Social and emotional learning (SEL) has become an avant-garde term in the last few years. It is how people acquire and apply knowledge, attitudes and skills to understand and control emotions. Incorporating the SEL perspective, teachers can not only help students set and achieve positive goals, but also help students understand how empathizing…

According to Lev S. Vygotsky (1896-1934), the highest levels of abstract thinking and self-regulation in preschool development are established in "pretend play using object substitutions." An extensive research literature supports Vygotsky's empirical model of the internalization of self-guiding speech (social speech > private speech…

The following reflective essay describes the literal journey of an undocumented immigrant who left his family in Jalisco, Mexico, as a teenager and eventually became a bilingual educator who earned two master's degrees and a Ph.D. in the United States. Within this narrative, the author not only describes the challenges in crossing into the U.S.…

This book focuses on integrity throughout the PhD journey and beyond, and is organised around two main themes: (1) integrity in relation to the capabilities developed by doctoral candidates for professional practice; and (2) integrity and coherence at the PhD system level. The working methods of key participants such as PhD candidates,…

Since "Reading Power" was launched ten years ago in an elementary school in Vancouver, it has evolved into a recognized approach to comprehension instruction being implemented across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and China. This groundbreaking approach shows teachers how to help students think while they…

In this chapter, the author uses the phrase "contemplative practices" to encompass an array of personal and pedagogical methods that combine training in awareness and first-person epistemological approaches to knowing and being in the world. These practices include mindfulness meditation (Magee 2011). The gradual inclusion of mindfulness…

A couple of decades ago, a visiting anthropologist agreed with some U.S. authors that the American intellectual on university campuses is basically dead and his/her demise is reflected in the superficial, boring, and uninspiring content to which students are exposed. More recent evidence indicates that things have not changed very much. In this…

It is essential to support bilingual learners' language and academic development; however, teaching second language learners English has taken precedence over teaching content area knowledge and vocabulary, specifically for language arts. The focus has shifted from content area instruction to primarily second language instruction due to an…

College attendance is a generally accepted goal of most students and families. A study by the US Department of Education found that more than 80% of students indicate that they plan on obtaining a college degree (2002). Other studies found that these aspirations were consistent regardless of race, social class, and gender or achievement level.…

Young children benefit from learning about and experiencing cultural and ethnic diversity. Early childhood practitioners often strive to diversify the curriculum by including children's cultural traditions, holidays, or foods. Yet, one knows that young children need more than a celebration or a circle time story about a place or people to feel…

A British historian of the American South examines the forces of contingency and the stimulus of teaching that led him to become a historian of the United States and, in particular, the American South. Belonging to a generation of British historians who aimed to make their work indistinguishable from their American counterparts, he has been forced…

This article describes an intervention program designed at a small rural school in Western Maryland to help word callers (students who can decode words easily but seem unable to comprehend). The ultimate goal of this program was to teach these children to become reflective readers with the confidence to participate in literature discussion groups…

Discusses the undereducated U.S. workforce and the resulting need for workforce education. Highlights include personalized systems of instruction; individualized instructional programs; cognitive processing; prior knowledge; time on task; feedback and assessment; metacognition; motivational links; and the need for a multilayered approach to…