Normalites: The First Professionally Prepared Teachers in the United States is a new original work which explores the experiences of three women, Lydia Stow, Mary Swift and Louisa Harris, who were pioneers in the movement in teacher education as members of the first class of the nation's first state normal school established in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1839. The book is biographical, offering new insights derived from exceptional research into the development of the normal school movement from the perspectives of the students. While studies have provided analysis of the movement as a whole, as well as some of the leaders of the initiative, such as Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, there is a lack of rich, published information about the first groups of students. Understanding their accounts and experiences, however, provides a critical foreground to comprehending not only the complexity of the nineteenth century normal school movement but, more broadly, educational reform during this period. Arranged chronologically and in four parts, this book explores the experiences of Lydia Stow, Mary Swift and Louisa Harris during their normal school studies, their entrance into the world and commencement of their careers, the transitions in their personal and professional lives, and the building of their life work. Throughout these periods, their formal educational experiences, as well as broader moments of transformation, are considered and how life paths were shaped. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty connected to teacher preparation programs. More than 100,000 students are currently awarded baccalaureate degrees each year in Education. Over 80,000 of these students are women. Their experiences are rooted in the pioneering efforts of Lydia Stow, Mary Swift, and Louisa Harris at our nation's first state normal school. It is a particularly fitting time to share their experiences as the 175th anniversary of the start of formal, state sponsored teacher education, the normal school movement, will be celebrated in 2014.
Moments that Matter in the Learning and Development of Children: Reflections from Educators explores the significant moments that unfold for young people in their schooling from the perspectives of teachers and school staff. Educators often reflect on “moments” as being a critical piece of their work with children. They can help make things better for students and produce a difference in lives. They are meaningful for young people, as well as consequential for teachers and school staff as they reflect on the outcomes of their efforts. Yet, as they are difficult to define and capture, these moments often are not studied for the value they offer. This book promotes awareness of these moments, as well as their connected meanings and possibilities. Recognizing the significance of moments extends an opportunity to situate schooling in broader contexts and to understand learners as whole embodied beings, engaged in social interactions, making sense of their surrounding world, and generating transformations in it. When educators reflect deeply about the possibilities connected to the moments they share with children, they recognize the multitude of opportunities that support their learning and development. They become “awake” to some of moments’ promises.
Normalites: The First Professionally Prepared Teachers in the United States is a new original work which explores the experiences of three women, Lydia Stow, Mary Swift and Louisa Harris, who were pioneers in the movement in teacher education as members of the first class of the nation's first state normal school established in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1839. The book is biographical, offering new insights derived from exceptional research into the development of the normal school movement from the perspectives of the students. While studies have provided analysis of the movement as a whole, as well as some of the leaders of the initiative, such as Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, there is a lack of rich, published information about the first groups of students. Understanding their accounts and experiences, however, provides a critical foreground to comprehending not only the complexity of the nineteenth century normal school movement but, more broadly, educational reform during this period. Arranged chronologically and in four parts, this book explores the experiences of Lydia Stow, Mary Swift and Louisa Harris during their normal school studies, their entrance into the world and commencement of their careers, the transitions in their personal and professional lives, and the building of their life work. Throughout these periods, their formal educational experiences, as well as broader moments of transformation, are considered and how life paths were shaped. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty connected to teacher preparation programs. More than 100,000 students are currently awarded baccalaureate degrees each year in Education. Over 80,000 of these students are women. Their experiences are rooted in the pioneering efforts of Lydia Stow, Mary Swift, and Louisa Harris at our nation's first state normal school. It is a particularly fitting time to share their experiences as the 175th anniversary of the start of formal, state sponsored teacher education, the normal school movement, will be celebrated in 2014.
