Education, Literacy, and Humanization


Book Description

The author adopts a holistic approach in exploring the ontological, epistemological, ethical, and pedagogical dimensions of Paulo Freire's thought. The book discusses Freire's approach to adult literacy education and investigates the political, dialogical, and critical aspects to the multidimensional word in Freirean theory. The author outlines and assesses a number of key critiques of Freire's modernism, concentrating in particular on questions pertaining to the problem of pedagogical intervention. He responds at some length to C.A. Bowers, one of Freire's most important and persistent critics, and finds fault with behaviorist, stage-based accounts of consciousness raising. The Freirean concept of conscientization is reinterpreted in light of the postmodern notion of multiple subjectivities. From this book, Freire emerges as a complex educational figure: a thinker and teacher deeply committed to the universalist ideal of humanization, yet also wary of some of the exaggerated certainties of modernism. His work, for all its flaws and contradictions, remains highly influential and stands opposed to technicist and neoliberal tendencies in recent educational reform initiatives.




Reclaiming Personalized Learning


Book Description

Put the person back in personalization with a touch of humanity. It’s a paradox: technology to individualize curriculum has made classrooms less personal. Let’s instead trust educators to make learning personal by supporting student agency, self-awareness, and the intimate personal connections found in authentic learning experiences. In the second edition of this groundbreaking book—newly streamlined, and updated with insights from the pandemic—Paul France presents a vision of humanized personalization that rejects the corporate mindset and instead holds equity and inclusion at its center. France leverages over a decade of experience as a National Board Certified Teacher, education consultant, and education technology developer, sharing the following: Practical guidance on designing inclusive learning environments for diverse groups Sustainable applications for humanized personalization in curriculum design, assessment, and instruction Real-life stories from the author’s experience on both sides of the personalization debate A multitude of classroom tools, adaptable to a variety of instructional contexts Nobody understands the need for humanizing education better than teachers. While educators across the country have learned that inundating students with personalized learning technologies is not the way to go, many don’t know how to personalize learning without them. The time to humanize personalized learning and our classrooms is now—and this book will give you a place to start.




Humanizing Research


Book Description

What does it mean to conduct research for justice with youth and communities who are marginalized by systems of inequality based on race, ethnicity, sexuality, citizenship status, gender, and other categories of difference? In this collection, editors Django Paris and Maisha Winn have selected essays written by top scholars in education on humanizing approaches to qualitative and ethnographic inquiry with youth and their communities. Vignettes, portraits, narratives, personal and collaborative explorations, photographs, and additional data excerpts bring the findings to life for a better understanding of how to use research for positive social change.




Pedagogy of the Oppressed


Book Description




Flash Feedback [Grades 6-12]


Book Description

Beat burnout with time-saving best practices for feedback For ELA teachers, the danger of burnout is all too real. Inundated with seemingly insurmountable piles of papers to read, respond to, and grade, many teachers often find themselves struggling to balance differentiated, individualized feedback with the one resource they are already overextended on—time. Matthew Johnson offers classroom-tested solutions that not only alleviate the feedback-burnout cycle, but also lead to significant growth for students. These time-saving strategies built on best practices for feedback help to improve relationships, ignite motivation, and increase student ownership of learning. Flash Feedback also takes teachers to the next level of strategic feedback by sharing: How to craft effective, efficient, and more memorable feedback Strategies for scaffolding students through the meta-cognitive work necessary for real revision A plan for how to create a culture of feedback, including lessons for how to train students in meaningful peer response Downloadable online tools for teacher and student use Moving beyond the theory of working smarter, not harder, Flash Feedback works deeper by developing practices for teacher efficiency that also boost effectiveness by increasing students’ self-efficacy, improving the clarity of our messages, and ultimately creating a classroom centered around meaningful feedback.




Humanizing the Education Machine


Book Description

A clear roadmap for the new territory of education Education in the U.S. has been under fire for quite some time, and for good reason. The numbers alone tell a very disconcerting story: according to various polls, 70% of teachers are disengaged. Add to that the fact that the United States ranks last among industrialized nations for college graduation levels, and it's evident there's a huge problem that needs to be addressed. Yet the current education system and its school buildings—with teachers standing in front of classrooms and lecturing to students—have gone largely unchanged since the 19th century. Humanizing the Education Machine tackles this tough issue head-on. It describes how the education system has become ineffective by not adapting to fit students' needs, learning styles, perspectives, and lives at home. This book explains how schools can evolve to engage students and involve parents. It serves to spread hope for reform and equip parents, educators, administrators, and communities to: Analyze the pitfalls of the current U.S. education system Intelligently argue the need to reform the current landscape of education Work to make a difference in the public education system Be an informed advocate for your child or local school system If you're a concerned parent or professional looking for a trusted resource on the need for education reform, look no further than Humanizing the Education Machine. This illuminating resource provides the information you need to become a full partner in the new human-centered learning revolution.




