PRODUCTS

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

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education landmark court case arguably changed the landscape of education, particularly for Black youth. Despite the many gains reaped from this monumental decision, what is not often discussed is how this court ruling affected Black educators, and how the disappearance of Black educators has had a long lasting effect on the performance of Black youth. Recognizing the unique obstacles that Black children and educators face in a predominantly White education system, Diversifying the Educator Pipeline explores the need to diversify the educator workforce, particularly as it pertains to expanding the presence of Black educators.

The goal of this text is to explore the need to diversify the educator workforce, particularly as it pertains to expanding the presence of Black educators. To accomplish this, the book starts with an exploration of the historical context as it pertains to Black educators in America to contextualize the discussion and recommendations that follow. The focus of the remainder of the text is on the recruitment, preparation, and retention of Black educators as a means to diversify the educator workforce in an effort to better reflect and support diverse classrooms across the country. Throughout the volume, a synthesis of research, recommendations, and Black educator voices will be skillfully woven to create a compelling argument for the need to recruit, prepare, and retain Black educators as a means to diversify the educator workforce and better support and reflect diverse classrooms of students.

Grounded with the historical context of Black educators in America as a means to contextualize the current conversation, Dr. Marks examines why efforts to diversify the educator pipeline have not yielded the desired results. This is an important book for educators across the pedagogical spectrum, especially for those wishing to create more equitable classrooms for Black students.

What is a fandom, and why do fandoms matter for school?

Fandoms are passionate communities dedicated to appreciating and engaging with texts of interest (movies, TV shows, books, bands, brands, sports teams, etc.) via personally and communally meaningful literacy practices. It is increasingly obvious that scripted literacy curricula and standardized tests fall short of meeting meaningful literacy goals and create culturally destructive learning spaces. Fandoms in the Classroom provides an alternative for educators looking to center passion in their classrooms, individualizing their literacy curricula by building from youth’s interests. The book describes how educators in a wide range of secondary learning contexts can build curricula around students’ already-present fandom interests to support literacy growth. This text supports educators in a range of learning contexts with step-by-step processes for building learning spaces that support navigation of fandom and disciplinary literacies, with a particular focus on common obstacles and roadblocks that teachers have shared with us. It addresses how classrooms doing critical fandom work can address social justice issues across both fandom and disciplinary communities.

This book covers relevant topics such as:

• Why Fandoms? We introduce readers to the concept of fandoms and how engaging students’ experiences in fandoms is not an extra or add-on but instead crucial to flipping the script on literacy learning.
• Bring Your Fandom to Class: Critically Putting Communities in Conversation. The book discusses how to shift ideas of literacy learning contexts from teacher-centric instruction to a community learning model.
• Fostering Engagement & Choosing Texts Together: Teachers are often nervous about teaching what they don’t know. The text provides strategies for making learning ecologies and having kids fill it with their own interests, describing specific step-by-step discussion routines that can support youth’s engagement with critical tools on texts of their choice.
• Building Culturally Responsive Assessments Engaging Youth-Centric Audiences: the book describes how educators can design more expansive literacy assessments with examples of culturally responsive objectives and tasks. The authors include a range of fandom genres and audiences that they have seen in their own work.
• Transforming Your Current Curriculum in Conversation with Fandoms: Supporting educators interested in expanding literature units in conversation with fandom texts, the text describes how to design units that put various discourse communities in conversation without deadening or co-opting youth interests.
• Interdisciplinary Applications: there is a discussion about specific examples of how educators the authors have supported in various contexts have applied this kind of work. It includes a focus on cross-disciplinary literacy, with cases highlighting applications for math, science, social studies and music disciplinary learning.

The Science I Know: Culturally Relevant Science Lessons from Secondary Classrooms is a collection of culturally relevant lesson plans written by secondary science teachers. Each lesson discusses how the tenets of academic success, cultural competence and critical consciousness that are part of the theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) are addressed (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Additionally, each lesson plan is structured following the 5E learning cycle (Bybee, 2006) and aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NAS, 2012). The goal of this book is to help science teachers understand how to go about designing lessons that are culturally relevant. The hope is that the lessons that are detailed in each chapter will inspire teachers to draw the cultural knowledge from their students and capitalize on it when designing science lessons.

After an introductory chapter that discusses how science education has shifted in recent decades to address the needs of diverse students, the main body of the text is divided into three sections. The first part introduces Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) as a framework; this is important for those readers unfamiliar with Gloria Ladson-Billings’ work. It addresses and discusses the three tenets of CRP (Academic Success, Cultural Competence and Critical Consciousness) and it includes an explanation of how each area can be observed and addressed in science education specifically. The second part features lesson plans from secondary science classrooms written by teachers from different subject areas (i.e., life science, physical science, earth science, etc.). The lesson plans follow the 5E Instructional Model (Bybee et. al., 2006). This model promotes inquiry by guiding teachers in the design of lesson plans that are “based upon cognitive psychology, constructivist-learning theory, and best practices in science teaching.” (Duran & Duran, 2004). A brief snapshot of each teacher precedes each lesson plan. A discussion about how each of the CRP tenets is observed appears after each lesson plan. Finally, each plan featured has a section that addresses the concepts of Funds of Knowledge (Moll et al., 1992). This concept guides teachers in the process of identifying and maximizing students’ cultural capital in the classroom. Each lesson plan chapter concludes with questions for further consideration for teachers. The last part of the book features best practices for teachers when preparing and planning to implement culturally relevant practices in their classrooms, as well as a lesson plan template for teachers.

