In this article, I review contact zone pedagogy from a perspective of discursive positioning and with attention to two assignments that ask basic writers to play with the conventions of academic language. The first requires them to translate a passage of academic prose into a slang of their choice; the second, to compose a parody of academic…

Little information exists regarding mental health and special needs related to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) families. In this article we emphasize the use of oral tradition during the Circles of Care initiative, which was essential in understanding cultural history and historical trauma of AI/ANs while giving a greater understanding…

This article seeks to extend the model Goodman et al. advanced for making counseling psychology training more useful in the struggle for social justice. In addition to affirming the ideas of Goodman et al., this article offers some specific examples of how conventional, micro-level ideas in U.S. psychology can be scaled upward to be useful across…

This article examines some of the issues that arise when two disparate cultures of learning engage with each other. It draws on various theories of language pedagogy and cultural appropriacy to suggest how such issues might be resolved. A snapshot of a specific teaching experience at a Gulf university is presented to illustrate some of these…

This article discusses how the traditional Maori concept of Hauora (balanced development) can be applied to beginning teacher induction programmes. To develop this idea, several steps were taken. From a nationwide survey, five primary schools were chosen with exemplary induction programmes. Data from interviews and observations indicated that…

This booklet explains that strong parental involvement in a child's education and school environment is essential to the success of the child and the school. It explores culturally biased beliefs many educators frequently have toward their students and their students' families, examining a variety of ways in which educators and parents can work…

Argues that understanding how values operate, both in individual and cultural contexts, could help educators to determine what can and should be achieved with students and to build an appropriate program. Stresses that values specific to the international school's situation must be considered. (AUTH/NB)

Argues that the traditional philosophy of public service has remained relevant and vital to overall library reference service despite information technology and other societal changes. Topics include information and information technology; and economic, political, and social trends as they influence reference librarians and reference service.…

Describes one college professor's teaching practice that enables diverse students to bring their own personal and cultural background to bear upon Shakespeare's plays, thus helping them develop their readings of the plays. Her approach involves decentering Shakespeare and encouraging students to read the texts critically from their own cultural…

Ntu is a pluralistic approach to psychotherapy. Framed in an Afrocentric understanding of the world, Ntu is a multifaceted, continually evolving way of conceptualizing human behavior that treats families using ancient Eastern principles of healing, New Age conceptualizations of the mind-body relationship, an Afrocentric world view, and…

Circles of Care grantees were provided the opportunity to develop a locally relevant definition of serious emotional disturbance (SED) that would be used to define what type of emotional, behavioral, and mental disability would be required to receive services. After conducting detailed assessments of the definition in the guidance for applicants…

This paper presents outcomes and accomplishments of the first round of participating individuals, communities, and grantees of the Circles of Care program (CoC). While accomplishing all CoC program goals, the initiative supported grantees in developing individual service delivery system models and positioned each grantee advantageously for…

This paper explores reasons why the use of technology in education may be so attractive to so many people. Two emerging perspectives--memetics, and the social history of technology--are explored, and a typology of technology-as-cultural-tool is presented. Finally, implications of these ideas for educational change are considered.

Leadership, like diversity, is often used in education as an all-encompassing notion, applied to a wide variety of situations, or at times, used rather loosely. The danger with such an approach is the lack of specificity. Yet, specificity can set the boundaries so narrow that one is led to believe one approach is better than another or that "one…

Teaching ability, over and above reading programs, is the major contributor to students' literacy success. Culturally and linguistically diverse students are not receiving "a free and appropriate education" when teachers are not implementing instructional strategies that optimize student achievement or positively reinforcing their cultural…