2. “This book is an attempt
to…provide a Rethinking
Schools vision of anti-racist,
social justice education that
is both practical for
teachers and sharp in
analysis”
(Au, 2009, p. 1)
“ [It] is an attempt to reclaim multicultural education as part of a
larger, more serious struggle for social justice, a struggle that
recognizes the need to fight against systematic racism, colonization,
and cultural oppression that takes place through our schools” (p. 3).

3. According to Au, multicultural education:
is grounded in the lives of our students
draws on the voices and perspectives of those “being
studied”
teaches through dialogue
critically supports students’ identities
embraces and recognizes the value of students’ home
languages
critiques school knowledge, knowledge that has
historically been Eurocentric
invites students to engage in real social and political
issues (p.3)

4. Definition continued
creates classroom environments where students can
meaningfully engage with each other
is rigorous, and recognizes that academic rigor is
impossible without it
connects to the entire curriculum
is rooted in an anti-racist struggle about which
knowledge and experience should be included in the
curriculum
celebrates social movements and the fight against
nativism, xenophobia, and white supremacy
explores how social, economic, and cultural
institutions contribute to inequality (p. 3)

7. Section 1: Anti-Racist Orientations
Addresses the role of race and culture in schools
Focuses on anti-racist orientations necessary to bring
into the classroom
Explores the relationship between teaching, culture
and privilege
Recognizes the historical and institutional
inequalities we see today

8. Example: Chapter 8, Once Upon a Genocide: Columbus
in Children’s Literature By Bill Bigelow
Children’s literature contributes to the perpetuation of
colonialists perceptions to children, promoting hegemony
in our curriculum.
Most texts focus on Columbus’ quest for adventure as
opposed to his quest for wealth and usually end accounts
after his first landing, omitting how he enslaved, attacked,
and killed the indigenous Tainos he encountered
 “He ordered every Taino on Hispaniola 14 years and older to
deliver a regular quota of gold. Those who failed had their
hands chopped off. In two years of the Columbus regime,
perhaps a quarter of a million people died” (p. 74)

9. Section 2: Language, Culture,
and Power
“Language is central to culture, and how we understand and
treat language in our classrooms speaks to issues of power
both inside and outside of education” (p. 4)
Connections between
Language
Culture
Black English
Bilingual education
Cultural norms for communication
Classroom communications
Student Identities

10. Example: Chapter 16, Raising Children’s Cultural Voices
By Berta Rosa Berriz
“Our students are African Americans and Latinos whose
family cultures differ significantly from mainstream U.S.
culture. Thus, they move between two cultural worlds—
their home culture and the mainstream culture” (p. 148).
Describes the two-way structure to their team taught
Spanish immersion program-the students learn from one
teacher for two weeks in English and the other for two
weeks in Spanish
Shares their use of writing and art with autobiographies to
draw students cultural experiences into the classrooms
Explains the use of a sheltering language development
strategy to scaffold writing through talk

11. Section 3: Transnational Identities,
Multicultural Classrooms
“[They] look at what it means to be an anti-racist,
social justice educator within the context of
immigration, globalization, and colonization—where
our students’ identities are transnational, both rooted
in the United States and not rooted in the United
States” (p. 4).
Cultures and communities are dynamic, not static
Cultural identity can be confusing and relative
Student groups can be “stretched” out as opposed to
grouped together, sharing their unique experiences

12. Example: Chapter 18, What Happened to the Golden Door:
How my students taught me about immigration.
By Linda Christensen
“Turning over the classroom circle to my students allowed
them to become the “experts” and me to become their
student. While I lost control and power over the
curriculum and was forced to question some key
assumptions of my teaching, I gained an incredible
amount of knowledge—and so did they” (p. 179).
Students teach their classmates about immigration in
their own family.
Students start to see each other as unique and don’t make
glaring generalizations as easily.

13. Section 4: Confronting Race in the
Classroom
“…provides concrete examples of anti-racist teaching
at the elementary and secondary levels, in multiple
grades and across multiple subject areas” (p. 4).
How teachers have critically addressed race, culture,
issues of equality and social justice in their classrooms
Trials and successes associated with raising these
complicated issues

14. Example: Chapter 28, Brown Kids Can’t Be in Our Club
By Rita Tenorio
Principal and former first grade teacher, Tenorio
shares practical classroom strategies for teachers of
young children to address already apparent issues of
color and race.
Addresses developmental concerns
Describes “Me Pockets” an activity to involve families
and start dialogue about culture
Teaches respect through communication and social
skills
Converses about and studies skin and skin color

15. Strengths and Weaknesses

16. I chose Reteaching Multicultural Education: Teaching for
Racial and Cultural Justice as a way to answer the plaguing
question about theory: how do we apply it in the real
world?
It is overwhelming for many teachers just to come to
terms with their own biases, but then to realize they may
be inadvertently contributing to the social injustices in
society that drew them to teaching in the first place is an
overwhelming process.
There needs to be a starting point where teachers can take
small steps towards change. Au and the authors of this
text, not only help take teachers through this process, but
give them something concrete to look at as examples for
how they can change too.

17. References
Au, W. (Ed.). (2009). Rethinking multicultural education:
Teaching for racial and cultural justice. Milwaukee, WI:
Rethinking Schools.
Banks, J. (1993). Multicultural education: development
dimensions and challenges. Phi Delta Kappan. 75 (1), 22-28.
de Marrais, K.B. & LeCompte, M. D. (1999). Theory and its
influences on the purposes of schooling. In The way
schools work: A sociological analysis of education (3rd
ed.).
New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1-22.
Friere, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY:
Continuum Books.