High-stakes, standardized tests have become ubiquitous in public education in the United States. Teachers across the country are feeling the intensified pressures from high-stakes testing policies and are responding to these pressures by teaching to the tests in varying ways (Renter et al., 2006). Given the hegemony of high-stakes testing in…

The social studies profession has always been at its weakest in dealing with the analysis of racism and class (Ladson-Billings, 2003; Marshall, 2001), and the new technocratic atmosphere and discourse generated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) will serve to make such analysis completely absent, despite the rhetoric of the National Council of the…

There is a propensity, when considering the meaning(s) of citizenship, to think in terms of universality and equality rather than difference and inequity. In a North American context, citizenship often operates as a taken for granted status with the requisite rights and responsibilities associated with membership in a nation. In education, how…

Although "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) appears to disregard the teaching of social studies, it should not be assumed that teaching and learning in these content areas is of little importance. Prior to NCLB, discussions over social studies and history standards dominated the political and cultural landscapes. The eventual conclusion from the…

The current study builds on previous research and theory in social studies curriculum to address how democracy is interpreted by secondary students through visual texts. The author begins with a brief exploration of hermeneutics as a theoretical framework for this work and a sketch of methodology employed in this study. The author then presents…

Media literacy education is relevant to the social studies for a number of reasons. Media provide compelling fiction and nonfiction narratives about people, places and events. Indeed, many young people's knowledge of world events and cultures comes from media representations. Media also helps shape attitudes and opinions about history, government…

The author recounts and analyzes her experiences to incorporate a liberatory practice into a public school setting. The article is comprised of excerpts from a seminar paper she wrote in December of 2001, at the conclusion of her first semester of teaching, interspersed with commentary written from her present perspective. In the sections from the…

The authors examine the limitations of critical pedagogy, as commonly conceptualized in U.S. multicultural and social foundations fields. What the authors have concluded is that there is a definite need to re-invent critical pedagogy for its implementation in the more privileged spaces of U.S. teacher education programs. In order for critical…

As a social studies program coordinator at a regional-sized institution, the author typically has between 20-25 preservice candidates enrolled in his annual undergraduate methods course. However, he usually has only one to two in-service candidates each year who require an advance methods course focused on such items as the historical influences,…

In the current political context, researchers have, as Ivor Goodson (1992) earlier argued, a special obligation: "to assure that "the teachers' voice" is heard, heard loudly, heard articulately." But not just any "voice" will do--teacher troubles need to be tightly linked to issues, biography to history. On every front, directly and indirectly,…

Robert V. Bullough, Jr.'s article demonstrated in an impressive way how autobiographical accounts, as well as single person narratives, are intertwined with much larger issues in society, international politics, and economical interests, as well as consequences for people in general and educators in particular. The way he proves capable of…

As is recognized by many teacher educators, teacher candidates enter their teacher preparation programs with individual attitudes, views, beliefs, or personal theories of teaching. These views may or may not change, develop, or consolidate as a result of coursework and field experiences throughout the teacher preparation program. Nevertheless, in…

Novice teachers often struggle in their first year. Some succumb to illness, depression, or burnout, and some even decide to abandon teaching as a career option. The classic stressors identified by new teachers have been remarkably consistent over the years, and their challenges have been well chronicled. Less has been written, however, about the…

Which Learning to teach is a challenge. When people make the decision to become teachers, they enter their undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, graduate, or alternative teacher education programs with a goal of learning how to teach so their future students learn. Many teacher candidates, understandably, do not foresee the complexity of the journey…

In this article, the author interprets the phenomenon of teacher research using feminist theories as a heuristic for analysis. She begins with definitions of teacher research. Following, she employs feminist theories to explain teacher research as an emancipatory act. Based on an inductive analysis of the literature, she discusses three arguments:…