I CHOOSE TO LIVE is written for all women going through circumstances in life, which are causing them to feel alone and hopeless. It is intended to give hope to the hopeless and a new outlook on life to those who still struggle with the past. TINY STALLINGS-CLARK is a mother and celebrated poet. She is a graduate of Tennessee State University and works professionally as a Civil Engineer. In I CHOOSE TO LIVE, Tiny shares positive, exhilarating and calming food for thought in the form of poems of inspirations, messages encountered through scripture, personal experiences as well as lessons taught to her during her travels down the road of life.

The Discussion is distorting today. Within schools, social movements, and firms, there has been an increasing tendency for teachers and facilitators to announce that there will be a discussion while the interaction which follows this announcement is not a discussion, but something else??likely a recitation and lecture. This distortion of discussion promises democracy, equality, and participation during a meeting or class, but delivers inequality, prohibition, and dominance. Now is the time to begin changing these practices which ultimately create and support a neoliberal society that promises democracy but practices oligarchy. One way to change this neoliberal social world is by intervening in the distortion of discussion, by facilitating interaction so that discussion's promise of equality and participation is fulfilled rather than negated. Elements of Discussion is a resource for this intervention. It is a political, poetic, and practical handbook for facilitating discussion. Discussions happen everywhere, and if society itself is composed of relationships between people then creating more participation and equality during discussions can help create the conditions for social change. Elements of Discussion therefore includes practical tips, techniques, and reflective questions through which it firmly and sensitively suggests to readers how to facilitate discussions across contexts. Beginning with the ways chairs and tables are set up, continuing through the kinds of questions a facilitator can ask, and including sample activities facilitators can use, the book expounds a philosophy of facilitating discussion, emphasizing the political and poetic significance of the tactics it recommends.

In a time of unprecedented changes globally, Flourishing in the Holistic Classroom offers an educational model that is dynamic, organic, and adaptive. The book offers key principles, dispositions, and practices that holistic educators draw from to create learning environments in which their students can flourish. This book describes learning that is based on a balance of inner and outer ways of knowing, with an emphasis on the inner life or soul of the learner. This is illustrated through accounts of running an arts camp using the inquiry process and experiences with teacher candidates. A key principle of holistic education is connection, which is explored through experiential examples such as connections between learners and each other, the teacher, and their subject of study. The role that mindfulness practice and teacher presence plays in the classroom, as well as working with fear and vulnerability are addressed through detailed narratives. The breadth of the author's experience including being an early years teacher, a director of programs and exhibits in a children's museum, and working with pre-service teachers is woven throughout the book. Reflections from former teacher candidates highlight the influence that holistic pedagogy has on learners. The book concludes with an invitation to the reader to embrace a holistic, integrative approach to education, which creates fertile ground for student flourishing. Flourishing in the Holistic Classroom is intended to support teachers, administrators, academics, pre-service teachers and graduate students.

In building an equitable and quality education system, South Africa has embraced an inclusive education approach in which the diverse needs of all learners must be accommodated. This move, as well as the additional pressures that a fast-changing world places on education, requires teachers constantly to adapt their instruction, the curriculum and the classroom environment (physical and virtual) to increase learner involvement and to minimise the exclusion of those learners who experience barriers to learning. Learner support in a diverse classroom provides a good balance between the theoretical knowledge needed to understand what takes place when a child learns, and the hands-on provision of assessment and support for the learner. Learner support in a diverse classroom offers creative solutions and solid foundations to any teacher wishing to bring out the best from his or her learners. It can serve as a manual on the practical ways to provide quality education, especially to those learners who experience special challenges in an inclusive environment. Learner support in a diverse classroom is aimed at all teachers and student teachers, and will also be of great use to parents.

With nearly 48 percent of all U.S. undergraduates attending community and technical colleges, the two-year sector is an integral part of our nation's higher education system and a vital part of our nation's future. The need for effective faculty evaluation and professional development within two-year colleges stems partly from the size of this sector and also from the diversity of its program offerings and its student body. Miller and his co-authors bring timely, authoritative, and practical material to two audiences in this rapidly growing field of education: first, teachers who have permanent appointments but could use professional development and improvement; and, second, the already large and still growing number of part-time instructors who could use more evaluating and improving. This book is intended to be a direct assistance for these groups as well as to administrators who must make personal decisions.

This professional book is for human resource managers and staff development officers of two-year colleges. A greater emphasis needs to be placed on human resource management, according to Miller and his co-authors, that will result in better personnel decision making.

