1st Edition

The Critical Middle School Reader

Edited By Enora R. Brown, Kenneth J. Saltman Copyright 2005
    562 Pages
    by Routledge

    568 Pages
    by Routledge

    The Critical Middle School Reader is the first collection of essays that presents multiple critical perspectives on adolescence and middle level education, including critical theory and pedagogy, cultural studies of youth, critical psychology, postmodernism and contemporary feminism. This accessible, efficient, one volume compilation will introduce students, pre-service teachers, and teacher educators to a range of perspectives and will guide them through a thoughtful analysis and critique of both classical and critical texts. Designed to challenge and reframe the basic assumptions about youth development and public education, the collection will support current and prospective teachers and school administrators in their efforts to imagine and create libratory possibilities for youth. It will be an indispensable text in middle level education and adolescent development courses. > key readings on the theory and practice of middle level education provide a thorough, balanced overview of the field > chapter themes tackle traditional and critical stances promoting opportunities to increase critical consciousness > section introductions end with a collection of Discussion Questions to make critical perspectives accessible for teacher educators and pre-service teachers > recommended readings appear at the end of each section to provide students with future reading and further study

    Foreword by James Beane Acknowledgments Introduction Section I: The Social Construction of Adolescence 1. From Adolescence G. Stanley Hall 2. The Role of Pubertal Processes Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Edward O. Reiter 3. Teaching Our Sons Gail Bederman 4. Denaturalizing Adolescence: The Politics of Contemporary Representations Nancy Lesko 5. Bashing Youth and Wild in Deceit Mike Males 6. The American Child and Other Cultural Inventions William Kessen 7. The Invention of the Sexual Adolescent Jeffrey P. Moran 8. Nymphet Fantasies: Child Beauty Pageants and the Politics of Innocence Henry A. Giroux Suggested Readings for Further Study Section II: The Middle School Concept and the Purpose of Education 9. Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the21st Century Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development 10. From The Emergent Middle School William Alexander 11. The Future of Middle Level Education: Optimistic and Pessimistic Views John H. Lounsbury and Gordon F. Vars 12. Back to the Future: Middle Schools and the Turning Points Report Nancy Lesko 13. Schooling in Capitalist America Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis 14. Rivers of Fire: Amoco's iMPACT on Education Kenneth J. Saltman and Robin Truth Goodman 15. From Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire Suggested Readings for Further Study Section III: The Construction of Identity 16. Identity: Youth and Crisis Erik Erikson 17. Racial Identity Formation and Transformation Janie Victoria Ward 18. Freedom for Some, Discipline for Others: The Structure of Inequity in Education Enora R. Brown 19. From Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices Stuart Hall 20. From Bad Boys: Public Schooling in the Making of Black Masculinity Ann Arnett Ferguson 21. Canal Town Girls Julia Hall 22. Subtractive Schooling and Divisions among Youth Angela Valenzuela 23. Asian Americans: The Absent/Silenced/Model Minority Stacey Lee 24. Lesbian and Gay adolescents: Social and Developmental Considerations Dennis Anderson, M.D. 25. English Only: The Tongue-Tying of America Donaldo Macedo Suggested Readings for Further Study Section IV: Curriculum, Assessment, and Critical Pedagogy 26. A Special Kind of Unity James A. Beane 27. Critical Pedagogy and the Social Construction of Knowledge Peter McLaren 28. Social Class and School Knowledge Jean Anyon 29. Teaching and Learning Mathematics for Social Justice in an Urban, Latino School Eric Gutstein 30. You can't just say that the only ones who can speak are those who agree with your positions: Political discourse in the classroom Melinda Fine 31. How come there are no brothers on that list?: Hearing the hard questions all children ask Kathe Jervis 32. Standardization, defensive teaching, and the problems of control Linda M. McNeil Suggested Readings for Further Study Afterword by Mara Sapon Shevin Permissions Index

    Biography

    Enora R. Brown is Brown is Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Research at DePaul University in Chicago
    Her current work in human development and education examines the theories and assumptions that undergird traditional psychology and constructions of youth identities.
    Kenneth J. Saltman is Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Policy at DePaul University in Chicago and the author most recently of The Edison Schools: Corporate Schooling and the Assault on Public Schools (Routledge 2005) and co-editor of Education as Enforcement: The Militarization and Corporatization of Schools (Routledge 2003).

    "Designed to challenge and reframe the basic assumptions about youth development and public education, the collection will support current and prospective teachers and school administrators in their efforts to imagine and create libratory possibilities for youth."--Adolescence, Vol 41 No 161, Spring 2006