Classroom Calypso

Book excerpt: What happens when teachers «relinquish the authority of truth providers»? Ninth grader Sasha Pringle, one of the student voices in Classroom Calypso, asserts that such a self-effacing posture empowers students by «releasing the writer within, » thereby fostering a critical, creative, and reflective disposition. Winthrop R. Holder re-represents students not as marginalized beings merely absorbing information but as subjects taking center stage and inscribing themselves into history. On their literary pilgrimage seeking self-knowledge, students, employing tale-telling, recast their classroom as a symposium - a place where popular culture orchestrates the discourse. This is an invaluable book for educators, parents, and anyone interested in understanding and facilitating the voices of urban youth.