Communicating Social Justice In Teacher Education

Evolving out of ethnographic fieldwork, this text examines how ideas of social justice are articulated and communicated by pre-service teachers and graduate teaching assistants in the US. By positing the concept of "help" as a central tenet of social justice within teacher education, this volume offers a unique performative analysis of how the concept is communicatively constituted in teacher education and training. Using a social justice framework, the book examines the ways in which new teachers contend with their identities as educators, and demonstrates how these communicative performances influence pre-service and new teachers’ perceptions of their role, as well as their responsibility to engage with social justice and critical approaches in the classroom. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators in higher education with an interest in teacher education, critical communication studies, and the sociology of education more broadly. Those specifically interested in teacher training, mentoring, and social justice in the classroom will also benefit from this book.

The intercultural communication classroom can be an emotionally and intellectually heavy place for many students and teachers. Sensitive topics arise and students must face complex issues with intellectual curiosity and collegial respect. To navigate the precarious waters of intercultural communications, teachers need an intentional approach to foster meaningful discussion and learning. This pedagogical guide presents conceptual overviews, student activities, and problem-solving strategies for teaching intercultural communication. The authors navigate eight categories of potential conflict, including: communicating power and privilege, community engagement in social justice, and assessing intercultural pedagogies for social justice. In addition to empirical studies and the authors’ own classroom experiences, the book features the personal narratives of junior and senior intercultural communication teacher-scholars whose journeys will encourage and instruct readers towards more fulfilling teaching experiences.

Due to the increasingly diverse populations found in Pre-K-12 education, it is imperative that teacher educators prepare preservice teachers to meet the shifting needs of changing student populations. Through the integration of social justice education, teacher educators can challenge the mainstream curriculum with a lens of equity and collaborative equality. Handbook of Research on Integrating Social Justice Education in Teacher Preparation Programs is a critical research book that explores the preparation and teaching methods of educators for including social justice curriculum. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as ethics, language-based learning, and feminism, this book is ideal for academicians, curriculum designers, social scientists, teacher educators, researchers, and students.

Students taught with a social justice framework will ideally have a stronger sense of what is just and fair and choose careers and lifestyles that support their communities. Over time, students look at current and historical events—even their own actions—through the lens of social justice, promoting better decision-making. Building trust impacts the bottom line for global companies, and multilingual communication is a core pillar for effective growth. It is essential to promote this trust through social justice and educate learners on intercultural and multilingual communication. The Handbook of Research on Fostering Social Justice Through Intercultural and Multilingual Communication explores innovative teaching, learning, and assessment practices that foster social justice and enhance intercultural and multilingual communication in primary, secondary, post-secondary, and higher education. It demonstrates the value of adopting a social justice lens in education by broadening and strengthening the evidence base of the impact that this can make for students, educators, and society as a whole. Covering topics such as game-based assessment, social adaptation, and plurilingual classroom citizenship, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for educators and administrators of both K-12 and higher education, librarians, pre-service teachers, teacher educators, government officials, educational managers, linguists, researchers, and academicians.

The issue of social justice has been brought to the forefront of society within recent years, and educational institutions have become an integral part of this critical conversation. Classroom settings are expected to take part in the promotion of inclusive practices and the development of culturally proficient environments that provide equal and effective education for all students regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, and disability, as well as from all walks of life. The scope of these practices finds itself rooted in curriculum, teacher preparation, teaching practices, and pedagogy in all educational environments. Diversity within school administrations, teachers, and students has led to the need for socially just practices to become the norm for the progression and advancement of education worldwide. In a modern society that is fighting for the equal treatment of all individuals, the classroom must be a topic of discussion as it stands as a root of the problem and can be a major step in the right direction moving forward. Research Anthology on Instilling Social Justice in the Classroom is a comprehensive reference source that provides an overview of social justice and its role in education ranging from concepts and theories for inclusivity, tools, and technologies for teaching diverse students, and the implications of having culturally competent and diverse classrooms. The chapters dive deeper into the curriculum choices, teaching theories, and student experience as teachers strive to instill social justice learning methods within their classrooms. These topics span a wide range of subjects from STEM to language arts, and within all types of climates: PK-12, higher education, online or in-person instruction, and classrooms across the globe. This book is ideal for in-service and preservice teachers, administrators, social justice researchers, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in how social justice is currently being implemented in all aspects of education.

The primary purpose of this book is to serve as a resource in teacher preparation programs. It is also intended to serve as an instructional resource in P?12 education. The book will be especially useful in methods of teaching and foundational courses both at the elementary and secondary education levels. The book contains pertinent instructional topics, units and lessons in global education and social justice themes. The secondary purpose of this book is to serve as a resource for graduate students and researchers whose interest is global and social justice education. This unique book provides for an interdisciplinary approach to teacher education. Additionally, this book is intended to create a deeper sense of relevancy to issues of curriculum in teacher education. Together, global educators and social justice educators can forge pedagogical content knowledge that bridges the gap between affirming one's own identity and maintaining unity with the whole, thus exemplifying a robust notion of social justice. Consequently, content in this book will help pre?service teachers to gain confidence and deeper knowledge around issues of global interest, responsibilities and uncertainties associated with their role as teachers who will teach children within the intersection of local and international neighborhoods.

How do educators engage students in community action projects without telling them what to think, how to think, or what to do? Is it possible to integrate social justice organizing into the curriculum without imposing one’s political views on students? In Actions Speak Louder than Words, longtime activist and teacher educator Celia Oyler delves into such questions through firsthand accounts of social action projects. By moving beyond charity work or volunteerism, she shows how community activism projects offer fertile ground for practicing democratic engagement as part of classroom work. Actions Speak Louder than Words is a systematic, qualitative study offering in-depth and detailed portraits of teachers who design social action projects as part of the regular classroom curriculum. Each case forms a chapter organized as a narrative that includes excerpts from classroom dialogues, and interviews with students, teachers, and parents describing their social action projects with sufficient detail to give educators guidance for designing such projects for their own classrooms. The final chapter examines power, pedagogy, and learning outcomes across the cases, providing specific guidance to educators wishing to take up such projects and offering instructional and procedural advice as well as cautions. A fresh new example of taking up the challenge to teach toward equity and social justice, Actions Speak Louder than Words is an invaluable resource for educators who are passionate about the possibility of integrating activism and advocacy into curriculum as a means to engage in strong democracy.

We live in dangerous times when educational policies and practices are debated largely in terms of how they fit with the needs of the free market. This volume is a collection of writing by teacher-educators that draws on their unique biographies, experiences and perspectives to denounce these misguided norms. It explores what it means—practically and intellectually—to teach for social justice in conservative times. In a globalised world where the power of capital holds sway, the purposes of social institutions such as universities and schools is being refashioned in ways that are markedly instrumental and technicist in nature. The consequence is that teachers’ work is increasingly constrained by regimes of control such as standardised testing, accountability, transparency, and national curricula. In the meantime, large numbers of students and teachers are disengaging physically, emotionally and intellectually from learning. The contributors to this edited volume present both a powerful critique of these developments and a counter-hegemonic vision of teacher education founded on the principles and values of social justice, democracy and critical inquiry. Teacher education, they argue, involves a commitment to critical intellectual work that subjects some deeply entrenched assumptions, beliefs, habits, routines and practices to closer scrutiny. The contributing authors expose how ideology and power operate in seemingly blameless, rational ways to perpetuate social hierarchies based on class, gender, sexuality, race and culture.