Mara Sapon-Shevin – författare

Playing Favorites examines the ways in which gifted education disrupts the classroom community, deskills regular classroom teachers, limits their ability and willingness to meet individual needs, and impairs the creation of a climate of inclusion and acceptance of difference. Sapon-Shevin shows here that current models of gifted education are elitist and meritocratic, treating some children, not just differently than others, but better; and that in large urban districts, gifted education programs are often racist as well. By creating and funding gifted programs, the author contends, schools engage in a form of "educational triage," serving those children for whom inadequate programming and educational failure would not be acceptable while maintaining the status quo for the majority of the school population.This book provides support for teachers, parents, and administrators who have found themselves caught in the struggle of insuring an appropriate education for some children without sacrificing the good of all. Incorporating the words of teachers, parents, and students, as well as related research and theory, this book analyzes the relationship between diversity, community, and social justice. Sapon-Shevin challenges the reader to reconsider ways in which schools can meet individual educational needs while preserving communities of learners as well as the commitment to the education of all children. Finally, the book extends the challenge and assurance that we need not choose between quality education for some and mediocre education for all.

Explores cooperative learning practices.Winner of the 2004 Critics' Choice Award presented by the American Educational Studies Association Teacher educators from ten institutions and programs in the United States, Canada, and Germany describe the ways in which they have changed teacher preparation to more fully incorporate cooperative learning concepts. Analytical commentaries on the programs highlight the learning experience of these programs as well as underlying issues of needed reforms in teacher education.Included among best practices in education, cooperative learning may require a shift in program philosophy and disciplinary areas to meet the challenge of complex organizations and diverse student populations. As the essays in the volume demonstrate, a new alignment of field experiences to provide support for novices to implement cooperative strategies, and to receive timely and effective supervision for these attempts, may also be required.

Explores cooperative learning practices.Winner of the 2004 Critics' Choice Award presented by the American Educational Studies Association Teacher educators from ten institutions and programs in the United States, Canada, and Germany describe the ways in which they have changed teacher preparation to more fully incorporate cooperative learning concepts. Analytical commentaries on the programs highlight the learning experience of these programs as well as underlying issues of needed reforms in teacher education.Included among best practices in education, cooperative learning may require a shift in program philosophy and disciplinary areas to meet the challenge of complex organizations and diverse student populations. As the essays in the volume demonstrate, a new alignment of field experiences to provide support for novices to implement cooperative strategies, and to receive timely and effective supervision for these attempts, may also be required.

Widening the Circle is a passionate, even radical argument for creating school and classroom environments where all kids, including children labeled as “disabled” and “special needs,” are welcome on equal terms.In opposition to traditional models of special education, where teachers decide when a child is deemed “ready to compete” in “mainstream” classes, Mara Sapon-Shevin articulates a vision of full inclusion as a practical and moral goal. Inclusion, she argues, begins not with the assumption that students have to earn their way into the classroom with their behavior or skills, it begins with the right of every child to be in the mainstream of education, perhaps with modifications, adaptations, and support. Full inclusion requires teachers to think about all aspects of their classrooms—pedagogy, curriculum, and classroom climate.Crucially, Sapon-Shevin takes on arguments against full inclusion in a section of straight-talking answers to common questions. She agrees with critics that the rhetoric of inclusion has been used to justify eliminating services and “dumping” students with significant educational needs unceremoniously back into the mainstream with little or no support. If full inclusion is properly implemented, however, she argues, it not only clearly benefits those traditionally excluded but enhances the educations and lives of those considered mainstream in myriad ways.Through powerful storytelling and argument, Sapon-Shevin lays out the moral and educational case for not separating kids on the basis of difference.

Lost amid the debate over educational policies are the stories of the educators, parents, and students who are most affected by legislation such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. In Educational Courage, veteran educators and activists Nancy Schniedewind and Mara Sapon-Shevin bring together the voices of those who are resisting market-driven initiatives such as high-stakes testing, charter schools, mayoral control, and merit pay. The diverse narrators who write in this volume confront the educational agendas that undermine teachers’ judgment and knowledge, ignore the different backgrounds of students and parents, and debase the learning process. Yet these educators, parents, and activists also offer stories of resistance and hope as they fight to uphold the ideals of democratic public education.From the Trade Paperback edition.

This edited volume investigates the effects of shifting configurations and conceptualizations of the experience and meaning of home as it is embodied in early childhood care and education (ECCE). As the globalized early learning agenda drives more children to attend ECCE institutions, these institutions increasingly employ the concept of home through their curriculum and daily operations by attempting to foster a homelike environment or by incorporating items from children's homes into play. Chapters seek to recognize the complexity of a concept that is often taken for granted by exploring ways of being and thinking that share an interest in the notion of home. Authors offer multiple lenses and approaches to make sense of home as a conceptual space that operates in complex and often interrelated ways, including as an intellectual space, a built environment, a disciplinary technology, and a threshold.

This edited volume investigates the effects of shifting configurations and conceptualizations of the experience and meaning of home as it is embodied in early childhood care and education (ECCE). As the globalized early learning agenda drives more children to attend ECCE institutions, these institutions increasingly employ the concept of home through their curriculum and daily operations by attempting to foster a homelike environment or by incorporating items from children''s homes into play. Chapters seek to recognize the complexity of a concept that is often taken for granted by exploring ways of being and thinking that share an interest in the notion of home. Authors offer multiple lenses and approaches to make sense of home as a conceptual space that operates in complex and often interrelated ways, including as an intellectual space, a built environment, a disciplinary technology, and a threshold.