Call for Reviewers

Gruenewald, D. (2003). The best of both words: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32(4), pp. 3–12.

Theobald, P. (2007, May 29). [Review of Learning to Leave: The Irony of Schooling in a Coastal Community]. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 22(4). Retrieved June 10, 2008 from http://jrre.psu.edu/articles/22-4.pdf].

Author Biography

Leanne M. Avery is Assistant Professor of Science Education in the Department of Elementary Education and Reading at SUNY College at Oneonta. Her research focuses on rural children’s local science and engineering knowledge, place-based teacher professional development as a means of valuing and utilizing local rural knowledge in classroom practice, and the barriers rural children in poverty face in the era of NCLB. She was a public school science teacher for 11 years in a rural district in upstate New York. Email: Averylm@oneonta.edu.

SUNY College at Oneonta

The book is written by a well-respected Ohio State researcher who is also the current president of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. The text is divided into three major parts. Part 1 covers the foundations of special education. Chapters in this section deal with basic special education terminology, laws, and regulations relating to referrals, assessments, and program planning. An additional chapter explores the many roles that families play in lives of children who are exceptional. Part 2 covers ten categorical chapters of exceptionalities including, for example, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, and emotional or behavioral disorders. Included in this section is a chapter that addresses an often-overlooked area in exceptional education, that of giftedness and talent. The final section, part 3, addresses the before and after stages of primary and secondary special education – early intervention and transitioning into adulthood. Additional appendices address relevant Praxis II content and provide corresponding page numbers that cover the desired information.

This introductory exceptionality text has been a best seller in the field of special education since its first edition in 1980; and through the years and many editions, Heward has addressed current trends and research by updating the text in a highly relevant manner. The latest edition reflects this practice of thoughtful revision and includes a more informative section on autism. A particular section entitled “Distinguishing unproven interventions from evidence-based practices for children with autism” is a highly practical section that many special educators will find helpful in determining what methods to implement and what fads are best to avoid.

An updated chapter that was previously titled “Mental Retardation” has been changed to reflect more current best-practice terminology and is now called “Intellectual Disabilities.” Other changes make this text more user friendly, including the revamped special features section, which now includes more research-based teaching and learning strategies that will appeal to both teachers and teacher educators. These teaching and learning segments are one of the major strengths of this text. Each method or strategy is clearly explained so that even a novice educator can adapt the practice for his or her classroom. The research base for each strategy is well documented and consists of more than the usual one or two token citations. Altogether there are 28 strategies embedded in the text, allowing many new teachers to jump right in to effective teaching practices. This focus on highly effective, empirically validated methods with detailed implementation guidelines pushes this text beyond good into excellent.

Additional changes have been made to chapters that address current issues and future trends. The ninth edition has a list in the beginning of the text that highlights all sections that deal with current trends and topics. For faculty who want to focus on issues affecting the field, this revision is useful.

Pearson, the current publisher, has developed a new companion website entitled “My Education Lab.” It has many features that correspond to this new edition. Access to videos that correspond to chapters provide educators and preservice teachers with clear examples of effective teaching practices occurring in real classrooms. Master teachers discuss their experiences in special education throughout the text, and video clips available on the website allow us to view many different special education settings and methods. Additional materials that help with course planning and implementation include homework and practice exercises, pre- and post-tests, individual study plans, and authentic student artifacts.

In a closing postscript the author concludes the text by asking readers to explore and develop their views of special education. By comprehensively covering the foundations, etiologies, and personal experiences of special education, readers are well prepared to develop this personal view. Using his views on special education, Heward highlights his personal beliefs, including the need for “less patient” special educators. He illustrates the idea that educators need to be impatient with methods and curriculum that are unsuccessful at bringing about the desired changes our exceptional students need to function successfully in the community. This reflective and personal call to readers is crucial for future development of truly effective special education professionals. As Heward comments, “…my recommendation to you is this: Don’t be patient; be effective.” (p. 602).

