The author, a former early grades teacher, recounts how she overcome erratic curriculum implementation to find her own way to effective reading instruction. What worked for her was an emphasis on explicit phonics in the context of providing engaging and relevant reading material for her students. "As a matter of educating the whole…

Black youth deserve rich opportunities to cultivate their own reading identities, says Kimberly Parker, cofounder of #DisruptTexts. In connecting them to their reading identities, teachers must cultivate these students' ability to see themselves as deserving of literacy and the freedom that being literate brings. Writes Parker, "We can ask…

Building a culture of reading in secondary schools is "like training for a marathon or losing 50 pounds: Every big shift is built--and sustained--by small, incremental steps." In this article, "Book Love" author Penny Kittle describes specific strategies that middle and high school educators can use to set the conditions for…

Since their launch in 2002, open educational resources (OER) developed by the Innovative Resources for Instructional Success, better known as the IRIS Center, have become a staple of teacher preparation programs. In the spring of 2019, a survey of users revealed a diversity of ways teacher educators incorporate IRIS Center OERs within their…

"Layers of Learning" explores read-aloud strategies designed to enhance your reading and writing standards by capitalizing on the way literature can impact caring communities. With over 200 picture-book suggestions, author JoEllen McCarthy introduces the Heartprint Framework, which demonstrates how you can layer literacy and life lessons…

Children's picture books contribute to children's development of gender identity and can impact aspirations and expectations of roles in families and society. However, the world represented in children's books reflects predominantly middle class, heterosexual, male heroes and characters. This paper reports on a cross-cultural study investigating…

Although using video to facilitate language learning is an exceedingly common practice, both for in-class and out-of-class learning, at present the literature exploring the use of authentic videos for intentional language learning is void of a user-friendly framework that educators and learners can refer to when selecting and using authentic…

Purpose: As sustainability teaching and learning rises in importance, an increasing number of higher education institutions (HEIs) are assessing the effectiveness of their approach to sustainability education. However, most assessments fall short in determining the impacts of curriculum plans on learning outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to…

Significant traumatic events affect communities and schools. Teachers need tools to help navigate challenging conversations with their students. Consequently, we utilized our children's literature course on the use of picture books that would invite dialogue supporting children responding to traumatic events. Specifically, we reconceptualized an…

Research has long demonstrated the exclusion and Othering experienced by young people with disabilities in education. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study conducted in an 'elite' sixth-form college in England, set against the backdrop of a shifting social, political, and cultural landscape, where neo-liberal discourses of…

This research considers the innovative educational strategy known as the "liquid learning system," which allows students attending classes either online or face-to-face. This system was implemented for the first time at a private European university in 2020 as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emphasis is placed on the effect of the…

In a modern yet demanding society, scientific literacy (SL) is an essential skill that enables the individual to explain, understand and discuss issues related to science, health, and the environment. The purpose of this research study is to validate the Scientific Literacy Assessment (SLA) tool in the Greek language and investigate the level of…

Presentation of text in picturebooks is an under-investigated field that requires consideration in order to support readers and those selecting books for readers. A unique form of picturebook is the bilingual picturebook which presents a story in two languages. The complexities of language readability and legibility are increased in these books,…

This article presents a mixed method study utilizing teacher and student demographic and student attendance data from seven hundred and two public schools in central Texas along with follow-up qualitative data gathered through semi-structured interviews conducted with the top 1% of principals identified as having the most diverse group of faculty…

The decision to close schools in March 2020 was a massive disruption to public education. But pandemic-related closures did more than put in-person instruction on hold. School closures also meant that teacher candidates could not complete their student teaching experiences. Three years later, the negative consequences of school closures for…