Teacher Training And Effective Pedagogy In The Context Of Student Diversity

The purpose of this volume is two-fold. First, the book attempts to initiate a research-based dialogue from a variety of perspectives specifically about teacher training and teaching in the context of student linguistic and cultural diversity; and, second, to cast a wide net over three major areas of professional development that have the potential to impact on teacher quality and on the educational services provided to ELLs at all levels of instruction. This book represents a first attempt to a quiet revolution going on in teacher education (Johnson, 2000). It allows the reader to uncover research activities and experiences that constitute individual teacher education program initiatives. A revolution, because it is stirring the very essence of what stands at the core of teacher education, a core that has long been based more on training to teach monolingual English speaking students and less on teaching ELLs, their first and second language development, using their bilingualism to teach academics, and on the process of becoming an effective teacher of ELLs. This state-of-the-art review brings together research on effective pedagogy and teacher training. The nine feature chapters are directly concerned with effective new structures and practices for professional development and are presented in a framework that considers a wide spectrum of topics to address issues such as: what teachers need to understand about English language learners, what kind of professional experiences are likely to facilitate those understandings, and what kinds of teacher education programs and school settings are able to support their ongoing learning. The authors also discuss the implications of their work for helping English language learners connect and benefit from school from the points of view of (1) school reform, (2) teachers’ bilingual proficiencies, (3) teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, and (4) teacher training programming and sustainability.

Studying Diversity in Teacher Education is a collaborative effort by experts seeking to elucidate one of the most important issues facing education today. First, the volume examines historically persistent, yet unresolved issues in teacher education and presents research that is currently being done to address these issues. Second, it centers on research on diverse populations, bringing together both research on diversity and research on diversity in teacher education. The contributors present frameworks, perspectives and paradigms that have implications for reframing research on complex issues that are often ignored or treated too simplistically in teacher education literature. Concluding the volume with an agenda for future research and a guide for preparing teachers for diversity education in a global context, the contributors provide a solid foundation for all educators. Studying Diversity in Teacher Education is a vital resource for all those interested in diversity and education research.

This book provides new teachers with concepts and pedagogical strategies designed to enhance the unique and individual characteristics of an increasingly diverse student population.

From ice-breaking activities to ways to meet specific expectations in all areas of the curriculum, teachers will discover practical strategies and organizational frameworks that will help them to reach all students. Whether you're searching for new ways to inspire students with different learning styles, celebrate the abilities of the physically challenged, or boost the skills of those learning English for the first time, Student Diversity has what you need to meet and defeat the wide variety of challenges in today's classroom. Packed with examples of student work and reproducible worksheets, this book will help to smooth the daily path of beginning and experienced teachers alike.

This book offers educators new understandings of 21st century diversity emerging from contemporary national events within the U.S., global movements, and changes in the world political order that have long-lasting impact on local education and call for rethinking traditional generalizations and empirical prescriptions for inclusivity in teaching and learning. The book expands the literature on teacher preparation and intercultural education by providing the educational community with critical perspectives, theoretical approaches, and research methodologies for educational inquiry responsive to diversity. Driven by changes in classroom diversity this book offers educators, researchers and policy makers a language for articulating complex differences in educational reform, policy and practice.

At a time when social, cultural and linguistic diversity has become a characteristic of education systems around the world, this timely text considers how teacher education is responding to these developments in the context of increased mobilities within and across national boundaries. This collection draws together the work of scholars, from a range of urban, rural and national contexts from the Global South and North, who engage in dialogue about diversity and knowledge exchange. It includes perspectives from multiple contexts using a range of frameworks that cohere around attention to issues of equity and social justice, and focuses on the macro level dynamics (policy, theory, global governance) as well as meso (institutional practices) and micro dimensions (professional identities, cultural, and identity transformation). The authors explore these dynamics and dimensions through mobilities of teachers and students, cosmopolitan theory, indigenous epistemologies, language ecology, professional standards policy discourses, and critical analyses of frameworks including postcolonialism, multiculturalism and culturally responsive and relevant pedagogical approaches.

Every generation has sought to make teaching and learning more inclusive and equitable, but pesky questions always remain, such as, how can teaching and learning be conducted in ways that satisfies and respects everyone? What are the parameters of an inclusive pedagogy? Who defines its principles? How should these principles be taught and by whom? And by what authority shall they be grounded? These types of thorny questions occupy the essence of educators and the authors of this book. This book is about teachers, educators, and topics related to inclusion. Teachers and educators have a lot to know, therefore the topics are broad and relevant to the times. What should teachers know about special needs, religion and spirituality, Aboriginality, the environment, tolerance, and school choice? Although teachers have knowledge of their subject matter, knowledge alone is not sufficient. They must know and understand how people learn. A teacher must also care deeply about who they teach. And this "teacher knowledge" grows and changes over time as teachers become more experienced, informed, skilled, and wiser. At the same time no teacher preparation will be sufficient because there will always be discussions that were never had and knowledge that was never shared. Time has its costs and there is only so much a formal education can prepare someone. This book helps to satisfy a cavity in learning for teachers and educators in general.

The achievement of students of color continues to be disproportionately low at all levels of education. More than ever, Geneva Gay's foundational book on culturally responsive teaching is essential reading in addressing the needs of today's diverse student population. Combining insights from multicultural education theory and research with real-life classroom stories, Gay demonstrates that all students will perform better on multiple measures of achievement when teaching is filtered through their own cultural experiences. This bestselling text has been extensively revised to include expanded coverage of student ethnic groups: African and Latino Americans as well as Asian and Native Americans as well as new material on culturally diverse communication, addressing common myths about language diversity and the effects of "English Plus" instruction.