Volume 12, Issue 1 -

The centrality of zero-tolerance policies as a component of anti-bullying strategies is the focus of this paper. A review of the literature of social justice advocates, journalists, and scholars reveals that zero-tolerance policies tend to push students out of public schools into the criminal justice system in a pattern of institutional racism. This phenomenon has come to be labeled the “school to prison pipeline.” Interviews with teachers and administrators reveal that they see no alternative to their implementation of zero-tolerance policies, because they believe that violent behaviors manifested by racial minority students are grounded in cultural norms beyond the control of public educators. The authors conclude that the “school to prison pipeline” can only be ameliorated by a program of radical reform.

Team-based learning (TBL) has been shown to improve many aspects of student learning, but no previous research has systematically examined the effects of group exams on English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in university classrooms. This study is a small-scale action research examining the role of students’ English language status in their perceptions of and performance in group exams within TBL. The data were collected from 29 students – (13 EAL) and 16 English as a first language (EL1) – attending a third-year university linguistics class in Vancouver, Canada. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used for the data analysis. Results of the study revealed no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of perceptions or performance. Both groups had positive perceptions about group exams and the increase in their performance over the course of the semester was statistically significant. Qualitative results showed that students found group exams helpful for learning and reducing exam anxiety. Students also enjoyed the experience of taking group exams and stated that their attitudes toward the group exams were more positive at the end of the semester.

This study investigates the beliefs of mentor teachers with respect to urban classrooms as well as their confidence level with respect to working with a diverse array of urban students. When presented with a simple, unambiguous query concerning urban schools and the Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale, mentor teachers in this sample expressed overwhelmingly negative views of the students, schools and communities in which they teach. Recommendations are made with respect to the preparation, support and supervision of mentor teachers who work in urban schools.

In recent years, natal males’ assertions of being girls born in the wrong body have been unwelcome in elementary scholastic contexts. Several reasons call for individuals who teach or plan to teach young children to know about boy-to-girl (B2G) performance counternarratives. First, there is increasing visibility of B2G lives among elementary schoolchildren. Second, B2G performance counternarratives have empathetic impact with the potential to reshape educators’ views regarding schoolchildren’s embodiment and sexuality. Third, B2G performance counternarratives are increasingly present in children’s literature. Collectively, these reasons contribute to a “queer-eye pedagogical stance” capable of fostering empathy for B2G perspectives. This discussion on B2G performance counternarratives is the result of a three year examination. The 28 children’s picture storybooks put forth convey a range of B2G lived experiences – some of which feature classroom teachers. Ideally, these narratives – lived and in literature – will position actual teachers to become responsive to B2G schoolchildren in physical classrooms.

While many teachers in American pre-service programs struggle to develop experience and awareness of multicultural issues (Sleeter, 2001, Preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools: Research and the overwhelming presence of Whiteness. Journal of teacher education, 52 (2), 94–106. doi:10.1177/0022487101052002002), there is a modicum of evidence to suggest that today’s college students are ahead of their predecessors in preparing for multicultural teaching. This study analyzes how seven pre-service teachers made sense of their students’ cultural struggles as they authored multicultural literature written for children in Hawai‘i. The results indicate teachers used their own experiences to make sense of students’ cultural struggles and when they could not find commonality, they engaged in ethnographic research. The results have implications for preparing millennial teachers and calls for rethinking the standard curriculum in preparing teachers for multicultural teaching.

Adolescents are often disengaged in the learning process, being more focused on social media and self-interest than classroom content. Full circling is a process that can be used to help students collaboratively engage in learning and actively reflect on historical events – especially those that are under reported in history books. In the present article, the author uses her full circling process within a fifth grade urban classroom using the topic of segregation during the Civil Rights Movement as the central focus. The article outlines the steps of the full circling process and gives a narrative account of how the process was used in this classroom.