Education Commons^™

The First Year Of The San Bernardino Restorative Youth Court, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The San Bernardino Restorative Youth Court was established by the San Bernardino City Unified School District school board and has operated for one school year (2015-16). The purpose of this article is to document what has happened in this year and to begin to address questions about the value of the youth court for those for whom it aims to make a difference. Data collated are at this point preliminary but some tentative conclusions can be drawn, even at this early stage. Here we shall outline these data and the conclusions that are suggested by them. The best available measure …

Reading The World, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This is a review of: Ajayi, Lasisi & Collins-Parks, Tamara (2016). Teaching literacy across content areas: Effective strategies that reach all K-12 students in the era of the common core state standards. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press.

International Students’ College Achievement: A Critical Quantitative Perspective, Eyad Alfattal

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Colleges exert much effort in recruiting international students who bring financial, cultural and educational benefits to the campuses in which they study. On the other hand, little attention is paid to how these students succeed in achieving their educational goals. The study proposed here describes a planned investigation that will help find out more about international students’ success in American colleges. The study will employ a college student achievement model as its theoretical framework, and it will aim at examining relationships between international students’ GPA and graduation rates while controlling for precollege academic performance. This examination will be done while …

Csusb Study Abroad 2011: My Chinese Summer, Tomasz B. Stanek

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This 2011 study abroad analysis written on a sojourn to Xian and Beijing is a product of several constructs: culture shock, intellectual curiosity, cross-cultural comparisons and interviews performed by the author. The reflections are multifold and mostly concern school visitations, architecture, tourist sites, and travel in general and read as commentaries of a blogger on his sojourn. The article concludes with an intellectual observation that implied challenges connected to cross-cultural examination, especially when comparing schooling, education, and pedagogical issues.

Diversity Is Critical: An Interview With Dr. Mildred Dalton Henry, Daniel Stewart

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Many might say that that diversity in education has been achieved. In an interview, Dr. Mildred Henry discusses that challenges that she faced in becoming a counselor educator in higher education and suggests that more work in the area of diversity is needed. She comments on how she struggled to overcome obstacles and kept faith with her heart to have an impact on the community in San Bernardino. As a result, Dr. Henry developed the Pal Center. She then invited students in her multicultural and fieldwork classes to work with the Pal Center. In this way, she provided needed hands-on …

A Review Of: The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed With Standardized Testing—But You Don’T Have To Be, Lasisi Ajayi

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This is a review of Anya Kamenetz's book, "The Test: Why our schools are obsessed with standardized testing—but you don’t have to be"

Implementing Undercover Anti-Bullying Teams; A Restorative Intervention Program To Address Bullying Relationships In Schools, Dorry Lillard

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Abstract

School bullying negatively impacts the lives of children, including the bullies, the victims and the bystanders. This project investigated the implementation process and perceived effectiveness of Undercover Anti-Bullying Teams. The "no blame" approach idea to healing bullying relationships originated by Bill Hubbard, was modified with a narrative perspective by Michael Williams, a counselor at a high school in Auckland, New Zealand. The purpose of this qualitative project was to gain insight from four practitioners, two in New Zealand and two in California, about their personal experiences with the implementation of this approach. The study found that Undercover Anti-Bullying Teams …

Conceptualizing A Future For Library Classification, Risa M. Lumley

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This paper traces the roots of the positivist epistemology of librarianship; its ideals of neutrality and access as they intersect in the classification and assignment of library subject headings; and the notion of the author as it relates to the creation of library authority files. By legitimizing their own professional neutrality, librarians have wielded tremendous power over what libraries collect as well as how those works are represented, but have done so with little self-reflection. The act of classifying works and assigning subject headings is not a neutral process. It is time for librarians to use new tools such as …

Double Listening And The Danger Of A Single Story, Sally Ab Meyer

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This paper describes the roots of double listening and its role in avoiding the danger of a single story. Double listening is defined. Additional topics include background information, suggestions for the practice of double listening, and practical examples. Also discussed is the relationship of double listening to active listening, narrative therapy, and solution-focused therapy.

