Two elementary school teachers puzzled over their students' fascination with using a paint spinner to make art, and feared that the "mindless" spinner was using valuable class time in which creative activities were intended to promote innovative thinking. Years later, a former student explained how the spinner accomplished the teachers' goal. (SV)

Two Nebraska teachers of grades 1 and 5 describe how their classes' joint Christmas project developed into an entrepreneurial experience. To raise money for toys for needy children, students applied for a bank loan, assembled bead kits for sale, and established costs and prices. The teachers took advantage of each new idea, turning "road blocks"…

Mini-field trips to the boiler room and bus garage at a South Dakota elementary school increased student interest in their school and community and resulted in increased attendance. Photographs, interviews, and a student-produced book on the trips reinforced student interest and provided the means to integrate the curriculum and incorporate…

An elementary school teacher describes how students in grades five through six developed language-arts and other skills by rewriting Shakespeare plays; learning stage design, techniques, and vocabulary; reflecting on Shakespeare's intentions and their own insights into the plays' meanings; and presenting both original plays and their own versions.…

Presents the 1999 winners of the Foxfire Exemplary Classrooms Awards. The winners were diverse in grade level, urban and rural settings, years of experience with the Foxfire core practices, and ideas about how to implement the Foxfire approach. Activities and experiences from each winning classroom are highlighted. Criteria for winning an award…

Create Your Own is a month-long artist residency that introduces children to opera as a method of spinning a tale rather than as elitist, high-brow art. Students create their own opera company and are involved in every stage of the process from writing the story and music to building the set and making the costumes. (TD)

Curiosity about artifacts found on school grounds led to a year-long historical and archaeological research project for fifth-graders in Isaac Dickson Elementary School (Asheville, North Carolina). Student research and interviews focused on Stumptown, a Black community formerly located on the school site. The project demonstrated the 11 Foxfire…

Recounts how Foxfire grew from a high school magazine to a national program that helps others to teach in a student-centered way. The Foxfire approach has proven successful regardless of age and grade level, across the curriculum, and in the most traditional school settings. Describes various workshops, courses, and programs that Foxfire has…

An English-as-second-language teacher feels that everyone has creativity and imagination, and the teacher's role is to nurture those qualities. Drawing on the Foxfire core practices, she acknowledges and reinforces those moments when learners reveal their own unique insights into learning, and she facilitates exploratory and innovative thinking…

Fourth-grade students went to Foxfire Center (Mountain City, Georgia) to learn through experience how pioneers of the 1800s lived a typical day. Their school, Isaac Dickson Elementary in Asheville, North Carolina, has implemented the Foxfire Core Practices. Students learned survival skills, edible-plants identification, crafts, and cooking, and…

A student-initiated nature center project began six years ago when the original participants were in fifth grade. The students did the research, planning, construction, grant writing, and accounting and tied it all to Colorado state standards. Student engagement and self-confidence grew from a sense of responsibility and from knowing that the…

A teacher of a special education class of 7- to 10-year-olds took her students outdoors to stimulate their interest in learning. Schoolyard nature study and environmental field trips led to schoolwide presentations and television performances about recycling and conservation. Peer teaching was an important learning strategy. These students…

A Brooklyn high school photography program encourages students to work for the pleasure of doing something well, not just for grades. Concepts are explained four different ways so students at different ability levels catch on. Working cooperatively encourages kids to recognize their abilities and take on more responsibility. A unique grading…

Map making is an exercise in spatial relationships, perspective, and direction, and also can increase students' knowledge of their community and sense of place. In a Roger Tory Peterson Institute program, children map the environment around their school and simultaneously learn science, mathematics, language arts, and social studies. Describes…

Students at Jamestown High School (Jamestown, New York) develop language, media, and critical thinking skills while producing video programs. With almost complete responsibility for their learning experiences, students conceive, plan, write, and produce the programs, then critique their own work, which must satisfy state academic standards in…