Preparing Culturally Informed Educators

Susan Foster Ph.D., is an associate professor of elementary education in the School of Education, Health, and Human Behavior at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where she teaches courses in literacy, differentiated instruction, and second language acquisition and learning. Before coming to SIUE, Dr. Foster supervised the America Reads Challenge literacy program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and taught elementary and middle school in Springfield, Illinois. Dr. Barbara Martin is an assistant professor of teaching and learning in the School of Education, Health, and Human Behavior at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Dr. Martin teaches courses in teacher preparation and conducts research in technology integration, math methods and STEM related fields.

As the diversity within our P-12 student populations increases, teachers are challenged as never before to meet both the academic and language needs of all students. Preparing Culturally Informed Educators: Examining Complexities in Practice by Drs. Martin and Foster provides educators with the content and pedagogical knowledge and skills to begin to meet the needs of our diverse student population. Their text will be a valuable addition to most teacher preparation courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. --Dr. John D. McIntyre, Association of Teacher Educators' director of meetings, professor emeritus and senior visiting professor in curriculum studies, School of Education, Southern Illinois University This exciting new volume brings much-needed support to teachers as they address the learning needs of our increasingly diverse student population. Martin and Foster provide us an excellent review of what is needed in today's classroom: teachers prepared to bring culturally responsive content knowledge, pedagogical skills and professional dispositions to the educational opportunities of today's students. Preparing Culturally Informed Educators is a thoughtfully written must read for educators! --Dr. Caroline R. Pryor, professor, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville