In this timely and practical resource, Mary Dilg helps teachers understand and enjoy working with students from different cultural backgrounds. Focusing on the special needs of adolescents, Dilg recommends ways of thinking about curriculum and pedagogy that will enable both teachers and students to thrive in the multicultural classroom. Drawing on over 25 years of experience teaching in urban schools across the country, the author: Provides many examples of student observations, conversations, and writings, both in and out of school. Details approaches to curriculum and pedagogy that are particularly effective in the multicultural classroom. Offers a much-needed exploration of racial identity formation among adolescents, including how teachers can recognize, understand, and respond to this process. Addresses critical issues that many educators avoid, such as the special challenges faced by racially- and culturally-mixed student bodies. Describes and analyzes the forces that emerge in the multicultural classroom and influence the way students respond to each other and to curriculum, pedagogy, and their teacher.