Ndemanu, M. T., & Coronel-Molina, S. M. Global Journal of Transformative Education (2022) Vol 3 DOI 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.34349 Open Access Published by the Global Insitutute of Transformative Education (http://www.gite.education) © Ndemanu & Coronel-Molina. 2022. Open Access This journal is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NonDerivative 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, Transformative Education: From Theory to Practice Michael T. Ndemanu1 and Serafín Coronel-Molina2 Editors-in-Chief, Global Journal of Transformative Education Full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. According to the Transformative Learning Theory developed by Jack Mezirow (1991), connecting theory with practice is vital because transformative learning occurs during the connection process. A theory can be defined as a set of assumptions or hypotheses about a reality. In other words, it is a mental map represent- ing the world (Granick, 2005; Knapper, 2000). Mean- while practice can be defined as something that one does. Theory can inform practice because it provides a rationale for a decision or action to be taken. It is often modified based on the outcome of practice. Theory, therefore, should inform practice and vice versa. It is within this theory to practice framework that articles for this issue were framed. For this volume, out of several manuscripts submit- ted, three were found to meet the standards and rigors of transformative education ideals as enunciated on our website, www.gite.education and were closely aligned with the current theme. The articles focus on diverse topics ranging from creative storytelling as a transfor- mative education strategy, transformative syllabus de- velopment approaches to translanguaging in the K-12 classroom. The contributions are relevant to scholars, educators, practitioners, educational policymakers, graduate students, and grassroots organizations inter- ested in transformative education across the globe. The first article, titled The Little Red Hen and a Corona Giant: Creative Story-telling as a transformative Strategy in an Early Childhood Classroom, is authored by Zhulamanova & Raisor. These authors find storytelling to be instru- mental not just in communication, but also as a way for kindergarteners to display a great depth of comprehen- sion. The study details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom which was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The end result is a two-phase study which concluded with pre-kindergarten aged children using storytelling to discuss and display their perceptions of Coronavirus in an academic setting. In the article on translanguaging, Gentry, the author, shares the findings of a research on translanguaging, translating, and inter- preting in K-12 classrooms. The second article is Literary Review of Translan- guaging, Translating, and Interpreting in Education, by Gentry. The author defines translanguaging as the act of using the two languages strategically to maximize communication during the learning process. It is used as an interactive tool among those who are not yet proficient in the dominant language. Translanguaging is fast becoming a universal practice in K-12 school districts with high immigrant population in spite of the perennially lingering English-only policies. The need for translated documents and the importance of hiring interpreters to sustain translanguaging practice is em- phasized in this article. In the third article, Transformative syllabus design: Maximizing learning outcomes in higher education, Ndemanu discusses the contours of developing a 21st century course syllabus that empowers students in the learning process to become critical thinkers, prob- lem-solvers, innovators, and collaborators. The author draws from transformative learning theory to provide detailed information on the characteristics of a sylla- bus, its universal components, interpreting course code, uses of a syllabus, accessibility, and backward design. He also draws from Bloom’s taxonomy to offer a prag- matic guide to syllabus creation with concrete examples on how instructors can employ a backward design ap- proach for syllabus development to effectively create a syllabus of a course they have never taught before. The author concludes by reiterating that the overarching emphasis of teaching with a syllabus is to promote Ndemanu & Coronel-Molina - Vol 3 Intro: Theory to Practice Page 2 higher-order thinking and deeper learning in higher ed- ucation because a syllabus that promotes such practices and knowledge transfer maximizes learning outcomes. This issue encompasses two book reviews of recent high-impact texts on transformative education. The first text is: Caralyn Zehnder, Cynthia Alby, Karynne Kleine, Julia Metzker. (2021). Learning that Matters: A Field Guide to Course Design for Transformative Educa- tion. In this text reviewed by Zhaoyi Zhang, the authors argue that in today’s 21st century, the traditional way of teaching has mostly given way to transformative education in which teachers should not only impart knowledge, but also facilitate the acquisition of skills by students (David, 2016). Educators in transformative education play the role of helping students to under- stand and acknowledge “the dynamics between their inner and outer worlds” (Boyd & Myers, 1988, p.261). This book provides guidance to teachers in the higher education system to help them design courses that can create meaningful learning experiences for students and actively engage them in social issues. The second book is: Osei-Kofi, N., Boovy, B., & Fur- man, K. (Eds.). (2022). Transformative approaches to social justice education: Equity and access in the college classroom. It was reviewed by Michelle A. Medved. The book documents the Difference, Power, and Discrimina- tion program at Oregon State University which has been enlightening undergraduate students on social justice education for 30 years. Born out of student advocacy and the faculty that supports them, the program is an established collection of diversity education courses and faculty training seminars. The program has sur- vived budget cuts, critics, and other challenges through- out its 30 years. Transformative Approaches to Social Justice Education describes the methods of the program pragmatically and unflinchingly so readers of the book can apply them to their classrooms. Acknowledgments The Global Journal of Transformative Education (GJTE) is a singular publication venue since its main objective is to share educational research and re- search-based practices on transformative education from local and global perspectives. Despite the great amount of time and effort we have invested in the con- ceptualization, development, implementation, produc- tion, and publication of this third volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. The publication of this volume is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. First of all, our profound gratitude goes to the Global Institute for Transformative Education (GITE) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. We are deep- ly thankful to Tom J. McConnell, who provided us with invaluable assistance in his role as Managing Editor, taking care of the daily operations of GJTE. We are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the Editorial Board, as well as to institutions, friends, colleagues, and social media networks from around the world for their help in publicizing the GJTE website and Facebook page widely. We would also like to thank all the contributors to this second volume for choosing GJTE to publish their work. Many thanks to IUScholarWorks for host- ing GJTE’s website. Without the generous assistance and contribution of all these great people and institu- tions, GJTE would never have become a reality. We are equally grateful to our colleagues worldwide who spent significant number of hours reviewing the papers. We thank them for their time and diligence in the review process. We also owe an immense debt of gratitude to Fred Bay for his continuous generous donations to GITE for transformative education conferences, which have been the springboard of GJTE. References Bell, D. V.J. (2016). Twenty-first Century Education: Transformative Education for Sustainability and Re- sponsible Citizenship. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 18(1), 48-56. Robert D. Boyd & J. Gordon Myers. (1988). Transfor- mativeeducation. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 7(4), 261-284. Granick, J. (2005). A Deeper Look at Theory and Practice. International Association of Sufism. Knapper, C. K. (2000). Lifelong Learning in Higher Edu- cation (3rd ed.). London: Kagan Page. Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. Jossey-Bass. Authors1 Michael T. Ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Educational Studies at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, USA. 2 Serafín M. Coronel-Molina (scoronel@indiana.edu) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. Authors Global Journal of Transformative Education (2022) Vol 3 https://ias.org/departments/sufipsychology/spf-articles/a-deeper-look-at-theory-and-practice/