Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School

by Carla Shalaby

A radical educator's paradigm-shifting inquiry into the accepted, normal demands of school, as illuminated by moving portraits of four young "problem children"

In this dazzling debut, Carla Shalaby, a former elementary school teacher, explores the everyday lives of four young "troublemakers," challenging the ways we identify and understand so-called problem children. Time and again, we make seemingly endless efforts to moderate, punish, and even medicate our children, when we should instead be concerned with transforming the very nature of our institutions, systems, and structures, large and small. Through delicately crafted portraits of these memorable children―Zora, Lucas, Sean, and Marcus― Troublemakers allows us to see school through the eyes of those who know firsthand what it means to be labeled a problem.

From Zora's proud individuality to Marcus's open willfulness, from Sean's struggle with authority to Lucas's tenacious imagination, comes profound insight―for educators and parents alike―into how schools engender, exclude, and then try to erase trouble, right along with the young people accused of making it. And although the harsh disciplining of adolescent behavior has been called out as part of a school-to-prison pipeline, the children we meet in these pages demonstrate how a child's path to excessive punishment and exclusion in fact begins at a much younger age.

Shalaby's empathetic, discerning, and elegant prose gives us a deeply textured look at what noncompliance signals about the environments we require students to adapt to in our schools. Both urgent and timely, this paradigm-shifting book challenges our typical expectations for young children and with principled affection reveals how these demands―despite good intentions―work to undermine the pursuit of a free and just society.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Social Justice, Professional Development, School, Psychology

240 pages, Hardcover

Published March 7, 2017

Reviews

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eleventy billion stars. Should be compulsory reading for everyone in a teaching program, for every education policy crafter, for anyone who currently works in a school, for anyone with children.

I cannot say enough about how moved and transformed I feel by this book.

[Mary Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten stars. Must-read for every teacher, pre-service teacher, administrator, person who cares at all about the education system in the USA.

This book is a call to action to remake myself as a teacher, to rethink everything I've taken for granted about the ways we do business in our schools (some of which I've challenged and rebel(led) against, but much of which I stand guilty as charged for). My "Marcus" this year deserves no less. All the rest of the students I will teach in these last few years deserve no less.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reframing troublemakers in school as the canaries in the coalmine, reframing the trouble as existing in our institutions, not in our children, Carla Shalaby makes a big ask, can we be love in the face of troublemakers, can we be love and teach freedom? Even by posing the questions, she offers educators and others interested in the health of our schools and our democracy another way to talk back to the standards, and standardizing language and expectations that have become normalized in schools.
"Alternate images allow us to view children as complex and beautiful human beings rather than caricatures of troublemakers. Their humanness encourages us to try to understand their difficult behavior through a more generous lens -- a lens that treats troublemaking as a verb, rather than a noun. As a noun, a troublemaker is a kind of person -- an identity encoded in and imprinted on individual bodies. It locates the problem of noncompliance in people, fogging our view of the social and cultural production of trouble. By contrast, we can instead treat trouble-making as a verb -- a process, an action, a system. We can ask, how does trouble get made as these children interact with school? Such a question redirects our attention away from "fixing" people whom we assume to be broken and instead toward addressing the harms that seek to break them."
Isn't this what we want for all our children, and indeed, ourselves? To be viewed through a more generous lens, for our failures to comply to be viewed as trouble-making, rather than to be seen as trouble-makers? To be met, in whatever way we show up with love, rather than to be assumed to need fixing? As Shalaby points out, to be this kind of love must be "fierce, powerful, political, insistent. This kind of love is not easy. Authentic public love demands conflict, tears, and hurt..." Our most revered public institutions, and those they ought to serve best, deserve such fierce, powerful, political, insistent love. Don't they?

[Carol Dodgen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated the points the author made about how misbehavior is frequently about a child who feels hurt and excluded from his peers and teachers. I see this happen and it is painfully true. Responding with love is a great solution that many good teachers practice every day.

