Captivating Classrooms explores the specific role that student engagement plays in education, it argues that there are myriad factors that undergird meaningful student learning and participation--such as motivation, exciting teaching strategies, reinventing literacy instruction, and authentic assessment. This book is an extremely valuable handbook…

Understanding the factors that encourage young people to become active agents in their own learning is critical. Positive psychology is one lens that can be used to investigate the factors that facilitate a student's sense of agency and active school engagement. In the second edition of this groundbreaking handbook, the editors draw together the…

Teachers of adults learning English often compete with many demands on learners' attention. Concerns about family, jobs, money, and transportation; fatigue; and negative past experiences with education are some of the factors that might inhibit an adult learner's full engagement in class. In a study of learner engagement in adult literacy…

Kindergarten students in the Portland, Oregon, Writing to Read program are learning to use typewriters and computers to write creatively even before they begin using conventional spelling based on the assumption that children are curious about language. A 13-item reference list is provided. (Author/DCS)

In this article, the author shares some findings from his classroom observations. He has found that, in the typical classroom, a small group of students answers many questions and as much as half of the class answers no questions at all. One problem with such a response pattern is that teachers often decide how well the lesson is going from the…

Schools across the country are investing millions of dollars every year in technology, and statistics show that technology in schools has grown at an exponential rate (Dirksen and Tharp 2000; Heath et al. 2000). But are schools getting the most from their technology investment? In this article, the author cites research literature to support his…

When the teachers at Roosevelt Elementary School in Hutchinson, Kansas, used the Learning Style Inventory to determine the best learning conditions for each student, then allowed students to study and take standardized tests under their preferred conditions, improved behavior and achievement were noted at all ability and grade levels. (PGD)

Accelerated Schools are built on the strengths of school staff, students, parents, and communities with the goal of bringing at-risk students into the educational mainstream by the end of elementary school. During the 1990-91 school year, 53 schools are participating in the Accelerated Schools Program, including statewide networks in Missouri and…

When they write on topics with personal meaning and read one another's papers to see whether they are communicating, even hard-to-teach students recognize the power of language and their ability to use it. An 11-item reference list is provided. (Author/DCS)

Although ability partly explains why some students are eager to learn in school whereas others are disinterested, motivation is another significant factor. This newsletter discusses factors that affect students' motivation to learn, considers techniques that can increase motivation, and identifies schools that have developed activities to enhance…