Structures of American Education
Curriculum, Power, and Practice
Kevin R. Magill | Arturo Rodriguez
Education / Multicultural Education
In this book, Kevin Magill and Arturo Rodriguez examine ideas about culture, cultural resonance, and difference that teachers often miss when working with students. The authors argue that teachers often enact excellent work with students but do not always see or understand various power dynamics, ideologies, and realities that situate teaching and learning. The book begins with a broad overview of the educational ecology and the authors identify several elements that obscure how teachers perceive students' realities. Next, they discuss how common historical interpretations ensure narrowly defined perceptions of culture, educational experience, and possibility. Then, Magill and Rodriguez provide specific classroom examples which result from these often-narrow interpretations, identifying several issues that limit educational exchange. These examples illustrate and complexify some of the challenges teachers face when mediating frustrating schooling experiences. The authors help readers tangibly reconsider these interactions and understand how different forms of power affect classrooms. Next, they present certain educational tools that can be used to promote creativity and acceptance of culture and agency while also supporting formal and disciplinary learning. Lastly, Magill and Rodriguez argue for understanding teaching as intellectual solidarity. To them this means working with and for students to cultivate the relationships and interpretation needed to apply the ideas, experiences, and exchanges presented in this book.
Kevin Russel Magill is an Associate Professor at Baylor University, specializing in how social relationships influence teaching, learning, and the adoption of ideological and ontological approaches in teacher education, social studies, and civics education. Previously, he earned his PhD at The University of Texas at Austin and was a secondary educator in California
Professor Arturo Rodriguez is currently Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Community Engagement at Boise State University, who presents at national and international conferences, publishing articles and books on teacher education, curriculum development, policy analysis, assessment/evaluation models, school leadership, and online learning, and changing trends in education. He was previously a high school Spanish teacher who earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from New Mexico State University.
| Publication Date: |
12 November 2026 |
| Publisher: |
Bloomsbury Academic |
| Imprint: |
Bloomsbury Academic |
| ISBN-13: |
9781475871630 |
| Format: |
Paperback softback |
| Page Count: |
136 |
| Weight (oz): |
16.0 |