Today, the meaning of literacy, what it means to be literate, has shifted dramatically. Literacy involves more than a set of conventions to be learned, either through print or technological formats. Rather, literacy enables people to negotiate meaning. The past decade has witnessed increased attention on multiple literacies and modalities of learning associated with teacher preparation and practice. Research recognizes both the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in the new globalized society and the new variety of text forms from multiple communicative technologies. There is also the need for new skills to operate successfully in the changing literate and increasingly diversified social environment. Linguists, anthropologists, educators, and social theorists no longer believe that literacy can be defined as a concrete list of skills that people merely manipulate and use. Rather, they argue that becoming literate is about what people do with literacy-the values people place on various acts and their associated ideologies. In other words, literacy is more than linguistic; it is political and social practice that limits or creates possibilities for who people become as literate beings. Such understandings of literacy have informed and continue to inform our work with teachers who take a sociological or critical perspective toward literacy instruction. Importantly, as research indicates, the disciplines pose specialized and unique literacy demands. Disciplinary literacy refers to the idea that we should teach the specialized ways of reading, understanding, and thinking used in each academic discipline, such as science, mathematics, engineering, history, or literature. Each field has its own ways of using text to create and communicate meaning. Accordingly, as children advance through school, literacy instruction should shift from general literacy strategies to the more specific or specialized ones from each discipline. Teacher preparation programs emphasizing different disciplinary literacies acknowledge that old approaches to literacy are no longer sufficient.

The topic of special education is rich in knowledge and pedagogy that covers multiple disciplines within the school environment. Many special educators complete graduate degrees and explore a variety of topics within the special education context; however, there is a need for more resources that provide essential knowledge to special education professionals. New Considerations and Best Practices for Training Special Education Teachers discusses best practices and strategies special education professionals require to become more proficient in teaching students with exceptional needs and addresses the most important components of the special education teacher's job. Serving as a guide of what a special educator must know to be effective within the classroom and providing an overview of the most important components of the special education teacher's job, the needs of the special educator, along with new research in the field, this timely book covers a range of topics such as assistive technologies and special education law. It is ideal for special education teachers, industry professionals, guidance counselors, academicians, professors, researchers, practitioners, and students.

In the past decade, rapid digitalization has changed many elements of society, and education is no exception. The tradition of teacher-centered education has been long-held in education and is still extremely well established. Due to the access of technology for knowledge and education, however, the teacher's function in many classrooms has been to advise and guide as students take greater responsibility for their own learning using technology to collect information. Schools and universities across the world are beginning to redesign their learning spaces to enable this new model of education, foster more interaction and small group work, and use technology as an enabler of knowledge. Technology Training for Educators From Past to Present addresses the issues facing our education systems today and the role of technology and innovation in the global transformation of education. This book focuses on the fundamental need for educators at all levels to become knowledgeable with the technological teaching and learning tools at their disposal in order to best support student learning. Covering topics such as inclusion promotion in education, technology professional development, and online learning environments, this premier reference source is a valuable resource for educational administration and faculty, educators of K-12 and higher education, educational software developers, IT consultants, pre-service teachers, libraries, teaching colleges, researchers, and academicians.

With the evolving technologies available to educators and the increased importance of including technologies in the classroom, it is critical for instructors to understand how to successfully utilize these emerging technologies within their curriculum. To ensure they are prepared, further study on the best practices and challenges of implementation is required. Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Integrate Technology in K-12 Classrooms: Standards and Best Practices focuses on preparing future teachers to integrate technology into their everyday teaching by providing a compilation of current research surrounding the inclusion and utilization of technology as an educational tool. Covering key topics such as digital assessment, flipped classrooms, technology integration, and artificial intelligence, this reference work is ideal for teacher educators, administrators, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

When we embark on a journey, every action revolves around the destination. Of course, not all trips are smooth sailing. We inevitably hit distractions, obstacles, and detours. These challenges threaten to blow us off course, but when we stay focused on the destination rather than the barriers, we can move forward. The same is true in education. Barriers to effective teaching are neither permanent states nor character traits. Rather, they are temporary challenges successful coaches help teachers overcome by connecting them with the right methods and keeping them focused on the destination. In Compassionate Coaching, Kathy Perret and Kenny McKee identify the six most vexing challenges teachers face-lack of confidence, failure, overload, disruption, isolation, and school culture challenges-and the six corresponding ways that coaches can help teachers surmount them, dubbed the compassionate coaching focus areas. Coaching with compassion is a process focused on partnership, empowerment, prioritization, routine, connection, and openness. Done well, it can result in transformational improvements to student achievement and teacher work satisfaction. In some cases, it can even shift the trajectory of whole schools. Roadblocks and detours can get in our way when we are coaching just as they can during any journey. Instead of grumbling about the setbacks, we can open our eyes to the possibilities of a new and better route. That's what compassionate coaching offers. Let's go!

* Contains over 100 tried and tested techniques that teachers and school leaders can use to drive improvements in teaching and learning. * Includes infographics and videos for every technique to show how it works in practice with additional audio commentary to spotlight each step and make it easier for teachers to replicate. * Codifying the key skills for every teacher to get better and for every school leader to drive improvements in their school, the Playbook covers: * The layout and approach takes into account research into memory and how we learn to make it easier for teachers to process the techniques.

