Breaking the Mold of Education: Innovative and Successful Practices for Student Engagement, Empowerment, and Motivation

Similar to the previous three volumes, Breaking the Mold of School Instruction and Organization: Innovative and Successful Practices for the 21st Century (Honigsfeld & Cohan, 2010), Breaking the Mold of Preservice and Inservice Teacher Education: Innovative and Successful Practices for the 21st Century (Cohan & Honigsfeld, 2011), and,Breaking the Mold of Education for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students: Innovative and Successful Practices for the 21st Century (Honigsfeld & Cohan, 2012), the purpose of this book is to offer a carefully selected collection of documented best practices for empowering students. The contributing authors represent diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences, yet their chapters recognize similarities among students so that the innovations can be transferred to other contexts. Each chapter represents practical, research-based success stories as well as authentic accomplishments which motivate and engage all students. The 20 chapters in this volume are organized into four sections: (a) making personal connections and engaging students in reflection; (b) engagement with literacy and language; (c) music, movement, arts, drama and other creative engagements; and (d) school culture, community, and student success. The compelling chapters shared in this volume-focused on innovation and transformation-will help thrust education and teacher action (rather than reaction) in a positive trajectory of change.

Dr. Audrey Cohan is a professor in the Division of Education at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY. She has published on child sexual abuse and effective professional development practices.
Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld is a Professor in the Division of Education at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY. She received several awards including a Fulbright Lecturing Award, Outstanding Dissertation Award, and ESL Educator of the Year Award.

Foreword
Kenneth C. Williams
Preface
Audrey Cohan and Andrea Honigsfeld
Acknowledgments
Section I: Making Personal Connections and Engaging Students in Reflection
Using Urban Youth Culture to Activate the Racial Literacy of Black and Latino Male High School StudentsYolanda Sealey-Ruiz
Embracing Project-Based Learning with Emerging Technologies in theMultiage Classroom Shannon T. Page, Andrew P. Charland, April A. Scott, and Hiller A. Spires
Nurturing Curiosity by Teachers' Purposeful Self-Evaluation and Reflective PracticeAngela K. Salmon and Thomas G. Reio, Jr.
Partnerships for the Common Good: Democratic Citizenship Through Writing, New Media, and the Arts Susan N. Wood, Nancye E. McCrary, Kate Larken, and Sioux Finney
Section II: Student Engagement with Literacy
Empowering English Language Learners: Reluctant Readers Learn to Believe in ThemselvesAudrey Figueroa Murphy and Robin E. Finnan-Jones
Teacherless Discussion: Engaging Middle School Students Through Peer-to-Peer TalkPatricia M. Breslin and Rebecca Ambrose
Staying Afloat in Ninth-Grade English: Letting Students Trim the SailsBeverly S. Faircloth and Samuel D. Miller
The Power of Technology to Advance Literacy, Learning, and AgencyEvelyn M. Connolly
It's All About Me; I Mean You; I Mean Me: Strategies for Engaging Students in the Language Arts ClassroomMeg Goldner Rabinowitz
Everything Old is New Again: 21st Century College Students as Engaged ReadersHeather Rogers Haverback
Section III: Music, Movement, Arts, Drama, and Other Creative Engagements
Increasing Student Engagement Through the Implementation of Interactive Teaching StrategiesMara Sapon-Shevin
Competition and Considerations: The Use of Active Gaming in Physical Education ClassEve Bernstein, Anne Gibbone, and Ulana Lysniak
Low SES Primary School Students Engaging in an Afterschool Robotics ProgramVinesh Chandra, Annette Woods, and Amanda Levido
Stepping into Pictures and Music Scores: Imaginative Dramatic PlayJoanne Kilgour Dowdy and Mary T. Toepfer
Classrooms or Rock Stages? Learning Music Through CollaborationRut Martínez-Borda, Pilar Lacasa, María Ruth García-Pernía, and Sara Cortés-Gómez
Section IV: Connecting School Culture, Community, and Student Success
Growing Up Chinese AmericanJudy W. Yu
Raising Engagement and Enhancing Learning: School Community Partnerships that Work for Students at-PromiseDavid Zyngier
Montessori High Schools: Where Long-Standing Tradition Meets the Cutting EdgeWendy J. LaRue and Peter Hoffman-Kipp
Ma te Mahi e Ako Ai (Learning by Doing in New Zealand Higher Education): The Influence of Service-Learning on Student EngagementLane Graves Perry, Billy O'Steen, and Peter Cammock
"I teach like you are all gifted": Leading Lowest Track Students to Become Confident Mathematics LearnersDella R. Leavitt and Erin N. Washington
Afterword
Laura J. Shea Doolan
Contributors