Designing Socially Just Learning Communities


Book Description

Demonstrating the power and potential of educators working together to use literacy practices that make changes in people's lives, this collaboratively written book blends the voices of participants in a teacher-led professional development group to provide a truly lifespan perspective on designing critical literacy practices. It joins these educators’ stories with the history and practices of the group - K-12 classroom teachers, adult educators, university professors, and community activists who have worked together since 2001 to better understand the relationship between literacy and social justice. Exploring issues such as gender equity, linguistic diversity, civil rights and freedom and war, the book showcases teachers’ reflective practice in action and offers insight into the possibilities and struggles of teaching literacy through a framework of social justice. Designing Socially Just Learning Communities models an innovative form of professional development for educators and researchers who are seeking ways to transform educational practices. The teachers' practices and actions – in their classrooms and as members of the teacher research group – will speak loudly to policy-makers, researchers, and activists who wish to work alongside them.




Designing Socially Just Learning Communities


Book Description

Demonstrating the power and potential of educators working together to use literacy practices that make changes in people's lives, this collaboratively written book blends the voices of participants in a teacher-led professional development group to provide a truly lifespan perspective on designing critical literacy practices. It joins these educatorsâe(tm) stories with the history and practices of the group - K-12 classroom teachers, adult educators, university professors, and community activists who have worked together since 2001 to better understand the relationship between literacy and social justice. Exploring issues such as gender equity, linguistic diversity, civil rights and freedom and war, the book showcases teachersâe(tm) reflective practice in action and offers insight into the possibilities and struggles of teaching literacy through a framework of social justice. Designing Socially Just Learning Communities models an innovative form of professional development for educators and researchers who are seeking ways to transform educational practices. The teachers' practices and actions âe" in their classrooms and as members of the teacher research group âe" will speak loudly to policy-makers, researchers, and activists who wish to work alongside them.




Design Justice


Book Description

An exploration of how design might be led by marginalized communities, dismantle structural inequality, and advance collective liberation and ecological survival. What is the relationship between design, power, and social justice? “Design justice” is an approach to design that is led by marginalized communities and that aims expilcitly to challenge, rather than reproduce, structural inequalities. It has emerged from a growing community of designers in various fields who work closely with social movements and community-based organizations around the world. This book explores the theory and practice of design justice, demonstrates how universalist design principles and practices erase certain groups of people—specifically, those who are intersectionally disadvantaged or multiply burdened under the matrix of domination (white supremacist heteropatriarchy, ableism, capitalism, and settler colonialism)—and invites readers to “build a better world, a world where many worlds fit; linked worlds of collective liberation and ecological sustainability.” Along the way, the book documents a multitude of real-world community-led design practices, each grounded in a particular social movement. Design Justice goes beyond recent calls for design for good, user-centered design, and employment diversity in the technology and design professions; it connects design to larger struggles for collective liberation and ecological survival.




Student Learning Communities


Book Description

Student learning communities (SLCs) are more than just a different way of doing group work. Like the professional learning communities they resemble, SLCs provide students with a structured way to solve problems, share insight, and help one another continually develop new skills and expertise. With the right planning and support, dynamic collaborative learning can thrive everywhere. In this book, educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Almarode explain how to create and sustain student learning communities by - Designing group experiences and tasks that encourage dialogue; - Fostering the relational conditions that advance academic, social, and emotional development; - Providing explicit instruction on goal setting and opportunities to practice progress monitoring; - Using thoughtful teaming practices to build cognitive, metacognitive, and emotional regulation skills; - Teaching students to seek, give, and receive feedback that amplifies their own and others' learning; and - Developing the specific leadership skills and strategies that promote individual and group success. Examples from face-to-face and virtual K–12 classrooms help to illustrate what SLCs are, and teacher voices testify to what they can achieve. No more hoping the group work you're assigning will be good enough—or that collaboration will be its own reward. No more crossing your fingers for productive outcomes or struggling to keep order, assess individual student contributions, and ensure fairness. Student Learning Communities shows you how to equip your students with what they need to learn in a way that is truly collective, makes them smarter together than they would be alone, creates a more positive classroom culture, and enables continuous academic and social-emotional growth.




Learning Communities In Practice


Book Description

Most would agree that a learning community of practice cultivates social and intellectual development in educational settings but what are the other benefits and what does a learning community actually look like in practice? This book explores such questions as: “Are learning communities essential in education?” “How are they designed and developed?” “What difference do they make in learning?” The book contains contributions of educators who share their research and practice in designing and implementing learning communities in school, university, and professional network settings. It presents their experiences, and the “how to” of these educators who are passionate about building and sustaining learning communities to make a real difference for students, teachers, faculty, and communities. Combining scholarly and practitioner research, the book offers practical information to teachers, school and university administrators, teacher educators, and community educators.




