Research for Social Justice: Personal~Passionate~Participatory Inquiry – serie

Scope of the Book: Personal~Passionate~Participatory Inquiry into Social Justice in Education, the first book in the series, features 14 programs of social justice oriented research on life in schools, families, and communities. This work, done by a diverse group of practitioner researchers, educators, and scholars, connects the personal with the political, the theoretical with the practical, and research with social and educational change. These inquiries demonstrate three distinct qualities. Each is personal, compelled by values and experiences researchers bring to the work. Each is passionate, grounded in a commitment to social justice concerns of people and places under consideration. Each is participatory, built on long-term, heart-felt engagement, and shared efforts. The principle aspect of the inquiries featured in the book series that distinguish it from others is that researchers are not detached observers, nor putatively objective recorders, but active participants in schools, families, and communities. Researchers have explicit research agendas that focus on equity, equality, and social justice. Rather than aiming solely at traditional educational research outcomes, positive social and educational change is the focal outcome of inquiry. The researchers are diverse and their inquiries are far ranging in terms of content, people and geographic locations studied. These studies reflect new and exciting ways of researching and representing experience of the disenfranchised, underrepresented, and invisible groups seldom discussed in the literature, and challenge stereotypical or deficit oriented perspectives on these groups. This book informs pre-service and in-service teachers, educators, educational researchers, administrators, and educational policy makers, particularly those who advocate for people who are marginalized and those who are committed to the enactment of social justice and positive educational and social change.

Scope of the Book: Personal~Passionate~Participatory Inquiry into Social Justice in Education, the first book in the series, features 14 programs of social justice oriented research on life in schools, families, and communities. This work, done by a diverse group of practitioner researchers, educators, and scholars, connects the personal with the political, the theoretical with the practical, and research with social and educational change. These inquiries demonstrate three distinct qualities. Each is personal, compelled by values and experiences researchers bring to the work. Each is passionate, grounded in a commitment to social justice concerns of people and places under consideration. Each is participatory, built on long-term, heart-felt engagement, and shared efforts. The principle aspect of the inquiries featured in the book series that distinguish it from others is that researchers are not detached observers, nor putatively objective recorders, but active participants in schools, families, and communities. Researchers have explicit research agendas that focus on equity, equality, and social justice. Rather than aiming solely at traditional educational research outcomes, positive social and educational change is the focal outcome of inquiry. The researchers are diverse and their inquiries are far ranging in terms of content, people and geographic locations studied. These studies reflect new and exciting ways of researching and representing experience of the disenfranchised, underrepresented, and invisible groups seldom discussed in the literature, and challenge stereotypical or deficit oriented perspectives on these groups. This book informs pre-service and in-service teachers, educators, educational researchers, administrators, and educational policy makers, particularly those who advocate for people who are marginalized and those who are committed to the enactment of social justice and positive educational and social change.

In Dreams Deferred, a follow-up to Of Borders and Dreams (1996), Chris Carger takes us further into the life of Alejandro Juarez, Jr., and his family. This work envelopes readers in 'la vida real,' real life. Carger followed Alejandro for thirteen years, as he moved from school to school, experienced difficult relationships with his peers, dropped out of high school, struggled with employment and an early marriage. The compelling story of Alejandro’s parents obtaining U. S. citizenship parallels the border crossing story of Carger’s first book and illuminates triumphs and tragedies the family, and many other immigrants, experience as they negotiate life in the United States, and as they, all too often, have to forsake their hopes and dreams. There are no easy answers, nor happy endings, to the story of Alejandro and his family.Unlike many studies on dropping out, Alejandro, his family, and his community are viewed from a positive perspective versus deficit, 'at risk,' models in dropout research. The book fits into a newly evolving, increasingly important, research paradigm that focuses on students’ experience in the context of families, communities, and schools, and deals with issues of language, culture, and power related to multiculturalism and social justice. This book informs pre-service and in-service teachers, educational researchers, administrators, educational policy makers, and those who advocate for people are marginalized because of cultural, linguistic issues and learning challenges. It is a timely reflection on a problem that is at the intersection of this nation’s immigration controversies and dropout crisis.

In Dreams Deferred, a follow-up to Of Borders and Dreams (1996), Chris Carger takes us further into the life of Alejandro Juarez, Jr., and his family. This work envelopes readers in 'la vida real,' real life. Carger followed Alejandro for thirteen years, as he moved from school to school, experienced difficult relationships with his peers, dropped out of high school, struggled with employment and an early marriage. The compelling story of Alejandro’s parents obtaining U. S. citizenship parallels the border crossing story of Carger’s first book and illuminates triumphs and tragedies the family, and many other immigrants, experience as they negotiate life in the United States, and as they, all too often, have to forsake their hopes and dreams. There are no easy answers, nor happy endings, to the story of Alejandro and his family.Unlike many studies on dropping out, Alejandro, his family, and his community are viewed from a positive perspective versus deficit, 'at risk,' models in dropout research. The book fits into a newly evolving, increasingly important, research paradigm that focuses on students’ experience in the context of families, communities, and schools, and deals with issues of language, culture, and power related to multiculturalism and social justice. This book informs pre-service and in-service teachers, educational researchers, administrators, educational policy makers, and those who advocate for people are marginalized because of cultural, linguistic issues and learning challenges. It is a timely reflection on a problem that is at the intersection of this nation’s immigration controversies and dropout crisis.

