 | Book Review on Vivian Gussin Paley's White Teacher. Amy Celina Irene Julianne Talin Roy |
Julianne's Review
The book White Teacher by Vivian Gussin Paley was a very intriguing book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. The story is in the first person with easy language and is a quick read. Paley discusses specific experiences in her teaching career about difficult situations she was put into during a time of school integration. It talks about ways she reacted to situations in the classroom and the difficulty of trying to understand and teach towards all cultures. Paley offers great advice and could really be used as a role model for new teachers or teachers that aren’t familiar with teaching diverse students. The story can be used as a guide for teachers. It brings up many classroom situations that will emerge throughout our teaching careers (at least elementary teaching careers) and ways that Paley was successfully able to change negative situations into positive ones.
The story is written in a lively manner where you really get to know Paley’s students and can easily visualize them as the children they were. I want to teach elementary school, possibly kindergarten, like Paley did. There was a girl in the book named, Claire, who had trouble imagining and playing. This isn’t a situation that you’re prepared for in class. In our curriculum as a teacher we learn about classroom management and ways to handle behavioral issues. What do you do about a child who doesn’t cognitively understand how to imagine and play? In the story Paley suggests to Claire’s dad that she stay after for the lunch program once a week on Wednesdays. This made Claire feel very special! She was part of the “lunch-box group;” and she was able to slowly be taught to play in a less intimidating environment and in a smaller group of peers. As I was reading the story I thought to myself “that’s a great way to handle that situation.” I’m really glad I read this and am able to read about different things to do in situations I have yet to be exposed to.
I found this next technique Paley did in her story very interesting. At first she did everything she could to avoid talking about skin color. She didn’t want to point anything out or make a child uncomfortable. She did this until it was brought to her attention that Paley herself was uncomfortable with the situation in the classroom. Being white, I’m not necessarily sure where the line is when talking about different races in a young classroom environment. Once this was brought to Paley’s attention she tried making race a comfortable topic in the classroom by saying things such as, “My light skin will get darker if I sit in the sun like this, but I doubt if I can make it as dark as yours” or “here’s a new book all about black children. Look, the man who wrote the words is white like me and his wife, who is the artist, is black like Charlene and Steven and Jimmy.” There was a child in the class named Steven who often used racial slurs when angry; by Paley making color and race an okay topic to talk about in the classroom he slowly stopped using the inappropriate words and phrases.
I honestly enjoyed this book and truly do suggest it especially to someone who is planning to teach or is already teaching younger children. The whole book is one story after another about situations that came up in Paley’s classroom and great ways to handle and grow from the experiences. Paley also suggests wonderful ways to teach and share the diversity of cultures.
Talin's Review
The embracing of students of all shapes, sizes and colors has enriched the
soil of the American educational landscape. Comprehending, dissecting, and
eventually formulating a lesson plan around social and
cultural issues involved with a diverse array of students is very
difficult to manage. Luckily, Vivian Gussin Paley has chosen to focus on
these aspects and write about them in her nonfiction book “White Teacher.”
She is a teacher at an elementary school in a predominantly white middle
class neighborhood. Paley admits to a lack of understanding of racial
boundaries between students. Yet like a concerned mother, Paley really
takes time to understand each child and appreciate them for who they are. In one situation in the book an Asian student named Claire does not feel
comfortable playing with dolls. The student would walk off and explain
something about a baby being bloody. Alarmed and somewhat confused, Paley
decided to contact Claire's father. Her father explained how his wife is
pregnant and Claire had seen video of a baby coming out of a woman’s womb. This
level of direct parent-teacher communication is constantly demonstrated by
Paley. In another situation she explains how a Black student would
commonly utter swear words to other students. He would also strike other
students and not share. After numerous accounts of Ms.Paley telling him to
cease his negative words and actions she had him sit in a chair and even
had to hold him down after he tried to hit her as well. She got him to
relax. With the vulgar language she was able to negotiate with him and settled on allowing him two swear words per day. Paley would complement him with positive reinforcement whenever he did
something nice, such as sharing. After a while, the student stopped swearing
and started being respectful to other students. She was also able to do
this with the help of his parents, discussing with them the child's anger
and how to diffuse it. The book traces Paley's progress as she becomes a catalyst for her students' social development. She continually grows as a personand a teacher as she breaks through the barriers in her path. This book was very inspiring, and open about certain issues that one might otherwise not understand. She thoroughly examines how perceptions of race can have an effect on her students and the society they will one day command. Not
only is she becoming a well-rounded person, she's teaching her pupils to
be as well. This is a wonderful book for anyone to read, especially those who are
interested in becoming an educator. From reading her observations and
methods of remedying complex inter-student problems,one is able to take
invaluable lessons from Paley. Sadly, adults sometimes misunderstand their
influence over children. As an educator Paley knew that racism and
hatred were not so much decisions consciously made by children, but the
inventions of parents who projected their fractured beliefs onto their
naive children. Paley takes the time to understand her students and why
they behave the way they do in order to get to the heart of the dilemma.
