Overview

This book is an invitation to participate in the “world as it is” with your students. When you teach like a community organizer, you help your students to notice the world as it is, to dream about the world as it should be, and to move toward closing the gap between the two. With this book, you will be able to: Develop the mindset of a community organizer Apply organizing concepts to the classroom Determine how you can make a difference in supporting progressive change in your own school and community Take action in bringing democratic practices to your own school For teachers who have been witness to attacks on public education in the past few years and feel like something needs to change, but are unsure of what to do or are dismayed by the enormity of the size of the problems that we are facing, this book provides tools and examples for direct application to the classroom. The book encourages teachers to try organizing methods in their teaching, building community in the classroom and beyond. This is an excellent resource for any teacher who has the desire to create a more holistic vision for teaching, learning and civic life, particularly for Social Studies educators and those teaching civic engagement.

Full Product Details

9781041196884

Table of Contents

Reviews

“Teaching Like a Community Organizer is a refreshing guide for educators who want to inspire agency and collaboration in their classrooms. It blends practical strategies with deep respect for students, reminding teachers that idealism and real-world teaching can go hand in hand.” -Carol Burris, Executive Director of The Network for Public Education ""Teaching Like an Organizer"" is a heart-filled, determined look at teaching students to be active in learning. Jacob Goodwin grounds his unit design in place and investigation, and most importantly, in the students in the room. I inhaled this book like the deep breath you take at the peak of a mountain. Walking beside a teacher who thinks about our work in complex ways and is constantly learning, agitated by his curiosity, empowered me. Dare we teach like this? Let your answer be YES. - Penny Kittle, author of Book Love, Micro Mentor Texts, and 180 Days With vibrant anecdotes, thoughtful analysis, and practical exercises, Teach Like a Community Organizer is a book to inspire and guide educators looking to center humanity and connection by building profound community within and beyond the classroom. - Michaela Brant, The Progressive magazine In a time where education has focused increasingly on the individual, Jacob Goodwin's ""Teach Like a Community Organizer"" offers an urgent corrective. This book reminds us that education is inherently social and is built on trusting relationships cemented through meaningful action. Goodwin keeps us firmly planted in the ""world as it is,"" as we witness his students assessing their local waterways, problem-solving plastic waste, mapping their communities, and conducting mock trials. With its clear anecdotes and concrete activities, this book offers civic-minded educators a framework for engaging in place-based learning that forges the community of young citizens our world is crying for.- Pablo Wolfe, co-author of The Civically Engaged Educator, Reading, Writing and Speaking for Change “Teaching Like a Community Organizer should be required reading for educators. Filled with tips and tools for cultivating an organizer's mindset, this essential volume is aimed at helping teachers reclaim their agency by reinvigorating the idealism that made them want to teach in the first place. I hear regularly from educators who want to know how they can hold onto hope in a hostile world. Now I have an answer. ""Read this book!"" - Jennifer C. Berkshire, author of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door and The Education Wars: A Citizen's Guide and Defense Manual.

Teach Like a Community Organizer is a refreshing guide for educators who want to inspire agency and collaboration in their classrooms. It blends practical strategies with deep respect for students, reminding teachers that idealism and real-world teaching can go hand in hand.” -Carol Burris, Executive Director of The Network for Public Education Teach Like a Community Organizer is a heart-filled, determined look at teaching students to be active in learning. Jacob Goodwin grounds his unit design in place and investigation, and most importantly, in the students in the room. I inhaled this book like the deep breath you take at the peak of a mountain. Walking beside a teacher who thinks about our work in complex ways and is constantly learning, agitated by his curiosity, empowered me. Dare we teach like this? Let your answer be YES. - Penny Kittle, author of Book Love, Micro Mentor Texts, and 180 Days With vibrant anecdotes, thoughtful analysis, and practical exercises, Teach Like a Community Organizer is a book to inspire and guide educators looking to center humanity and connection by building profound community within and beyond the classroom. —Michaela Brant, The Progressive magazine In a time where education has focused increasingly on the individual, Jacob Goodwin's ""Teach Like a Community Organizer"" offers an urgent corrective. This book reminds us that education is inherently social and is built on trusting relationships cemented through meaningful action. Goodwin keeps us firmly planted in the ""world as it is,"" as we witness his students assessing their local waterways, problem-solving plastic waste, mapping their communities, and conducting mock trials. With its clear anecdotes and concrete activities, this book offers civic-minded educators a framework for engaging in place-based learning that forges the community of young citizens our world is crying for.—Pablo Wolfe, co-author of The Civically Engaged Educator, Reading, Writing and Speaking for Change Teaching Like a Community Organizer should be required reading for educators. Filled with tips and tools for cultivating an organizer's mindset, this essential volume is aimed at helping teachers reclaim their agency by reinvigorating the idealism that made them want to teach in the first place. I hear regularly from educators who want to know how they can hold onto hope in a hostile world. Now I have an answer. ""Read this book! —Jennifer C. Berkshire, author of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door and The Education Wars: A Citizen's Guide and Defense Manual Jake Goodwin writes that our conversations create the world. That wisdom, and this fine book, can help create that better world. — Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and Our Wild Calling Teaching and community organizing may sound like quite different professions, but both aim at equipping people to work together for a better world. As a practitioner of both trades, I’ve long wanted a book that would make the case that Jake Goodwin makes here. Drawing on stories from his own experience, he bridges the gap between theory and practice with a pedagogy I find inspiring. If you’re concerned about the future of American education and our civic life, you’ll find a toolkit for reform and rebuilding between these covers. —Parker J. Palmer (author of “Healing the Heart of Democracy,” “Let Your Life Speak,” and “The Courage to Teach”) Jacob Goodwin's new book, Teach Like a Community Organizer, is exactly what the doctor ordered for those finding themselves trying to teach in uncertain times. Goodwin effectively weaves together stories, practical know-how and ready to use activities that can be used as written or customized with ease. The result is a treasury of ideas that are all at once meaningful, memorable, and genuinely fun. What sets Goodwin's work apart is how he takes readers outside, into the mud, to see the beauty and glean the wisdom that can only come from engagement in real-world messiness. Each section offers us new ideas for creative encounters that spark curiosity and courage for educators and students alike. Goodwin models the iron rule he presents: guiding--not prescribing. He shows educators how to empower themselves and to scaffold the kinds of learning experiences that help students to think and act for themselves. —Annie Rappeport, PhD, Associate Director of Community Dialogue, Yale University

Author Information

Jacob Goodwin is a Social Studies educator with over a decade of experience in public schools. A 2015 James Madison Memorial Fellow, Mr. Goodwin was recognized in 2021 as the NH History Teacher of the Year. In 2023, he was named a Progressive Education Fellow for his advocacy work for public schools and was one of the 23 teachers nationally selected for the Peace Teacher Program at the United States Institute of Peace, a nonpartisan, independent institute founded by Congress with a mission to help prevent, mitigate and resolve violent conflicts. Mr. Goodwin has also been honored as an Innovator in Civic Education Fellow by the David Mathews Center for Civic Life.

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