What if the problem with today's classroom teachers is with the preparation they receive? This piece argues that teacher educators need to learn how to incorporate cultural competence and responsiveness within their daily lives and into their areas of expertise. As a faculty member and coordinator for the academically and/or intellectually gifted…

English teachers can heighten awareness of the factors that influence racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates by working with literature that dramatizes the differences between white and nonwhite experiences within the US criminal justice system. Tim Engles and Fern Kory demonstrate some methods for doing so by juxtaposing two…

Four teachers share their lessons for drawing students into a critical examination of race, class, gender, and sexual identity. They strive to heighten students' awareness of ways literature "and gendered patterns in the world foreground or silence groups of people or issues," and they offer students and teachers tools for change. (Contains 1…

Describe a situation between a teacher and a junior high school student in which the student was given detention for "talking back." Argues that this disciplinary episode was unnecessary had the teacher been better prepared to talk effectively to students and for work with diverse student populations. (SR)

Considers the special challenges faced by white English teachers who use literature written by people of color. Presents models for talking about racial and ethnic differences. Asks if and how white teachers can succeed in covering such literary texts. (HB)

Argues that white students need to know that there have been heroes as well as villains on the white side of the never-ending national struggle over racial differences. Suggests that students of color need to know that whites can be allies; for some, this may be a new idea. (SG)