Solidarity, Courage, and Heart: Learning From a New Generation of Teachers

Learning to become effective teachers of students of diverse backgroundswhether those differences are racial, ethnic, gender, linguistic, social class, ability, or others-takes time, attention, and hard work. It means becoming learners of one’s students and stepping into, as much as is possible, their realities and their worlds. In the words of Paulo Freire (1998):

Educators need to know what happens in the world of the children with whom they work. They need to know the universe of their dreams, the language with which they skillfully defend themselves from the aggressiveness of their world, what they know independently of school, and how they know it.