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Racism is a systemic issue that works alongside white privilege, a system of unearned benefits, such as obtaining financial breaks and loans, being reflected consistently in classroom curriculum, and being assumed as the "norm." Assumptions about people with light skin include their being honest, responsible, and safe. Thus, white privilege also simultaneously works through the oppression of people of color, about which the opposite assumptions are made--they are often portrayed (especially through the media) as unsafe, powerless, and less deserving of resources such as health care. This article focuses on the novel "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (2015) to help students work through the implications of racism and the manifestation of racism in police brutality. Reading about youth who are similar in age will potentially help students discern how they are affected by racial relations in their own lives and to consider (and hopefully act on) the methods through which they can enact change to combat the negative effects of racial inequity. [This article is excerpted with permission from the authors' book, "Reading for Action: Engaging Youth in Social Justice Through Young Adult Literature" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).]

Educative Curriculum Materials (ECMs) are teaching materials that have the dual function of providing learning activities to students and providing professional development to the teachers that use them. Answering a call for professional development opportunities, and with input from English teachers in rural Nicaraguan schools, the designers created a set of ECMs aligned with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education Curriculum. When physically bringing the completed materials to educators in rural Nicaraguan schools became impossible, it was determined that the delivery system had to change. With support from a team of undergraduate computer science students, the ECMs were transferred to a digital delivery system, the new format allowing for even more English teaching and learning support. This paper shares how a revolution in Nicaragua and failed project ultimately led to the creation of the English teaching app Reaching for English.

Given increased attention toward nonfiction and informational texts due to recent educational reforms in the nation, it is critical to examine how various cultural identities are depicted in nonfiction children's picture books. Focusing on the Orbis Pictus honor and awarded texts (n = 60) from 1990 to 2019, this article reports the findings of a critical multicultural analysis of the depictions of age, sex, socio-economic status, ethnicities, and geographic regions of these awarded texts. Using a secondary analysis of opportunities for agency, we examine how focal subjects (Crisp in Lang Arts 92(4):241-255, 2015) exert their agency in their respective contexts. Our aim in doing so is to problematize the notion of agency in these texts, specifically understanding who exerts agency, how, and for what purposes. Findings suggest that the authors of these awarded texts rely on highlighting White, European males where agency is typically depicted as an act that occurs in adulthood. As a result, discussion focuses on how such texts, although well-meaning, perhaps perpetuate the traditional notion and passivity of young children in relation to their agency and calls to question the lack of multiple perspectives and voices in the awarded texts.

There are ways for teachers to carry out independent professional development--leading themselves to grow in their understanding and practice of teaching. Two of these are action research and individual development plans. However, to use these models, teachers need connections with teaching colleagues, a mentor, and/or a basic understanding of how to do research and carry out reflection. These are resources that rural Nicaraguan teachers--and many teachers in other contexts around the world--rarely have. The authors looked for an alternative pathway for independent professional development and began to ask the questions: What would professional development look like if trainers and colleagues were less important in the process? What would it look like if teachers were experimenting autonomously on their own with teaching materials that met their needs? As researchers and teacher trainers, the authors discovered a concept that was new to them: "Educative Curriculum Materials" (ECMs). ECMs are teaching materials intentionally designed to guide educators to understand teaching concepts in their own way. Teachers "infer" theory rather than "hear" about it in a workshop. The authors applied the concept of ECMs to teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and developed materials in collaboration with Nicaraguan teachers. In this article, the authors describe ECMs and review key literature related to them. They then suggest a process that others who are supporting teachers in similar circumstances can use to develop and refine classroom materials that provide independent professional development. The authors share examples of their own findings in Nicaragua as well as some sample materials.

Shifting the Conversation around Teaching Sensitive Topics: Critical Colleagueship in a Teacher Discourse Community Abstract: In this book club study designed to examine practicing teachers' perspectives on a young adult book dealing with identity, mental health, sexuality, and family, researchers describe the tensions that arose in participants' dialogue regarding self-censorship and the desire to meet students' needs. Authors note findings related to how teachers from rural schools responded to the novel under study and collaborated to reach new understandings. Findings also included a pattern of critical colleagueship, where participants both challenged ideas regarding the limits of sensitive topics and supported one other in building upon ideas of how to teach texts with potentially taboo content, highlighting the value of discourse communities as professional development.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how preservice teachers conceive of and implement social actions on their college campuses related to a chosen social problem developed in a young adult novel and to examine how social action projects develop teacher candidates' critical literacies. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative exploratory multiple case study (Stake, 2005) investigated 70 pre-service teachers on two college campuses over two semesters as they engaged in social action projects. The researchers engaged in layers of open and thematic coding through the theoretical lens of critical literacies. Findings: Preservice teachers engaged in a range of direct and indirect action and, as a result, experienced varying levels of self-efficacy and impact. While most felt their endeavors were successful, those who conducted awareness campaigns noted an inability to measure the effects they had on their communities. Their development of critical literacies through social action was evidenced in the partnerships across campus they established as well as their levels of engagement with peers and local officials. Originality/value: While the results of conducting social action with youth in secondary classrooms are well established in the literature, lesser well known are ways to engage preservice teachers in such endeavors. This study illustrates not only how teacher candidates can engage in social action as aligned with young adult literature but also offers insights gained from those processes.