But abdicating “freedom” and “power” to the collective group of, in this case, 7 year olds? Come on. Really?

In my experience, children feel safe when the teacher is in control of the classroom. Kids want to know what to expect. They deserve a teacher with an even disposition who doesn’t allow domineering, manipulative students to hold the others hostage with over the top behaviors.

The author’s suggestion to teach students to rebel and constantly question authority and even organize civil disobedience? That doesn’t sound collaborative. It sounds hostile and chaotic. I think I’ll pass.

[Suzette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointed with this book. I was recommended to read it through a course in Trauma that I thoroughly enjoyed, however this book gave me nothing to use in my classroom. Teach the kids to love was basically the message. The kids spotlighted came from pretty stable, safe homes and basically the message was let kids run the show. That is not a solution. She began and ended the book whining about Trump.
The problems in our schools are well entrenched and didn’t just magically appear with our new president.

[Susie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, there's a problem. No, viable solutions are not included.

I definitely learned from this book and expanded my thinking, but was very disappointed in the end. Yes, it bothered me that all of the students she followed ended up on medication. I, too, never have liked the term, "classroom management." Yes, I would be worn out like these teachers were. No, I don't agree that having students line up is a, "stringent limit on human freedom."

I would recommend skipping the beginning segments and starting with Part One. I realize that it was not the point of the book, but I would examine how preservice teaching is approached now; too often people will teach the way they were taught. Also, very little was mentioned about actually learning or the joy of learning. The teachers highlighted were doing some innovative things, and I do understand the problem of excluding the "troublemakers" from the learning experiences, their desire to be visible. I was hoping for more ways to accommodate their needs with actual learning.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a teacher who loves my kids and makes relationship my highest priority, I was very frustrated and offended by this book. The students depicted were the victims while the teachers were the culprit. These teachers are tasked with teaching and loving a class of over 25 students. If one student is causing difficulty, we can love them more but there needs to be intervention. You cannot let a student be free to be and do whatever the student desires because you also love the other 24 and desire for their classroom to be a place where they can feel safe, loved, and where they can learn and grow. A student yelling out at another student needs to be addressed- you cannot just let them express themselves at the detriment of another child. The students shared here were highly disruptive and the teachers handled them as best they could with respect and patience. As much as students should be free to be themselves, everyone in life has parameters and rules in society and our jobs. I can’t do whatever I want as a teacher. Students need to understand this. Please don’t put down the teachers for not loving these students enough or allowing them freedom. We work harder than anyone I know and are met with increasingly difficult students who are struggling due to society, loss of the family unit, and excessive screens to name a few along with impossible demands and class size and conditions.... It is a hard time to be a teacher and I fear it will only get more difficult.

[Jeanie Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

(All the stars)

Check out a podcast on this book here: https://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/carla-sh...

If I had to suggest one book that every educator should read, this would be the one. Carla Shalaby chronicles her time spent in schools observing four "troublemakers." From these narratives she forces us to reckon with our own misuse of power in creating school cultures that force children to be docile and compliant in order to succeed. Cornell West said "justice is what love looks like in public." Our schools are deeply unjust places, and they replicate the injustice in the world. Shalaby asks us to consider the power in schools and to create classrooms where everyone belongs, where justice is built by the classroom community. As she asks us to "be love" in our classrooms, I am reminded of John Lewis saying that love was at the heart of the Civil Rights movement. And so was trouble. Lewis continues to ask us to "make good trouble" to create a more just and free world. Shalaby argues that the troublemakers in our schools are doing just that- making trouble so that we can see that our classrooms are not places where students feel free and loved. I am grateful for her call to action.

[Hailey Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I apologize in advance for this lengthy review - I have so many thoughts about this book. I really loved it and I loved reading this educator’s approach to compassionately connecting with students that many have deemed unacceptable. I have never read a perspective similar to this one, but I’m so glad I have now.

