As any teacher or parent knows, adolescence is a time when youth grapple with the question, Who am I? Issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and ability can complicate this question for young people, affecting their schoolwork and their relationships with teachers, family, and peers. This new edition of Adolescents at School builds and expands on the strengths and insights of the much-acclaimed first edition.
A uniquely practical, insi… More >>
Tags: adolescence, education product, new edition, schoolwork, sexual orientation
#1 by Colleen Nieman on July 2, 2010 - 11:09 am
I bought this book for a class in a Master’s of Education program. I will be doing a student teaching internship in the fall, but I have not had a lot of experience with students from diverse backgrounds. This book gave very good stories, anecdotes, and information about the many ways students can be diverse and how that affects them. In some places there were good tips for handling and understanding diversity, especially if it is negatively affecting a student. It opened my eyes to a lot of issues. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because it was a little sparse on the Asian American chapter and the “Keeping Faith” chapter. I did especially enjoy the chapter on sexual identity and LGBT issues.
Keep in mind that Sadowski is mainly the editor, and only writes the forward, one of the chapters, and the afterward. However, he has chosen great essays by other authors that keep the book very cohesive (including the focus on identity). Most of the chapters have short profiles (including interviews with students) and/or commentaries. It is one of those “textbooks” (if you can even call this book a textbook) that I will be keeping to reread or at least reference. I am a future high school teacher, and the book was more geared towards secondary school students. However, primary school educators would find this book very enlightening as well. I highly recommend this book to other teachers or would-be teachers.
Rating: 4 / 5