Positive psychology is a rapidly expanding area of study that is of great interest to students at the graduate, undergraduate, and high school levels. But the field is so broad that teachers who want to cover all the bases when designing a positive psychology course may have difficulty locating and selecting materials. "Activities for Teaching…

This case study examines secondary school leaders' perceptions of their ability to build positive relationships with the adolescents in their care as a means for improving students' academic performance. A sample of administrator participants was chosen from four suburban high schools with similar demographics located in the South Central…

Two studies were designed to extend Butler's (2007) model and measure of achievement goals for teaching, to recognize that teaching is an interpersonal endeavor, not just personal endeavor. In Study 1, results from 530 teachers in Israel confirmed the predicted 5-factor model comprising relational goals, whereby teachers aspire to create close and…

Drawing on interview and informal observation data collected from eight adolescent African-American boys residing in an urban community and attending an urban charter school, this paper describes and explores their relationships with African-American male school personnel. This paper highlights how adolescent African-American boys' experience and…

Many complex problems affect the lives of our citizens, including our children. A particularly important problem is a lack of a sense of community and connectedness (Belenky, et. al, 1986; Bellah, et. al, 1985; Dewey, 1938; Houser & Kuzmic, 2001; Palmer, 1998). There is a feeling among many that we are no longer connected to something larger…

The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore the ways women probation and parole officers learn to negotiate power and interests in the criminal justice system. The women are considered officers of the courts and work within the constraints of the court system. The framework that informed this study was a critical feminist lens on the…

This article presents a summary of the findings of a recent study that points to the importance of informal, out of classroom, interactions in effecting change in student attitudes as they pass through the two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, designed as an internationally recognized pre-university programme for students…

In this paper I argue that the teacher educators who deliberately create and nurture caring teacher-student relationships, despite the many challenges, benefit both themselves and their students in several ways. Although the notion that teachers should care for their students is not new, it may well be that professors too seldom "communicate"…

The purpose of this study was to explore the elements of the alternative education experience significant to successful completion of the program. This phenomenological paradigm provided the framework for all aspects of the qualitative study. Students, parents, administrators, and staff members of two alternative programs in the southeast Kansas…

Higher education is a distribution center of knowledge and economic, social, and cultural power (Cervero & Wilson, 2001). A critical approach to understanding a higher education classroom begins with recognizing the instructor's position of power and authority (Tisdell, Hanley, & Taylor, 2000). The power instructors wield exists…

College access programs like Upward Bound have been found to build social capital among a target population, stimulate academic preparedness, and increase a student's knowledge of the college decision process. However, little research is available that establishes the points during the college decision process at which college access programs have…

Pre-service teachers taking a Human Growth and Learning course and graduate students enrolled in a Classroom Management course wrote letters to secondary students to gather responses on traits of an outstanding educator. A theoretical framework about teacher effectiveness and student voice underpins the study. Findings indicate that suburban and…

This study aimed at obtaining a greater understanding of the emotional aspects for teachers' of extra-role activities in drug and alcohol prevention education that are subjectively perceived by principals and teachers as discretionary and non-formally prescribed. The study also exposes the determinants affecting these activities. Based on…

This article examines middle schoolers' perspectives on their lives in middle school. Fifteen middle school students from three middle schools in the Southeast region of the United States participated in a basic qualitative study using focus groups at their schools where they were asked the central question, "If you could change one thing at…

While many understand the need for improved pedagogy in advanced graduate school education regarding issues of race and racism, we also need to better understand what happens in classrooms when issues of racism are centered in the pedagogy. I employed qualitative methods to examine what happened when racism and antiracism were taken up as explicit…