This story follows the lives of four children that are labeled as their schools biggest “troublemakers.” Schools and administrators consistently labeled these students as “behaviorally challenged” or “in need of special education/medication” because they had trouble maintaining them in the classroom. However, the author took an empathetic approach to seeing these children simply as humans, rather than boxing them into society’s standard of what student should look like. Honing in on these students strengths, she saw virtues of curiosity, creativity, compassion, and vibrance where some educators only saw disruption, selfishness, command, and disobedience. Commentary throughout the book pointed out that the teachers saw these student’s outbursts as disruptive and disobedient. They said they were fearful that these students would “stand out” in school culture, and disciplined them so they would learn to conform to standards expected of them in that setting. The author challenged this - pointing out that these strengths that the students exemplify may be the things that are being most overlooked in school settings. Curiosity and vibrance might be suppressed in society’s desire to “not stand out.” She creatively expressed how these students are like “caged canaries,” who are crying out for freedom but are being continually silenced. The author considers what it would mean to learn from these students - to learn love, freedom, compassion, empathy.

Reading this from the school counseling perspective was interesting because many of the students who are labeled as “troublemakers” find themselves in a counselors office often. Understanding students from this author’s perspective provides valuable insight into listening to understand, pointing out strengths in children, and working to ensure that students feel seen and heard. Listening to these children, who seem to be calling out more than others, could be valuable in understanding how the school environment may not be effectively meeting all students needs. Rather than trying to change or silence the student, what would it look like to mold and adapt the school environment in a way that meets students unique and changing needs? Rather than telling the student that they don’t fit in, what would it look like to try and understand why the student isn’t thriving in the classroom? What does it look like, as a school counselor, to collaborate with educational stakeholders in seeking to understand how to best meet the needs of these students? (I am not a school counselor yet so I don’t know lol, but I am curious)

I did have a few questions on how this could be practically carried out in a school setting, because she doesn’t give a lot of practicals on how to implement much of what she mentions. However, I do think that her points would be valuable for anyone who works with children to read because it paints a beautiful picture of how to really see and understand children as they are.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I mean, how amazing is it to have an author be able to follow around the 'troublemakers' and offer insight? I approached with a very open mind, wanting to further myself and my classroom by mulling over Shalaby's experiences. However, it really came across as a huge racial issues commentary. To suggest that a 7 year old is acting out because of police violence does not help one inform their teaching. Yes, a teacher's job is to love and cherish the kids in their charge...but we are also tasked with educating these children in a short amount of time.

I did have some big take-aways: I thought deeply about removing children from the classroom. I prefer not to use this as a consequence and I liked Shalaby's take on it. The section with normal rules vs. freedom rules was especially thought provoking.

In short, this was an interesting concept but just not what I was hoping it would be.

[Anne Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't want to read any more books about teaching by people who only study teaching, but who don't actually teach children in a public school classroom or who taught for a year and then left the classroom. My assumption is that if you left the classroom and moved into academia where you only gaze from a distance at the complex workings of students, teachers, and public school buildings, then you couldn't hack it as a classroom teacher, and I give very little credence to much of what you have to say about how to teach students. Teachers, parents, administrators, and, most of all, the students don't need your condescending, self-righteous judgement.

[Allison Peart · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful reframe regarding how we view challenging behavior in schools, although I would have liked more information about what educators should do rather than what they shouldn’t do.

[bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

such an amazing book for teaching! love her perspective and feel like it’s such a good view into the education system and all the students who are excluded at such young ages!!