Deconstructing Dominant Discourse Using Self-Deprecating Humor: A Discourse Analysis Of A Consulting With Japanese Female About Hikikomori And Neet, Hatsuho Ayashiro

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This study examines how dominant discourses are deconstructed in a consulting, particularly focusing on self-deprecating humor. Data were collected from a session with a Japanese client whose son was in hikikomori or NEET state, and a transcript of the session was analyzed using positioning theory. Examining several extracts shows how the client’s positioning of her son and herself is influenced by some dominant discourses, such as deficit discourse and so on. These dominant discourses are deconstructed by self-deprecating humor, because such ironical self-positioning makes these discourses visible, and defeats the self made by society. We discuss the findings with the …

Learning From Finland: A Book Review, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

A review of Pasi Sahlberg’s (2015) Finnish Lessons 2.0: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland (2^nd Edn.).

Ronald K. Pendleton- A Tribute To A Colleague, Exceptional Educator, And Friend, Joseph Scarcella Dr.

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

A tribute to Professor Ronald K. Pendleton who died on January 29, 2015.

Appreciative Inquiry: A Path To Change In Education, Pamela L. Buchanan

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) introduces a new approach to educational change. Most state and federal initiatives for educational change grow out of a deficit model determined to fix problems. The emphasis of AI is upon what is right with the organization and forms the basis for new initiatives and further change. This model proposes a cycle of inquiry used by leaders who distribute leadership across their constituents. Organizational learning is a process of individual and collective inquiry that modifies or constructs organizational theories-in-use and changes practice.

The study explored the relationship of AI, distributed leadership, and organizational learning qualities that exist …

What Is Social Justice? Opening A Discussion, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This paper is a record of a discussion on social justice that took place at California State University San Bernardino on January 23, 2013. It addresses the definition of what social justice is, what injustice is, and the significance of a concern for social justice for educators. Multiple viewpoints are included.

How Foucault’S Panopticon Governs Special Education In California, Gail Angus, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Special education laws in California function to create compliance by creating an environment of constant surveillance and monitoring from a range of perspectives. Even those who do the monitoring are themselves subject to this surveillance. This process is explained with reference to Bentham’s design of the panopticon and analyzed in relation to Foucault’s concept of governmentality. The intent here is to show how professionals’ and laypersons’ actions are governed by seeking to avoid being seen to behave incorrectly or getting caught behaving inappropriately. The governing of people’s lives is thus dispersed through professional decision-making and reporting. The intent of this …

Randall Lynn Wright—A Tribute To A Colleague And Friend, Carolyn Eggleston, Thom Gehring

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

A tribute to Professor Randall Lynn Wright who died in October 2014.

Why Wisdom?, Dr. Richard Ashcroft

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

To be wise I think it is important for educators to at least have some conceptualization of the roles both gnosis and episteme have played in human history and further consider a wisdom context broad enough to contain both. Current definitions of wisdom range from advanced practical “know how” (Sternberg, 1990) to “cosmic enlightenment” (Alexander & Langer, 1990). I suggest that to have a deep understanding of “wisdom” (or for that matter, any field of study) it is “wise” to define the “space” bracketed by its contrastingly extreme positions. This dialectic process could establish a context within which wisdom might …

Imparting Practical Wisdom And Resilience To Our Students, Charles (Derrick) Lawson

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The powerful impact of communicating a teacher’s belief in a student is presented. By sharing trade books and novels with metaphoric messages, teachers can impart practical wisdom and enable students to develop resilience when facing challenges.

Erin Gruwell: Catalyst For Change, Lisa Penrod, Jennifer Edmond

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

On the evening of February 19^th, 2008, we had the distinct honor and pleasure of meeting Ms. Erin Gruwell, teacher, motivational speaker and author of The Freedom Writers’ Diary and Teach With Your Heart. Upon being introduced, Ms. Gruwell focused the attention of the audience on her greatest passion, the students. After asking the teenagers to stand and be recognized, she ardently requested that the adults in the room purchase a copy of her book The Freedom Writers’ Diary, for every student present so that they might be inspired by students like themselves.

Emotional Labor: Re/Membering Juan, Randall Wright, Kathryn Schofield

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This paper finds its home in a graduate student’s essay which led to the realization that teaching for social justice in a foundations course cannot ignore the emotional labor of teachers. Critical concepts such as ideology, hegemony and domination must be considered as cognitive frameworks and emotional management systems that delimit and prescribe proper “feelings” for teachers as well. Current educational discourses serve a similar emotional management function. Schools are thus considered battlegrounds for dominance and control of teachers’ emotional lives. Recovering the emotional world of teachers thus serves as a counter-discourse to the current technical-rationalist educational discourse. We conclude …

Review Of Books By Visual/Media Literacy Author, Thomas West, Jessica Cannaday

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Thomas West’s: In the Mind’s Eye: Visual Thinkers, Gifted People with Learning Disabilities, Computer Images, and the Ironies of Creativity, and Thinking Like Einstein: Returning to Our Visual Roots with the Emerging Revolution in Computer Information Visualization.

