Customer Reviews

Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom (Teaching for Social Justice)

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Truly one of the most inspiring and thought-provoking reads I've encountered in a long time. This book speaks to the very heart of what teaching and learning should be. Schultz takes you deep into the heart of room 405 where he and his 5th grade students are transformed into community activists fighting for justice in the form of a new school. This is a powerful story of students motivated to lead, and a teacher courageous enough to follow that lead. The hope, will, and tenacity of these students demonstrate what's possible in education when kids are engaged in authentic purposes for learning. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about children, education, or the role of schools in creating an active citizenry. Rarely has a book made me feel so inspired. The journey of these students and their teacher, as the title suggests, is truly spectacular.

Brian D. Schultz's "Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom" is a beautifully written, well-researched, and heartfelt account of one classroom's journey from stereotyped and ignored to empowered, challenged and brilliant. Schultz's narrative intelligently interweaves the students thoughts, hopes, disappointments, work, and words with his own reservations, thoughts, struggles, and triumphs. Furthermore, he manages to connect, explain, and reinforce their story with some of the greatest educational philosophy and research available (e.g. Dewey. Kozol, Freire, etc.).

What is this read about?
It's about Room 405. In 2004, Schultz was a 5th grade teacher at Chicago's Carr Community Academy. And in short, Schultz participates in a workshop called Project Citizen, which in turn inspires Schultz to do something new with Room 405. He asks the students to identify a problem that they care about/want to solve, and from there, a year-long curriculum was created by the students and for the students of Room 405.
What do the students decide upon?
Room 405 decides that they need a new school because their school is obviously falling apart, so they set-up an Action Plan that consists of the ways in which they are going to go about this undertaking (e.g. writing letters to legislators, interviewing the principal, emailing newspapers, etc.).
What happens after they decide on their problem and what they are going to do?
Are you serious? Just read the book!

As an educator myself, I want to point out that Schultz's Social Justice teaching, as exemplified in this book, should have all of the skeptics and naysayers believing because the proof was and is in the students and the results of what they learned, shared, achieved, and experienced together.

I have had the honor to not only know Dr. Schultz, but also his students from room 405. I was a fifth grade teacher at the time, and I tried to get my students involved with what his students were fighting for by them serving as pen pals and by personally making a visit to the school to witness their fight. Brian is a gifted educator who inspires the reader to reflect upon how they teach and learn. Whether or not the reader is a teacher is irrelevant. Humans constantly teach and learn throughout their lifetime. Brian demonstrates that when given some choice in what is deemed important to the student, authentic and meaningful learning can and will occur. This is true in both children and adults. This journey was important for the students of room 405 as well as for Brian. The students were given choice in what they would learn and how, and the teacher learned while taking the journey with them. Teaching and learning embrace each other, and Brian shows us that through his experiences with his students. This is a must-read not only for teachers and administrators, but for parents and those who are lifelong learners.

In his book, Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, author Brian D. Schultz, narrates the astonishing efforts of his class of fifth grade students who fight for basic resources in their school, William D. Carr Community Academy, in Cabrini Green neighborhood, located on the near North-side of the city of Chicago. Schultz' narrative account of this urban school is a teacher's voice echoed in the actions of his students who struggle to revive the empty promise made to them of a new school building by city officials. The students along with the teacher tap into the real life issues of politics and race. They voice their concerns and stand up for what they believe. Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way is a journey of these children along with their mentor from their classroom walls into the practical world of reality. Together, they move every nook and cranny of political reform that is in their reach to work towards their goal and discover that amazing things have happened along the way of constant pursuit. This book is a celebration of all those spectacular things. From the countless stories that can be told from this experience, Schultz had authentically captured in a beautiful narration an example of democratic education in a real-life account.

This book takes the readers on an emotional roller coaster of astonishment, a virtual struggle, and unbelievable exhilaration. This real-life story is the voice of an inner struggle of a teacher with his teaching philosophy juxtaposed with the outer struggle of the students trying to understand their situation, concluded with a celebration of the efforts and lessons learned. Teacher Brian Schultz builds the background of the importance of democratic teaching, and focuses on his theory of education in the light of the restraints put on educators in the wake of No Child Left Behind of 2001. He struggles with the association of academically inept and formulaic constraints on a child's learning and his ideology of providing opportunity and space for students. His beliefs give rise to a team of civic leaders who struggle to reach their aspirations and get their voices heard. The fifth-grade students learn to work with an amazing real life "curriculum" which helps them dip into the politics of education. Along the way, they learn skills and connect with concepts that they would not have learned with their basic textbook work. The book ends with the emphasis that sometimes learning along the way in the pursuit of achieving the goals is more valuable than the actual goal itself.

