"Black is beauty" is a powerful affirmation in Jamaican families, emphasizing the value of Blackness beyond race. Similarly, "Black is Beautiful" empowers Black Americans. This article explores the beauty of Blackness from a Jamaican perspective in the U.S., demonstrating pro-Black pedagogy in classrooms to uplift Black…

As teachers in the US context, we have spent precious little time considering what it would mean to be prepared and ready for Black children. In such readiness, (re)cognition of the spirit and spirituality of Black people would be central in understanding and preparing for our children and families. This article asks the question: What would it…

When teachers and learners of English face challenging circumstances such as limited access to books and teaching supplies, local practices such as oral storytelling traditions can provide creative resources for supporting language and literacy development. We describe how a cultural imaginary of stories told by Rwandan and U.S. students supported…

Changing school demographics, coupled with a teaching force that is predominantly white and female, has created a growing discrepancy between teachers and the students they teach. Many children and children in poverty do not display the behaviors or experience the type or degree of success in school as white or middle-class students do.…

The "ISSS Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. (Individual papers contain references.) [For the 2009 proceedings, see ED504973.]