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written call to arms, encouraging us to see in young people's imagination and unruliness the opportunity for social justice and democratic participation. Shalaby compiles a set of character sketches of children at successful schools who are struggling in their classrooms. In each example, she finds that some of the traits and behaviors that are clearly not easy for "classroom management" are vibrant strengths understood in a different frame. She draws attention to the way that white supremacy shapes which children are perceived to be good, which bad, and also how it spurs behaviors from children of color that are understandable protests but get treated as further evidence of behavior that needs to be eliminated or controlled. Shalaby thinks about how authentic communication and honoring the developmental needs of children (frequent breaks, outdoor time, free socialization) could change the dynamic in some of these classrooms that become suffused with stress and reward only children who can sit still and follow directions. I found the book personally moving because I have a child whose huge emotions and intense energy could easily make her the troublemaker in a classroom, and I love the sensitivity and acuity that Shalaby shows in interpreting the four troublemakers she characterizes in her book, finding charisma and community-building in one child, creativity and individualism in another, ranging interests and skeptical viewpoints in another. If you need a monolithic classroom, then these traits deviate from the norm and disrupt the routine. Shalaby calls for us to shape classrooms differently and also to abandon some of the techniques that have become commonplace for management (time outs, leaving the classroom, public shaming, suspension). The politicism of her call to arms--her connection of childhood and democracy--is very moving, though I also find it demoralizing in our political climate because it seems so clear that Trump's authoritarianism and the dismantling of public schools go hand in hand.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well written, but I have mixed feelings about it. Shalaby is a former elementary teacher who is now in higher education. I was hoping she was a teacher writing about kids whom she herself had taught--the student-teacher relationship from the teacher’s perspective.

I think Shalaby accomplishes what she sets out to do--to demonstrate, through portraiture, the ways that traditional schooling demands compliance, marginalizing kids who don’t conform. Drawing on classroom observations and interviews, she tells the stories of four young children who are marginalized even in their fairly progressive classrooms. As she shows, the system doesn’t work for everyone and may even be injurious to some. The kids profiled made me think deeply about why some students behave the way they do, reminding me that sometimes defiance and disruption occur because children are seeking something they truly need. In many cases, it’s a sense of belonging, which is ironic because their behaviors tend to result in exclusion.

I’m more interested in a book that offers solutions, though. My frustration with the restorative justice movement is that telling teachers to “be love” sounds great, but in practice, what does it look like (other than frickin' CIRCLES), and how is it possible within the confines of a broken system?

This was worth the read, and thought provoking, but the system is broken, and I’m still looking for a book that reimagines it.

[Emma Brand · Rating 1 out of 5]

“These efforts (of students) to be seen were considered inappropriate and the teachers felt their job was to stop them, to squelch them, to train the children to be less visible — more quiet, more still more compliant, more conforming. The teachers felt they were preparing the children for the reality of life… These expectations included not standing out in ways considered strange or different. They would not permit hypervisibility. At every turn, they aimed to blend children into the crowd — to make them less visible.”

Um. I thought the teachers used as examples in this book tried so many strategies to build relationships and rapport with the trouble-making students highlighted in the book. They seemed like incredible educators who cared so much about their environments and their students. I don’t understand why this author throws them under the bus constantly, but offers nearly no helpful solutions while berating the teachers who graciously allowed her to observe in their space and saying that they’re intentionally trying to make certain students less visible.

I’ve never met a single teacher who has felt this or attempted this. Students are human beings and no one realizes that more than teachers and anyone else who loves kids and pays attention to them. I’ve never been so offended and personally discouraged by a perspective of my profession and I’ve heard LOTS of horrible perspectives of my profession.

Ugh.

[Janice McQuaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book should be on the syllabus of every teaching program. I certainly agree with everything stated in the book, and often saw myself in the teachers she observed. The difficulty comes in enacting the change in a school system that does not support this type of change. I think for myself, I will start slowly in my own classroom. If successful there, use that success to stimulate more systemic change. A lot to ponder and think about! This might be a excellent Book Club for teachers to read and share strategies and support one another.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll admit it. I'm deeply in love with this book. I loved it when I read the preface and introduction; perhaps I struggled as I read the portraiture of the four individual students in the two schools; but then I fell even deeper after reading the conclusion and letter to teachers.

