AMLE advocates for educators to respect and value young adolescents. Yet, the narrative surrounding early adolescence in the United States centers chaos, hormones, and emotional drama. Middle school educators repeat or hear some version of this narrative daily, yet it remains unchecked and unaddressed in professional development. Deficit…

Research suggests that translanguaging can be transformative for teaching and learning by making students' diverse linguistic resources a meaningful part of classroom discourse. Building on this study, researchers have explored how translanguaging practices can support learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), primarily…

The context of this study is a voluntary modification in teaching focus by four eighth-grade teachers who shifted their instructional focus toward student engagement. They abandoned assigned readings in favor of student-selected, self-paced reading within a collection of high interest materials--primarily young adult fiction that students found…

I apply the concept of unalienated recognition as a form of democratic exchange, introduced by Rheingold (2012), to a different educational setting. Through a case study of the School for Field Studies international environmental programs, that are, like Rheingold's study school, field based and community centered, I explore the hypothesis…

Several years ago, the author's relocated their work as educators from middle and high school music classrooms to positions in teacher education at two Canadian universities. Recognizing that working in initial teacher education demanded a new level of theorizing their practices of music education, they questioned their professional knowledge,…

The purpose of this study was to engage middle school science teachers in collaborative dialogue to understand the implications of partnership values and principles in the classroom to transform their educational practice. Participants investigated issues which prevent partnership relationships in schools and ways to help transform education and…

One seventh-grade English language arts teacher engaged in teacher research in order to become a more understanding, responsive, and confident instructor. Systematic inquiry into her own practice revealed a conflict between what students perceived as their literacy needs and desires (discrete reading skills) with what she perceived to be important…

Our inquiry uses accounts from the history of science to develop teacher-candidate (student teacher) understanding of the nature of science (NOS) in a science teacher education methods course. This understanding of the NOS is then used as a foundation for developing teacher candidate appreciation of the attributes of authentic science lessons.…

Teachers in a middle school and a high school with high percentages of English language learners showed evidence of transformative learning during the 2 years in which they collaborated in an ongoing professional development activity called "learning labs," which include focused discussion of observations of colleagues' classrooms.…

This study examined the impact on 16 middle-school teachers' conceptions of mathematics learning and teaching of reflections on their learning experiences within mathematics professional development. The research questions were: In their reflections, what do teachers express about how they best learned mathematics through these learning…