Our Future Our Teachers

In this charming and powerful picture book about voting and elections, the students of Stanton Elementary School learn how we can find--and use--our voices for change. Every two years, on the first Tuesday of November, Stanton Elementary School closes for the day. For vacation? Nope! For repairs? No way! Stanton Elementary School closes so that it can transform itself into a polling station. People can come from all over to vote for the people who will make laws for the country. Sure, the Stanton Elementary School students might be too young to vote themselves, but that doesn't mean they can't encourage their parents, friends, and family to vote! After all, voting is how this country sees change--and by voting today, we can inspire tomorrow's voters to change the future.

"This book moves beyond the purported dichotomy between university-based teacher education and alternatives such as Teach For America to consider their common challenges and suggest a starting place from which to imagine a future of more effective teacher preparation. In focusing on the experiences of the first Teach For America cohort between 1990-1992, the book anchors its analysis in a particular historical moment, allowing a significant accounting of a pivotal time in [teacher] education as well as thoughtful consideration of both change and continuity in how teachers have been prepared and entered the classroom over the decades since. Through its use of oral history testimonies, Schooling Teachers offers important stories about individuals' personal experiences and actions, but also reveals the broader collective and social forces that shaped and gave meaning to those experiences. Richly detailed qualitative data, in the form of oral history, enables the authors to draw from the specific narratives some general insights that speak to the larger issues of staffing and supporting urban schools"--

In The Future of Our Schools, Lois Weiner explains why teachers who care passionately about teaching and social justice need to unite the energy for teaching to efforts to self-govern and transform teacher unions. Drawing on research, her experience as a public school teacher, and as a union activist, she explains how to create the teachers unions public education desperately needs. Lois Weiner is a professor at New Jersey City University and has been a life-long teacher union activist who has served as an officer of three different union locals. She is the author of The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their Unions: Stories for Resistanc e .

There is increasing recognition that teachers will play a key role in preparing students for the challenges of the future. We expect teachers to equip students with the skill set and knowledge required for success in an increasingly global, digital, complex, uncertain and volatile world.

These young people from across the globe are raising awareness about what issues matter to them most. Jaelun Parkerson from Texas kneels with his football teammates during the National Anthem to protest racial injustice; Canadian Autumn Peltier spoke in front of the United Nations to raise awareness about water pollution; and Melati Wijsen from Bali started working at twelve-years-old to convince his government to ban plastic bags. From oil pipelines to cyber bullying, from gun violence to animal protection, they don't let their youth stop them from being heard.

In recent years there have been significant changes in education across the globe, largely as a result of changing demographics, technological developments, and increased globalization. Relatedly, the changing needs of societies and families, along with new research findings, provide new directions in early childhood education. Consequently, early childhood teachers today are faced with higher and more complex expectations to help ensure that their students achieve their full potential. Such expectations suggest that early childhood teachers should be professionals who are able to draw on a robust knowledge base in making educational decisions. It follows that teacher education programs should develop and implement innovative programs that can potentially enhance the quality of our future teachers. An awareness of pressing issues in the field of early childhood teacher education led the editors to develop this volume. The chapters in these two volumes bring together scholars from across the US and the globe who are interested in improving the quality of early childhood teacher education. The chapters present their experiences, perspectives, and lessons learned as they addressed some of the challenging issues concerning the education and preparation of future early childhood teachers. The various issues and perspectives from different states in the US or countries across the globe provide insights into current issues and dilemmas facing the field. The contributions of these scholars should inform the discourse on early childhood teacher education and help those who work with preservice teachers improve the quality of their work.