The success of tertiary teaching depends much on teachers' approach to teaching. Although the suitability of university teachers is often measured by teachers' qualifications, publications in the relevant discipline, and teaching experience, a teacher's understanding of the nature of what is taught in the classroom may more significantly influence…

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…

In the decade since the 2007 "JGE" special issue on broadening participation, much work has been done to draw new voices into the geosciences, and the number of students from underrepresented groups graduating with geoscience degrees has grown. However, the rate of increase is not yet large enough that geoscience demographics represent…

Thriving in the digital age workplace requires, in part, professionals who think differently about how they prepare the next generation workforce. Teachers and teacher educators are no exception. When reflecting on how today's teacher educators prepare teacher candidates for the multitude of roles and responsibilities they will shoulder, including…

In early childhood teacher education programs, the reality of educational systems must be understood and teacher candidates must be ready to deal with the current challenges schools face. The rationale and application of the principles of practice based teacher education are presented in this article. Practice-based teacher education programs…

The purpose of this teaching tip is to share a new tool for identifying high-utility academic words from instructional texts. The Word and Phrase Tool, when paired with teacher knowledge about students and objectives, can help teachers promote the academic vocabulary development of their students.

The number of students who are English language learners (ELL) is increasing significantly across the United States. As this number increases, so does the number of students who are ELL and being identified as having disabilities. The intersection of English language instruction and special education is an emerging field of scholarship, and it is…

Teachers who are no longer considered novices can have a difficult time admitting failures. There is an expectation that teachers should be "on" all the time, but disorientation can happen even to veteran teachers--or maybe especially to veteran teachers--if expectations are too high. Sarah Cooper, an experienced teacher and dean of…

Chapter Five of "The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Reconsidered" (2011) suggests that traditional research scholarship methodology can inform and reform the ways in which we value and evaluate teaching. The authors discuss applying research methodology as way to complete this process. This article suggests that using theoretical…

The meteoric increase in technological advancement in the last few decades has dramatically transformed how people live their lives. Innovation is seen to be essential as it ensures sustainable growth in a knowledge-based economy and a competitive global marketplace. Consequently, enabling innovation to occur becomes of prime concern to educators…

Gary Rubinstein doesn't buy the adage that rules--for students or for teachers--must be stated positively, without don'ts or nots. So he lists 10 rules for things teachers must not do in their first years. Tops on his list is "Don't try to teach too much in one day," which Rubinstein says is a common mis-step because teacher preparation programs,…

In this essay, the authors share some of their journey as they seek to make sense of what it might mean to prepare secondary mathematics preservice teachers to teach mathematics for social justice. The focus on how to prepare mathematics teachers to critically consider the world around them and to further develop the dispositions to become agents…

People remember information that is important to them--because it is fundamental to their well-being, or because it matters to them in some other significant way. This is all one really needs to know about unlocking student learning. People learn and remember information that matters to them. So what matters to students? That is a complicated…

Because pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) includes teachers' understanding of how students learn, or fail to learn, specific subject matter, the development of PCK is an important goal to focus on in professional development programs. The research literature clearly indicates the complex nature of PCK as a form of teachers' professional…

This article addresses key issues in pre-service teachers' professional learning. The argument explores pre-service teachers' learning and practice, which is both informed by technology and which uses technologically enhanced practices in classrooms as learning and teaching strategies. The article is contextualized by current…