The Science I Know is not only essential reading for all science teachers interested in utilizing culturally relevant instructional practices in their classroom, but also a valuable tool in the instruction of pre-service teachers in Colleges of Education. The book’s structure is ideal for classroom use.

Resisting Divide-and-Conquer Strategies in Education: Pathways and Possibilities examines the ways in which divide-and-conquer strategies operate in the American public education system. In U.S. education, these mechanisms are endemic and enduring, if not always evident. Coordinated, strategic, well-funded, politically-viable campaigns continue to stoke fear, othering, villainization, and dehumanization of minoritized groups, pushing false and problematic narratives that inhibit progress toward social justice. Weaponizing hegemony and leveraging misinformation, reactionary agents and institutions seek to suppress truth, block access to democratic participation, and dismantle education and other sites of emancipatory possibility through the strength of divide-and-conquer mechanisms, pitting relatively disempowered groups against one another to preserve the dominant social order.

Readers of this book will encounter conceptual and critical interrogations of divide and conquer. The text will help facilitate inquiry and engagement into how divide and conquer operates and how it can be resisted. It looks at the history of the phenomenon, as well as its current state, especially as it relates to education. What insights and lessons might we learn from a focused examination of divide and conquer, and what strategies of resistance are both possible and necessary for challenging it?

This text is designed for undergraduate and graduate classrooms in education and social sciences. Part I, Ideology and Sociopolitical Contexts, dissects how divide-and-conquer mechanisms operate ideologically and sociopolitically. Part II, Policies and Practices, focuses on how divide-and-conquer mechanisms shape exclusionary U.S. educational policies and practices. Part III, Resistance and Liberation, documents efforts of liberatory communicative, curricular, and pedagogical possibilities. Each chapter concludes with a set of critical questions for reflection and engagement.

Perfect for courses such as: Foundations of Education; Schools and Society; Schooling in America; History of Education; Philosophy of Education; Sociology of Education; Social Studies; Critical Theory in Education

With an alchemical verve, educators have been shaping the very direction of students' lives since time immemorial. With millions of teachers currently serving in the Tk-12 sector and millions more serving in higher education spaces, the need for quality educator development is essential.

For Tk-12 educators, while there are teacher preparation programs to help shape their teacher identities, the challenge of neatly integrating all the rich content provided into a set of actions is considerable. For college educators writ large, there is no conspicuous preparation for teaching, leaving many to flounder early in their careers. In addition, homeschooled students, whose population has nearly doubled in recent years, also need and deserve access to professional training.

While chiefly focused on Tk-12 educators, The Alchemy of Teaching supplies support for educators in all sectors and covers an array of topics germane to educators everywhere. Accordingly, this work draws on the early notions of alchemy, which is the art of transforming mundane metals into gold, to develop a template for educators to succeed while infusing essential, hard-earned wisdom along the way. Using the metals of alchemy as metaphors, the effective elements of teaching are parsed out in commonsensical and pragmatic ways, designed to give all those who educate students a template for strengthening their practice and the learning outcomes of their students.

Written by highly experienced educators, this book is made up of three sections, with each detailing some of the prominent struggles educators regularly have in particular areas. Each author also elucidates the gold practices and provides techniques for avoiding some of the early pitfalls often experienced by educators.

Each chapter of this book is dedicated to the practice of changing or transforming educator practices. It is a valuable tool for educators across the teaching spectrum to bring greater hope and success to their classrooms.

Perfect for courses such as: Teacher Education; Classroom Management; Teacher Education; Education Psychology; Teacher Education; Social Justice; Foundational Courses in Teacher Education; Courses in Differentiation Methods Courses in Mathematics

All In: Community Engaged Scholarship for Social Change is the first volume of the book series URBAN Matters. The URBAN Matters Book Series is one of the three prongs of the not-for profit organization URBAN Matters, which also includes a blog and virtual talks. The goal of the series, beyond engaging with the chapters in this book, is for readers to find their way into the different spaces that the organization has created to support scholars and activists who share commitments to just education and just research as a means to creating a more socially just world. This initial volume is an extension of over a decade-long collaboration among scholars, activists, educators, and youth across the United States engaged in work with the Urban Research Based Action Network (URBAN). It is a natural outgrowth of work from a network dedicated to building the field of community engaged activist scholarship. URBAN is made up of activist scholars from diverse fields (e.g., sociology, urban planning, education) who live and work in different contexts (e.g., east coast, west coast, Midwest, urban and even rural settings). They come from higher education spaces, non-profits, community organizations and grassroots organizing.

