From the Margins to the Mainstream: Enhancing Social Awareness in the Social Studies Classroom

Understanding and addressing social justice concerns has become a central focus in an increasing number of schools as well as teacher education programs. The activities in this book are grounded in the recognition that personal experience and engagement is essential for meaningful intercultural learning and social justice awareness to occur. The authors of these activities, themselves teachers and teacher educators representing a wide range of disciplines, share their favorite and most engaging strategies they have found to be effective at helping students acquire a level of comfort and insight in what can oftentimes be contentious, challenging and sensitive issues. These hands-on activities actively engage pre-service and practicing teachers in real-life and simulated experiences, raising awareness and providing a foundation for introspection, reflection and discussion around these critically important issues in the safety of the classroom setting.

Table of Contents:
IntroductionKenneth Cushner Section 1:Addressing Social Justice through Social Studies and Science Activity #1Futures Window Kenneth Cushner Activity #2 What is a Family? Martha Lash Activity #3 Ideal Types & Transgressors: Reinterpreting the "family tree" Experience Janice Kroeger Activity #4 Do You See What I See?: Using Critical Role-Play to Help Prospective Teachers View Activities From Multiple Perspectives Monica Miller Marsh Activity #5 From Chernobyl to Fukushima: Teaching for Global Justice Frans H. Doppen and Matthew S. Hollstein Activity #6 Global Learning Wiki Chia-Ling Kuo Activity #7The Arrow Always Points to the Self: Preservice Teacher Learning Through Blurred Geopolitical Identities Jubin Rahatzad, Hannah Sasser, JoAnn Phillion and Suniti Sharma Activity #8 The Coalition for Creative Projects Schea N. Fissel Activity #9 Conversation Partner Experience: A Win-Win Culture Learning Encounter Kenneth Cushner Activity #10The Intercultural Market: An Exercise in the Development of Cultural Intelligence Keith Sakuda Activity #11What Lies at the Bottom ……????? An Inquiry-Based Nature of Science (NOS) Activity with a Multicultural Twist Rajlakshmi Ghosh Activity #12Sexuality, Gender, and Families in the Animal Kingdom: Lessons from the Wild Sara Raven Section 2:Addressing Social Justice through the Social Foundations of Education Activity #13Critically Examining Gender Roles: Deconstructing the Myth of “Boys will be Boys, Girls will be Girls” Alyse C. Hachey and Yolanda Medina Activity #14 When I Grow up, I’ll Work in the Factory Just Like My Daddy: Examining Teaching Practices that Perpetuate the Social Class Status Quo Yolanda Medina and Alyse C. Hachey Activity #15 Middle Class Mentality: Using an Online Course Assignment to Teach Students to Know Self First, Then Other Randall E. Osborne and Paul Kriese Activity #16 Getting to Know You: A Simulation to Understand School Context Joanne Caniglia Activity #17Person Like Me Jason C. Fitzgerald and April A. Mattix Activity #18Crossings, Bridges and Borderlands: An Experiential Assignment for Multicultural Education Sofia A. Villenas Activity #19 Follow the Multicolored Brick Road to Cultural Competence Nancy P. Gallavan Activity #20What is my Cultural Identity? Debra L. Clark Activity #21Who Am I? Exploring Students’ Social Identities and Social Inequalities in Cultural Contexts Jennifer L. Fisette Activity #22 Bricks in a Backpack: Respecting the Invisible Diane M. Vetter Activity #23Preservice Teachers are Students Too: Developing Awareness of White Identity and Privilege to Facilitate Change for Inclusivity and Equality Tracy Lara Contributing Authors

About the Author :
Kenneth Cushner, Ed. D. is Professor of international and intercultural teacher education at Kent State University, author of numerous textbooks, chapter and articles in the fields of multicultural education and intercultural training, and a Founding Fellow and Past President of the International Academy for Intercultural Research. He also serves as director of the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching (COST). Joanne Kilgour Dowdy is a Professor of Adolescent/Adult Literacy at Kent State University. The American Educational Research Association Narrative and Research SIG awarded her book, Ph.D. Stories: Conversations with My Sisters, the Outstanding Book Award for 2009.

Review :
Cushner and Dowdy, along with their contributors, provide an insightful compilation of activities and experiences for future and current educators to examine their beliefs, practices and understandings of social justice. Leading the field of teacher education and foundations, these authors are continuing a tradition of providing opportunities for pre-service and in-service educators to deepen knowledge and skills of diverse populations, develop advocacy positions and become life long stewards of a living democracy for all students. This book fills a large gap in pedagogical materials for teacher education. Social justice is often mentioned, but many instructors do not know how to implement it to the needs of their classrooms. The variety in this text means that social justice should never be a topic that gets left behind.