Erin Gruwell And The Freedom Writers: Two Books Reviewed, Jessica Cannaday

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Two books, “The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them,” by the Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell, and “Teach With Your Heart,” also by Erin Gruwell will be reviewed herein. Together, they weave an integrated tale of discovery and self-actualization. This is true for both the students who undergo catharsis with diary entries in “The Freedom Writers Diary,” and for Ms. Gruwell who learns more deeply about who she is as a teacher, a professor, and a person, through a heartfelt journey to help 150 at-risk students find …

Perspectives Of A Summer Enrichment Academy: Participant And Observer Reflections, Lisa Penrod

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Students and teachers rarely come together, at least in a meaningful way, outside the confines of the school environment. Seeing your students at Wal-Mart does not constitute “meaningful interaction”. This fact alone makes the GEAR UP Summer Enrichment Academy (SEA), held at California State University, San Bernardino in the summer of 2006, an epic event. The SEA brought students and teachers from the Rialto and Coachella school districts together with faculty from CSUSB for an intensive, enriching learning experience. Selected bright, young students were given opportunities to explore disciplines far outside of the range of their normal classroom experiences and …

On The Importance Of A Thoughtful Question, Patricia Arlin

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The Fifth Annual Research and Scholarship Symposium California State University – College of Education May 23, 2006. Welcome and Opening Remarks – On the Importance of a Thoughtful Question

“No Time” Assignments: A Spiritual Perspective In Teacher Education, Bob London

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

In this observational and reflective essay, I would like to discuss my experience with a type of assignment offered for educators in a holistic and integrative masters program who are interested in professional growth. I call this a “No Time” assignment and have found this type of assignment to be powerful in facilitating teacher growth, reasonably easy to formulate, and requiring little time outside of the educator’s normal activities. In this essay I will (1) briefly summarize a framework for the essence of a “No Time” assignment based on a perspective of spirituality in education, (2) describe the basic components …

Technological Literacy – Not Just You And Your Computer, Joseph Scarcella, Susan Daniels

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

One might argue that the word technology is one of the most misunderstood and misused terms in common usage today. Many believe technology to be synonymous with computers, the internet and other high-tech media. This is limited and short sighted view indeed! Technology encompasses both simple and complex artifacts used daily. Pencils, toothbrushes, zippers and toothpicks – not to mention Velcro (!) – for instance, are all examples of what might be considered relatively modern examples of technology. Often, the wonder of “everyday” invention is lost in our current notions of technology. Yet, it is an investigative inquiry into the …

Five Approaches To Literacy In Correctional Education, Thom Gehring, Gary H. Sherwin

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This article introduces literacy from a few “big picture” perspectives, and then reviews five paradigms that have shaped the teaching and learning of literacy in residential confinement institutions for juveniles and adults. The paradigms are specific to correctional education, but they will be familiar to all alternative teachers and advocates of literacy instruction.

University Diversity Committee: Where Diversity And Dedication Meet, Mary Texeira

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Visuals: Picture Books As Invitations To Literacy, Mary Jo Skillings

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

When young children are exposed to picture books, they are building important bridges to literacy. Picture books are sometimes defined as a storybook with a dual narrative. That is, the illustrations and text work interdependently, the integration of the visual and the verbal tell the story. The illustrations add a new dimension that extends beyond the words on the page; together, the text and pictures make the story stronger. A well crafted picture book is a feast for the eyes of a young child. The illustrations awaken and develop the child’s visual, mental, and verbal imagination.

In Our Own Backyard: Critical Theory And The Development Of The San Jacinto Center For Environmental Education, Susanna Hamilton, Darleen Stoner, Randall Wright

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This research addresses the topic of nature centers from a critical theory perspective. This research assumed in part, the question: what are the characteristics of a functional and successful nature center that includes environmental education goals and programs? Nature center administrators from across the United States were surveyed and asked to share their opinions on this topic. Six overall characteristics pertaining to management and vision were identified through an exploratory mixed‑method design. Other components of these characteristics were discovered during the analysis of the data, and include factors such as approaches to education. Recommendations for improving nature centers and their …