In-service teacher professional development is central to most empirical conceptions of educational quality. As the techniques and strategies for educational reform have spread rapidly throughout the world, teacher professional development practices have been borrowed across borders. It is important to study the global sharing of information on teacher professional development. Global Perspectives on Teacher Performance Improvement examines the implementation of proven, high quality teacher professional development practices in unique environments around the world. It further explains the power of a globally connected community of teacher quality improvement. Covering topics such as mentoring programs, education technology, and education workforce, this book is an essential resource for educational administration and faculty, pre-service teachers, the public education sector, government officials, educators of both K-12 and higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Computers and mobile technologies have become widely adopted as sought-after tools in the field of education. The prevalence of technology in early childhood education (ECE) is increasing, and teachers, both pre-service and in-service, are using best practices to integrate tools effectively to improve teaching and learning within the field. This includes settings such as childcare centers, family childcare, and community programs that have both educators and administrators adapting to the use of technology. Therefore, it has become critical to research and explore the best practices of technology integration and successful strategies to improve the use of technology in ECE. Empowering Early Childhood Educators With Technology examines best practices that focus specifically on those that facilitate the development of competencies in teaching young children (birth to age 8) and technology integration. The chapters include information on the foundations of technology in early childhood education, content-specific technology applications, developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) for learners using technology, and how to meet diverse learner needs with technology. The target audience for this book is early childhood professionals, teacher educators, pre- and in-service teachers in early childhood settings, faculty and researchers in the field of education, instructional technologists, childcare and elementary school administrators, early education policy organizations, and advocacy groups that are interested in the best practices and successful strategies for implementing technology in ECE.

Learning, as it is being increasingly recognized, is centrally predicated upon students' well-being. Research findings indicate that in the instances of wounding and trauma, students' capacity and ability to learn can be severely compromised. This understanding applies particularly to the immigrant students in the language classroom, many of whom are refugees bringing with them past experiences of privation, violence, wounding and trauma. Since teachers often find themselves wearing multiple hats, not only as instructors, but also as friends, philosophers, guides, confidantes, and counsellors to their refugee and immigrant learners, addressing those students' trauma with compassion, and employing appropriate pedagogical practices to mitigate their suffering should be of great relevance and inform the teachers' praxis in the classroom. This book takes an interdisciplinary look at trauma from the vantage points of critical language theories, neuroscience, psychotherapy, and Buddhist psychology, and suggests pedagogies for well-being and trauma healing that utilize contemplative ways of education. The practical aim of this book is to support teachers in addressing trauma in their classrooms.

National and international teacher education organizations and scholars have called for an increased emphasis on clinical practice in educator preparation programs. These recommendations include specific efforts to increase the duration, diversity, and quality of experiences that teacher candidates engage in during their time in P-12 schools while earning their teaching license. This book includes a robust set of chapters that include conceptual, theoretical, and empirical chapters related to innovative approaches in clinical practice in educator preparation. Authors include teacher educators from around the United States and Canada from a variety of types of higher education institutions. The book provides readers with examples, evidence, and ideas to thoughtfully consider their future direction in examining, planning, and implementing clinical practice experiences for teacher candidates.

This book provides practical help and guidance for non-native English-speaking higher education lecturers faced with the need to deliver lectures and seminars in English. It builds on the authors' years of experience as researchers and teacher trainers in the area of English Medium Instruction (EMI), combining practical advice and research findings with useful case studies from different global settings, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Slovakia, Spain, the UK and the USA, and a range of subject areas, such as philosophy, mathematics and genetics. The authors present an overview of what generally happens when university teachers make the transition to teaching in English. After dispelling some common myths and setting out priorities, Ruth Breeze and Carmen Sancho Guinda move on to explain how practitioners can prepare to give lectures and interact with both local and international students effectively in English, tackling difficult issues, such as encouraging participation, promoting creativity and critical thinking, and evaluating written student work. The final chapters address good practices in EMI, proposing ways to achieve excellence in global settings.

A Practical Guide for Personal Support Workers from a P.S.W.: Volume One is an easy way to learn some of the different functions associated with being a personal support worker. The book provides clear directions on how to perform some basic health care tasks in a safe and effective manner. It is designed to help current personal support workers, aspiring personal support workers, paraprofessionals and general caregivers. Among the tasks covered are transfers, commode care and bed baths. The author has worked in this profession for many years, developing easier and safer ways to deploy these important skills and tasks. About the Author: Andy Elliott, D.S.W., C.Y.W., C.Y.C., P.S.W., is a personal support worker for the Canadian Red Cross. He lives in Ontario with his wife and four daughters. Publisher's website: http: //sbpra.com/AndyElliott

Due to the increasingly diverse populations found in Pre-K-12 education, it is imperative that teacher educators prepare preservice teachers to meet the shifting needs of changing student populations. Through the integration of social justice education, teacher educators can challenge the mainstream curriculum with a lens of equity and collaborative equality. Integrating Social Justice Education in Teacher Preparation Programs is a critical research book that explores the preparation and teaching methods of educators for including social justice curriculum. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as ethics, language-based learning, and feminism, this book is ideal for academicians, curriculum designers, social scientists, teacher educators, researchers, and students.

This edited volume explores how Chinese school-based educators learn from others and attain awareness in dialogue with the world in an era of increasing globalization and information exchange. Minzhu Primary School in Shanghai, China, and Bay Street School in Toronto, Canada, have been connected as sister schools of cross-cultural exchange since 2008. Together, they have explored ways to reciprocally learn in a cross-cultural partnership while remaining grounded in their home culture and language. In this book, chapter authors examine how Chinese school-based educators view themselves, understand others, and grow and develop as a consequence of a decade of cross-cultural reciprocal learning as sister schools. Further, the authors discuss prospects for future educational interactions between Canada and China.