Teacher education has a central role in the improvement of educational systems around the world but what do the teacher educators in universities and colleges actually do? Day-to-day, how do they support the learning and development of the thousands of new teachers we need every year? And why does this matter? Drawing on recent research by the authors, situated in the growing international literature, Transforming Teacher Education puts these questions in cultural and historical context and offers a practical answer in the form of an original agenda for the transformation of current conditions in teacher education with future designs for practice. Viv Ellis and Jane McNicholl argue that teacher education needs to be transformed so as to take advantage of the unique structural connections that exist between schools and universities in countries like England (represented by the notion of 'partnership') and the USA (with the example of professional development schools) by capitalising on the networks of expertise within and between these different organisations to produce powerful new forms of knowledge. They offer suggestions for future designs for teacher education, drawing not only on the latest research in teacher learning and development but from across the social sciences.

The population of English language learners has substantially grown over the years. As such, it is increasingly important to properly educate culturally diverse students in such a manner that promotes inclusion and global acceptance. Intercultural Responsiveness in the Second Language Learning Classroom is an essential reference source for the latest research on the importance of multicultural professional development for the progression of educating a diverse student population. Featuring expansive coverage across a broad range of topics such as cultural bias, self-identity, and language programs, this publication is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on methods to solve the cultural incongruence between student and teacher.

This engaging text explores discourses involved in the teaching of literacy which can be conceptualised as deriving from the political left. The concept of a left and a right in politics are fully defined and a unique analytical framework is introduced to examine and categorise perspectives for teaching literacy. The book creates a language of critique for methods advocated from liberal, left-leaning sources within the field of education and connects them to left political agendas that aspire to either reform or revolution to change and improve society. These left approaches are then contrasted with politically right agendas. Methods for the teaching of literacy have for many years been seen to be politically motivated by commentators on the left and the right of politics. This book considers the ideological sources of educational practice in literacy. Methods advocated from more liberal perspective are rarely critiqued and examined for their ideological and political roots.

Technologies, such as artificial intelligence and augmented and mixed reality, continue to be implemented to support the process of teaching and learning. However, technological advances and new applications should not be seen as a replacement for the requisite consideration of proper needs analysis, instructional design, and educational philosophy within courses or training; rather it should serve as an enabler to allow faster and more open access to learning for individuals. Educational Technology and the New World of Persistent Learning provides innovative insights into technology integration methods within classroom settings including how they can empower students and how they can be used in the creation of dynamic learning experiences. The content within this publication examines e-learning, robotics, and tutoring systems and is designed for academicians, educators, principles, administrators, researchers, and students.

Supporting Inclusion: School Administrators' Perspectives and Practices provides significant insights that arm the reader with a variety of ideas and easy-to-implement applicable strategies gleaned from knowledgeable contemporaries. This book details various approaches taken by administrators as they transitioned their schools from a segregated resource environment to an inclusive framework. From elementary to high school, administrators in both large and small school districts describe approaches that best suited their populations' needs. While transitioning to inclusion, administrators created structures that maximized staff talent and encouraged faculty buy-in. Challenges included calendaring collaboration time, providing inclusion and co-teaching training, properly mentoring first year teachers, securing expert ancillary staff, retraining paraprofessionals from resource to inclusive supporting roles, procuring appropriate technology and supplemental resources, and presenting strategies to accommodate behaviorally challenged students. Programing often required shifting populations and leveling classes. Ultimately, administrators established and sustained inclusive classrooms with a good deal of success.

Teaching abroad is one promising pathway to educational diplomacy and positive international relations. As opportunities to teach internationally increase, educators need to develop skills and cultural understandings that will prepare them for the challenges they may face in diverse cultures. Global Competencies for Educational Diplomacy in International Settings is a pivotal academic resource that explores the development of cultural competency, knowledge, skills, and dispositions critical for teaching abroad. Featuring anecdotal vignettes that illustrate competency on topics, such as adaptability, educational diplomacy, and cultural fluency in educational ventures, this book is geared towards school administrators, university professors, curriculum developers, and researchers interested in teaching and leading abroad.

This book is a poignant celebration of grassroots empowerment as our contributors, people who just a short time ago thought of themselves as ordinary citizens, document their call to action when their children and their profession are on the line. Practicing teachers and parents who see the direct impact of education reform on young people and are looking for straightforward and accessible information to help them understand what is happening and acquire the tools for resistance will find direction in this text. Providing inspiration, as well as practical guidance on how to become active in reclaiming education this book covers topics including the corporate takeover of education, high stakes testing, Common Core Standards, teacher preparation, grassroots activist responses, and much more.