Jenkins (2009) asserts that it is a "digital imperative" for educators to develop their students' technology awareness and dexterity, but also their own. How can educators teach what they do not know? To make the digital imperative a reality in university and secondary classrooms, teacher preparation faculty can tap into the Internet and…

This article traces the political, historical, and ideological roots of the Relay Graduate School of Education. Relay represents a more current iteration of alternative teacher preparation programs and emerged from the earlier partnerships between education schools and independent alternative programs (Mungal, 2012). These programs have become…

Holding teachers accountable for student achievement has become a high priority for many education stakeholders (Cochran-Smith, Piazza, & Power, 2013; Darling-Hammond, 2010; Ginsberg & Kingston, 2014; Good, 2014; Wilson & Youngs, 2005). With new content standards and new statewide assessment systems, however, it can be challenging for…

Effective professional development (PD) can be a powerful tool in school success and teacher satisfaction; however, teachers often report their PD experiences as lackluster or not responsive to their immediate needs (Desimone, 2011; Guskey, 2009; Lutrick & Szabo, 2012). Teachers need professional support in today's educational environment to…

The purpose of this study is to discover the experiences and supports that influenced the development of teaching effectiveness at different career stages of National University alumni who were identified as County Teachers of the Year in California. National University is the second largest private, nonprofit institution of higher learning in…

Beginning in May 2014, all education program graduates in New York State (NYS) must pass new and/or revised certification exams in order to become certified to teach in NYS. Early childhood teacher candidates enrolled in an approved NYS teacher preparation program are required to pass the Academic Literacy Skills Test (ALST), Content Specialty…

"Academic language" is a term that is thrown around frequently in educational circles, particularly in recent years. As a part of a larger study investigating trends in practitioners' efficacy in teaching, using, and supporting academic language in classrooms, the authors honed in on teachers' definitions and corresponding understandings…

In the classroom and beyond, teachers are viewed as exemplars of ethical behavior, clearly and confidently discerning between right and wrong. Despite the availability of resources for ethics instruction, ethical uncertainty and public scrutiny continue to confuse and distress classroom teachers, novice and veteran alike, about their role in…

This article suggests that philosophy courses could play a key role in teacher education courses as a means of developing the critical thinking skills teachers need in the 21st-century classroom. The authors focus on: (1) Shifts in Education Standards; (2) The Value of Philosophy; and (3) Paths to Implementation. Five paths to implementation…

The familiar figure of the teacher, alone in front of a classroom and enclosed by four walls, pervades what is possible in teacher education. What if we could decentre anthropocentric teaching practices and 'become teachers together' with other human and nonhuman teachers? Could a garden become a teacher? A plant? A spider? This article engages…

This article provides concrete critical and ethical responses to dominant educational policies promoting the teaching of STEM fields. Recognizing how dominant discourses of modernity (Martusewicz, et al. 2015) work discursively to constitute STEM, this paper examines and exposes how STEM education is prioritized via funding in teacher education.…

EcoJustice Education is both a framework for thinking about our ethical responsibilities as educators and community members, and a socio-ecological and political movement. In this essay, I trace my own personal history in the development of this field, focusing on the theoretical foundations, major scholars contributing to those founding ideas,…

In this article we share our study in teacher education that engages both the human and more-than-human as fundamental to matters of social justice. In the first part of the article we focus on ecocritical scholarship that raises concerns about the omission of the more-than-human in educational research and practice through Western modernist…

Place-Based education (PBE) is gaining rapid recognition across the United States. The authors of this article contend that there is an imperative need to re-structure and re-conceptualize teacher education such that it allows for a significant shift in thinking and practice around learning, teaching, and community. They advocate that the PBE…

This article briefly examines and explains the theory of social ecology and the political theory of "libertarian municipalism" as developed by the late Murray Bookchin (1921-2006) as a possible comprehensive framework for a secondary curriculum centered upon an anarchistic and ecological ethics. The author first offers an investigation…