"Improving Your Reflective Practice through Stories of Practitioner Research" shows how research has informed and created effective and valuable reflective practice in early years education, and offers depth to the arguments for a research-orientated stance to this vital field of study. This thought-provoking text explores and documents a variety…

Decision-making in Reading Recovery requires skills of observation and reflective analysis that many teachers have not had to learn in order to be good classroom teachers. This is because Reading Recovery sets the teacher a very complex task which involves the construction of a curriculum for each individual child--a curriculum that is…

A study was conducted at a program in rural southwest Virginia to determine whether Head Start parents and adult basic education/high school equivalency program students use critical thinking skills. More than 50 definitions of critical thinking were collected, and Bloom's Taxonomy was reviewed for background information. The teachers' manual for…

Based on a classroom teaching incident described elsewhere in the issue, use of reflective teaching to improve college instruction is discussed. Ways in which the professor's changing understanding of the teaching situation can be deepened by teacher-directed assessment in such a context and, in turn, inform future classroom research, are…

This publication provides practical, step-by-step guidance for teachers on becoming more effective in classroom management by using a positive and constructive, rather than negative and punitive, approach to foster prosocial student behavior. The publication is divided into an introduction and three parts. The Introduction examines why effective…

Four lines of thought in philosophy that support the use of case studies and narratives to promote reflective teaching at the college level are examined. The four concepts include reflective practice or reflection in action; practical wisdom (contrasted with abstract wisdom); use of concrete cases for rational, practical decision making; and a…

This book offers an array of useful strategies for implementing shared reading techniques in pre-K through grade 2 classrooms. Starting with an overview of shared reading theory, the book draws largely from the models of Don Holdaway and illustrates the correlation between classroom reading and the bedtime story. While traditional aspects of…

This brief paper describes the Peer Coaching Rural In-Service Model (PRISM) Behavioral Consultant (PBC) program, an online tool for teachers that provides advice on handling simple classroom behavior problems. PBC's advice is based on a series of rules and expressions used by the computer program to make inferences and eliminate inappropriate…

Much is being emphasized in staff development in the area of reading instruction. It is important for each teacher to study and think reflectively about what can be done to improve the reading curriculum. One procedure that can be used is to hold a quality workshop based on the needs of teachers in reading instruction. The theme should be decided…

This book provides K-12 teachers with concrete, step-by-step guidance on how to improve student behavior through positive classroom management. It explains how to take control of the classroom, offering an alternative to threats, rewards, and punishments. The book is divided into an introduction and three sections with seven chapters. The…

A proposed model for preservice teacher practicums, the Reflective and Critical Internship Program, is designed to encourage students to voice their concerns and produce their own solutions to classroom issues, particularly in relation to classroom management. Within this model, the problem-solving process is both individual and collective.…

This book offers beginning teachers daily step-by-step plans for the first 4 weeks of school. It is based on a survey of first year teachers that examined their problems, concerns, needs, and feelings. It is also based on a task force of preservice and inservice teachers who set an agenda and tasks to find out more about beginning teacher needs.…

A fourth-grade teacher in a Spanish partial immersion program describes her search for and use of Latin American folk tales to enhance the curriculum and student learning. Excerpts from the teacher's journal over a period of a year, and covering the beginnings of two school years, reflect on her experiences and on student comprehension and…

A small-scale study of Fordham University (New York) English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher trainees (n=11) investigated the extent to which the teachers, in a practicum, reflected on issues that are the focus of the ESL teacher education program. Specifically, it asked: whether teachers have a thorough understanding of theory and research on…

Documentation is a process of observing, collecting, and organizing evidence of children's knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Noting that documentation can be used as an effective method for assessing children's growth and development over time, this 20 minute videotape discusses characteristics of documentation in the early childhood classroom.…