Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms

"The multiple voices in Gloria Ladson-Billings's book are compelling, provocative, and insightful-they provide a powerful 'insider' perspective on what it really means to learn to teach all children well."

—Marilyn Cochran-Smith, professor of education and editor, Journal of Teacher Education, Boston College, School of Education

"Ladson-Billings, one of the stellar researchers and most passionate advocates for social justice, has written yet another masterpiece. By weaving the novice teachers' voices, her personal teaching journey, and language rich in compelling research and inspiring metaphors, Ladson-Billings has documented how new teachers transform schools and teach poor children of color."

—Jacquline Jordan Irvine, Candler Professor of Urban Education, Emory University, Division of Educational Studies

"Masterful teacher and teacher-educator Gloria Ladson-Billings has given us—in highly readable form—a brilliant vision of what teacher education might become. In Crossing Over to Canaan we get a glimpse of how a carefully constructed teacher education program focused on teaching for social justice can produce excellent teaching, even by young, middle-class teachers-in-training, in diverse educational settings."

—Lisa D. Delpit, Benjamin E. Mays Professor of Educational Leadership, Georgia State University

The author of the best-selling book The Dreamkeepers shows how teachers can succeed in diverse classrooms. Educating teachers to work well in multicultural classrooms has become an all-important educational priority in today's schools. In Crossing Over to Canaan, Gloria Ladson-Billings details the real-life stories of eight novice teachers participating in an innovative teacher education program called Teach for Diversity. She details their struggles and triumphs as they confront challenges in the classroom and respond with innovative strategies that turn cultural strengths into academic assets. Through their experiences, Ladson-Billings illustrates how good teachers can meet the challenges of teaching students from highly diverse backgrounds—and find a way to "cross over to Canaan." She offers a model of teaching that focuses on academic achievement, cultural competence, and socio-political consciousness.

Drawing from her own experiences as a young African-American teacher working in Philadelphia, she successfully weaves together narrative, observation, and scholarship to create an inspirational and practical book that will help teachers everywhere as they work to transcend labels and categories to support excellence among all students.