Educating for Empathy


Book Description

Recipient of the 2019 NCTE David H. Russell Award! Educating for Empathy presents a compelling framework for thinking about the purpose and practice of literacy education in a politically polarized world. Mirra proposes a model of critical civic empathy that encourages secondary ELA teachers to consider how issues of power and inequity play out in the literacy classroom and how to envision literacy practices as a means of civic engagement. The book reviews core elements of ELA instruction—response to literature, classroom discussion, research, and digital literacy—and demonstrates how these activities can be adapted to foster critical thinking and empathetic perspectives among students. Chapters depict teachers and students engaging in this transformative learning, offer concrete strategies for the classroom, and pose questions to guide school communities in collaborative reflection. Book Features: Responds to our current, divisive political climate to explore what empathy really means and what it takes to teach for it. Explores an innovative concept of critical civic empathy that goes beyond simply being nice to others and emphasizes making positive changes in government and society. Provides an engaging synthesis of theory and practice that shows how foundational ELA activities can be used to support the development of empathy and civic engagement. Focuses on both personal empathy (seeing other points of view) and global empathy (understanding the power of position and privilege in social interactions). Includes real-world examples from a variety of schools and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.




Humanizing the Classroom


Book Description

There is a growing trend in education for educators to support students in the development of social and emotional skills. SEL mandates are now part of many state assessments and national initiatives, and there are countless curriculum from which principals and teachers may choose. However, many of these curricular materials fail to address the question of pedagogy, or what is the best method for teaching social and emotional skills? Humanizing the Classroom: Using Role Plays to Teach Social and Emotional Skills in Middle and High School answers this question by presenting the pedagogical basis for using role plays to teach social and emotional skills, creating a clear link between SEL and the need for culturally relevant teaching, and providing over 45 model lessons that can be delivered in middle and high school classrooms. A rich resource for principals seeking advisory curriculum materials, classroom teachers interested in integrating SEL into their classroom practice, and educational theater and drama teachers, Humanizing the Classroom addresses the how, why and what of teaching social and emotional skills in our diverse society.




Restorative Literacies


Book Description

Through eight compelling stories of restorative literacies, Wolter explores the complex relationships among cognition, metacognition, identity, behavior in schools, and literacies. Based on the principles of restorative justice, restorative literacies are designed to help educators repair harm, restore relationships, and expand the concept of literacy for some of our most disenfranchised and disengaged students. Restorative literacies are not just about growing readers and writers per se. They are about creating a community of care that involves students, teachers, administrators, and families so that all students experience racially, culturally, linguistically, and economically responsive instruction in multiple forms of literacies. Drawing on the authorÕs rich experiences cultivating a love of reading among her students and studying the practices of other educators, Restorative Literacies advances a provocative set of examples about centering the voice and stories of people in our quest to humanize and reimagine how we care for, about, and with others. Book Features: Presents a literacy model of restorative justice that includes participation from teachers, principals, administrators, and parents.Contains engaging narratives from elementary and secondary schools to illustrate concepts and strategies.Explores compassionate listening as a conscious process of assuring that all involved are fully heard, a skill that requires removing assumptions, judgement, and bias.Identifies practices that take a positive view of learners, as opposed to referring students to special education.Uses restoration as an alternative to pushout practices that are designed to control students and often prevent them from reaching their capacity. “Restorative Literacies offers a refreshing perspective on the power of story in cultivating emancipatory, restorative, and transformative contexts of learning, teaching, and development. . . . During these times of civil and civic unrest, this is the book we need in education.” —From the Foreword by H. Richard Milner IV, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of Education, Vanderbilt University




On Literacy and Its Teaching


Book Description

This book recognizes and embraces the complexities of modern English teaching. It presents English teachers and teacher educators with a critical view of current professional issues and concerns in the belief that these groups need, and want, to participate in curricular and professional reform movements that affect them and their students. The book examines such issues as the interconnectedness of the study of language, literature, and composition; curricular problems in language instruction in teacher education; the relationship between our traditional notions of literature study and our emerging view of literacy in the contemporary information age; and the ways in which current theory and research can be translated into innovative designs for the teaching of written composition. On Literacy and Its Teaching is a powerful response to the current challenge for innovation and change in English teacher education. With its broad scope, it provides a balanced overview and timely analysis of the field of English Education.