I have just finished reading Amazing Things...couldn't put it down! It is complex and deceptively simple at the same time. For those in academia, Brian manages to explain complex theories in understandable terms and show ,quite convincingly, that educational theories can, in fact, be put into practice quite successfully. More importantly, he shows that changes can be made through hard work, and the engagement of young students in planning, learning, doing and beginning to believe in themselves as agents of change. For those who are not in education, the book provides an optimistic and inspiring look at what young people, with the help of a dedicated teacher can accomplish- not all is wrong with education and schools today. As for politicians...a must read. Perhaps they would get a glimmer of understanding that this is the process to use for not leaveing any child behind. Thank you Brian for sharing your experiences with us - when is your next book coming out?

I read this book in one sitting. It is truly amazing, very provocative, and engaging. The book is the story and the journey of a teacher along with his students who worked together to solve a real problem--to get a new school building for the community. Room 405 shows that authentic learning and learning with a purpose is possible in schools today even amidst the imposition of particular knowledge from mandates like NCLB. I could not believe the deplorable environment within this school, but was awakened that an important lesson could be gained from the story: the possibility in co-creating curricula with students. Also it showed that students will get motivated by something important to them as they embody and to turn into practice the ideals of the democratic education in a Deweyan sense. It is one of the best books I have read ever since it provides vivid examples of how teachers can educate in hopeful, appropriate ways that accommodate the needs and interests of the students. This book needs to be widely read not only by educators, but by the general public and policy makers because it shows that there are hopeful possibilities in all people and that there is something better.

One of the most important and challenging things we do in this country is educate our children. This becomes especially important when we think about how education can affect one's life. This book really highlighted for me the hope and possibilities for education in a time when all I hear about is that teachers are focused on standardized tests. Apparently, things can be different.

I must admit that at first I was resistant to some of the ideas presented early on in the book in terms of allowing the students' to guide the learning. I thought the students would naturally pick something that did not challenge them. But, boy was I wrong! It is almost as if my inclinations were the exact opposite. That is where this book has a extremely powerful hook. The students clearly went well beyond that simplicity. They clearly found something that mattered to them. They clearly became transformed in their learning.

While reading the book, I really want to know what happened next. The author does an excellent job of drawing the reader into the story. I felt like I was sitting in the dark classroom with my coat on as vividly described in the narrative. And, I found myself learning, questioning, and reflecting as I was reading. I especially learned what horrific conditions exist in some schools and better understood how that old mantra of picking oneself up by the bootstraps is not so easy when most things in some schools like the one in this book are stacked against you.

I strongly recommend reading this book. It is a page-turner. It will give you much to think about. I promise! What is especially great is that the students are front and center rather than it being all about the teacher. And, I believe that as the author states throughout the book, you will learn from the students in this story, just as he did.

In Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way by Brian Schulz we are given, what I believe to be a rather unique look at what it means to be a teacher. Many books in this genre tend to have a very narrow scope, they either only show you how difficult it can be to be an educator or they only focus on achievements while barely covering the hard work required to get there. This book however covers both sides of the table, showing the reader both the struggles of a teacher and his students, but also what can be achieved when those challenges are met.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of Schultz's book is that it is not really about what adults should do to help children, as many of these education books are, it is about adults backing off and allowing children to help themselves. When many adults talk or write about children, in often becomes a story of what the adults did or should do in order to help children, this story however is about how capable children can be of solving their own problems and helping themselves, all they need is someone to let them try. These children many of whom had spent their lives being under served and not receiving the highest quality education, were capable of achieving so much more then most could have expected once they were just told that they could do it.
This is a unique story about what children can achieve when given the chance. In an extremely honest manner this book describes how education can be changed when students are allowed to have a say in their education and teachers give some of the control of their classroom to their students.

At a time when gentrification is more influential than education, this is a wonderful and unique read that highlights discrepancies in learning environments in the United States. It is eyeopening. The day-to-day activities in the classroom, the students' interactions with political people and their struggle of demanding what is rightfully theirs--a decent school building in the midst of gentrification reigning over rightful education--makes this book one powerful read. I highly recommend it to readers at-large. My occupation is not based in education, but found the story to be extremely informative and engaging.

Witty, intelligent, heartbreaking and hopeful, Schultz's account of a year in the life of his 5th graders is as much a good, inspirational read for the general public as it is a teaching tool for aspiring and practicing teachers. This story of student (and teacher) empowerment gives us one more reason to believe that action -can- make a difference, that kids, even "those kids," can and will exceed society's expectations in all sorts of amazing ways. This is really so much more than one of those "feel good" stories about teachers and their students, or just another one of those "teacher as savior" tales; to lump this piece in those categories would be an insult to the players, especially the kids. Instead, it's a piece that illustrates that a little faith and a lot of guts can result in truly unimaginable experiences and opportunities. Read this book. It'll make you laugh, cry, pound the table and even growl a bit.