In Esperanza School: A Grassroots Community School in Honduras, Eloisa Rodriguez takes us into the daily lived experiences of members of a community school, Esperanza School, situated in a rural area in Honduras. Her work engages readers in a critical analysis of what Esperanza School represents for the community. Rodriguez explores the characteristics that have made Esperanza School a community school; in vivid, life-like detail, she describes how Esperanza School functions as the heart of the community by providing opportunities for impoverished youth to attend the school, facilitating relationships with a nearby orphanage, and developing professional development workshops for rural teachers. Rodriguez narrates the story of Esperanza School’s establishment, interactions within the community, and the characteristics of the school personnel that illuminate the social justice mission of the school and create new possibilities for the community. Throughout Rodriguez discusses how Esperanza School represents hope for quality education in this community, and ultimately, in her country, Honduras.Unlike many studies on community schools, this book deals with the reality of the community and the school’s impact on the community. The book compliments and extends the existing literature on community schools by focusing on the students’, teachers’ and founders’ experience of studying and working in Esperanza School. Rodriguez has been involved with Esperanza School for ten years; her personal passionate commitments to this school, and to her country, are illuminated in stories of her participation in the school. Through a multicultural and cross-cultural narrative inquiry methodological framework, a deeper understanding of the ideological, cultural and educational experiences of creating a community school, working in one, and the impact of having a community school are presented. A philosophical framework developed from the work of Paulo Freire and John Dewey provides an analytical lens to examine schooling in Honduras. The picture that emerges from this book provides a guide for ways to make a difference in the Honduran educational system and other developing countries.Pre-service and in-service teachers, educational researchers, administrators, educational policy makers, and those who advocate for educational settings and schools for impoverished communities can learn from this book. It is a representation of a necessity for developing countries to improve the education in schools: from ineffective public schools to community schools for all.

In Esperanza School: A Grassroots Community School in Honduras, Eloisa Rodriguez takes us into the daily lived experiences of members of a community school, Esperanza School, situated in a rural area in Honduras. Her work engages readers in a critical analysis of what Esperanza School represents for the community. Rodriguez explores the characteristics that have made Esperanza School a community school; in vivid, life-like detail, she describes how Esperanza School functions as the heart of the community by providing opportunities for impoverished youth to attend the school, facilitating relationships with a nearby orphanage, and developing professional development workshops for rural teachers. Rodriguez narrates the story of Esperanza School’s establishment, interactions within the community, and the characteristics of the school personnel that illuminate the social justice mission of the school and create new possibilities for the community. Throughout Rodriguez discusses how Esperanza School represents hope for quality education in this community, and ultimately, in her country, Honduras.Unlike many studies on community schools, this book deals with the reality of the community and the school’s impact on the community. The book compliments and extends the existing literature on community schools by focusing on the students’, teachers’ and founders’ experience of studying and working in Esperanza School. Rodriguez has been involved with Esperanza School for ten years; her personal passionate commitments to this school, and to her country, are illuminated in stories of her participation in the school. Through a multicultural and cross-cultural narrative inquiry methodological framework, a deeper understanding of the ideological, cultural and educational experiences of creating a community school, working in one, and the impact of having a community school are presented. A philosophical framework developed from the work of Paulo Freire and John Dewey provides an analytical lens to examine schooling in Honduras. The picture that emerges from this book provides a guide for ways to make a difference in the Honduran educational system and other developing countries.Pre-service and in-service teachers, educational researchers, administrators, educational policy makers, and those who advocate for educational settings and schools for impoverished communities can learn from this book. It is a representation of a necessity for developing countries to improve the education in schools: from ineffective public schools to community schools for all.

In Canaries Reflect on the Mine: Dropouts' Stories of Schooling, Jeanne Cameron invites the reader to see schooling and early school leaving through the eyes of high school dropouts themselves. The transcendent desires revealed by this research - to be known and valued, to learn with purpose and autonomy - are spoken with poignant clarity by the young people who story these pages. This study offers a compelling and timely critique of the dominant, neoliberal discourse on schooling and early school leaving. It challenges conventional wisdom about dropouts, and shows how the experiences and needs of those who leave school early and those who persist to graduation are more similar than different. Collectively, these young people's stories evoke a canary-in-the-mine metaphor, one where the canaries exit and the miners remain. They implore us to see the dropout crisis as a symptom of the alienating and dehumanizing school practices advanced by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. More importantly, they offer a vision for schooling that lovingly embraces and extends all students' experiences, enriches their biographies, and celebrates and supports each of their talents and purposes with equal passion. Pre-service and in-service teachers, educational researchers and policy makers, administrators, and advocates for equitable and democratic schooling have much to learn from this book. Qualitative researchers will find a powerful model for working collaboratively with youth to represent their experiences and to craft solutions to the challenges they face. Students of sociology will discover a compelling illustration of C. Wright Mills' sociological imagination and his charge to 'take it big' by drawing connections between individual biographies and the social and historical structures that frame lived experience. For professional social scientists, it embodies Mills' challenge to embrace the moral sensibilities required to understand and improve the human condition.

