“I further believe that through our teaching we must not only provide technical knowledge but we must also assure that we fill our students’ hearts and minds with the potential for envisioning a future better than we ourselves can even imagine.” – Lisa Delpit Multiplication is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children.
Need in Deed has spent the past 3 weeks engaged in a lively and thought-provoking discussion of Lisa Delpit’s Multiplication is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children. Our participants included Need in Deed staff, teachers (including one from Hawaii!), friends, and board members.
Each week brought new insights including personal stories from our own educational experiences, reflections from our professional lives, and thoughts about how each of us can make a difference in our personal and professional spheres of influence.
So much of what Dr. Delpit discusses in the book relates to what Need in Deed teachers do in Philadelphia classrooms every day. Like Need in Deed, Dr. Delpit advocates for curricula that centers on students’ lives, is responsive to their interests, and for classrooms that connect with their communities. Most importantly, she advocates for teachers who know their students on a personal level and who challenge them to meet their fullest potential.
We are so happy to have shared this experience with the wider community and look forward to leading more of these conversations in the very near future. Stay tuned!