What Should I Do? Confronting Dilemmas of Teaching in Urban Schools

“Have you ever been waiting for THE book? This is that book. Anna Richert has held on to this book for many years because she wanted it to honor the profession and the work of teaching. It satisfies on two important levels—that of those who study teaching and those who do the teaching. At a time when the profession is suffering from a lack of support and criticism on all fronts, Richert elevates it without valorizing it. These are real dilemmas that real teachers struggle with everyday. We owe Anna Richert a big thank you for What Should I Do?”

—Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

What Should I Do? is a practical guide to the everyday dilemmas of the urban classroom. It offers a lifeline to both beginning teachers who are struggling to be successful and to the teacher educators who are trying to prepare them for these challenges. The author uses narratives of practice, written by novice teachers, to help readers experience a variety of dilemmas they are likely to encounter in the classroom. By engaging with and analyzing the cases, readers come to see that the “problems” of teaching are actually “dilemmas” that have no clear-cut right or wrong solution, thus reducing the potential for frustration and despair often felt by teachers. This practical resource will empower teachers to transform the unpredictable world of troubled schools into places of learning and hope, for both themselves and their students. As a former teacher said, “I wish I had read this book and realized that I wasn’t expected to have all the answers. I would probably still be teaching.”

Anna Ershler Richert is a professor in the School of Education at Mills College in Oakland California where she is Director of the Master of Arts in Education with an Emphasis on Teaching (MEET) Program and Faculty Director of the Mills Teacher Scholars.