ABSTRACT
This chapter revisits Martin Haberman's original ideas and explores teacher skills and dispositions that are necessary today to be an effective teacher for the students who need the very best teachers because they have many factors working against them. In Haberman's original text, he focused on education as the equalizer. He posited that if star teachers provide an academically and pedagogically rigorous, student-centered, and humane education—one that accounts for the lived realities of today's poorest students, but does not blame the students for their situation—teachers can begin to level the educational playing field. The revisiting of Haberman's original work will provide examples of how today's "star" teachers work at all levels of social justice teaching. Star teachers must have a commitment to attend to but move beyond Haberman's individual student and school approach if educators are to play a part in reforming the structures and systems that perpetuate inequity. The chapter also discusses some key concepts present in this book.