In Canaries Reflect on the Mine: Dropouts' Stories of Schooling, Jeanne Cameron invites the reader to see schooling and early school leaving through the eyes of high school dropouts themselves. The transcendent desires revealed by this research - to be known and valued, to learn with purpose and autonomy - are spoken with poignant clarity by the young people who story these pages. This study offers a compelling and timely critique of the dominant, neoliberal discourse on schooling and early school leaving. It challenges conventional wisdom about dropouts, and shows how the experiences and needs of those who leave school early and those who persist to graduation are more similar than different. Collectively, these young people's stories evoke a canary-in-the-mine metaphor, one where the canaries exit and the miners remain. They implore us to see the dropout crisis as a symptom of the alienating and dehumanizing school practices advanced by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. More importantly, they offer a vision for schooling that lovingly embraces and extends all students' experiences, enriches their biographies, and celebrates and supports each of their talents and purposes with equal passion. Pre-service and in-service teachers, educational researchers and policy makers, administrators, and advocates for equitable and democratic schooling have much to learn from this book. Qualitative researchers will find a powerful model for working collaboratively with youth to represent their experiences and to craft solutions to the challenges they face. Students of sociology will discover a compelling illustration of C. Wright Mills' sociological imagination and his charge to 'take it big' by drawing connections between individual biographies and the social and historical structures that frame lived experience. For professional social scientists, it embodies Mills' challenge to embrace the moral sensibilities required to understand and improve the human condition.

In Internationalizing Teacher Education for Social Justice: Theory, Research, and Practice, editors Suniti Sharma, JoAnn Phillion, Jubin Rahatzad, and Hannah L. Sasser present a collection of personal, passionate, and participatory global perspectives of teacher educators on internationalizing teacher education for social justice.The reader will encounter each author’s personal and professional journey into global classrooms for internationalizing teacher education and supporting future teachers in developing competencies necessary for addressing the academic needs of diverse K-12 classrooms. This collection provides a broad, critical, and interpretive overview of shifts in U.S. and global perspectives to offer transformative frameworks and strategies on preparing K-12 teachers to meet the complex demands for skills in the twenty-first century. The global tenor of this book, framed by theory, research, and practice spanning several countries provides a timely contribution to internationalizing teacher education for social justice in the twenty-first century. The authors’ dedication to preparing teachers who have knowledge of world cultures and global issues, combined with a deep commitment to social justice for promoting equity in education, informs each chapter. The authors take up the internationalization of teacher education for social justice as both an opportunity and a challenge, transcending rhetoric to meaningful action, situating their global understanding to inform readers of critical engagement with, and examination of, theory, research, and practice for effecting social and educational change.

In Internationalizing Teacher Education for Social Justice: Theory, Research, and Practice, editors Suniti Sharma, JoAnn Phillion, Jubin Rahatzad, and Hannah L. Sasser present a collection of personal, passionate, and participatory global perspectives of teacher educators on internationalizing teacher education for social justice.The reader will encounter each author’s personal and professional journey into global classrooms for internationalizing teacher education and supporting future teachers in developing competencies necessary for addressing the academic needs of diverse K-12 classrooms. This collection provides a broad, critical, and interpretive overview of shifts in U.S. and global perspectives to offer transformative frameworks and strategies on preparing K-12 teachers to meet the complex demands for skills in the twenty-first century. The global tenor of this book, framed by theory, research, and practice spanning several countries provides a timely contribution to internationalizing teacher education for social justice in the twenty-first century. The authors’ dedication to preparing teachers who have knowledge of world cultures and global issues, combined with a deep commitment to social justice for promoting equity in education, informs each chapter. The authors take up the internationalization of teacher education for social justice as both an opportunity and a challenge, transcending rhetoric to meaningful action, situating their global understanding to inform readers of critical engagement with, and examination of, theory, research, and practice for effecting social and educational change.

This book comprises an examination of novice teachers’ experiences in schools and cultures of schooling across the contexts of Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada. Drawing on narrative inquiry and arts-based approaches, this study employs experience as a starting point for making sense of both professional and personal encounters in local and foreign settings. This work thus sheds light on how people make sense of shifting landscapes in an era of increasing intercultural communication and interaction while addressing important curricular implications of intercultural professional development for equity and social justice.

This book comprises an examination of novice teachers’ experiences in schools and cultures of schooling across the contexts of Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada. Drawing on narrative inquiry and arts-based approaches, this study employs experience as a starting point for making sense of both professional and personal encounters in local and foreign settings. This work thus sheds light on how people make sense of shifting landscapes in an era of increasing intercultural communication and interaction while addressing important curricular implications of intercultural professional development for equity and social justice.

In Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Promising Practices for African American Male Students, I take us on a journey into teachers’ perceptions of the impact of implementing culturally responsive pedagogical (CRP) practices on the student learning outcomes of African American male students. The book also helps to identify teachers’ perceptions of the CRP strategies needed in the elementary school setting to address the diverse needs of African American male students. I share the story of educators from a large, diverse elementary school in an urban school district, who have made it their mission to provide African American male students with culturally responsive learning environments where they can thrive. Throughout the book, I make it clear that the implementation of CRP practices has a direct impact on the student learning outcomes of African American male students.The book provides additional research into the existing literature on CRP practices. Through a case study approach, my work allows for additional insight into the potential impact of CRP practices on the student learning outcomes of African American male students in an urban elementary school setting. The book takes us on a journey of highs and lows, ups and downs, and failures and successes. Throughout the book, rich, detailed stories and descriptions are shared based on classroom observations, interviews, and student learning outcomes collected from three elementary school teachers from diverse backgrounds and various years of experience. Classroom observations were conducted using the Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol™ (CRIOP) instrument to assess the practices being implemented in the classroom. As I focused on the hard realities that face African American male students in today’s classrooms, I identified six emerging themes, including one overarching emerging theme, and three promising practices that surfaced during my research. The CRP practices implemented proved helpful toward increasing learning outcomes for African American male students, and, ultimately, closing the achievement gap.As an African American educator, I have been able to see how the lack of culturally responsive practices creates learning obstacles for African American male students. These learning obstacles continue to plague a group that has been historically marginalized in our society. The implementation of CRP practices provides educators with an avenue to remedy a social justice issue that has plagued our nation for years. The information shared in this book can be beneficial for all those invested in closing the achievement gap and increasing student learning outcomes through the use of culturally responsive practices, including pre-service and in-service teachers, administrators, caregivers, community advocates, educational researchers, and policy makers.

In Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Promising Practices for African American Male Students, I take us on a journey into teachers’ perceptions of the impact of implementing culturally responsive pedagogical (CRP) practices on the student learning outcomes of African American male students. The book also helps to identify teachers’ perceptions of the CRP strategies needed in the elementary school setting to address the diverse needs of African American male students. I share the story of educators from a large, diverse elementary school in an urban school district, who have made it their mission to provide African American male students with culturally responsive learning environments where they can thrive. Throughout the book, I make it clear that the implementation of CRP practices has a direct impact on the student learning outcomes of African American male students.The book provides additional research into the existing literature on CRP practices. Through a case study approach, my work allows for additional insight into the potential impact of CRP practices on the student learning outcomes of African American male students in an urban elementary school setting. The book takes us on a journey of highs and lows, ups and downs, and failures and successes. Throughout the book, rich, detailed stories and descriptions are shared based on classroom observations, interviews, and student learning outcomes collected from three elementary school teachers from diverse backgrounds and various years of experience. Classroom observations were conducted using the Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol™ (CRIOP) instrument to assess the practices being implemented in the classroom. As I focused on the hard realities that face African American male students in today’s classrooms, I identified six emerging themes, including one overarching emerging theme, and three promising practices that surfaced during my research. The CRP practices implemented proved helpful toward increasing learning outcomes for African American male students, and, ultimately, closing the achievement gap.As an African American educator, I have been able to see how the lack of culturally responsive practices creates learning obstacles for African American male students. These learning obstacles continue to plague a group that has been historically marginalized in our society. The implementation of CRP practices provides educators with an avenue to remedy a social justice issue that has plagued our nation for years. The information shared in this book can be beneficial for all those invested in closing the achievement gap and increasing student learning outcomes through the use of culturally responsive practices, including pre-service and in-service teachers, administrators, caregivers, community advocates, educational researchers, and policy makers.

This narrative ethnography adopts an aesthetic lens to relay the various lived experiences of a non-traditional, Midwestern public high school during its final year in its original building. Extending upon previous research of high school dropouts, I examine how this one particular high school incorporated a self-paced curriculum with a focus on “family” to address the unique learning needs of students at risk of not graduating. By employing elements of grounded theory, narrative inquiry, and autoethnography, I share the stories of Walgut High School’s (a pseudonym) roughly sixty students as they struggle to navigate their respective roles in a dominant cultural narrative to which they’ve never felt like they belonged. Through the extensive and organic voices of the primary participants—as well as my observations of my own participation in the school culture over the course of a year—this project serves to offer insights not only into the school experiences of marginalized adolescents, but also into Walgut’s myriad successes and failures. In particular, this piece highlights the vitality of unconditionally caring or “hospitable” teachers (Derrida, 2000), while ultimately questioning the presumed utility of a high school diploma. The story concludes not by lauding the alternative mine created for Walgut’s canaries, but by questioning the purpose and stability of all scholastic minds.As American schools continue making strides to accommodate and support the complex and oftentimes contradictory needs of their students, what it means to succeed as a teacher in (and prepare teachers for) these diversified, inclusive learning spaces is growing increasingly complicated. Indeed, given the shifting paradigm of American public education, teacher preparation programs must continue to adapt their practices and philosophies in order to equip their teacher candidates with the skills needed not only to thrive but also find purpose and meaning in schools similar to this project’s Walgut. While this book doesn’t claim to offer any answers to the myriad questions concerning the future of public schools, it does endeavor to offer a springboard from which all education stakeholders can continue engaging in healthy and productive discussions of how best to prepare students (and teachers) for autonomous, democratic, curious, creative, and compassionate citizenship both in and apart from their academic communities. To this end, rather than write from a detached, traditionally academic vantage, I have sought in these pages to compose from a personal (albeit limited), passionate (albeit subjective) and participatory (albeit someone marginalized) perspective. In my pursuit of social justice for the characters of Walgut High School, I begin first by exposing my own privileged role in perpetuating injustice. Only through recognizing and naming our own demons can we ever begin to exorcize the System writ large. Thus, in this book’s lack, there is possibility; in its futility, hope.

