By helping faculty collaborate to enrich their teaching abilities and by supporting them when faculty/student relationships occasionally fail, the department chair models leadership skills that faculty themselves can use. The skills of leadership correspond very closely to good teaching skills, and can be combined with the skills of principled…

School discipline deters development of a moral learning community. Punishment administered for infractions evokes resistance, resentment, and other negative consequences. Children need to control their own lives and evade excessive control by others. Recommendations for developing student self-direction, resiliency, and self-awareness are…

Explains the results of a survey given to over 1,000 students in Sakskaii Raion, the Republic of Crimea. The survey consisted of questions concerning what personal qualities the students' valued and whom would they wish to emulate. Students overwhelmingly valued intelligence and chose to emulate family members. (MJP)

Presents a brief meditation on the power of women, the power of words, and the power of faith to enact social change. Discusses the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, using her 1873 work "Women in Sacred History," to provide examples of women who made a difference. (MJP)

Examines parents', teachers', and administrators' beliefs about positive race relations and multiculturalism. Interview data indicate that parents and school role models are working to model acceptance of all cultures, and they understand that contacts and interactions with people of all races are necessary to make children better persons,…

This feature is a collection of brief essays recently written by Japanese and Chinese gay youth, followed by commentary from several leading educators and scholars. Akihiko Komiya's "Difficulties Japanese Gay Youth Encounter" provides excerpts from the stories of six gay youth and their everyday lives, based on their letters in…

As the male prison population increases, so too does the number of children with fathers in prison. The negative impact of fatherlessness on children has been well documented. While parenting education is often seen as an effective tool to improve the quality of family relationships and foster positive outcomes for children, fathers in prison…

J. K. Rowling's series about the young, orphaned Harry Potter who escapes his often hostile, nonmagical Muggle (or human) existence for a world of ghosts, spells, and potions, magical objects, and exotic creatures to be found at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has captivated a worldwide audience. Since the publication in England of…

Teacher trainers/educators (the two terms will be used interchangeably) at the pre-service level are important agents and influential raw models for their trainee teachers. They can contribute positively to the student teacher's socialization process via the progressive training modes they adopt, the informed decisions they make, the critical…

This article discusses the results of a survey conducted to explore how students and host teachers perceive the strengths of nonnative-English-speaking (NNES) teacher trainees based on their classroom practice. Responding to a questionnaire evaluating the NNES ESL teacher trainees in their classrooms, host teachers named the following as their…

This chapter explores the challenges and the opportunities that lesbians experience in organizational America.

As director of the National Writing Project (NWP) at Florida Gulf Coast University, one of the first questions the author gets from both elementary and high school teachers when she talks about the NWP Summer Invitational Institute is this: "What can we possibly hope to gain from each other as we share our best practices?" High school…

Torey Hayden's portrayal of classroom behavior management in her teacher lore, autobiographical writings about teaching children with emotional and behavioral disorders, is examined. Five of her books were sampled: "One child", "Somebody else's kids", "Just another kid", "Ghost girl" and "Beautiful child". Each of these books unfolds within the…

The curriculum of the Life Orientation (LO) learning area forms an excellent basis for equipping learners to respond positively to social demands, assume responsibilities, and optimise their life chances. I report on a qualitative study that focused on the extent to which schools and LO teachers succeeded in achieving the outcomes of the…

Inner-city schools face a myriad of problems, including escalating violence and hunger. This paper describes programs that were initiated in predominately black inner-city communities and which fostered parent involvement and collaboration between parents, teachers, school professionals, and the community. Participation, it was learned, can bring…