This was a wonderful book and I recommend any teacher sit down and learn a
lesson from Ms. Paley.
Celina's Review
When I was first introduced to the title ‘White Teacher,’ I was intrigued by the boldness of the title. A Jewish teacher by the name of Vivian Paley was quite determined to make a difference in children’s live. She earned her teaching certificate during a very controversial time in our country, the Civil Rights Movement. She herself growing up had felt out of place because she was among a handful of Jewish children who attended school amongst a much bigger population of Gentiles. Through her years of teach she had a strong desire to have a segregated classroom and welcomed the opportunity to teach children of not only color but of every race. Although many other teachers of her time did not feel this way, Mrs. Paley was not out to build friendships with any staff members she became a teacher to teach. Her primary focus was her students and I really liked that about her.
Another woman whom Vivian encounters in the story is Janet Albright. She is everything that Vivian could have asked for in a teacher. Janet was kind to the children, knew exactly what to say during every situation, and most importantly she was a black potential teacher giving her a different objectivity towards teaching. She allowed the children to play with her hair, was very outspoken, and brought the perfect amount of diversity into Vivian’s classroom. Although Vivian and Janet did not have the same views as to where their teaching skills were needed, they were good friends nonetheless.
A highly controversial subject in the classroom was color. Initially many of Vivian’s students were white, but as the years passed her classroom became quite integrated. Since her classroom was filled with such diversity many times the children questioned themselves as indviduals and each other. Some of them were dealing with identity crisis while others were very passionate about who they were. One of the students in Vivian’s class was a boy whose parents were black and white. Eric was his name and his skin color was more like his fathers who was black. Each day Eric’s father was the one who picked him up from school, but on one occasion his mother came to class for Eric and brought his new baby sister along with her. Many of the children were surprised to see that Eric’s mother was white and one child by the name of Rena, questioned her a lot as to why she was white and her son and baby were black. Her explanation was simple and sweet and it ultimately led to another quite beautiful event. One of the other students by the name of Claire (who is black), was playing with a white baby doll and calling the doll her baby. Another student walked by and suggested to Claire that she play with a black baby doll and she responded by saying, “It’s all right. Eric’s mother is white and she has a black baby. I am a black mother with a white baby” (Paley, 110). I thought that was the most adorable thing to say. The diversity that we were experiencing as a society at that time was finally reflecting in the children.
This book is filled with quotes and mini stories on different children that came in and out of Vivian Paley’s classroom and what they experienced as individuals is quite beautiful. She opens up so much about her own fears of teaching students who are not white and many times she tries to ignore many of the controversies brought up by her young students. In the end she was able to discover herself and in turn was able to help her students discover themselves.
Roy's Review
White Teacher by Vivian Gussin Paley is a great book to read, especially for future teachers. Vivian Gussin Paley engages the reader with her own personal experiences as a teacher. Since she is Jewish, Mrs. Paley seems to identify with minority students. Throughout the book, Paley recalls experiences she had with integrated classrooms. As she remembers her teaching years, she also discovers many things about herself. White Teacher shows Mrs. Paley’s passion and patience for teaching.Vivian G. Paley always felt like a minority as she was growing up. She recalls how at the age of five, she felt ashamed of being Jewish. She leaves her Jewish identity at home. Paley tries to recapture her self-image at times, but even in college she pretended to be like everyone else. Paley started teaching at the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Mrs. Paley really believed in the fundamentals of the movement. As a teacher, she often asked herself whether her classroom was fair and equal for everyone. Unlike many of her peers, she desired to teach an integrated classroom. She felt that she could be fair to every child and help them learn by providing them a safe and loving environment.
