In Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Promising Practices for African American Male Students, I take us on a journey into teachers' perceptions of the impact of implementing culturally responsive pedagogical (CRP) practices on the student learning outcomes of African American male students. The book also helps to identify teachers' perceptions of the CRP strategies needed in the elementary school setting to address the diverse needs of African American male students. I share the story of educators from a large, diverse elementary school in an urban school district, who have made it their mission to provide African American male students with culturally responsive learning environments where they can thrive. Throughout the book, I make it clear that the implementation of CRP practices has a direct impact on the student learning outcomes of African American male students. The book provides additional research into the existing literature on CRP practices. Through a case study approach, my work allows for additional insight into the potential impact of CRP practices on the student learning outcomes of African American male students in an urban elementary school setting. The book takes us on a journey of highs and lows, ups and downs, and failures and successes. Throughout the book, rich, detailed stories and descriptions are shared based on classroom observations, interviews, and student learning outcomes collected from three elementary school teachers from diverse backgrounds and various years of experience. Classroom observations were conducted using the Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol (TM) (CRIOP) instrument to assess the practices being implemented in the classroom. As I focused on the hard realities that face African American male students in today's classrooms, I identified six emerging themes, including one overarching emerging theme, and three promising practices that surfaced during my research. The CRP practices implemented proved helpful toward increasing learning outcomes for African American male students, and, ultimately, closing the achievement gap. As an African American educator, I have been able to see how the lack of culturally responsive practices creates learning obstacles for African American male students. These learning obstacles continue to plague a group that has been historically marginalized in our society. The implementation of CRP practices provides educators with an avenue to remedy a social justice issue that has plagued our nation for years. The information shared in this book can be beneficial for all those invested in closing the achievement gap and increasing student learning outcomes through the use of culturally responsive practices, including pre-service and in-service teachers, administrators, caregivers, community advocates, educational researchers, and policy makers.

In Contemporary Urban Youth Culture in China: A Multiperspectival Cultural Studies of Internet Subcultures, Jing Sun explores contemporary Chinese urban youth culture through analyses of three Chinese Internet subcultural artifacts-A Bloody Case of a Steamed Bun, Cao Ni Ma, and Du Fu Is Busy. Using Douglas Kellner's (1995) multiperspectival cultural studies (i.e., critical theory and critical media literacy) as the theoretical framework, and diagnostic critique and semiotics as the analytical method, Sun examines three general themes--resistance, power relations, and consumerism. The power of multiperspectival cultural studies, an interdisciplinary inquiry, lies in its potentials to explore contemporary Chinese urban youth culture from multiple perspectives; explore historical backgrounds and complexity of cultural artifacts to understand contradictions and trajectories of contemporary Chinese urban youth culture; recognize alternative medias as a space for contemporary urban Chinese youth to express frustrations and dissatisfactions, to challenge social inequalities and injustices, and to create dreams and hopes for their future; recognize that the intertexuality among cultural artifacts and subcultures creates possibilities for Chinese urban youth to invent more alternative media cultures that empower them to challenge dominations, perform their identities, and release their imagination for the future; invite Chinese youth to be the change agents for the era but not to be imprisoned by the era; and overcome misunderstanding, misrepresentation, or underrepresentation of contemporary Chinese urban youth cultural texts to promote linguistic and cultural diversity in a multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world. Sun argues that contemporary urban youth need to obtain critical media literacy to become the change agents in contemporary China. They need to be the medium of cultural exchanges in the multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world. In order to best assist contemporary Chinese urban youth in expressing their voices, portraying their hopes, and performing their historical responsibilities as change agents, Sun sincerely hopes more research will be done on the contemporary Chinese urban youth culture, especially on its contradictions and trajectories, with the intent to shed light on more richly textured, nuanced, and inspiring insights into the interconnection between contemporary Chinese urban youth and media power in an increasingly multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world.