A supplementary reader for Introduction to Foundations of Education, Introduction to Teaching, or Issues in Education courses.
Designed to provide the knowledge and understanding teachers need in order to make informed decisions, this comprehensive selection of readings addresses numerous challenging issues facing education today: vouchers, charter schools, accountability, high-stakes testing, bilingual instruction, technology, and others. The readings were chosen to support today's emphasis on professionalism in teaching, and so meet three essential criteria: 1) They address central issues; 2) they are accessible to prospective, novice, and veteran teachers alike; and, 3) they offer multiple perspectives on the issues they address. The range of authors reflects the broad spectrum of educational thinking today, while the ten-part organization and special features maintain the authors intended focus on maximizing learning opportunities and encouraging personal and professional reflection.
This text is designed to provide readers with the knowledge and understanding needed to make informed decisions about key educational issues in today's world and knowledge to not only shape their own personal professional growth but also the future of education.
Articles... - are timely and accessible.
- reflect different perspectives in order to encourage critical thought and debate.
- offer the thinking of a wide range of writers reflecting these different perspectives, including David Berliner, Larry Cuban, Elliot Eisner, Martin Haberman, and Sonia Nieto.
- are organized topically under such headings as Diversity, Schools, Curriculum, Instruction, Technology, Governance and Finance, Teachers and Teacher Education, Foundations, and Educational Reform.
Supporting Pedagogy - Section Openers introduce each section and provide an overview of the major issues.
- Article Overviews introduce each article, framing it in terms of its contribution to the field.
- Think About This questions direct the reader to key points or issues in the article.
- A Personal Reflection, the last question for each article, asks readers to apply the contents of the article to their own teaching situation.
- Additional Resources at the end of each section are designed to encourage the reader to explore topics further, either through Additional Readings or Exploring the Internet.
- A Correlating Table on the inside front and back covers links the articles in this text to topics typically covered in Introduction to Education and Foundations of Education texts. Arranged alphabetically by topic, the table allows students and instructors to cross reference articles in this text to topics discussed in other texts, including the authors' own Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional, Second Edition.