Urban Educational Leadership for Social Justice


Book Description

The chapters in Urban Educational Leadership for Social Justice: International Perspectives constitute a collection of works that explore dynamics related to equity in multiple contexts. Authors examined these issues in Turkey, Egypt the United States, Thailand and at a global level by comparing and contrasting school leadership practice across borders. Considered as a whole, these papers explore various topics that will be at the forefront of educational research for years to come. Increasingly, educational leadership understand that there are important lessons to be learned internationally and globally. This book includes important research conceived from these perspectives. Our hope is that individually and collectively, they might contribute to our understanding of international and global issues in educational leadership and that they will extend, challenge and deepen extant lines of inquiry and begin others.




Reframing the Curriculum


Book Description

Reframing the Curriculum is a practical, hands-on guide to weaving the concepts of healthy communities, democratic societies, and social justice into academic disciplines. Developed for future and practicing teachers, this volume is perfect for teacher education courses in instructional design, social foundations, and general education, as well as for study in professional learning communities. The author outlines the philosophies, movements, and narratives shaping the future, both in and out of classrooms, and then challenges readers to consider the larger story and respond with curriculum makeovers that engage students in solving problems in their schools, communities, and the larger world. The book’s proven method for designing units gives educators across grades and disciplines the tools to bring sustainability and social justice into experiential, project-based instructional approaches. Pedagogical features include: Specific examples and templates that offer readers a framework for reworking their units and courses while meeting required standards and incorporating innovative classroom practices. Activities and discussion questions that bring the content to life and establish ties with the curriculum. eResources, including a Facilitator’s Guide, offering examples of fully developed units created with this model and an editable template for redesigning existing units.




User-centered Design of Online Learning Communities


Book Description

"This book is anchored in the concept that information technology empowers and enhances learners' capabilities adopting a learning summit on using the machine for the augmentation of human intellect for productivity, improvement, and innovation at individual, organizational, societal, national, and global levels"--Provided by publisher.




Living-Learning Communities That Work


Book Description

Co-published with In 2007, the American Association of Colleges and Universities named learning communities a high-impact practice because of the potential of these communities to provide coherence to and ultimately improve undergraduate education. Institutional leaders have demonstrated a commitment to providing LLCs, but they currently do so primarily with anecdotal information to guide their work. As a result, there is substantial variation in organizational structure, collaboration, academic and social environments, programmatic integration, student outcomes, and overall quality related to LLC participation. To establish a stronger, more unified basis for designing and delivering effective LLCs, the authors of Living-Learning Communities that Work collaborated on the development of a comprehensive empirical framework for achieving the integrating potential of LLCs. This framework is designed to help practitioners guide the design, delivery, and assessment of LLCs. This book thoughtfully combines research and field-tested practice to document the essential components for best practices in living learning communities and presents them as a clear blueprint – the LLC best practices model – for LLC design. Practitioners, researchers, and institutional leaders can use the book as a guide to more effectively allocate resources to create and sustain LLCs and to realize the potential of these communities to improve undergraduate education.




Equity by Design


Book Description

"Our calling is to drop our egos, commit to removing barriers, and treat our learners with the unequivocal respect and dignity they deserve." --Mirko Chardin and Katie Novak When it comes to the hard work of reconstructing our schools into places where every student has the opportunity to succeed, Mirko Chardin and Katie Novak are absolutely convinced that teachers should serve as our primary architects. And by "teachers" they mean legions of teachers working in close collaboration. After all, it’s teachers who design students’ learning experiences, who build student relationships . . . who ultimately have the power to change the trajectory of our students’ lives. Equity by Design is intended to serve as a blueprint for teachers to alter the all-too-predictable outcomes for our historically under-served students. A first of its kind resource, the book makes the critical link between social justice and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) so that we can equip students (and teachers, too) with the will, skill, and collective capacity to enact positive change. Inside you’ll find: Concrete strategies for designing and delivering a culturally responsive, sustainable, and equitable framework for all students Rich examples, case studies, and implementation spotlights of educators, students (including Parkland survivors), and programs that have embraced a social justice imperative Evidence-based application of best practices for UDL to create more inclusive and equitable classrooms A flexible format to facilitate use with individual teachers, teacher teams, and as the basis for whole-school implementation "Every student," Mirko and Katie insist, "deserves the opportunity to be successful regardless of their zip code, the color of their skin, the language they speak, their sexual and/or gender identity, and whether or not they have a disability." Consider Equity by Design a critical first step forward in providing that all-important opportunity. Also From Corwin: Hammond/Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain: 9781483308012 Moore/The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys: 9781506351681 France/Reclaiming Professional Learning: 9781544360669