Melanie Waller

Teaching that aims to be inclusive of marginalized communities is under attack in the United States, evidenced, for example, in widespread school book banning efforts, prohibition of Advanced Placement African American history, and a general tenor of fear among educators across the K-12 and higher education spectrum. This fear originates from a variety of pedagogical attempts at teaching content or utilizing practices that do anything other than valorize the dominant narrative and status quo in the United States. Classroom teachers and college instructors ask what can be done to uphold the practices they know to support students from all backgrounds to experience educational success and inclusion that won’t capture the ire of parent groups, school boards, or educational commissions bent on squelching such critical efforts. Against the Current: Inclusive Multicultural Education Practices for Contentious Times addresses these issues by providing examples from K-12 and higher education classrooms where educators’ practices offer a path forward.

Each chapter in the book presents an example of ways educators practice multicultural inclusivity and offers insights on how to do so even in hostile environments. Chapters in Part 1 of the book offer re-framings of flashpoint issues, including such topics as anti-Muslim racism and fugitive pedagogical practices. While the chapters in Part 1 offer a grounding in ways educators might rethink the work at hand, the chapters in Part 2 offer innovative tools or practices that educators across grade levels, including higher education, can use, including frameworks for cultivating deep listening when confronting emotionally charged topics in the classroom and curriculum materials for family and community engagement. Finally, Part 3 of the book offers case studies of this work in action, including examples at the individual teacher or instructor level, the classroom level, and the schoolwide level. The volume includes a guide for readers with discussion and reflection questions, extension activities, and additional resources for each chapter.

Against the Current is critical reading in a variety of settings. It can be used in professional development programs to better equip teachers. College and university libraries will want it in their collections. As a teaching textbook, its content will apply to a large number of classes in multicultural education, inclusive teaching and learning, and other courses, thus equipping preservice teachers with valuable tools as they prepare to enter schools.

Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Education; Educational Equity; Foundations of Education; Multicultural Education; Social Justice and Education; Teacher Education; Teaching Methods; Educational Practice; Educational Studies