The case studies were requisite for helping us struggle with the lens that comes with the institution of schooling. No, it didn't feel quite right--what was happening to Zora, to Marcus, to Sean, to Lucas--but what else could the teachers really do? They're obviously trying and well-intentioned and competent professionals. It's not fair to be too harsh on them as individuals.

My heart broke--in a good way--as I read the closing of the book, though. So... I'm a sucker for fully owning LOVE in public education and Shalaby was singing my theme song, unapologetically.

"People misunderstand the meaning of love in public life." (172)

YES. Amen.

"I'm talking instead about a love that is fierce, powerful, political, insistent."

Preach.

"Authentic public love necessarily demands conflict, tears, and hurt,"

(and an oxford comma, to boot!).

We need to "be willing to listen generously...for a commitment, instead, to the shared goal of freedom" (173).

...a shared goal of freedom. How many people believe that is the goal of education, though, really?

An educator I follow, Dave Stuart Jr., often talks about the the goal of education being "long term flourishing" for all students. I like that goal quite a bit. It is more holistic than "college and career ready," for sure. It also works well when the teacher says on page 178, "I need help figuring out what the need is, and what's going wrong. We can't have a classroom where people are suffering."

We can't have a classroom where people are suffering because that is antithetical to flourishing. If people are isolated, separated, don't feel a sense of belonging, of unconditional positive regard... STOP. Take a reading from the students. Get curious. Ask people to reflect. Listen generously. The lesson will wait. Or it won't. This is the lesson. And it's important.

I was absolutely stopped in my tracks when I read, "anger might be a response to a problem of power rather than a lack of self-control in the individual" (178). "WOW," I wrote in the margins. Wow.

As an English teacher, I sometime will make a point of unpacking the words "author" and "authority" with students in the context of reading and writing instruction. The etymology of the words ("one who brings about, one who makes or creates" and "originator, promoter") to draw out a discussion of power structures that decenters the concept and challenges the idea that it is somehow the purview of adults instead of being something that could be co-created and shared by anyone in a democracy.

The are a million ways that students are told everyday they are not authors of their own lives, their own experiences--especially students on the margins who have been labeled and discarded. It would make me enraged to receive that message, although I did not. I walk in the privilege of my race and class, my educational background and my upbringing in the cultural mainstream.

This book requires a type of decentering that does not feel comfortable for anyone caught, as we are, in institutions so disinclined to making major changes, and it may not feel safe to imagine this could be a way of being in our classrooms. It's an experiment worthy of effort and inquiry, though. If the call is how do we take on the mantle of being "solutionaries"--revolutionary problem solvers with audacious imaginations--along with our students?

Count me in.

[Chelsey Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading about the students in this story, they all encouraged me to examine and reflect on myself as a teacher. Really thinking about what it truly means to have freedom in schools, freedom for students to be authentically curious and for love to be central.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opens eyes to what our “trouble” makers go through in order to make it in our schools. Fascinating read!

[Emma Seibert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attention all educators: READ THIS BOOK

This book shares the story of four students who are fighting to be heard, seen, and be themselves in a system that expects everyone to conform

[Kalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars ��

RTC ~ read for school

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I assigned this book to my first year graduate students to give them an idea of kids and families in schools. Scenarios and considerations reported by the author were thought provoking. I would have given it 5 stars but author’s descriptions and interpretations were primarily white-centered.

[Rebecca Epting · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book and should be used by any and every new teaching program. I love how the author showed the brilliance of these young people, and their humanity. A great lesson for teachers of how to use empathy, and truly know your students to create an inclusive classroom.

[Faaiza Vakil · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read for anyone thinking about working in education systems or with children and youth.