In All In: Community Engaged Scholarship for Social Change, authors at various stages of their academic and professional careers, and in very different geographical contexts and community settings, provide unique examples of the ethos of the network. Readers will be able to envision tangible examples of public scholarship for social justice and be inspired to begin, to continue and to extend their own projects within various communities. Contributors featured in this volume were invited to write about their work based on presentations they gave at the All In Conference in Santa Cruz, CA in 2022. This conference was the largest URBAN-sponsored gathering to date with 440 attendees and was co-sponsored by The Institute for Social Transformation at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The focus of the convening was on critical public scholarship and its role in working towards social justice.

The book is divided into three sections: Teaching and Curriculum as Activism, Community Based Research as Social Justice, and Policy and/or Networking as Justice Work.

In schools, a Code Red alert indicates a potential or immediate threat within a building or on a campus and is the signal for a full-scale lockdown of all classrooms. This book, Code Red: Conversations and Solutions for an Educational System in Crisis, presents a variety of voices from teachers, administrators, teacher preparation faculty, college supervisors, and pre-service teacher candidates. These voices are crying “Code Red” because they want a broken system repaired. For them, the system is bleeding, cancerous, and in turmoil, with the expectation that they work under arduous and often dangerous conditions; teachers are underpaid, devalued, exhausted, voiceless, and abused. They face an environment in which politics has replaced learning, students are failing and, in extreme circumstances, walking away from schools or even committing suicide. The political discourse is wrestling control from teachers in certain states. Neurodivergent students are being pushed aside. The altruistic profession of teaching is being reduced to factory work, in which teachers—especially those in their first five years of service—are leaving the profession at staggering rates. The profession itself is at risk of becoming obsolete.

The contributors to Code Red believe that the American educational system has entered a moment of crisis. Their voices need to be heard, and their stories and lived experiences should be recognized. The adage is true: the answer to any problem resides with those who own the problem. We cannot create solutions without owning that these issues exist, and all of America owns the education of our children. Therefore, this book provides a dialogic space where everyone involved in the American educational system can reimagine the possibilities of our system and, through this process, begin creating positive and sustainable changes to bring our system out of crisis. In addition to providing a vivid picture of the current state of public schools, the book offers real solutions that can be used to produce healthier, more successful classrooms. It is an invaluable tool for instructors, pre-service teachers, and Colleges of Education administrators.

What Do We Mean by That?: Interrogating Familiar Expressions in Education is a collection of essays that opens a space for all educational workers—teachers, teacher educators, administrators, politicians, and others—to unpack commonly used educational phrases and ideas.

The idea is to carefully examine what we say to one another when we talk about schools, curriculum, students, and other educational problems or issues—when we say things like “We have to meet students where they are,” and “All children can learn,” or “What does the data say?” What Do We Mean by That? challenges and clarifies such phrases and the how, and why, that they shape educational policies and practices.

The influential curricular theorist Dwayne Huebner charged us to always be aware of our “man-made tools,” such as language, and said that since “all educators attempt to shape the world; theorists should call attention to the tools used for the shaping in order that the world being shaped can be more beautiful and just.”

Language is a tool in educational practice in myriad ways: between administrators and teachers, teachers and students, teachers and parents, and students and students, as examples. A scripted curriculum is a tool intended to provide fixed language to teachers. It is normal for phrases to make their way into our everyday practices and get lodged there. But we need opportunities to interrupt ourselves and study our language tools to ensure they help create beauty and justice.

This collection of thoughtful essays seeks to be this interruption. It is an invaluable tool for improving the educational experience of students and schools.

Perfect for courses such as: Foundations of Education; Curriculum Studies; Diversity in Education; Educational Rhetoric and Policy

Being a transgender* or gender creative (T*GC) child in the United States today means being the subject of a national debate about whether you are entitled to exist, live a full life, or control your body. T*GC students have suffered outside of and within schools, experiencing among the highest rates of academic exclusion, vulnerability to bullying and violence, poor mental health, and troubling life outcomes due to bias, stigma, and discrimination.

At the time this manuscript was completed, the Human Rights Campaign had officially declared a “State of Emergency'' for LGBTQ+ Americans. Of the over 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills recently introduced across the nation, nearly a third directly target trans* and gender-creative people, particularly children, violating both civil and human rights. Fortunately, not all bills will pass, and activists are moving liberation work forward everywhere every day.

T* Is for Thriving offers collected wisdom from educators and community members about meeting T*GC students’ needs in schools in order to light a path toward their thriving. In it, the editors, Kia Darling-Hammond and Bre Evans-Santiago, have curated lesson plans that offer models for inclusive instruction, along with stories that amplify community guidance about how to be responsive, affirming, and celebratory of T*GC needs, histories, and contributions in schools.

These stories and lessons are an immediate resource for advancing a pedagogy of hope and possibility, both in the present and the future. T* Is for Thriving is essential reading for anyone involved in developing and defending the rights of educators and students. It is the perfect text for courses in teacher education, as well as those focused on social justice, LGBTQ+ topics, and critical pedagogy.

Perfect for courses such as: Multicultural Education; Gender Studies; Teaching Methods (Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Math); Curriculum Design; Diversity in Education; Social Foundations of Education; Inclusive Methods of Teaching; Practicum/Clinical Practice; Literacy Methods; and History, Policy and Social Changes