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Examines the forces that keep educators and students from feeling fully empowered. Contains self-help and planning activities for teachers and administrators interested in transforming schools.
This book is about power -- power in the classroom, in our schools, and in our society. Schools, teachers, students, and teaching exist in a churning cauldron of interrelated institutions and social forces. Power relations in schools reflect these larger societal forces and the interconnections of our institutions. This book is also about empowerment -- the empowerment of teachers and students. It explores the process through which people develop more control over their lives and acquire the skills and dispositions necessary to be critical and effective participants in our society. The heart of this book, and Kreisberg's unique contribution to the empowerment literature, is his elucidation of the difference between power over and power with in his search to understand the nature of power that can empower individuals and communities. Kreisberg draws upon educational, political, feminist, and psychological theory, and, especially, the voices of teachers, in his framing of the question: What are the dynamics of power that we as teachers can create in our relationships with our students that will be empowering for both our students and ourselves?
In school reform, students are rarely consulted. This book presents a step-by-step process for involving students in transforming schools and empowering them to make real decisions that affect their education.
This book reframes questions about student diversity by probing the extent to which society serves the interests of all, and by examining the empowerment of members of oppressed groups to direct social change. It examines the empowerment of children who are members of oppressed racial groups, lower class, and female, based on the ideas of multicultural education. A series of ethnographic studies illustrates how such young people view their world, their power to affect it in their own interests, and their response to what is usually a growing sense of powerlessness as they mature. The authors also conceptualize contributions of multicultural education to empowering young people, and report investigations of multicultural education projects educators have used for student empowerment. Issues in teacher education are also discussed.
President Obama has on a number of occasions rejected policies that have been tried and do not work. Legislation such as No Child Left Behind and policies such as Race to the Top are neither effective nor based on sound research. Educational policy-making is now, more than ever, the preserve of politicians, advocacy foundations, and lobbyists parading as corporate leaders. Teachers have little voice; their role is merely to be held responsible for policies foisted upon them. In Transforming Schools: Alternative Perspectives on School Reform, our aim is to provide alternative perspectives to the dead-end educational policies by which our governments have become consumed. We turn the spotlight on a select range of topics that have become the focus of concern and we consider the implications for school improvement. These topics include school reform in general, the achievement gap, literacy, standardized assessment, social justice and ecojustice, aesthetic and moral education, and general education.
This book facilitates a dialogue about teaching and learning in the school environment with an understanding that the art and practice of teaching needs to keep pace with emerging demands and challenges. With social distinctions becoming fluid and workplaces increasingly complex, schools too need to change and develop systems to confront these challenges. Arun Kapur, a leading educator, weaves together his expertise and experience to offer insights into what makes a ‘great’ school. He provides the tools and resources for directing a school on its journey with a growth plan for all stakeholders in a school–students, teachers, administrators and parents. Some of the issues discussed are: - Rationale and purpose of a school - Curriculum design - Models of assessment - Impact of technology - Teacher training - Leadership and management - Individualised learning - Inclusive education
This book calls for moving teachers to the center of decision-making in public schools. It honors teaching and teachers by redefining the role in a democratically organized professional setting. While modern reform employs the language of school restructuring, genuine change that will enhance the status of teachers is not at the top of the agenda. This book recognizes that for authentic empowerment to materialize, the nature of the teaching role must significantly change. At the same time, teacher preparation will also have to be overhauled in order to equip teachers with all that a new status demands. It also proposes that the role of the principal must be dramatically transformed and recommends returning principals to the teaching function as part of their task and places them in greater accountability to the professional teaching staff itself. The book presents a hopeful message that is grounded in a progressive perspective our conservative epoch demands.
Are you preparing a new generation of innovators? Activate your students’ creativity and problem-solving potential with breakthrough learning projects. Across all grades and content areas, student-driven, collaborative projects will teach students how to generate innovative ideas and then put them into action. You’ll take learning to new heights and help students master core content.
Bestselling authors Christine Arylo and Amy Ahlers show women how to take their self-bullying Inner Mean Girls to reform school with their internationally recognized seven-step program. There is a silent epidemic spreading like wildfire among women—and no one seems to be talking about it. It’s in our boardrooms, classrooms, and living rooms on every continent, and it’s creating depression, stress, and isolation. Who is this culprit? Meet your Inner Mean Girl, the judgmental, critical, and belittling inner bully that almost every woman hears running through her mind on a daily basis. The Inner Mean Girl creates undue anxiety, cajoles you into making bad choices, and then berates you when they don’t work out. But there is a cure. Reform Your Inner Mean Girl introduces the universal seven-step program that helps women transform their relationships with themselves from self-sabotage to self-love. With a mix of play, humor, creativity, and self-inquiry, Reform Your Inner Mean Girl transforms a woman’s self-bullying thoughts, emotions, actions, and feelings, and helps her get in touch with a much more powerful voice—her Inner Wisdom. After graduating, women can finally make choices that create more happiness, peace, love, and success.
