Brianne Kramer

In recent years, the field of education has been fraught with a variety of different challenges. A multi-year pandemic, book banning, and legislative efforts seeking to ban Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ positive curriculum have had negative effects on K-12 education, leaving many educators feeling the progress made in several states and communities before and during the 2018 teacher walkouts and strikes was now gone. Teacher morale is sitting at a historic low point, with teachers leaving the profession in droves. Education as an institution is at a crucial tipping point, and changes focused on equity and reducing the neoliberal hold on reform need to be implemented in order to keep schools as democratic spaces. The way this vision can be realized is through activism and existing social movement organizations that use both traditional and netroots practices. The purpose of Activists, Advocates, and Agitators is to provide readers with a history and analysis of 21st century teacher activism in K-12 schools to better understand the effectiveness of organizing and activism. Additionally, the text will introduce readers to present-day activist groups whose work is positively changing education and schools and the ways in which some teachers are working within their communities to assist in their specific needs.

Activists, Advocates, and Agitators is the perfect book to instruct preservice teachers about the conditions that they will face in their classrooms, arming them with valuable strategies to help them to achieve their academic goals.

Perfect for courses such as: Social Foundations of Education; Foundations of Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Teacher Leadership; Sociology of Education; Politics of Education; and Democratic Education

A 2023 SPE Outstanding Book Honorable Mention

According to the American Psychological Association (APA, 2015), trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event, which can lead to difficulties with emotional regulation, social relationships, and the development of physical symptoms. Traumatic experiences may include physical or sexual abuse, neglect, experiencing or witnessing violence, war, suicides, and disasters. Because of the prevalence of students with traumatic experiences in K-12 schools, development and use of trauma-informed practices (TIP) is currently increasing in educational spaces across the United States as educators and others who work with children become more aware of how socio-emotional development and exposure to trauma places children on a pathway through adulthood. Because of growth in these areas, it is important for educators and others who work with children to have a resource to consult. Children and Trauma: Critical Perspectives for Meeting the Needs of Diverse Educational Communities provides teachers, administrators, and others involved in education with an understanding of trauma-informed practices and explains how they can be used in the classroom. Additionally, school districts could utilize this text to implement professional development, particularly if they are considering creating a districtwide trauma-informed system.

Perfect for courses such as: Trauma-Informed Educational Practice | Psychology | Educational Psychology | Foundations of Education | Pedagogy | Methods of Emotional or Behavioral Disorders | Teaching Methods | Diversity in Education | Social Work | Human Development