Sam Strives for 55 - Week Four

Here is week 4 of Sam's reading journey, the metrics and first week can be found here

We Want to do more than just Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina L. Love

1. Intrigue 
   1. Not sure if this will be intriguing for people outside of education, but for a current English teacher this book ticked all the boxes. Well, really only one box: Vital information that impacts my teaching style. 
2. Writing Style
   1. Compact, but rife with excellent information. Not for light reading (unless you are like Hermione Granger)
3. Flow of Storytelling 
   1. Masterful. There are great stories within the book used to explain the practical effects of abolitionist teaching.
4. Re-readability:
   1. For a teacher like me: infinite re-readability to help remind me about what I need to keep in mind. Even if you’re not an educator this book will give great insight to life, education, and children. 
5. TESS
   1. From the text: 
      1. “Abolitionist teaching is not a teaching approach: It is a way of life, a way of seeing the world, and a way of taking action against injustice. It seeks to resist, agitate, and tear down the educational survival complex through teachers who work in solidarity with their schools’ community to achieve incremental changes in their classrooms and schools for students in the present day, while simultaneously freedom dreaming and vigorously creating a vision for what schools will be when the educational survival complex is destroyed.” 
   2. There’s really not much more to be said. ​

Final Rating: ★★★★★

J. Sam Williams is an illustrious black-tailed hawk, longing to eat as many vegan mice as possible. In his human form, he is a High School English Teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lives with his wife, one dog and two cats. A somewhat retired breakdancing teacher, he is now a co-host on the Alohomora Podcast! He has been published on Lunch Ticket, immix: a journal for justice, Mugglenet, and a slew of small sports journalism publications. You can find him on twitter @Jabbernator.