What counts as professionalism for teachers today? Once, teachers who knew their content area and knew how to teach it were respected as professionals. Now there is an additional type of competency required: in addition to content and pedagogical knowledge, educators need advocacy skills. In this groundbreaking collection, literacy educators describe how they are redefining what it means to be a teaching professional. Teachers share how they are trying to change the conversation surrounding literacy and literacy instruction by explaining to colleagues, administrators, parents, and community members why they teach in particular research-based ways, so often contradicted by mandated curricula and standardized assessments. Teacher educators also share how they are introducing an advocacy approach to preservice and practicing teachers, helping prepare teachers for this new professionalism. Both groups practice what the authors call “everyday advocacy”: the day-to-day actions teachers are taking to change the public narrative surrounding schools, teachers, and learning. Reviews: Quite simply, these authors make advocacy seem not just possible, but also absolutely necessary.—Bob Fecho, Professor & Program Director, English Education, Teachers College Columbia University Cathy Fleischer and Antero Garcia have written a book with (and for) teachers that shows us how to advocate for change across the spectrum of the educational landscape.—Andy Schoenborn, high school teacher and author of Creating Confident Writers: For High School, College, and Life This book is essential reading for any teacher committed to making their part of the world a better place...It focuses on what teachers can do within their classrooms, schools, and districts, recognizing the incredible diversity among students, teachers, and their contexts. —Mollie Blackburn, Professor, Ohio University and editor of Adventurous Thinking: Students' Rights to Read and Write Everyday Advocacy builds upon decades of teacher research and knowledge from leaders in the field. This volume is timely and a welcome addition to conversations about teaching in our current environment of societal redefinition and change. —Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to The Hunger Games This volume assembles an impressive roster of educators who understand classrooms and kids, and who know what needs to be done to make their learning more relevant and the lives of educators themselves more satisfying. It's time that the people running things start listening to them, and this book is a great place to start. —Peter Smagorinsky, Distinguished Research Professor, The University of Georgia Everyday Advocacy is a usable, practical guide to help teachers and teacher educators think about approaches to extend their critical thinking about traditional pedagogies to include advocacy for all children, particularly historically marginalized students. —Tonya B. Perry, PhD, Professor and Executive Director of GEAR UP Alabama and Red Mountain Writing Project [A] must-have for educators everywhere. Antero Garcia and Cathy Fleischer invite all of us into the world of advocacy work. They help us expand the definition of what it means to advocate, and they give us many ways to join in the work of changing the narrative of literacy education. I can't imagine a more important time for this book. —Franki Sibberson, educator, author, NCTE Past President About the Authors: Cathy Fleischer is a Professor of English Education and Writing Studies at Eastern Michigan University, where she co-directs the Eastern Michigan Writing Project and serves as Faculty Associate for the Office of Campus and Community Writing. She has taught courses, led workshops, and written widely about teacher advocacy for the past decade. Her other scholarship focuses on community literacy, teacher research, and writing teacher education. Antero Garcia is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University where he studies how technology and gaming shape both youth and adult learning, literacy practices, and civic identities.
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