Using a mixed-methods approach, this article reports survey findings regarding the factors secondary English-language-arts teachers in the United States reported as influential to their text selection and examines how those factors varied by years of teaching experience. Teachers' department was the most cited influence regardless of years' experience. Findings with statistical significance, supported by the qualitative data, include discrepancies in perceived curricular constraints between novice and veteran teachers as related to parental, administrative, and school board influence on text selection. Implications for the teacher preparation classroom, including building skills and confidence in curricular choices, are examined.

This research study sought to answer the question: What are the immediate emotional impacts of recent executive orders on teachers of English language learners in the United States? Eight teachers of K-12 English language learners (ELLs) were interviewed in the weeks following the signing of Executive Orders 13,767 and 13,769 in 2017, which attempted to limit refugee resettlement and immigration. Through thematic analysis of the data, it was found that the executive orders set a process in motion in which ELLs were encouraged to feel fear. Teachers experienced emotion labor (Hochschild, [Hochschild, A. R., 1983]) as they attempted to buffer the messages of fear and mitigation of that emotion labor when they felt support from colleagues. The study concludes that teachers and school leaders should address ELLs' experiences of fear arising from a context of anti-immigrant sentiment and demonstrate care for those teachers who most closely work with them.

This exploratory qualitative study intended to deepen understandings of learners' desires for English, the images they associate with the English language, and what these might suggest for an English curriculum. To do so, the study investigated the perspectives of southwestern Nicaraguan residents about the growing presence of English and English speakers, primarily tourists, drawn to the local beaches. Fifteen residents (English learners, their family members, and English teachers) from two tourism destination Nicaraguan departments -- Rivas and Carazo -- were interviewed regarding their "language desires" for English, including the images that they held in their minds as they yearned for English. Five images emerged: "An Open Door," "Ambassadors," "A Family Speaking English," "International Friendships," and "The Beach." Each image speaks to a cluster of longings for what the participants dreamed their individual and communal lives would be if English could be mastered, formed within an economic, historic, and social context. Some of the images were connected to a belief that institutions would meet the participants' needs, while others provided a source of agency when needs were not likely to be met. The participants experienced language desire for English as a pathway to assist others and to improve their lives. The authors hold that these language desires are an invisible current shaping experiences and responses to curriculum and should inform curricular decisions.

Researchers conducted a critical multicultural analysis of 58 realistic fiction children's picture books that portray people living in poverty and compared these depictions to recent statistics from the United States Census Bureau. The picture books were examined for the following qualities: main character, geographic locale and time era, focal poor character (gender, age, and race), who demonstrated action, and the type of action (individual, community, systemic) demonstrated. Results of the analysis showed that while in some areas the books accurately reflect the reality in the United States today, there are other areas in which poverty is misrepresented. For example, while the attribute of gender was found to be accurately reflected in the literature, depictions of contemporary rural poverty as well as action performed at the systemic level are seemingly absent. The analysis concludes with implications for teaching as well as recommended books to consider for inclusion in a classroom library.

The current demand for teacher candidates to prove a positive impact on student achievement and work collaboratively in a field that is perennially in change has called for a new paradigm for teacher preparation, one that focuses on clinical field experiences, culturally responsive teaching and reflective, collaborative pedagogy. The co-teach model for student teaching offers improved student learning by allowing for differentiated approaches to instruction and establishing communication practices necessary for professional collaboration. While research has shown that the co-teach model for the student teaching internship yields improved learning for the students in the classroom, less focus has been placed on the teacher candidates' perceptions of the model for the student teaching internship. In this paper, brief historical perspectives of teacher preparation and the co-teach model of the student teaching internship are followed by teacher candidates' and administrators' perceptions of co-teaching. Finally, lessons learned and suggestions for implementation are provided. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)

The incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is increasing in the United States. The rate of diagnosis, combined with the trend towards more inclusive classrooms, means that general education teachers will most likely be teaching some students with ASD. In their teacher preparation course in special education, pre-service teachers learned about characteristics of students with ASD by reading literature with positive portrayals of individuals with ASD. In conjunction, pre-service teachers received instruction on teaching strategies to use in the classroom for students with ASD. By combining good literature with instruction in inclusive teaching practices, teacher educators can model the use of disability literature in the classroom to the benefit of all students.

In this article, the authors describe a qualitative case study of one secondary teacher and her ninthgrade students in the rural Northwest reading Jeff Zentner's novel The Serpent King. This work is situated in the recently developed theory of Critical Rural English Pedagogy which highlights the import of devoting attention to the unique aspects of rural life as well as having students critique and analyze related representations. Researchers collected the focal teachers' lesson plans, activities, handouts, and student work and observed class discussion seminars once per week. They also conducted three semi-structured interviews with the teacher and engaged in weekly informal conversations with her. Through open and thematic coding, they discerned how the teacher constructed a culturally affirming and rich unit that honored her students' lives and allowed them a space for validation and storytelling. Implications for pre- and inservice teachers are shared, including this illustration as a model for Critical Rural English Pedagogy, a group often missing from this scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article, we describe findings from a discourse community created for parents to discuss potentially controversial young adult literature. Focusing on participants' reactions to All American Boys, the study explores how parents responded to issues of racism in the United States and investigates how participants conceived of the text for their own children and in English classrooms. We distinguish four themes in the parents' responses: identifying with injustice, seeing Whiteness as a protection, stereotypes versus individuality, and reading as parents. Implications for preservice and inservice teachers, as well as teacher educators, involve preparation for leading difficult conversations and for working with parents toward transparency in classroom texts and topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]