Among other issues , this volume includes a bibliography, a list of organizations to contact for further information, and other useful appendixes. The appendix titled “What You Should Know About English Language Learners” offers vital facts about those learning English as a second language and how this issue affects young people. The appendix “What You Should Do About English Language Learners” discusses various solutions to the problems of those learning to speak English. These many useful features make Issues That Concern You: English Language Learners a valuable resource. Given the growing costs of being a society in which multiple languages are spoken, having a greater understanding of this issue is critical.
Powerful Pedagogy: Self-Study of a Teacher Educator’s Practice is the outcome of the author’s systematically questioning her assumptions about teaching and, in various ways, gives voice to the many individuals who have had an impact on the development of the author’s pedagogy as a mathematics teacher educator. Using self-study as both a lens and a methodology to research her practice over the past three years, the author examines the impact of reflection and reflective practice in pre-service teacher education; voice, silence and that which remains “unsaid”; the ways in which teacher identities emerge and develop, and the role of authority and power in learning about teaching.
The reader may be familiar with the quip that books are not finished, they are abandoned. In the case of this book I can say that I know that it is not finished, if by finished is meant that I have covered all the major points in depth and did not neglect the viewpoints of others. That is by way of saying that it was not my intention to write a scholarly treatise, and for several reasons. For one thing, the literature on teachers as performing artists is sparse compared to that concerned with the selection and training of those in the conventional performing arts. The second reason, derived from the first, is that I decided that my focus in this book should be on clarifying several things: Why teaching should be taken seriously as a performing art; why teacher preparatory programs are part of the problem and not the solution; the resistance that should be expected to a truly radical reconceptualization of the selection and training of teachers; and why some of my concrete proposals will be viewed as impractical or require too long a term time-perspective for those (educators and the political community) posessed of the quick-fix mentality.
In this volume we present work by the major contemporary contributors to the help-seeking literature. Authors were free to determine chapter content, including whether to present theoretical or empirical work. They were, however, asked to include implications for learning and teaching, which are stated throughout their work or in separate sections. The book is not explicitly divided into sections but is grouped by topic.
The classroom teacher brings to the planning partnership knowledge of curriculum, of the classroom program, and of student needs and abilities. The teacher-librarian brings to the planning partnership knowledge of curriculum, of the resources to support student learning in the program, and of the skills and strategies necessary for students to handle information and ideas effectively. When these areas of expertise are integrated, the result is teaching and learning with information skills and strategies incorporated in resource-based instruction in thoughtful and relevant ways. Student learning is assessed jointly through careful monitoring and authentic products.
