Teachers College Press Same as It Never Was: Notes on a Teacher's Return to the Classroom (The Teaching for Social Justice Series)

After a decade as an education professor, Greg Michie decided to return to his teaching roots. He went back to the same Chicago neighborhood, the same public school, the same grade level and subject he taught in the 1990s. But much had changed―both in schools and in the world outside them. Same As It Never Was chronicles Michie's efforts to navigate the new realities of public schooling while also trying to rediscover himself as a teacher. Against a backdrop of teacher strikes and anti-testing protests, the movement for Black lives and the deepening of anti-immigrant sentiment, this book invites readers into an award-winning teacher's classroom as he struggles to teach toward equity and justice in a time where both are elusive for too many children in our nation's schools.Book Features:A follow-up to the author's bestseller, Holler If You Hear Me, a long-time staple in teacher education programs.An examination of current issues, such as the importance of teacher unions, anti-racist/culturally relevant teaching, resistance to standardized testing, teacher evaluation, and the political nature of teaching.A rare memoir of a professor returning to public school teaching that will inform and inspire a broad audience. Review "In the book, (Michie) paints a picture of a school on the south side of Chicago where he became entrenched in the lives of the community. He dedicated himself to creating a classroom that gives hope to students. His story is one that is familiar to any teacher."--Teachers College Record"More so than most discussions of teaching, Michie's ability to contrast and document the social and educational system changes that have been and are still evolving makes for an engrossing survey that blends autobiography and teacher experience with many pointed insights about equality, justice, and classroom management, making Same As It Never Was a 'must' for any aspiring teacher as well as those thinking of returning to the classroom after a long hiatus."--Midwest Book Review About the Author Gregory Michie teaches 7th- and 8th-graders in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood. He is the author of Holler If You Hear Me: The Education of a Teacher and His Students, Second Edition; See You When We Get There: Teaching for Change in Urban Schools; and We Don't Need Another Hero: Struggle, Hope, and Possibility in the Age of High-Stakes Schooling