Concise and focused on practical strategies, this engaging, lighthearted guide provides teacher candidates a road map for negotiating the complex and diverse terrain of pre-K through 12 schools, while providing opportunities to develop the skills of reflection that are crucial to becoming a successful practitioner. The Second Edition provides practical, research-based, field-tested strategies that student teachers can immediately apply as they encounter school concerns, solve classroom challenges, negotiate social conflicts, and, new to this edition, navigate the job search and interview process. Concluding chapters challenge readers to view student teaching as a process and to use reflection as a tool for professional growth. Thoroughly updated throughout, the Second Edition includes expanded coverage of workplace professionalism, an introduction to accreditation and the Common Core standards, and more.
Kisha N. Daniels has worked extensively in the areas of teaching and learning with children, public school teachers, administrators, and university students for 26 years. She holds a BA in Elementary Education, a MEd in School Counseling, a MSA in School Administration, a specialist certification in curriculum and instruction, and an EdD in Educational Leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a teacher and administrator in large, urban school districts, Kisha has devoted her work to utilizing engaging curriculum to support diverse learning styles. She is currently an Associate Professor at North Carolina Central University in the Department of Education Leadership’s MSA program, where she teaches courses in instructional and organizational leadership and supervises administrative interns. Kisha is actively involved with building and sustaining community partnerships in an effort to extend the scholarship of teaching, engagement, and persistence through service learning.
Gerrelyn C. Patterson has earned a BA in English Literature from North Carolina Central University, a MEd in English Education from the University of Virginia, and a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Curriculum, Culture and Change with an emphasis on teacher education and race, class, and gender issues. She has more than 17 years of pre-K–12 and university teaching experience. Gerrelyn has worked as a consultant and researcher with the Comer School Development Program at Yale University, taught in the Master’s in Teaching Program (MAT) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and added to the body of work documenting school desegregation in North Carolina as a researcher with the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Currently, she is an Associate Professor at North Carolina Central University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in lesson planning, classroom management, and middle school philosophy. Her passion involves training pre-K–12 and university faculty in effective and practical classroom management, engaging instructional strategies, and service learning.
Yolanda L. Dunston has 21 years of experience in pre-K–12 and higher education. She earned a BA, in Elementary Education, a MEd in Special Education―Literacy Studies, and a PhD in Literacy all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a tenured Associate Professor at North Carolina Central University in the Department of Curriculum Instruction in the School of Education. Her focus is on effective teaching for both preservice and practicing teachers, particularly in the area of literacy. She has been a teacher at the preschool and elementary level, a private consultant for struggling middle and high school students, and an adjunct instructor at UNC–Chapel Hill teaching undergraduate emergent and early literacy courses. Yolanda is a contributing author for the text Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Educating Traumatized Children Pre-K through College. She currently coordinates the Elementary Education program, teaches undergraduate and graduate methods courses in literacy, facilitates the student teaching seminar, and supervises student teachers in the field.