Author Biography

Dawn W. Hamlin, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Special Education at SUNY College at Oneonta. She recently completed her degree at Penn State. Her research interests include behavioral and academic methods for students with high-incidence disabilities or who are at risk for academic failure and special education teacher training. Email: hamlindw@oneonta.edu.

SUNY College at Oneonta

Palmer’s examination of the seemingly elusive qualities of good teaching pre-date the current era of accountability driven by No Child Left Behind (NCLB); perhaps that is why this book continues to gain so much recognition among the profession. With the current focus on scientifically based instructional strategies, curricula and programs, Palmer’s appreciation that “technique is what teachers use until the real teacher arrives” (p. 2) may seem heresy to politicians and policymakers. To those of us who teach others who will teach, his words become our anthem:

As important as methods may be, the most practical thing we can achieve in any kind of work is insight into what is happening inside us as we do it. The more familiar we are with our inner terrain, the more surefooted our teaching—and living—becomes. (p. 2)

In the spirit of disclosure, I suppose I must confess that my original edition of Palmer’s work sports dozens of multi-colored sticky notes protruding from the edges, highlighted and underlined passages, and scribbled comments and annotations in most margins. I confess: this book “spoke to me.” I was a middle school French teacher when I was writing my dissertation and though Palmer’s argument is directed at higher education, it still resonated greatly with my teaching experience. Now that I am an assistant professor in a state university, I can revisit his work and find new appreciation for his criticism of higher education:

Academic culture builds barriers between colleagues even higher and wider than those between us and our students. These barriers come partly from the competition that keeps us fragmented by fear. But they also come from the fact that teaching is perhaps the most privatized of all the public professions…. When we walk into our workplace, the classroom, we close the door on our colleagues…. Then, instead of calling this the isolationism it is and trying to overcome it, we claim it as a virtue called “academic freedom”: my classroom is my castle, and the sovereigns of other fiefdoms are not welcome here. (p. 142)

Those of us who have the honor of teaching college students who want to become teachers know very well that what it means to be a teacher today is very different from what it meant twenty years ago—and even compared to just a few years ago prior to NCLB. Though this book was published prior to NCLB, Palmer appreciated even then that he

may be mistaken for someone who excuses poor technique, urging teachers just to “be themselves”; who believes there are not standards for truth, just “whatever you think it is”; who doesn’t care about the content of your thoughts, just as long as you “share what you feel.” (p. 62)

Yet part of his argument is that we have become so either-or about educational discourse that it has fostered the “bad habit of competitive conversation…tell me your thesis and I will find any way, fair or foul, to argue the other side!” (p. 62)—a habit that has led to the creation of a “divided community.” Instead, he asks us to adopt a “both-and” approach: “we must stop thinking the world into pieces and start thinking it together again” (p. 63).

Palmer relates specific struggles he has had, episodes in his teaching career that he describes as miserable, painful and embarrassing. By exposing his own frailties and flaws, allowing us to listen in on his self-analysis, we, too, are able to learn his lessons. He avoids asking what he could have done differently since the answer to that question tends to go no deeper than a “simple fix” or a “practical solution.” He chooses instead to explore deeper into the dynamics that make us vulnerable:

understanding my identity is the first and crucial step in finding new ways to teach: nothing I do differently as a teacher will make any difference to anyone if it is not rooted in my nature. (p. 71)

Whether student or teacher or even administrator, whether you’ve been an educator for many years or just a few, and whatever your subject matter, The Courage to Teach can inspire your teaching and even revive your passion for it. Palmer wrote this book

[f]or teachers who have good days and bad, and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only from something one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life. (p. 1)

Carol S. Dean, Ed.D., joined the State University of New York at Oneonta as Assistant Professor of Foreign Language Education in 2008. She was also a middle-school French teacher for 10 years and an administrator for 8 years. Her research interests include teacher identity, and the relationship between teacher expectations and student achievement. Email: deancs@oneonta.edu.