This narrative ethnography adopts an aesthetic lens to relay the various lived experiences of a non-traditional, Midwestern public high school during its final year in its original building. Extending upon previous research of high school dropouts, I examine how this one particular high school incorporated a self-paced curriculum with a focus on “family” to address the unique learning needs of students at risk of not graduating. By employing elements of grounded theory, narrative inquiry, and autoethnography, I share the stories of Walgut High School’s (a pseudonym) roughly sixty students as they struggle to navigate their respective roles in a dominant cultural narrative to which they’ve never felt like they belonged. Through the extensive and organic voices of the primary participants—as well as my observations of my own participation in the school culture over the course of a year—this project serves to offer insights not only into the school experiences of marginalized adolescents, but also into Walgut’s myriad successes and failures. In particular, this piece highlights the vitality of unconditionally caring or “hospitable” teachers (Derrida, 2000), while ultimately questioning the presumed utility of a high school diploma. The story concludes not by lauding the alternative mine created for Walgut’s canaries, but by questioning the purpose and stability of all scholastic minds.As American schools continue making strides to accommodate and support the complex and oftentimes contradictory needs of their students, what it means to succeed as a teacher in (and prepare teachers for) these diversified, inclusive learning spaces is growing increasingly complicated. Indeed, given the shifting paradigm of American public education, teacher preparation programs must continue to adapt their practices and philosophies in order to equip their teacher candidates with the skills needed not only to thrive but also find purpose and meaning in schools similar to this project’s Walgut. While this book doesn’t claim to offer any answers to the myriad questions concerning the future of public schools, it does endeavor to offer a springboard from which all education stakeholders can continue engaging in healthy and productive discussions of how best to prepare students (and teachers) for autonomous, democratic, curious, creative, and compassionate citizenship both in and apart from their academic communities. To this end, rather than write from a detached, traditionally academic vantage, I have sought in these pages to compose from a personal (albeit limited), passionate (albeit subjective) and participatory (albeit someone marginalized) perspective. In my pursuit of social justice for the characters of Walgut High School, I begin first by exposing my own privileged role in perpetuating injustice. Only through recognizing and naming our own demons can we ever begin to exorcize the System writ large. Thus, in this book’s lack, there is possibility; in its futility, hope.

In Queer Multicultural Social Justice Education: Curriculum (and Identity) Development Through Performance, I take a pragmatic approach sharing my intimate journey, my stories, and myself with you—the reader—as I actively perform and model the development of queer explorations (i.e., lessons) and curriculum.I begin this journey with three accessible histories of multicultural education, queer perspectives, and autoethnography, respectively. These easy-to-navigate stories provide you with important background knowledge, highlighting the evolution of, commonalities between, and need for each discipline, along with their connection to identity and identity awareness as a form of social justice practice and advancement. Next, I share and perform the nine explorations developed for this project, collectively titled Queer Explorations of Identity Awareness. Modeling for you in practical terms how to queer curriculum and its development, I openly examine my raw performances, discuss my personal and analytical reflections, and embrace my own personal experiences and revelations that occurred throughout this project. Finally, I close with a creative, reflective, and story-like analysis of the process that includes a call to action from you to share your stories as a way of knowing yourself—and others—as a form of social justice education and advancement.This book is intended for all formal and informal educators interested in performing and developing queer multicultural social justice curriculum and practices. Inspired by Ayers (2006), I invite you on this “voyage” with “hope and urgency” (p. 83). It is time we share our stories as a form of curriculum, activism, and coming together.

In Queer Multicultural Social Justice Education: Curriculum (and Identity) Development Through Performance, I take a pragmatic approach sharing my intimate journey, my stories, and myself with you—the reader—as I actively perform and model the development of queer explorations (i.e., lessons) and curriculum.I begin this journey with three accessible histories of multicultural education, queer perspectives, and autoethnography, respectively. These easy-to-navigate stories provide you with important background knowledge, highlighting the evolution of, commonalities between, and need for each discipline, along with their connection to identity and identity awareness as a form of social justice practice and advancement. Next, I share and perform the nine explorations developed for this project, collectively titled Queer Explorations of Identity Awareness. Modeling for you in practical terms how to queer curriculum and its development, I openly examine my raw performances, discuss my personal and analytical reflections, and embrace my own personal experiences and revelations that occurred throughout this project. Finally, I close with a creative, reflective, and story-like analysis of the process that includes a call to action from you to share your stories as a way of knowing yourself—and others—as a form of social justice education and advancement.This book is intended for all formal and informal educators interested in performing and developing queer multicultural social justice curriculum and practices. Inspired by Ayers (2006), I invite you on this “voyage” with “hope and urgency” (p. 83). It is time we share our stories as a form of curriculum, activism, and coming together.