Mrs. Paley got to teach an integrated classroom after moving to a Midwestern city. Her class consisted of nineteen Whites, eight Blacks and three Asians. At first, Mrs. Paley felt that she needed to have black children justify themselves by behaving better than the white students. However, in that classroom she met a black boy named Steven. Steven surprised Mrs. Paley by cursing a lot and making racial comments. In one occasion, Steven tells her that he doesn’t have to listen to a white lady. At first, Mrs. Paley didn’t know how to deal with the child. She tried to discipline Steven by making him sit in a chair alone in timeout. He became very mad and kicked the chair. Mrs. Paley patiently decided to try different approaches to deal with Steven’s bad behavior. She ignored most of his bad language. She then gave him positive reinforcement for good actions like sharing glue with the other classmates. Steven changed his behavior and had eliminated most of the racial slurs from his vocabulary. Mrs. Paley learned that promoting and talking about the children’s differences was a lot better than trying to hide them.
Paley gives the reader many more classroom anecdotes. One thing I remember in particular is the fact that Mrs. Paley tried very hard to provide a good learning environment for her students. She goes out of her way to buy books that have colored people in them. She makes her students feel at ease in her classroom. I like how she says that playtime is the pathway to learning because differences are valued since they enhance the imagination.
Irene’s Review
White Teacher is by Vivian Gussin Paley is a book that future teachers should read. The book touches on situations that happen in today’s classrooms as well as issues that teachers may encounter with their students. Vivian Paley is a teacher who mostly taught in white schools and was curious about teaching colored children. She always wanted to teach an integrated class her whole life and was known as the "school radical".
The main issue that the book touches upon is of racial identity. Vivian Paley mentions that she felt out of place in school because she was Jewish and the other students were not so that is why she was able to relate and feel empathetic to her students that needed extra help. She learns to handle a difficult student named Steven who boldly expressed that he did not “…have to listen to no white lady” (pg 35). Vivian suddenly feels attacked and questions her abilities as a teacher thinking to herself if she were a black teacher she would have gained his trust and respect.
Another issue in the book that is touched upon is the fact that children will bring their home life situations with them to the classroom. One example is of the student named Karla who tells Vivian that her “daddy don’t live with us. He has a new place” and how her daddy and her friends thinks she is ugly (pg 128). When I read this part in the book I thought to myself, “How would I respond to a student who mentions personal things about their life to me?” Vivian’s insecurities about herself and being teacher are evident throughout the book but she slowly learns to overcome them handling each situation with empathy and sensitivity. In the end of the book, Vivian still feels that she has not totally overcome identifying her students by their "color" however, through her experiences with them she realizes her students were really a reflection of herself.
Amelia's Review
Vivian Gussin Paley’s book White Teacher has influenced in many different aspects. The book is about Paley’s personal teaching experiences she went through being one of the first to teach an integrated kindergarten classroom. I really enjoyed reading this book because Paley describes in detail some of the issues she faced while teaching and dealing with the students. I loved how Paley added in situations that she at the time didn’t know how to handle and might have went about them wrong.
For example in the book Ms. Paley had an African American student named Alma who isolated her self at times from the students and didn’t even speak to her. She had been in her class for two weeks and was yet to say a word to Ms. Paley. Paley describes how at this moment she didn’t know how to react or even how to approach Alma. since the students were so young they didn’t see Alma’s skin color as really being an issue. But what was interesting was that at times they would tell Ms. Paley what Alma wanted even without her even speaking because even though they are only about five or six years old they were able to read her body language. The way Ms. Paley describe how at first she did not know how to handle the situation but how trying new tactics she was to come to a solution.
Paley not only made me more excited to teach, but she made me see how important it is to incorporate multiculturalism into my curriculum when I do become a teacher. Its amazing how times have changed and how integrated schools are but not many schools teach about different cultures, which is something that is important for students to be able to understand one another. This book is a very good read for every teacher especially first time teachers. She speaks of situations and problems that many teacher fail to realize can happen in a classroom setting. She was able to take negative situations and use different techniques to turn them positive. Paley is an example of an extraordinary teacher in which we should all be grateful for because she broke many barriers and came up with her own solutions to help integrate schools. Paley’s personal accounts were very touching and makes me as a future teacher want to strive for nothing but the best.
