Highly
Praised New Book by HAWC Member
Anastasia Samaras Takes
Teacher Education to the Next Level
With
the publication of her new book, Self-Study for Teacher Educators:
Crafting a Pedagogy for Educational Change, Hellenic American
Women’s Council (HAWC) member Anastasia P. Samaras introduces an
innovative, insightful approach to teacher education based on lifelong
learning. Using stories from her own lifetime experience as the daughter
of Greek immigrants, Dr. Samaras raises and reflects on the important
issues of race, ethnicity, class and gender in personal development.
Self-Study
for Teacher Educators
takes these lessons to the next level as Samaras applies the insights of
self-study to her own pedagogical approach. The result? A cutting-edge
pedagogy for the preparation of teachers as effective educators and
leaders in the classroom.
By challenging educators to reflect
on their own lifetime experiences, Samaras’ model offers mentoring
structures for teaching preservice teachers and curriculum that prepares
teachers for the realities of the classrooms they will enter. Self-Study
for Teacher Educators also provides concrete suggestions for
redefining the mentor, especially as this applies to the high attrition
rate currently seen among new teachers.
Recent
book reviewers highly recommended Samaras’ book and have praised it as "compelling,"
"exciting and innovative" and "a
valuable contribution to lifelong and lifewide learning."
(Extended book review comments follow)
Anastasia
P. Samaras
is Director and Associate Professor for the Initiatives in Educational
Transformation Program at George Mason University in Washington, D.C. Her
commitment to teaching spans thirty years and encompasses teaching in
junior and senior high schools, preschools, and universities. She is the
author of numerous publications of her self-study and interpretations of
Vygotskian principles in a teacher education program, and the recipient of
distinguished service awards for her leadership in education. Her greatest
joy and work has been raising, along with her husband Teddy, their three
children.
For
additional information on Anastasia P. Samaras and her new book, Self-Study
for Teacher Educators: Crafting a Pedagogy for Educational Change,
please contact Dr. Samaras at asamaras@gmu.edu.
Your copy of Dr. Samaras’ new book can be obtained for $29.95 through:
Peter Lang Publishing
275 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
Customer
Service: 800-770-5264
or
Advance
Praise for…
Self-Study
for Teacher Educators
By Anastasia P. Samaras
"Anastasia
Samaras provides a compelling account of a teacher educator who serves as
a model reflective practitioner for her teacher education students. Using
her life experiences, her own teaching journals, and her students’
journals and assignments, Samaras presents an account of her efforts to
implement a sociocultural approach to teacher education based on the work
of Vygotsky. The book documents her own evolution as a teacher educator
and her students’ reactions to her teaching. This autobiographical
self-study provides a good example of the power of self-study research in
improving teacher education practice. I highly recommend it to teacher
educators."
-- Ken Zeichner, Hoefs-Bascom
Professor of Teacher Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison
"This
exciting and innovative book will assist teacher educators to reflect on
their own practice…. Self-Study
for Teacher Educators demonstrates one professor’s journey to
effective teaching and learning, which we can all aspire to and learn
from. It is essential reading for all those who want to reconceptualize
their practice and make a valuable contribution to lifelong and lifewide
learning."
= Nicola Yelland,
Professor, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
"At
the end of her study, Anastasia Samaras writes, ‘Predetermined
destinations do not lead us to new roads.’ Self-Study
for Teacher Educators presents a remarkable journey that leads from
lessons learned while working in her father’s Greek restaurant and from
motherhood to Vygotskian principles for teacher education. Anastasia
Samaras’ message is that life is full of wonder and surprise and that
joy can be found in teaching and in studying one’s own practice."
- Robert V. Bullough, Jr.,
Center for the Improvement of Teacher
Education and Schooling (CITES),
Brigham Young University
"In
remarkable and compelling ways, Dr. Samaras uses Vygotskian principles to
link the tow domains about which I am most passionate: preservice teacher
education and self-study of teacher education practices. The rich
illustrations and novel perspectives will inspire important developments
in teacher education."
-- Tom Russell, Queen’s
University, Canada