Indigenizing Education: Transformative Research, Theories, and Praxis brings various scholars, educators, and community voices together in ways that reimagines and recenters learning processes that embody Indigenous education rooted in critical Indigenous theories and pedagogies. The contributing scholar-educators speak to the resilience and strength embedded in Indigenous knowledges and highlight the intersection between research, theories, and praxis in Indigenous education. Each of the contributors share ways they engaged in transformative praxis by activating a critical Indigenous consciousness with diverse Indigenous youth, educators, families, and community members. The authors provide pathways to reconceptualize and sustain goals to activate agency, social change, and advocacy with and for Indigenous peoples as they enact sovereignty, selfeducation, and Native nation-building.The chapters are organized across four sections, entitled Indigenizing Curriculum and Pedagogy, Revitalizing and Sustaining Indigenous Languages, Engaging Families and Communities in Indigenous Education, and Indigenizing Teaching and Teacher Education. Across the chapters, you will observe dialogues between the scholar-educators as they enacted various theories, shared stories, indigenized various curriculum and teaching practices, and reflected on the process of engaging in critical dialogues that generates a (re)new(ed) spirit of hope and commitment to intellectual and spiritual sovereignty. The book makes significant contributions to the fields of critical Indigenous studies, critical and culturally sustaining pedagogy, and decolonization.

Indigenizing Education: Transformative Research, Theories, and Praxis brings various scholars, educators, and community voices together in ways that reimagines and recenters learning processes that embody Indigenous education rooted in critical Indigenous theories and pedagogies. The contributing scholar-educators speak to the resilience and strength embedded in Indigenous knowledges and highlight the intersection between research, theories, and praxis in Indigenous education. Each of the contributors share ways they engaged in transformative praxis by activating a critical Indigenous consciousness with diverse Indigenous youth, educators, families, and community members. The authors provide pathways to reconceptualize and sustain goals to activate agency, social change, and advocacy with and for Indigenous peoples as they enact sovereignty, selfeducation, and Native nation-building.The chapters are organized across four sections, entitled Indigenizing Curriculum and Pedagogy, Revitalizing and Sustaining Indigenous Languages, Engaging Families and Communities in Indigenous Education, and Indigenizing Teaching and Teacher Education. Across the chapters, you will observe dialogues between the scholar-educators as they enacted various theories, shared stories, indigenized various curriculum and teaching practices, and reflected on the process of engaging in critical dialogues that generates a (re)new(ed) spirit of hope and commitment to intellectual and spiritual sovereignty. The book makes significant contributions to the fields of critical Indigenous studies, critical and culturally sustaining pedagogy, and decolonization.

In Are You Mixed?, Sonia Janis explores the spaces in-between race and place from the perspective of an educator who is multi-racial. As she reflects on her own experiences as a seventh grade student up to her eventual appointment as a school administrator, she learns of the complexity of situating oneself in predetermined demographic categories. She shares how she explores the intricacies of undefined spaces that teach her to embrace differences, contradictions, and complexities in schools, neighborhoods and communities.Exploring the in-betweenness (Anzaldua & Keating, 2002; He, 2003, 2010) of her life as a multi-race person problematizes imbedded notions of race, gender, class, and power. The power of this memoir lies in its narrative possibilities to capture the contradictions and paradoxes of lives in-between race and place, 'to honor the subtleties, fluidities, and complexities of such experience, and to cultivate understanding towards individual ... experience and the multicultural/multiracial contexts that shape and are shaped by such experience' (He, 2003, p. xvii). This memoir creates new ways to think about and write about in-between experience and their relevance to multicultural and multiracial education.Janis challenges educators, teachers, administrators, and policy makers to view the educational experience of students with multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual backgrounds by shattering predetermined categories and stereotyped classifications and looking into unknown and fluid realms of the in-betweenness of their lives. This challenge helps create equitable and just opportunities and engender culturally responsive and inspiring curricular and learning environments to bring out the best potential in all diverse schools, communities, neighborhoods, tribes and societies.

In Are You Mixed?, Sonia Janis explores the spaces in-between race and place from the perspective of an educator who is multi-racial. As she reflects on her own experiences as a seventh grade student up to her eventual appointment as a school administrator, she learns of the complexity of situating oneself in predetermined demographic categories. She shares how she explores the intricacies of undefined spaces that teach her to embrace differences, contradictions, and complexities in schools, neighborhoods and communities.Exploring the in-betweenness (Anzaldua & Keating, 2002; He, 2003, 2010) of her life as a multi-race person problematizes imbedded notions of race, gender, class, and power. The power of this memoir lies in its narrative possibilities to capture the contradictions and paradoxes of lives in-between race and place, 'to honor the subtleties, fluidities, and complexities of such experience, and to cultivate understanding towards individual ... experience and the multicultural/multiracial contexts that shape and are shaped by such experience' (He, 2003, p. xvii). This memoir creates new ways to think about and write about in-between experience and their relevance to multicultural and multiracial education.Janis challenges educators, teachers, administrators, and policy makers to view the educational experience of students with multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual backgrounds by shattering predetermined categories and stereotyped classifications and looking into unknown and fluid realms of the in-betweenness of their lives. This challenge helps create equitable and just opportunities and engender culturally responsive and inspiring curricular and learning environments to bring out the best potential in all diverse schools, communities, neighborhoods, tribes and societies.

