Teaching and Critical Pedagogy
SCHOOL
AND SOCIETY
ES 395
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Scholarly Book Review
I. Overview : For this assignment, you are required to examine a textbook and to provide a scholarly book review. The review should be between approximately FOUR pages in length, should be written in 12-point font, and should be double-spaced.
NOTE: For this assignment, you are to submit a duplicate copy of your book review electronically. You will be required to email your paper as an attachment to me at hillary.baker@wmich.edu.
The paper is to be submitted the DAY that it is due, no sooner OR later. When emailing me, make sure the TITLE OF THE PAPER is in THE SUBJECT field of the email.
I will assess the paper copy, and keep the electronic copy of your paper on file.
If I do not get an electronic copy of the book review, you will not receive credit for the assignment and/or you risk having the grade of the paper affected considerably.
Among other things, the review will be assessed on the following:
- Content: You offer insightful or imaginative interpretation of the subject and present the reader with sufficient observations to be clear and convincing. You set up expectations for the reader and fulfill those expectations.
- Focus: The interpretations and observations have a center on which the reader can focus. The writing is not just a random collection of thoughts.
- Structure: There is a coherent and logical structure; thoughts are organized to help the reader understand the focal and subordinate ideas, as well as the relationships between and among ideas.
- Form: There is careful editing for the appropriate use of grammar, mechanics (spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure), documentation, and where appropriate, imaginative document design.
II. What to Do: For this review, you will be offering the reader a well-supported and thoughtful critique of your chosen book. Be mindful of the following:
1. This is NOT a book report, a simple summary of the book and its content. Although you will have to offer the reader a bit of summation regarding the book's content, your job is to identify areas of the book that do or do not work; you need to establish criteria for your review; you need to make judgments and support your judgments with good rationale and support.
2. One of your goals is to discuss/highlight the book's primary concern (s). A good place to find out the author's purpose is to explore the introduction of the book and/or the book's first chapter. Often, the author (or a contributing author) will discuss his/her motivations for writing the book in early chapters. Once you find out the author's goal/purpose, begin to explore how well/whether you feel the author accomplishes his/her mission.
3. As you read the text and explore their goal (s), note and highlight the issues/areas that the book discusses. For example, take a look at the table of contents. Ask yourself: what issues are discussed in the book? Why does the author focus on these issues? What points does the author make and/or explore in each of the chapters? How do the chapters add up/support the author's primary intent?
4. You must provide an evaluative thesis for your review, one making clear your view on the text. This should be found in the paper's introduction.
5. In your assessment, you will be expected to quote the author both directly and indirectly. You need to provide information directly out of the book to support your discussion. But a note of caution: avoid quoting large chunks of text from the book. Look for ways to provide the reader the essence of what is being said in the book. Remember: you only have four pages in which to accomplish the task. Brevity is, therefore, key to a successful review.
6. Further, while you certainly make how you feel about the book to the reader (which is generally implied in the review's tone, manner of presentation, etc.), do not get into an argument with the author or with the text. You are to critique the book and its message, and come to some conclusion about the text, its strengths, weaknesses, its veracity, etc.
7. Also, make sure you allow the author to 'speak' to the issues he/she raises in the text. With the review, you are not writing your own paper on the issue(s) the author discusses i.e. on tracking, multicultural education, etc. You are writing a review of the book and its content, not an essay giving your own opinions/views on what the author is talking about in the book.
8. One final note: even though this is ‘you' offering the evaluation, avoid the use of “I” narrative in your review as much as possible. It is a given that you are the author and the reviewer. Also, avoid things like ‘I feel . . .” and “I think that . . .” until you get to the end of the review.
9. This is NOT a journal, and it is NOT a free flow of thoughts you have on the book. It is a precise, well-organized and well-documented piece of writing. It is not a casual piece of reflective journaling.
10. In short, your goal is twofold: to briefly provide the reader with the essence of the book, what it is, and what it says; etc.; and, to provide the reader with a critically pointed examination on how/why the book is or is not effective in pursuing the author's intent..
For suggestions as to how to attack your review, click here or here or here to find helpful information.
III. Possible Book Titles for Review:
Here is a list of books that you could review. Certainly, there are plenty of other titles to choose from.
NOTE: If there are titles not on the list that you might have an interest in reviewing, let me know before doing so. Do NOT do a book that is not on the list without talking to me first. If you do, you will not receive credit for the assignment.
Some possibilities include:
1. Bigelow, G.; Christensen, I.; Karp, S.; Minor, B. & Peterson B.
(1994). Rethink our classrooms: Teaching equity and justice. Milwaukee:
Rethinking Schools Ltd.
2. Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language & Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
3. Bowles S. & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in Capitalist America.
New York: Perseus Books.
4. Campbell, D. (1996). Choosing Democracy: A practical guide to multicultural
education. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
5. Cummins, J. (1989). Empowering Minority Students. Sacramento: California
Association for Bilingual Education.
