When the world is changing as rapidly as it is today, education has to mean more than just covering static content. Transformational Teaching in the Information Age explores how teachers can truly engage and inspire students to be independent, imaginative, and responsible learners who are prepared to handle the challenges of tomorrow.

Transformative Teaching Around the World compiles inspiring stories from Fulbright-awarded teachers whose instructional practices have impacted schools and communities globally. Whether thriving or struggling in their classrooms, instructing in person or online, or pushing for changes at high or low costs and risk levels, teachers devote intense energy and careful decision-making to their students and fellow staff. This book showcases an expansive variety of educational practices fostered across international contexts by real teachers: active and empowering learning strategies, critical thinking and creative problem-solving, cultural responsiveness and sustainability, humanistic integration of technology, and more. Pre- and in-service teachers, teacher educators, online/blended instructors, and other stakeholders will find a wealth of grounded, motivating approaches for transforming the lives of learners and their communities.

A picture book for all ages from painter Thomas Locker! "Most of all, he thanked the wilderness for teaching him to see in a new way." In Blue Mountains is about the love of nature and the importance of beauty. It tells the story of an artist who sets out to explore wilderness and discovers a new way of seeing. Bewildered at first by the profusion of nature -- There are so many leaves, he could never paint them all! -- Gradually, he learns to see its wholeness and to trust his feelings. As he does so, he embarks on an adventure of learning: about light and shadow, the way color changes through the day, and how looking at nature leads to a new understanding of himself and the world. This illuminated story is set in America's first wilderness, the Kaaterskill Clove in Upstate New York, made famous by the Hudson River School of painters -- many of whose pictures are reflected in this book. Thomas Locker's In Blue Mountains is a personal, deeply moving testament to the power of beauty and art to nurture our children's natural love of the world. Indeed, it can inspire childlike wonder in people of all ages. In Blue Mountains is a wonder-filled book that makes a great gift for both children and adults. It contains 13 full-page, color reproductions of the artist's paintings of Kaaterskill Clove and the beautiful, blue Catskill Mountains.

In our current systems of education, there is a trend toward compartmentalizing knowledge, standardizing assessments of learning, and focusing primarily on quantifiable and positivist forms of inquiry. Contemplative inquiry, on the other hand, takes us on a transformative pathway toward wisdom, morality, integrity, equanimity, and joy (Zajonc, 2009). These holistic learning practices are needed as a counterbalance to the over-emphasis on positivism that we see today. In addition to learning quantifiable information, we also need to learn to be calmer, wiser, kinder, and happier. This book aims to find and share various pathways leading to these ends. This book will describe educational endeavors in various settings that use contemplative pedagogies to enable students to achieve deep learning, peace, tranquility, equanimity, and wisdom to gain new understanding about self and life, and to grow holistically. Embodiment is a central concept in this book. We hope to highlight strategies for exploring internal wisdoms through engaging ourselves beyond simply the rational mind. Contemplative pedagogies such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, dance, arts, poetry, reflective writing and movements, can help students embody what they learn by integrating their body, heart, mind, and spirit.

Drawing on indigenous belief systems and recent work in critical 'race' studies and multicultural-feminist theory, Keating provides detailed step-by-step suggestions, based on her own teaching experiences, designed to anticipate and change students' resistance to social-justice issues. It offers a holistic approach to theory and practice.

Spencer Barnard, the father of five self-actualizing children, is a lifelong educator with experience as a classroom teacher, principal, district level administrator, educational publisher and college administrator. In this latter position he guided the development of an innovative master's degree program designed to advance the professional skills of K-12 teachers in the use of discovery-type learning experiences, enriched to accomodate students' differing learning styles and develop their higher order thinking skills. More than 1,000 in-service teachers have so far completed this program. Numerous classroom tests of discovery learning units developed by small teams of teachers in this program consistently showed improvements in students' attitudes and classroom performance levels. Barnard currently serves as Executive Director of the Discovery Learning Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the use of active learning methods in the nation's K-12 schools. He can be reached at this e-mail address: [email protected].

Comprehensive and up-to-date, Transformational Teaching provides a survey of instructional design and effective pedagogy that incorporates a biblical worldview throughout, making it especially useful for education courses at Christian colleges, Christian teachers who desire further training or ACSI certification, and homeschooling parents using a faith-based curriculum. The book explores philosophical and psychological foundations underlying teaching approaches, interprets the latest findings in neurological and educational research, and weaves InTASC standards throughout select chapters. Additionally, the final section is devoted to specific disciplines to offer strategies for effective teaching and faith integration in each subject area. Most chapters also feature a worldview foundations section, current research on best practices, case studies, and challenges for reflection and application. Written by authors with more than a century of combined teaching experience, including K-12 classrooms in both public and Christian schools, higher education, online instruction, and international training conferences, Transformational Teaching sets a new standard for teacher training that is specifically geared to a Christian educator.