Troublemakers

Carla Shalaby is a former elementary school teacher who has studied at the Rutgers and Harvard graduate schools of education and directed elementary education programs at Brown University and Wellesley College. Her work focuses on the critical role that children and teachers play in the ongoing struggle for justice. She lives in Detroit and is the author of Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School (The New Press).

Praise for Troublemakers:“Writing about classroom dynamics involving children who have trouble sitting still, following directions, and generally being ‘good’ in class. . . . [Shalaby’s] vivid descriptions of young children will remind many readers of Jonathan Kozol’s best work. . . . Recommended for all academic libraries, especially those serving future teachers.”—Library Journal“I thought I knew a thing or two about freedom until I read Troublemakers. Carla Shalaby reveals how we mistake wild curiosity and wisdom for willfulness, punish children like inmates, and then wonder why there is a school-to-prison pipeline. Riveting, luminous, and terrifying, this little book gives us the tools, the vision, and the confidence to free our children to change the world.”—Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams“I absolutely LOVE how Shalaby's work humanizes 'troublemaking' and skillfully challenges us to rethink oppressive and punitive responses to problematic student behavior. This is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in shifting the prevailing consciousness that has fueled the criminalization of our children.”—Monique W. Morris, author of Pushout“Shalaby illuminates critical lessons for all of us about living and learning and about growing and developing as whole, free human beings. Troublemakers is a necessary book in these troubled times.”—Bill Ayers, author of Demand the Impossible! and To Teach“The implications of this book for our schools, and for our society, are truly radical. Every teacher and teacher-in-training should read it. Come to think of it, so should every policy-maker and every education activist. This outstanding book raises tough questions. If we want humane schools and a just society, we have to ask them.”—Brian Jones, teacher, writer, activist“An important work that every teacher and parent should read.”—Gloria Ladson-Billings, author of The Dreamkeepers“In engaging, detailed descriptions of four early elementary-aged children already labeled 'troublemakers,' readers see the real challenges they pose along with their keen insights, creativity, and resistance that could and should enrich all our lives. This moving work calls on us to re-imagine schools as places where we could learn from the children who, against all odds, 'sing freedom.'”—Deborah Menkart, executive director, Teaching for Change