6. Deal, T. (1999). Shaping School Culture. San Francisco: Josse-Bass.
7. Donato, R. (1997). The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans
during the civil rights era. New York City: University of New York Press..
8. Duarte, E. M. (2000). Foundational Perspectives in Multicultural Education.
NY.: Longman.
9. Freire, P. (1970). The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.
10. Freire, P. (1973). The Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Continuum.
11. Giroux, H. (1988). Teachers as Intellectuals. MA: Bergin & Garvey.
12. Haney Lopez, I. (1996). White by Law: The legal construction of race.
New York: New York University Press.
13. hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to Transgress. New York: Routledge.
14. Jasso, A. & Jasso, R. (1995). Critical Pedagogy in Reclaiming
Our Voice. Ontario: CABE.
15. Kozol, J. (2005).
The Shame of the Nation: The restoration of apartheid schooling in America. New York: Crown.
16. Kohn, A. (1996). Beyond Discipline: From compliance to community.
Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
17. Kozol, J. (1991). Savage Inequalities: Children in America's schools.
New York: Crown.
18. Krug, E. (1964). The Shaping of the American High School: Volume 1.
N Y. Harper& Row.
19. Kunjufu, J. (1995). Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys.
Chicago: African-American Images.
20. Leistna, P.; Woodrum, A. & Sherblom, S. (1996). "Breaking
Free: The transformative power of critical pedagogy". Cambridge Harvard
Educational Review.
21. McLaren, P. (2004). Life in Schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy.
N Y: Longman.
22. Molnar, A. (1996). Giving Kids the Business: The commercialization
of America's schools. Boulder: Westview Press.
23. Noddings, N. (1992). The Challenge to Care in Schools: An alternative
approach to education. New York: Teachers College Press.
24. Poplin, M. & Weeres, J. (1992). Voices from the Inside: A report
on schooling from inside the classroom. Claremont: The Institute for Education
in Transformation at the Claremont Graduate School.
25. Rosaldo, R. (1993). Culture and Truth. Boston: Beacon Press.
26. Scott, A. (Ed.) (2000) Essays on teacher education: International
and critical perspectives. Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury University
Press.
27. Shor, I. (1993). Empowering Education. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press.
28. Spring, J. (1994). The American School: 1642-1993. New York: McGraw
Hill, Inc.
29. Takaki, R. (1993) A Different Mirror. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
30. Taylor, D. (1991). Learning Denied. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
31. Zinn, H. (1995). A People's History of the United States: 1492-present.
N Y. Harper Collins.
32. Ellsworth, Elizabeth (August, 1989). "Why doesn’t this feel
empowering? Working through the repressive myths of Critical Pedagogy." Harvard Educational Review v59(3).
33. Goodman, Jesse (with Kuzmic, J., & Wu, X.). (1992). Elementary
Schooling for Critical Democracy. Albany: SUNY Press.
34. Loewen, James (1996). Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American
History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone
35. Hinchey, Patricia (2004). Becoming a Critical Educator: Defining a
Classroom Identity, Designing a Critical Pedagogy. New York: Peter Lang
Publishing.
36.Giroux, Henry, and Peter McLaren, eds. Between Borders: Pedagogy and the Politics of Cultural Studies. New York : Routledge, 1994.
37. Giroux, Henry. Pedagogy and the Politics of Hope . Boulder : Westview Press, 1997.
38. Giroux, Henry. Channel Surfing . New York : St. Martin 's Press, 1998.
39. Giroux, Henry. Fugitive Cultures. London : Routledge, 1996.
40. Oakes, Jeanie. Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality. New Haven : Yale UP, 1986.
41. Berliner & Biddle.
The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools. Addison-Welsley, 1995.
42. Gatto, J.T. Dumbing Us Down: The hidden curriculum of compulsory schooling. New Society Publishers, 2002.
43. Wink, Joan. Critical Pedagogy: Notes from the real world. Allyn & Bacon, 2004.
"Critical Book Review” Rubric
An "A" paper would likely look like this:
As a whole, the writing is extremely well written; the content flows without problem by being well organized; attention to categorization of ideas obvious; the writer exhibits a sophisticated control of language, diction, voice/tone; the writing is exceptionally engaging, clear, and focused / The writer clearly illustrates critical thinking about the book by using relevant facts and information; the main ideas/opinions are stated clearly and is convincing; supporting information is abundant; appropriate and main ideas are accurate; as a whole, the writing is logical/rational; and, the writer makes specific references to the book/author/source material and/or examples / Attention to presentation obvious, little to no problems at all with mechanics or grammar and conventions contribute to the effect of the presentation.
A "B" grade means that the writer might meet the requirements, but still lacks in some of the more critical areas reflective of "A" quality work; a "C" grade likely meets some of the criteria/requirements, but leaves too many questions regarding planning, content, approach, etc.; a "D" grade likely reflects considerable problems and/or poor quality of work, support, organization, planning, etc.
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