Moments that Matter in the Learning and Development of Children: Reflections from Educators explores the significant moments that unfold for young people in their schooling from the perspectives of teachers and school staff. Educators often reflect on “moments” as being a critical piece of their work with children. They can help make things better for students and produce a difference in lives. They are meaningful for young people, as well as consequential for teachers and school staff as they reflect on the outcomes of their efforts. Yet, as they are difficult to define and capture, these moments often are not studied for the value they offer. This book promotes awareness of these moments, as well as their connected meanings and possibilities. Recognizing the significance of moments extends an opportunity to situate schooling in broader contexts and to understand learners as whole embodied beings, engaged in social interactions, making sense of their surrounding world, and generating transformations in it. When educators reflect deeply about the possibilities connected to the moments they share with children, they recognize the multitude of opportunities that support their learning and development. They become “awake” to some of moments’ promises.
Moments that Matter in the Learning and Development of Children: Reflections from Educators explores the significant moments that unfold for young people in their schooling from the perspectives of teachers and school staff. Educators often reflect on "moments" as being a critical piece of their work with children. They can help make things better for students and produce a difference in lives. They are meaningful for young people, as well as consequential for teachers and school staff as they reflect on the outcomes of their efforts. Yet, as they are difficult to define and capture, these moments often are not studied for the value they offer. This book promotes awareness of these moments, as well as their connected meanings and possibilities. Recognizing the significance of moments extends an opportunity to situate schooling in broader contexts and to understand learners as whole embodied beings, engaged in social interactions, making sense of their surrounding world, and generating transformations in it. When educators reflect deeply about the possibilities connected to the moments they share with children, they recognize the multitude of opportunities that support their learning and development. They become "awake" to some of moments' promises.
Why are the economic interests and priorities of lower- and middle-class Americans so often ignored by the U.S. Congress, while the economic interests of the wealthiest are prioritized, often resulting in policies favorable to their interests? In Hijacking the Agenda, political scientists Christopher Witko, Jana Morgan, Nathan J. Kelly, and Peter K. Enns examine why Congress privileges the concerns of businesses and the wealthy over those of average Americans. They go beyond demonstrating that such economic bias exists to illuminate precisely how and why economic policy is so often skewed in favor of the rich. The authors analyze over 20 years of floor speeches by several hundred members of Congress to examine the influence of campaign contributions on how the national economic agenda is set in Congress. They find that legislators who received more money from business and professional associations were more likely to discuss the deficit and other upper-class priorities, while those who received more money from unions were more likely to discuss issues important to lower- and middle-class constituents, such as economic inequality and wages. This attention imbalance matters because issues discussed in Congress receive more direct legislative action, such as bill introductions and committee hearings. While unions use campaign contributions to push back against wealthy interests, spending by the wealthy dwarfs that of unions. The authors use case studies analyzing financial regulation and the minimum wage to demonstrate how the financial influence of the wealthy enables them to advance their economic agenda. In each case, the authors examine the balance of structural power, or the power that comes from a person or company’s position in the economy, and kinetic power, the power that comes from the ability to mobilize organizational and financial resources in the policy process. The authors show how big business uses its structural power and resources to effect policy change in Congress, as when the financial industry sought deregulation in the late 1990s, resulting in the passage of a bill eviscerating New Deal financial regulations. Likewise, when business interests want to preserve the policy status quo, it uses its power to keep issues off of the agenda, as when inflation eats into the minimum wage and its declining purchasing power leaves low-wage workers in poverty. Although groups representing lower- and middle-class interests, particularly unions, can use their resources to shape policy responses if conditions are right, they lack structural power and suffer significant resource disadvantages. As a result, wealthy interests have the upper hand in shaping the policy process, simply due to their pivotal position in the economy and the resulting perception that policies beneficial to business are beneficial for everyone. Hijacking the Agenda is an illuminating account of the way economic power operates through the congressional agenda and policy process to privilege the interests of the wealthy and marks a major step forward in our understanding of the politics of inequality.
This major reference work surveys how philosophers, art historians, and others reflect critically on art and culture. It presents articles on the history of Western and non-Western aesthetics along with accounts of the contemporary debates.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.