Salsa Dancing in Gym Shoes: Exploring Cross-Cultural Missteps with Latinos in the Classroom

Consider how you would typically greet a friend or a relative. Perhaps you would shake hands or even hug. But this might not be the norm in another culture. For example, in the Latino culture, it’s common to greet loved ones with an embrace and a kiss on the cheek, and anything less may be taken as an affront.

If something as simple as “hello” can create a culture gap, how can teachers navigate a multicultural classroom? Salsa Dancing in Gym Shoes takes a close look at the cultural missteps increasingly preventing Latinos from succeeding in education and offers steps that teachers can take to reverse this harmful pattern.

Preservice and veteran educators alike will absorb the book’s current research and theories on Latinos and education as well as its personal essays presenting both historical and current experiences of racism and marginalization. By the final pages, educators will have a brand-new bag of real-world strategies for creating a positive and effective classroom for students of any background.

It’s time to reverse the rising high school dropout rates in Latino communities and close the cultural gap by seizing opportunities for strong relationships, educational success, and career trajectories.