Finding Freedom In The Classroom

Since its introduction in 1998, Finding Freedom in the Classroom has impacted countless educators and preservice teachers by providing provocative questions about taken-for-granted educational routines as well as an alternative, imaginative view of what classrooms might become. This revised edition brings the conversation to the present day with contemporary examples and references to the best current thinking and writing on relevant issues. By defining terms in everyday language and demonstrating their relevance to everyday life in and out of the classroom, the book demystifies such formidable concepts as hegemony, epistemology, and praxis for readers with little or no background in educational philosophy. Each chapter in this edition ends with several thought-provoking discussion questions and an annotated list of suggestions for further reading, which together provide a sturdy bridge between the theoretical and the practical. Finding Freedom in the Classroom can help teachers both imagine and build new classroom worlds, empowering students and teachers alike to actively shape - rather than passively accept - their fates.

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.

Ditch the behavioral charts and start teaching for universal success Disinterested students and behavioral problems are all too common in schools. Yet results show that behavior charts and other reward-and-punishment systems simply don't work. Teachers are burning out and students are failing. But what can be done? The secret lies in a unique combination of behavioral science, neuropsychology, and group dynamics. When teachers get the classroom experience right, students want to succeed and achieve to their potential, while behavioral problems largely vanish. For decades, it has been widely accepted that children have motivating needs including the need to avoid pain, a need for autonomy, and the need to belong. The authors harness these motivations into a method of interactions that increases cooperation, and in which children want to succeed and help others to thrive. Packed with real classroom examples and practical guidance for using the methods, this guide gives teachers the tools to transform even difficult classrooms. Start teaching for universal success in classroom management and academic accomplishments.

Anger can be a highly destructive force in classrooms and for individuals, both teacher and student. With appropriate effort and knowledge, anger, whether of the fiery flavor or the quiet insidious type, can be addressed and disarmed.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

On August 28, 1963, a remarkable event took place--more than 250,000 people gathered in our nation's capital to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march began at the Washington Monument and ended with a rally at the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech, advocating racial harmony. Many words have been written about that day, but few so delicate and powerful as those presented here by award-winning author and illustrator Shane W. Evans. When combined with his simple yet compelling illustrations, the thrill of the day is brought to life for even the youngest reader to experience. We March is one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Children's Books of 2012

Classroom management is a topic of enduring concern for teachers, administrators, and the public. It consistently ranks as the first or second most serious educational problem in the eyes of the general public, and beginning teachers consistently rank it as their most pressing concern during their early teaching years. Management problems continue to be a major cause of teacher burnout and job dissatisfaction. Strangely, despite this enduring concern on the part of educators and the public, few researchers have chosen to focus on classroom management or to identify themselves with this critical field. The Handbook of Classroom Management has four primary goals: 1) to clarify the term classroom management; 2) to demonstrate to scholars and practitioners that there is a distinct body of knowledge that directly addresses teachers’ managerial tasks; 3) to bring together disparate lines of research and encourage conversations across different areas of inquiry; and 4) to promote a vigorous agenda for future research in this area. To this end, 47 chapters have been organized into 10 sections, each chapter written by a recognized expert in that area. Cutting across the sections and chapters are the following themes: *First, positive teacher-student relationships are seen as the very core of effective classroom management. *Second, classroom management is viewed as a social and moral curriculum. *Third, external reward and punishment strategies are not seen as optimal for promoting academic and social-emotional growth and self-regulated behavior. *Fourth, to create orderly, productive environments teachers must take into account student characteristics such as age, developmental level, race, ethnicity, cultural background, socioeconomic status, and ableness. Like other research handbooks, the Handbook of Classroom Management provides an indispensable reference volume for scholars, teacher educators, in-service practitioners, and the academic libraries serving these audiences. It is also appropriate for graduate courses wholly or partly devoted to the study of classroom management.