Winter 2025-2026      Volume 54, Number 1

Professional Development: Teaching for Tumultuous Times
By Sophie Degener, Elizabeth Bramley, Adelfio Garcia, and Ivy Sitkoski

Document: Column  

Introductory Paragraph:  This issue’s column was put together in early November at what many, if not most, would agree was a turbulent time—so turbulent, in fact, that it is impossible to predict how 2026 will begin. So many challenges lie before us, coming from so many different directions. Educators need to gather as many resources as we can because it is difficult to know exactly what we’ll need. We hope our current selections, written by some well-known and well-respected authors, will help address at least some of the needs. We offer a book that provides guidance for building the vocabulary and background knowledge of secondary school students, a very necessary resource for helping those students recognize the disinformation that has been proliferating. Our other offerings focus on our minoritized populations, from which so many people are at extreme risk at this time. One book provides a strong framework for teaching that is truly anti-racist in K through 8th grades; another contains a selection of contributions that addresses a variety of aspects of quality education for multilingual students; and the last one relates the stories of seven very effective educational programs for newcomers to the United States. We believe these books will be well worth reading during the winter months of 2026.

DOI:   https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.54.1.2025-2026.49

Page Numbers:   49-53