Weinberg, C: First-Year Urban High School Teacher

The First-Year Urban High School Teacher: Holding the Torch, Lighting the Fire tracks co-author Paul Weinberg during his first year of teaching as he is introduced to the daily tribulations of an urban Los Angeles high school. Paul's father, Carl Weinberg, who fifty years earlier himself began his career in education as an urban secondary school teacher, shares his experiences side-by-side with those of his son. Together they reveal parallels between Carl's former problems in the urban classroom and the problems his son faces. Though some things have changed, there have not been nearly as many changes as one would have hoped. Interwoven with the father-son anecdotes of personal experience in teaching is a careful scholarly examination of the areas of social and cultural disorganization that the new teacher confronts with students, teachers, administrators, policy makers, and parents as he or she navigates through the behemoth of urban schooling.

This book presents the experiences of a new math teacher in an urban high school and an analysis of these experiences by a veteran professor and critic of urban education in the United States.

Chapter 1 Chapter 1: Autobiographical Note from Paul Chapter 2 Chapter 2: Incoming Chapter 3 Chapter 3: Making Decisions Chapter 4 Chapter 4: Dealing with Failure Chapter 5 Chapter 5: Collegiality and Social Class Chapter 6 Chapter 6: Loosening Up and Seeing the Social Problems Chapter 7 Chapter 7: The New Year Chapter 8 Chapter 8: Second Semester: Old Patterns, New Insights Chapter 9 Chapter 9: Visions of Failure Chapter 10 Chapter 10: April Flowers and Doubters Chapter 11 Chapter 11: Emersion Chapter 12 Chapter 12: They Smell Summer Chapter 13 Chapter 13: Conclusion