Author Archives: restorativeliteracies

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein is a long tedious read, but is a convincing argument that racial segregation is a product of government action rather than of private choices. Rothstein, using great detail and numerous examples, explains redlining and protections through government loans, mortgages, and oversights even of private banks along with predatoryContinue reading “From My Bookshelf: The Color of Law”

No one, especially educators, wants to risk pigeonholing, caricature, appropriation, diminishment, or stereotyping in their attempts to bring about “multiculturalism” in their classroom or school libraries. On the other hand, color-blindness, or other identity blindness, in which an individual makes an intentional effort to “see” people as people, not their race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status,Continue reading “Literacies Circle: Growing Libraries”

“Race, as we have come to understand it, is a fiction; but racism, as we have come to live it, is a fact,” Charles M. Blow wrote in The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto. A manifesto encouraging as many Black descendants of the Great Migration as possible to return to the south toContinue reading “From My Bookshelf: The Devil You Know”

Metaphors can be used as beguiling forms of rhetoric. And at the same time, metaphors can contain veiled—or not so veiled—threats or call-to-action. Puns can certainly be a form of humorous wordplay but can also backfire as offensive. And there is a gamut of bad arguments such as straw man, equivocation, slippery slope, ad hominem,Continue reading “Literacies Circle: Metaphors”

Intentional Classroom Engagement by Craig W. Adamson is designed as a research-informed workbook, but to me, it serves more like a reflective journal. An opportunity to dive deeper into understanding and implementation of restorative practices in classrooms. Adamson starts with the assumption that his readers have some prior learning and knowledge. I, too, encourage everyoneContinue reading “From My Bookshelf: Intentional Classroom Engagement”