Teaching America

Scenario One Imagine a teacher walking into a classroom. The students stood up to greet the teacher on his or her entrance through the door, and remained standing until they were beckoned to sit down. The students then sat down, with their eyes fixed on the teacher, waiting for instructions on what to do next. The teacher was in absolute control, knew exactly what was going on, and what to expect from the students. On their part, the students knew exactly what to expect from the teacher; standing up to greet the teacher on his or her entrance into the classroom was normal. In fact, it was cultural. They had therefore not done anything extraordinary. The teacher proceeded to have a verygood class period. Nothing different was expected; this was a normal day. Scenario Two Imagine the same teacher, with the same expectations as in Scenario One, walking into a different classroom. The students did not stand up to greet him or her; they did not know about such a tradition, nor was it a part of their culture. In fact, some were standing and chatting with friends as he or she entered the classroom.

Now available in paperback, this lavishly illustrated book explores the complex behavioural characteristics of North America's largest land carnivores by examining the bear-human relationship from the bear's perspective. From the first moment Sarah Elmeligi came eye to eye with a grizzly bear, her life changed. In a moment that lasted mere seconds, she began to question everything she thought she knew about bears. How could this docile creature be the same one with a fearsome reputation for vicious attacks? Through years of research, Elmeligi grew to appreciate that bears are so much more than data points, stunning photos, and sensational online stories. Elmeligi expertly weaves the science of bear behaviour with her passionate account of personal encounters. Dive into the life of a bear biologist as Sarah's colleagues recount their own "stories from the field" - intimate moments with bears where they were connected to an animal with personality, decision-making capabilities, and a host of engaging behaviours. Join Elmeligi and Marriott on a journey that examines and shares the behaviour of black, grizzly, and polar bears in North America in a way you've never seen before. What Bears Teach Us will surprise you, inspire you, foster your curiosity, and teach you something new about bears and maybe even yourself.

"Urban Teaching in America: Theory, Research, and Practice in K-12 Classrooms is a brief but comprehensive text that provides undergraduate and graduate students in Education with an overview of urban teaching. The book synthesizes the work of urban education theorists, researchers, and practitioners into one place. Organized around eight authentic questions, the book offers preservice and inservice teachers opportunities for critical reflection and problem-posing not often seen in comparable course texts. This text supports faculty who are looking for increasingly creative approaches to exploring key educational issues with their students"--

In Teaching America, more than 20 leading thinkers sound the alarm over a crisis in citizenship--and lay out a powerful agenda for reform. The book's unprecedented roster of authors includes Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Senator Jon Kyl, Senator Bob Graham, Secretary Rod Paige, Alan Dershowitz, Juan Williams, Glenn Reynolds, Michael Kazin, Frederick Hess, Andrew Rotherham, Mike Feinberg, Seth Andrew, Mark Bauerlein and more. Their message: To remain America, our country has to give its kids a civic identity, an understanding of our constitutional system, and some appreciation of the amazing achievements of American self-government. But we are failing. Young Americans know little about the Bill of Rights, the democratic process, or the civil rights movement. Three of every four high school seniors aren't proficient in civics, nine of ten can't cut it in U.S. history, and the problem is only aggravated by universities' disregard for civic education. Such civic illiteracy weakens our common culture, disenfranchises would-be voters, and helps poison our politics.

A fresh analysis of the study of American foreign relations history, this book shows the ways in which international education has shaped the US relationship with the world.

The first full-length history of college teaching in the United States from the nineteenth century to the present, this book sheds new light on the ongoing tension between the modern scholarly ideal—scientific, objective, and dispassionate—and the inevitably subjective nature of day-to-day instruction. American college teaching is in crisis, or so we are told. But we've heard that complaint for the past 150 years, as critics have denounced the poor quality of instruction in undergraduate classrooms. Students daydream in gigantic lecture halls while a professor drones on, or they meet with a teaching assistant for an hour of aimless discussion. The modern university does not reward teaching, so faculty members at every level neglect it in favor of research and publication. In the first book-length history of American college teaching, Jonathan Zimmerman confirms but also contradicts these perennial complaints. Drawing upon a wide range of previously unexamined sources, The Amateur Hour shows how generations of undergraduates indicted the weak instruction they received. But Zimmerman also chronicles institutional efforts to improve it, especially by making teaching more "personal." As higher education grew into a gigantic industry, he writes, American colleges and universities introduced small-group activities and other reforms designed to counter the anonymity of mass instruction. They also experimented with new technologies like television and computers, which promised to "personalize" teaching by tailoring it to the individual interests and abilities of each student. But, Zimmerman reveals, the emphasis on the personal inhibited the professionalization of college teaching, which remains, ultimately, an amateur enterprise. The more that Americans treated teaching as a highly personal endeavor, dependent on the idiosyncrasies of the instructor, the less they could develop shared standards for it. Nor have they rigorously documented college instruction, a highly public activity which has taken place mostly in private. Pushing open the classroom door, The Amateur Hour illuminates American college teaching and frames a fresh case for restoring intimate learning communities, especially for America's least privileged students. Anyone who wants to change college teaching will have to start here.

We know that educators and education systems at large face countless decisions every day. We also know that grounding educational decisions in research can improve the likelihood of desirable teaching and learning outcomes, as well as reduce the likelihood of unintended consequences. Research is just one among many types of evidence used in educational decision-making, however. So being “evidence informed” is as much about engaging with research evidence as it is engaging with practice-based evidence (e.g., professional judgment) and data-based evidence (e.g., school performance data). How can educators become evidence-informed? In our view, the best approach is to learn from examples from experts of how research can be integrated with these other types of evidence, and so regularly inform our own everyday practice. With that in mind, this practical handbook offers 16 illuminating chapters that provide a wealth of advice and perspectives on the subject written by North American educators who are striving to realize the idea of research-informed practice. Key themes – reflective practitioners, networks and collaboration, trust -emerge to help teachers formalize, prioritize and mobilize the use of research-evidence in schools.

In its twenty-five years of existence, Teach For America (TFA) has transformed from an organization based on a perceived need to ameliorate a national teacher shortage to an organization that seeks to systematically replace traditional fully-certified teachers while simultaneously producing alumni who are interested in facilitating neoliberal education reform through elected political positions. From its inception, TFA has had its share of critics; yet criticism of the organization by its own members and alumni has largely been silenced and relegated to the margins. This book - the first of its kind - provides alumni of TFA with the opportunity to share their insight on the organization. And perhaps more importantly, this collection of counter-narratives serves as a testament that many of the claims made by TFA are, in fact, myths that ultimately hurt teachers and students. No longer will alumni voices be silenced in the name of corporate and neoliberal education reform.