter. This should be read by every incoming teacher in America.

Deborah Meier

A powerful read. Lewis offers insight as a practitioner while stroking her pen with the skill of a poet. Teaching While Black makes the case for culturally relevant pedagogy and diversity in curricula. Lewis is the student-turned-educator who is embedded. She brings you into urban school communities in a way that other writers of education simply cannot.

Michael Partis

"Teaching While Black is one of the most searing, brilliant, heartrending, brutal, but in the end, hopeful reflections on urban education I have ever read. Possessing the analytical insight of a young Du Bois, the psychological depth of a young Fanon, and armed with the poignant cri de coeur of a post-Lemonade Beyonce, Pamela Lewis explores the racial, class and gender elements that shape education for young students of color. Eschewing a mythical color-blind approach to education, and insisting on grappling with the pain and possibilities of radically identifying with one's students—and, ultimately, taking their side in the war against educational inequality and instructional mediocrity—Lewis offers us a dramatic peek into the desires, vulnerabilities, conflicts, defeats, mistakes, and finally, triumphs of the conscientious and committed black female urban teacher."—Michael Eric Dyson, author of The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America

"Pamela Lewis is a brilliant young writer and teacher. In combining these two loves, Ms. Lewis has brought to the world as authentic urban narrative about life as a teacher in public education as we have ever seen. Her story is far more compelling than many other books written by teachers because Ms. Lewis takes us so vividly through an urban young Black woman's journey from the anticipation of going to college and becoming a teacher. Teaching While Black accomplishes all of this with a purposeful mix of street smarts and intellectual observations that far exceed her years. This is a must read for those who want an insider's view on the real day to day inside the classroom. It is especially useful for those who have either forgotten, or never know what it is like to navigate the rough terrain of public school teaching in the 21st century."—Stuart Rhoden, Arizona State University

"A captivating read. Lewis' real, honest, broad yet thorough approach exposes so much of what must be known about the experiences of teaching in an urban public school setting. Lewis opens a door, not just into her classroom, but into her heart."—Adam Goldberg, Special Needs educator and Apple Distinguished Educator

"Ms. Lewis, in this must read tome, highlights how all people are not one identity."-The Huffington Post

"A powerful read. Lewis offers insight as a practitioner, while stroking her pen with the skill of a poet. Teaching While Black makes the case for culturally-relevant pedagogy and diversity in curriculum. Lewis is the student turned educator who is embedded. She brings you into urban school communities in a way that other writers of education simply cannot."—Michael Partis, Instructor at CUNY BMCC's Center for Ethnic Studies and Director of Research and Policy at Young Movement Inc.

"I am unaware of any book written in a style that is comparable to Teaching While Black, which focuses on public schools in the Bronx from the perspective of a woman of color on the front lines and in the trenches. Lewis provides educators of color with a better sense of how to advocate for themselves and for the children, parents, and communities they serve."—Lori Martin, Associate Professor of Sociology & African and African American Studies at Louisiana State University and author of Big Box Schools: Race, Education, and the Danger of the Wal-Martization of Public Schools in America

"I started teaching decades before Pamela Lewis, Yet I relived those years with joy and sorrow through her account. I also realized how important it is to reverse the dramatic loss of Black teachers in our schools. It's not by accident. This riveting and personal narrative is critical to black, brown and white teachers. I can't wait to pass it on to my novice teaching granddaughter. This should be read by every incoming teacher in America."—Deborah Meier, author of The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem and 50 year veteran teacher

From the Publisher

I am unaware of any book written in a style that is comparable to Teaching While Black, which focuses on public schools in the Bronx from the perspective of a woman of color on the front lines and in the trenches. Lewis provides educators of color with a better sense of how to advocate for themselves and for the children, parents, and communities they serve.

author of Big Box Schools: Race, Education, and the Danger of the Wal-Martization of Public Schools in America - Lori Martin

Pamela Lewis is a brilliant young writer and teacher. In combining these two loves, Ms. Lewis has brought to the world as authentic urban narrative about life as a teacher in public education as we have ever seen. Her story is far more compelling than many other books written by teachers because Ms. Lewis takes us so vividly through an urban young Black woman’s journey from the anticipation of going to college and becoming a teacher. Teaching While Black accomplishes all of this with a purposeful mix of street smarts and intellectual observations that far exceed her years. This is a must read for those who want an insider’s view on the real day to day inside the classroom. It is especially useful for those who have either forgotten, or never know what it is like to navigate the rough terrain of public school teaching in the 21st century.

Arizona State University - Stuart Rhoden

A captivating read. Lewis' real, honest, broad yet thorough approach exposes so much of what must be known about the experiences of teaching in an urban public school setting. Lewis opens a door, not just into her classroom, but into her heart.

Special Needs educator and Apple Distinguished Educator - Adam Goldberg