This article presents popular misconceptions on teaching culturally relevant books and provides strategies that can inform the search, selection, and teaching of books in culturally responsive ways. Informed by relevant research and insights gained from collaboratively teaching a children's literature course at college level, I discuss how the…

Teacher lack of knowledge outside British and American literature is a major obstacle in teaching World Literature. This article offers the experiences of three teachers teaching the Bhagavad Gita and suggests ways to overcome lack of teacher knowledge when reading cross-culturally.

This article describes how preservice teachers and Latinx students can collaborate to effect change in the way that K-12 educators support students from traditionally marginalized groups. We build on the concept of funds of knowledge to demonstrate how situating traditionally marginalized students in positions of expertise as funds of knowledge…

In this article we share several activities we use in our teacher education literacy courses that incorporate a social justice lens. For each activity we suggest resources, offer examples we have created and used in our teaching, and share research to support each activity. The activities build on each other, with the intent of increasing…

In this article, co-written by a self-identified White female professor and a self-identified Black male doctoral student, the authors address the pressing need to train and retain a teacher workforce willing and able to foster equity for students from nondominant racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. They make three arguments. First, the…

Culturally responsive teaching is an essential component of reframing educator preparation for equity and has particular resonance when working in partnership with indigenous communities. As teacher educators in Aotearoa New Zealand, we continually seek to enhance our practices to ensure that Maori cultural values, pedagogies, and epistemologies…

This article speaks to teachers who have been paired with native speakers (NSs) who have never taught before, and the feelings of frustration, discouragement, and nervousness on the teacher's behalf that can occur as a result. In order to effectively tackle this situation, teachers need to work together with the NSs. Teachers in this scenario…

As teacher-educators we need to embrace practitioner (action) research of our own classroom practice. Such research serves to improve our practice, inform the teaching profession, and serve as modeling for future teachers to become practitioner researchers in support of their efforts to meet the learning needs of the students with whom they work…

For more than 3 decades governments and education systems have struggled to address the gaps in educational outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Over the past 10 years it has become increasingly apparent that central to redressing these gaps is the development of teachers who are able to effectively engage with Indigenous…

The importance of cultural competency in physical education is unmistakable. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) has identified elements of cultural competency within both the National Standards for Physical Education and the National Standards and Guidelines for Physical Education Teacher Education. Although there…

Canada welcomes around 24,000 refugees annually (Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2015; 2016). Many adult learners with refugee experiences join English as an Additional Language (EAL) classes every year, whether these classes be federally or provincially funded. These adult learners with refugee experiences bring to EAL classes varied…

With the realities of standards-based accountability, it is imperative to model and demonstrate for students how subject areas and teaching methods transcend across traditional boundaries. In an effort to prepare future social studies educators to teach for global awareness and to meaningfully integrate critical literacy skills into their…

Education research literature is rife with images of pre- and in-service teachers in urban settings. Entire publications are grounded in the study of this population (see Journal of Urban Education, Education and Urban Society, The Urban Review, Perspectives on Urban Education, The National Journal of Urban Education, and Rethinking Schools). In…

This theoretical study uses the context of the writer's personal encounters in Malawi, Africa, to propose a conceptual model for creating diverse field experiences based on best practices in critical pedagogy, service learning, and the underpinnings of transformational learning theory, for the purpose of increasing the probability of meaningful…

The need to effectively prepare faculty to teach in a cross-cultural environment has become imperative in the context of globalizing higher education (Deardorff, 2009; Verbik, 2007). Many higher education institutions around the world have internationalized their degrees and programs, and they have established foreign branch campuses to provide…