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Responding to Learner Diversity and Learning Difficulties

Edited by:
Dennis Conrad, SUNY Potsdam
Stacey Blackman, University of the West Indies

A volume in the series: Caribbean Discourse in Inclusive Education. Editor(s): Stacey Blackman, University of the West Indies. Dennis Conrad, SUNY Potsdam.

Published 2018

Caribbean Discourse in Inclusive Education Volume II “Responding to Learner Diversity and Learner Difficulties” shares selected critical reflections and recommendations on the way educational communities respond to student diversity and difficulties learning. These contexts include the Caribbean, the Diaspora, and beyond. Authors explore issues and strategies for realizing and sustaining the agenda of education for all within primarily, but not limited to, the Caribbean. While the authors are aware of the ongoing debate between the terms ‘education for all’ and ‘inclusive education’, we use these terms interchangeably. We hold the position that inclusive education is about commitment to removing barriers to optimum learning for all learners regardless of age, ability, ethnicity, gender, geography, race, religion, sexual orientation or other differences. ‘Responding to Learner Diversity and Difficulties’ extend the discourse to include stakeholders committed to sharing their experiences and strategies for overcoming barriers to inclusive education.

This second volume presents research that examines how teachers can respond to students with disabilities and difficulties learning, teach challenging curriculum content in mathematics and literacy, build citizenship through student voice, improve teacher practice via co-teaching and critical reflection, promote inclusive practice through leadership and advocacy. It can be used as a core text or companion reader for students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, lecturers, practitioners, researchers and policy makers.

CONTENTS
Foreword, Jerome De Lisle. Preface, Dennis A. Conrad and Stacey N. J. Blackman. PART I: RESPONDING TO CHILDREN, YOUTH, STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES AND LEARNING DIFFICULTIES. Embracing Diversity in the Early Year’s Setting: Challenges and Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development, Mónica Lourenço and Ana Isabel Andrade. Supporting Student Diversity and Learning Difficulty: A Strengths Based Culturally Responsive Model of Support in Mathematics, Elisheba Kiru, Audrey M. Sorrells, and Chelseaia Charran. Meeting the Needs of Students at Risk Especially English Language Learners and Immigrants in an Urban Classroom: A Case Study, Benedict L. Adams. From At-Risk to Take a Risk: Strategies for Supporting Gifted African American Males with Dyslexia, Shawn A. Robinson and Joy Lawson Davis. Leading the Charge: Teacher Perceptions of Working with Students At-Risk of or Identified with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, Nickisha Borris-Lezama and Dyanis Conrad-Popova. PART II: RESPONDING TO CURRICULUM CHALLENGES. From Academic Performances and Learning in Mathematics to a Transcultural Knowledge: An Example in the Cultural Environment of Martinique, Mélissa Arneton and Line Numa-Bocage. D.A.N.C.E. into Differentiation: Innovative Learning and Language Teaching, Holly W. Arnold. Using Selected Culturally Diverse Books to Improve Caribbean K-12 Curricula: A Critical Inclusive Perspective, Charline Barnes Rowland and Faith-Ann McGarrell. Cooperative Learning as Critical Culturally Sustaining/Responsive Pedagogy, Harriet J. Bessette and Joya Carter Hicks. Creativity and Dyscalculia: Building on Strengths – Circumventing Deficits, Fredricka Reisman. When the Humming Hurts: The Strength that Lies Beneath, Sheryl D. Scales and Deborah J. Conrad. PART III: TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TO DIVERSITY. Culturally Relevant Teacher Self-Efficacy among Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers in St. Lucia: An exploration, Talia Esnard and Christine Descartes. Learning from our Stories: Narratives in Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Kelly Puzio, Sarah N. Newcomer and Kristen L. Pratt. Exploring the Potential Benefits of Co-Teaching for Learner Diversity and Learning Difficulties: Two Voices, Lisa Lamondie-Grenville and Lisa M. Philip. Teaching CCSS Mathematics: Engaging Students with Learning Disabilities in General Education Classrooms, Susan J. Courey and Kiera Chas. PART IV: ADVOCACY AND RESPONSIVENESS. Models to Promote Parent Involvement in Children’s Education within the U.S. Virgin Islands, Carla M. Sewer and Nerissa LeBlanc Gillum. Barbadian and Vincentian Students’ Understandings of Difference, it’s Tensions and Including All Students, Stacey N. J. Blackman, Ken Williams, Dennis A Conrad, and Theresa AboDeeb-Gentile. Responding to Barriers to Inclusion: The Voices of Tertiary Level Students with Disabilities in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, Stacey N. J. Blackman, Dennis A. Conrad and Lisa M Philip. Transformative Teacher Leadership IS Inclusive Education: A Cross-Cultural Consideration of Teachers’ Work in Jamaica and The United States, Eleanor Blair. About the Contributors.

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