Chapter 1 of "We Can't Teach What We Don't Know" is titled, White Man Dancing: A Story of Personal Transformation. As the title suggests, this chapter is mainly about the author's own journey through life and his look back at his differing views about race, especially his views about the White race which he is part of. The author started out in an all-white community, eventually moving to Yale for his schooling. While at Yale he started volunteering in an all black neighborhood called the Hill. The Hill was quite an impoverished area and it led him to completely change his views, including his faith and his political views. The author eventually moved to the Hill and lived there for a number of years. 

After his time at the Hill he decided that in order to be the most effective civil rights leader he could be, he needed to move back into white communities and share with them what he had found out about black communities. Basically, that through history white people have dominated other races and cultures, forcing them to live in their shadow. The author speaks quite a bit about making other races live in the shadow of the white population and making them second class citizens in many ways. He also talked about white privileges and how the populations differ in many ways because of their upbringings and the stereotypes associated with each race. For many of his college years and the years directly after, the author almost rejected his white identity and really almost hated the idea of being white and the ideas associated with this identity. He eventually came to terms with his identity, but through the rest of the writing it is quite obvious that he still is very aggressive about white ideas and the mindsets of large groups of the population. 

After reading this chapter I was really struck in a number of ways with this writing. It seemed that the author had such a negative idea about white people in general and their ideas, he was really almost angry at white people in general and thought them to be very uneducated and unyielding in their beliefs. Now, this is definitely true for certain parts of the population, but I think that his anger was unfounded considering that not all white people think themselves superior to other races or practice dominion over them. I think that I understand where the author is coming from and understand what he is trying to accomplish. All races and ethnicities deserve equality and this definitely carries over to education as well, all children deserve a great education regardless of their race or background. Yet, the author seems to take this a step further and almost blame white people for their domination against other races. 

After reading this chapter I almost felt guilty being white because of the way that the author stereotyped white people as so domineering and mean to other races and ethnicities. Actions must be taken to make sure that all peoples have equal rights and that stereotypes are not taken up by the population in their ideas or actions. But this does not mean that other races should be made out as villains because of the actions or ideas of some. 

 

 

We Can't Teach What We Don't Know

 

 

This book focuses on White Teachers in Multiracial schools and the issues and information that teachers need to know about in order to become successful teachers in diverse schools. The author has been involved in the civil rights movement and is a nationally known speaker speaking on the topic of diversity in schools as well as the trend of white teachers teaching very in multiracial schools across the nation.

 

This book is written for white teachers and looks at the history of white teachers teaching students in minority populations, as well as what teachers can do to most effectively teach their students. I chose this book because I currently am teaching a diverse group of students in my novice placement and I'm sure I will continue to do so in the future, meaning that I need to know how to be the best teacher possible for all students in my classroom, especially those students who come from a different background than myself.

 

 

Howard, G. R. (2006). We Can't Teach What We Don't Know (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.