{"product_id":"where-i-belong-a-black-teachers-quest-to-find-his-home-9798234140173","title":"Where I Belong: A Black Teacher's Quest to Find His Home","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere are those who wander, and then there are those who \u003cem\u003ereally \u003c\/em\u003ewander. I, a former journalist and current middle school teacher, fall into the latter category.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhere I Belong: A Black Teacher's Quest to Find His Home\u003c\/em\u003e largely takes place over the span of a year teaching in an Inupiat village in Alaska, where throngs of subsistent students, suspicious of outsiders, stayed away from school because they didn't see its worth. Still, I felt we had more in common than they admitted, though this is more than a fish-out-of-water story.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book describes what it's like to teach in other hardscrabble environments: the South Bronx across the street from Morrisania projects, in Chicago's North Lawndale and Englewood neighborhoods, three of the poorest and most violent communities in the country; in Madagascar, where there weren't enough seats in my classroom for my students; in the Philippines, in a classroom with no lights where students shared hand-me-down, water-logged textbooks because there weren't enough to go around; and in the not-hardscrabble environment at all of an elite suburban Chicago elementary school, where students begged me for more rigorous assignments. This was teacher heaven. When I landed there, I thought I had finally found my professional home, but my conscience - the Ghost of Teachers Past perhaps - begged to differ.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy own story, chronicling my past as an unmotivated high schooler to an effective and admired teacher by both students and administrators, explains my passion for teaching and my reason for writing this book. While I traveled the world in search of a professional home that was right in front of me the whole time, I stayed close to my childhood friends, whose lives turned out very different from mine, but whose friendships helped form whom I am today. Likewise, I don't regret my nomadic experience at all because it gave me insights that very few educators besides myself likely possess.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a book not just for educators, but for anyone interested in reading a compelling memoir, one that includes travel, various cultures, social issues and family. In the tradition of Frank McCourt's \u003cem\u003eTeacher Man \u003c\/em\u003e(but quite different). \u003cem\u003eWhere I Belong \u003c\/em\u003etackles some of the thorniest issues of our educational system, including affirmative action, from hard-won personal and professional insights.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough this should be required reading for prospective teachers in colleges of education throughout the land, this is not just for educators. My story will appeal to people who have worked at demanding, often-thankless jobs who must overcome obstacles not of their own making - yet still manage to find satisfaction. And belonging.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Meandering Maestro Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/12\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798234140173\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 306\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.82lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.76d","brand":"David Lance","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53459125076149,"sku":"9798234140173","price":14.44,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/9798234140173.jpg?v=1791297743","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/where-i-belong-a-black-teachers-quest-to-find-his-home-9798234140173","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}