Miss Katherine Spicer started her first day at Coldfield Comprehensive School, confident, enthusiastic and very well qualified; that was until she met the eyes of the student hidden in the corner of her classroom. Kat's final weekend of freedom was about to turn her life upside down and threaten everything she had been working for. How was she to know those mesmerising green eyes would reappear here? Great lesbian chick lit. A cross between Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller and Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill. The novel deals with the many issues of sexuality in a gripping, yet funny manner, pulling the reader back into a world of teenage nostalgia and school day memories.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The twentieth anniversary edition of the classic story of an incredible group of students and the teacher who inspired them, featuring updates on the students’ lives, new journal entries, and an introduction by Erin Gruwell Now a public television documentary, Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart In 1994, an idealistic first-year teacher in Long Beach, California, named Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. She had intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust. She was met by uncomprehending looks—none of her students had heard of one of the defining moments of the twentieth century. So she rebooted her entire curriculum, using treasured books such as Anne Frank’s diary as her guide to combat intolerance and misunderstanding. Her students began recording their thoughts and feelings in their own diaries, eventually dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers.” Consisting of powerful entries from the students’ diaries and narrative text by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an unforgettable story of how hard work, courage, and determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students. In the two decades since its original publication, the book has sold more than one million copies and inspired a major motion picture Freedom Writers. And now, with this twentieth-anniversary edition, readers are brought up to date on the lives of the Freedom Writers, as they blend indispensable takes on social issues with uplifting stories of attending college—and watch their own children follow in their footsteps. The Freedom Writers Diary remains a vital read for anyone who believes in second chances.

From the author and illustrator of Our Class is a Family, this touching picture book expresses a teacher's sentiments and well wishes on the last day of school. Serving as a follow up to the letter in A Letter From Your Teacher: On the First Day of School, it's a read aloud for teachers to bid a special farewell to their students at the end of the school year. Through a letter written from the teacher's point of view, the class is invited to reflect back on memories made, connections formed, and challenges met. The letter expresses how proud their teacher is of them, and how much they will be missed. Students will also leave on that last day knowing that their teacher is cheering them on for all of the exciting things to come in the future. There is a blank space on the last page for teachers to sign their own name, so that students know that the letter in the book is coming straight from them. With its sincere message and inclusive illustrations, A Letter From Your Teacher: On the Last Day of School is a valuable addition to any elementary school teacher's classroom library.

Teacher learning doesn’t end with initial preparation; many insights and skills remain to be added. This book is concerned with ongoing teacher learning, its goals (Part I) and pathways (Part II). It is based on a longitudinal study of 42 teachers: 20 over their first 8 years of teaching and 22 over their first 5 years. The areas of continued teacher learning identified in our study were: vision of teaching, program planning, assessment, relevance, subject content and pedagogy, classroom organization and community, inclusion, and professional identity. The pathways of learning included informal and formal PD, teacher inquiry, and school-based learning. A key finding of our research was that, over the years, teachers learn a great deal informally. However, they do so largely on their own and under considerable stress. Teachers need more support than they currently receive, both for survival and to enhance their informal learning. Teachers can benefit significantly from external input, but their everyday learning makes them key “experts” in teaching. Accordingly, PD providers should work with teachers, utilizing their existing knowledge. This book is written for consideration by teachers, student teachers, teacher educators, PD providers, policy developers, and others interested in facilitating teacher learning. Some of us have been writing – somewhat desperately – on these ideas for years. Beck and Kosnik have given us strong evidence that the ideas are effective in practice. I hope this persuasive and beautifully written book will be widely read.Nel Noddings, Lee Jacks Professor of Education Emerita, Stanford University This book makes a powerful case for taking teachers’ professional development seriously. It brings us the voices of beginning teachers as they deepen their professional knowledge over time and makes clear the depth of commitment they bring to the job. Professor Gemma Moss, Institute of Education, University of London

In this volume, scholars, researchers, and teacher educators from across the United States present their latest findings regarding teacher education to develop meaningful learning experiences and meet the sociocultural, linguistic, and academic needs of Latino ELLs. The book documents how teacher education programs guide teachers to engage in culturally and linguistically diverse academic contexts and sheds light on the variety of research-based theoretical frameworks that inform teaching practices. A unique contribution to the field, Learning from Emergent Bilingual Latinx Learners in K-12 provides innovative approaches for linking Latino school communities with teachers at a time when demographic shifts are considerably altering population trends in the K-12 educational system.