In Beyond Retention: Cultivating Spaces of Equity, Fairness, and Justice for Women of Color in U.S. Higher Education, Brenda Marina and Sabrina N. Ross address the continued underrepresentation of women faculty of color at predominantly White colleges and universities through a creative convergence of scholarship focused on intellectual activism and structural change. Inspired by the African American oral tradition of call and response, this text illuminates the calls, or personal narratives of women faculty of color who identify racialized, gendered, sexualized, and class-based challenges associated with work in predominantly White institutions. Accounts of social justice-oriented strategies, policies, and practices that support women faculty of color and reflections by women of color who are senior faculty members serve as literal and metaphorical responses. The convergence of calls for social justice and equity-minded responses and reflections in this text provide intellectual foundations for the development of higher education spaces where women faculty of color can thrive.Beyond Retention is a critical geographic project intended to identify and mitigate structures of oppression that act as barriers to the full incorporation of women of color in predominantly White academic contexts. This text will be of interest to scholars interested in curriculum topics of race, gender, sexuality, and place. The text offers strategies for coping and success for women of color in doctoral programs, faculty positions, and mid-level administration positions within the academy; as such, Beyond Retention will be a valuable addition to the reading libraries of each of these groups. Men and women with interests in the experiences of educators of color within predominantly White contexts will also gain valuable insights from this book, as will individuals interested in various areas of women studies, multicultural education, and diversity.Beyond Retention also provides accounts of practices and policies that have been successful in supporting the needs of women faculty of color; knowledge gained from this text will be useful for higher education administrators seeking to improve the campus climate for faculty of color. Additionally, human resource directors, equal opportunity specialists and diversity trainers will find this text helpful when considering strategies for managing diversity.

In Beyond Retention: Cultivating Spaces of Equity, Fairness, and Justice for Women of Color in U.S. Higher Education, Brenda Marina and Sabrina N. Ross address the continued underrepresentation of women faculty of color at predominantly White colleges and universities through a creative convergence of scholarship focused on intellectual activism and structural change. Inspired by the African American oral tradition of call and response, this text illuminates the calls, or personal narratives of women faculty of color who identify racialized, gendered, sexualized, and class-based challenges associated with work in predominantly White institutions. Accounts of social justice-oriented strategies, policies, and practices that support women faculty of color and reflections by women of color who are senior faculty members serve as literal and metaphorical responses. The convergence of calls for social justice and equity-minded responses and reflections in this text provide intellectual foundations for the development of higher education spaces where women faculty of color can thrive.Beyond Retention is a critical geographic project intended to identify and mitigate structures of oppression that act as barriers to the full incorporation of women of color in predominantly White academic contexts. This text will be of interest to scholars interested in curriculum topics of race, gender, sexuality, and place. The text offers strategies for coping and success for women of color in doctoral programs, faculty positions, and mid-level administration positions within the academy; as such, Beyond Retention will be a valuable addition to the reading libraries of each of these groups. Men and women with interests in the experiences of educators of color within predominantly White contexts will also gain valuable insights from this book, as will individuals interested in various areas of women studies, multicultural education, and diversity.Beyond Retention also provides accounts of practices and policies that have been successful in supporting the needs of women faculty of color; knowledge gained from this text will be useful for higher education administrators seeking to improve the campus climate for faculty of color. Additionally, human resource directors, equal opportunity specialists and diversity trainers will find this text helpful when considering strategies for managing diversity.

In Internationalizing Teaching and Teacher Education for Equity: Engaging Alternative Knowledges Across Ideological Borders, editors Jubin Rahatzad, Hannah Dockrill, JoAnn Phillion, and Suniti Sharma, present a collection of teacher educators’ cross-cultural perspectives on the formation of knowledge through the internationalization of teacher education.Each chapter contributes to ongoing discussions about the process of internationalization in teacher education, and the impact of crossing ideological boundaries on the practice of teaching and teacher education. The varied perspectives that authors offer establish the importance of ideological travel as imperative to preparing internationally competent educators. This collection seeks to engage readers in a variety of critical reflections on the often-presumed benefits of internationalization in teacher education. Through questioning the presumed benefits of globalization as a hegemonic ideology, readers will encounter alternative perspectives that demonstrate the possibility of thinking otherwise. The diverse perspectives available in this book broaden theory, research, and practice, working toward more critical spaces of engagement with the process of internationalization. This collection intends to challenge the maintenance of the dominant ideologies internationally through research from a multiplicity of backgrounds. Each chapter is informed by the authors’ commitment to an ethical practice within teacher education for the purpose of constructing equitable social relations, understanding the process of internationalizing teacher education as a social justice movement. Opportunities and challenges within international teacher education are offered to inspire meaningful praxis. Planetary understandings inform readers through critical examinations of theory, research, and practice for the purpose of equitable social and educational transformations.

In Internationalizing Teaching and Teacher Education for Equity: Engaging Alternative Knowledges Across Ideological Borders, editors Jubin Rahatzad, Hannah Dockrill, JoAnn Phillion, and Suniti Sharma, present a collection of teacher educators’ cross-cultural perspectives on the formation of knowledge through the internationalization of teacher education.Each chapter contributes to ongoing discussions about the process of internationalization in teacher education, and the impact of crossing ideological boundaries on the practice of teaching and teacher education. The varied perspectives that authors offer establish the importance of ideological travel as imperative to preparing internationally competent educators. This collection seeks to engage readers in a variety of critical reflections on the often-presumed benefits of internationalization in teacher education. Through questioning the presumed benefits of globalization as a hegemonic ideology, readers will encounter alternative perspectives that demonstrate the possibility of thinking otherwise. The diverse perspectives available in this book broaden theory, research, and practice, working toward more critical spaces of engagement with the process of internationalization. This collection intends to challenge the maintenance of the dominant ideologies internationally through research from a multiplicity of backgrounds. Each chapter is informed by the authors’ commitment to an ethical practice within teacher education for the purpose of constructing equitable social relations, understanding the process of internationalizing teacher education as a social justice movement. Opportunities and challenges within international teacher education are offered to inspire meaningful praxis. Planetary understandings inform readers through critical examinations of theory, research, and practice for the purpose of equitable social and educational transformations.

It has become increasingly critical for both novice and experienced educators to bring to their diverse classrooms a set of dispositions, skills, and experiences that will enhance learning for all students, especially pupils from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. Intercultural teaching experiences offer opportunities for teachers and student teachers to learn about cultures and cultures of schooling via first-hand interactions. In this way, intercultural teaching enables educators to intertwine the personal, political, cultural, social, theoretical, and practical as a means of making important changes in school and classroom life.A Reader on Narrative and Critical Lenses of Intercultural Teaching and Learning offers readers a set of chapters that highlights the work of researchers, educators, and teacher educators that displays new possibilities for ongoing teacher development and positive social and educational changes. This book engages in critical and narrative exploration of intercultural teaching, intercultural competence, and the relationship between the work of educators in different countries and teaching for diversity. This text also accounts for international, intra-cultural, and intercultural teaching beyond early field experiences and student teaching programs by including the viewpoints of educators with these experiences. Significantly, this book enhances the current dialogue on intercultural teaching and on intercultural competence with first-hand narrative accounts of life, teaching, and research in intercultural professional settings in order to bring to light intricate understandings of this form of educator professional development. In addition, this text critically unpacks aspects of intercultural teacher development and programs supporting such endeavors as they explicitly enhance educators’ capacities for personal, passionate, and participatory teaching and inquiry.

It has become increasingly critical for both novice and experienced educators to bring to their diverse classrooms a set of dispositions, skills, and experiences that will enhance learning for all students, especially pupils from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. Intercultural teaching experiences offer opportunities for teachers and student teachers to learn about cultures and cultures of schooling via first-hand interactions. In this way, intercultural teaching enables educators to intertwine the personal, political, cultural, social, theoretical, and practical as a means of making important changes in school and classroom life.A Reader on Narrative and Critical Lenses of Intercultural Teaching and Learning offers readers a set of chapters that highlights the work of researchers, educators, and teacher educators that displays new possibilities for ongoing teacher development and positive social and educational changes. This book engages in critical and narrative exploration of intercultural teaching, intercultural competence, and the relationship between the work of educators in different countries and teaching for diversity. This text also accounts for international, intra-cultural, and intercultural teaching beyond early field experiences and student teaching programs by including the viewpoints of educators with these experiences. Significantly, this book enhances the current dialogue on intercultural teaching and on intercultural competence with first-hand narrative accounts of life, teaching, and research in intercultural professional settings in order to bring to light intricate understandings of this form of educator professional development. In addition, this text critically unpacks aspects of intercultural teacher development and programs supporting such endeavors as they explicitly enhance educators’ capacities for personal, passionate, and participatory teaching and inquiry.

Rural communities across the United States are experiencing a rapid increase in the number of immigrant students. While the number of culturally and linguistically diverse students continues to grow within midwestern states, the demographics of teachers remain white, female, and monolingual. Often teachers have little to no training working with students and their families whose backgrounds differ from their own. Thus, there is a great urgency for teachers to develop culturally competent teaching practices that address the needs of all students. The purpose of this year-long, school-based narrative inquiry was to examine the beliefs, attitudes, and practices of rural educators as they described their work with Latinx immigrant, elementary students, negotiated the “space” between a professional and personal identity and demonstrated an ethic of care. This inquiry is arranged into “livings, tellings, retellings, and relivings” (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 70) and serves to shed light on the entwined lived experiences of myself, my participants, and the community in which we reside. Grounded in Noddings (1984; 2012) work on authentic caring and Valenzuela’s (1999) concept of culture and caring relations for Latinx students, Swanson’s middle range theory of care (1991, 1993) which served as the conceptual framework that illuminated how my participants discussed working with and caring for their Latinx immigrant students.In Struggling to Find Our Way: Rural Educators’ Experiences Working with And Caring for Latinx Immigrant Students, Stephanie Oudghiri’s one-year school-based narrative inquiry is a carefully crafted balance of creativity and rigor with the right notes to engage the reader, challenge them to think, wonder at what they can do, and imagine possibilities for a more socially just education system. In this book, Oudghiri examines the beliefs, attitudes, and practices of two white teachers and one Hispanic paraprofessional working with and caring for immigrant students in a rural Indiana community.Due to the sensitive nature of this inquiry, which focuses on teachers’ relationships with vulnerable populations (immigrant and undocumented), Oudghiri’s book serves as a model for active engagement by creating a strong sense of place, a strong sense of who these teachers and students are, and a strong sense of being in the midst of community and school life. What is unique and compelling about Oudghiri’s writing, is her focus on stories of the teachers working in her school site, and the children in their classrooms. She provides strong evidence using a compassionate lens and the art of storytelling to illuminate lives in the school.