Product Description
A follow-up to the classic collection on the realities of teaching and learning in urban schools.

Of the approximately 50 million public school students in the United States, more than half are in urban schools. A contemporary companion to City Kids, City Teachers: Reports from the Front Row, this new and timely collection has been compiled by four of the country's most prominent urban educators. Contributors including Sandra Cisneros, Jonathan Kozol, Sapphire, and Patricia J. Williams provide some of the best writing on life in city schools and neighborhoods. Young people and practicing teachers, poets and scholars, social critics and journalists offer unique takes on topics ranging from culturally relevant teaching and scripted curricula to the criminalization of youth, gentrification, and the inequities of school funding.

In the words of Sonia Nieto, City Kids, City Schools "challenge[s] the conventional wisdom of what it means to teach in urban schools." ... Read more

Product Description
William Billings (1746-1800) was the most important native-born composer of the American colonial and Federal eras. This catalog is a guide to his 338 choral compositions published in The Complete Works of William Billings (4 vols., 1977-1990). It provides information about Billings's music in the same manner as does Schmeider for Bach and Koechel for Mozart. Included are text sources, first lines, technical data on length, meter, key, and melody, manuscript and reprint sources, and modern recordings. An extensive bibliography and five indexes complete the work. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
William Ayers writes, as a teacher, parent, student and observer, of the children he has known and of the things that actually happen in the classroom. His collection of vignettes should interest those involved in, or concerned with, the art of teaching. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Not Quite As Described, But Made Right
The book was described as new, but came damaged; the binding was coming undone.When speaking with the seller about it, they said it was fine when they sent it and that they had "only used it for one semester" at school... which doesn't really scream "new" to me. The seller gave back a good portion of our money to make the sell right, though, so I would be willing to use this seller again.They were quick to fix the issue and very kind about it.

A parent's review
My son was assigned this book in college. I was surprised that a professor would actually assign a book by such an infamous and unrepentant terrorist (especially one so well-known in the news lately for his connection with Barack Obama) and not feel that this choice of sole assigned text was at least questionable. (Is this really the best example to be found of a good, inspiring, introductory teaching book? Or did it just reflect the instructor's political agenda?) I was curious as to what my son's reaction would be, and was interested to discover that when the class was over, my son was disgusted by the entire experience. He said the class, while rife with an air of political correctness inhibiting honest discussion, was ridiculously simplistic; the assignments were on a par with his middle school courses, and a waste of time. He had gotten the impression that prospective teachers must enter an educational path where the curriculum is definitely "dumbed down" and definitely politicized. As for Ayres' book, he said he was sorry he had had to spend $18 on it and was looking forward to burning it.

I reminded him that Americans don't burn books, they read them and write reviews, which I then volunteered to do. However, I could not bring myself to finish the book, not even to complete a dutiful review. So take my remaining comments as you will:

This book does nothing to hide the fact that it is a polemical screed, obsessed with the author's odd notions of the politics of race and a painfully studied multiculturalism. It is riddled with airy maunderings intended to be intimate and poetic (I suppose), but succeeding only in being squishily written and poorly organized. It is painful to read this book for many reasons, but mostly because it is, right from the get-go, bald-faced in its aims to brainwash and to subvert the educational process and profession. The author does not intend to truly educate children, or their teachers, but to indoctrinate them all into becoming activists for the political ends approved of by William Ayers--and evidently some unknown number of other college professors as well.

Two other much more helpful and inspiring books for beginning student teachers which might better have been assigned are Jay Mathews' _Work Hard. Be Nice._ and Doug Lemov's _Teach Like a Champion_. See also _The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them_ by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. and _Real Education_ by Charles Murray.

Glorifies teaching
This book is surprisingly personal as it explores Ayers' own transformations and decisions as an educator.

This is what Mr. Ayres should be famous for.
This book is an inspiration. Mr. Ayres has an understanding of children and teaching that is inspiring.

Inspiration for Vets and Newbies
I picked up this book because when Mr. Ayers was being called a "known terrorist" during the presidential campaign, I wanted to see if all the fuss was justified, or merely trumped up by the opposing team. When I found out he was an educator like myself, I had to dig deeper. Reading this book makes whatever he did 40 years ago seem irrelevant (especially in light of the passions of the times) compared to the dedicated, compassionate teacher he has been for most of his life. This book reminded me over and over again of the reasons I became a teacher in the first place, and renewed my commitment to always place the nurturing of growing intellects and emotions before the increasingly dehumanizing requirements of federal, state, and district guidelines that squeeze the spirit out of energetic and creative teachers and students. It should be required reading for aspiring and beginning teachers, and for those of us with more experience, I recommend it as a much needed shot in the arm to keep us teaching with the same hope and vitality with which we all stepped off into this honorable profession. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more