[Jennifer Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique perspectives on how we view children in our classrooms. I am curious to investigate how parents and educators of color respond to the author's ideas.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this to be a pretty frustrating read. It was subjective, at times hypocritical, and biased. After finishing this book, I'm left with, "well now what?" I've just learned for the past 240 pages that all teachers, even ones who have the best hearts and most resources, are doing a disservice to all students whether they realize it or not. That we are just perpetuating a system of submission. This is such a defeatist mentality that does not spark change. Shalaby offers no solutions in her book except to just "be love", but offers no real-life applications for how to actually do this. I'm not sure when the expectation shifted to requiring teachers to be a parent, teacher, counselor, friend, etc. etc. etc. to 30+ students at one time-- extending this to middle school, 150+ over the course of one day. This is a tall and almost impossible order. Are there issues within the educational system? Absolutely, but we need to stop villainizing teachers.

I also have qualms with how certain topics are presented in this book. There is a huge push for power, but only for certain people. Is there no room for respectful discord amongst others? Or is it only celebrated when it's demanded? So should we have identities or no identities? Or only some identities? What is the purpose of education? Not community...strictly education because that seems to get lost here too. Lastly, she seems to praise the individual child and their quest for freedom, but dogs on building the skills to become an independent individual? How do those two different perspectives coexist?

I can appreciate someone else's opinion and do think behaviors shouldn't only be assessed on by a surface-level assumption, but may I also dare to question what's being presented here?

[Amy Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as I was done with this book, I wanted to reread it. This book is filled with gems to observe that I want to go back to and reflect on, gems such as, "The extent of our willingness to change children, coupled with the extent of our unwillingness to change schools, must awaken our collective moral conscience toward a new imagination and approach" (160).

Carla Shalaby's uses the portraiture approach to document four "troublemakers,"each differing in race, class, and gender. Two of the students go to predominately white and affluent schools and two of the students go to schools with diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds ( this made me think of Cambridge, MA). Shalaby was also purposeful in choosing students who were matched with teachers that had highly respected professional reputations. As I read their stories, I felt like I could clearly envision the classrooms they were in. Shalaby does an outstanding job describing the teachers and the students. Particularly through the portraiture there is a clear empathetic ability to show us what school is like in the point of view of the students. This book argues that student trouble making can show us how school as an institution is harmful for them. Instead of trying to fix the kids, we need to listen to how schools are limiting their desire to be full human beings.

This book offers no quick fix. It goes against the canon of classroom management books that describe behavior as more of a technical challenge that can be addressed with specific strategies. Instead, it urges educators to work with students to imagine possibilities where their school can be a place where everyone can be more free.

[Michaela Beavers · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a brand new teacher getting ready to start her first semester, I pulled a stack of books from the local library shelves that looked generally helpful for educators. Seeing the title I expected some tips in classroom management, but ‘Troublemakers’ is written more like a poignant memoir, despite that the unfortunate reality of these children’s stories permeates every school and every classroom in America even now. I don’t know what else to say except that every educator worth their salt should give this one a thorough read - if not for their own professional growth then for their growth as a good human being.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most liberating re-framing of “troublemakers” and “classroom management” I’ve read outside of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Although the four students Shalaby profiles are in elementary school, it does not take much effort to apply these profiles to middle and high schools. I found her proposal to teach love and learn freedom radical and urgent.

As I prepare for a team meeting for one of my TAs, as I think about creating learning spaces for students that are “safer, fairer, freer”, Shalaby’s reframing is informing my pedagogy and practice in real time.

For schools already investing in restorative practices, as my own, this text is an essential all-school read.

The purported troublemakers? They are unfairly labeled. Making trouble in a system that does not value or see their disruptions as upholding their dignity and power, they are labeled early and often as children - as human beings - that need fixing. Instead of compliance, they offer disruption. We ought to listen closely to them. They are teaching us. Excluding, isolating, pathologizing, punishing, and calling them out is an act of injustice to them and the health of our community.

We need to do a better job by them than we traditionally have. This book will inspire educators to start that work now.