This book offers insights on and techniques for dealing with emotional demands in the classroom, noting how highly effective teachers deal with such demands and how they gain help and support from their colleagues and administrators. Based on extensive interviews with educators and others nationwide, the book explains what gives them energy, how…

This book illustrates how children learn foreign languages and when they can do so with the best results. The most recent studies in linguistics, neurology, education, and psychology are evaluated, and the findings are presented in a recipe format. Parents are encouraged to evaluate the multilingual children in their lives with the use of tools…

This action research project sought to increase motivation in second- and fourth-grade students in an urban Midwestern school. Achievement and skill measures as well as observations indicated a lack of student participation and interest. Three areas of intervention were implemented: cross-curricular activities to heighten student interest,…

In New Zealand, Maori children attend English-medium schools, schools with a bilingual unit, or kura kaupapa Maori. This study identified aspirations and concerns of Maori parents regarding their children's education, identified issues related to parents' participation in their child's education, and developed strategies to address concerns and…

This publication presents portraits of nine teachers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Jordan, Myanmar, New Zealand, Senegal, and Trinidad and Tobago who are opening up young minds and nurturing their potential. The portraits describe how these teachers created an educational situation in which students could thrive and grow. Some of the…

This book examines the expectancy effect (or self-fulfilling prophecy) on student achievement. One of its main purposes is to take a broader look at for whom, where, when, and how expectancy effects take place and what consequences they have for children in school. Chapter 1 presents a case study of educational expectancy of a learning-disabled…

This study demonstrates the relationship between student values and commitment in the environment of California community college World Wide Web-based instruction. It provides evidence that student motivation can be ascertained in the first week of class and is a strong indicator of "at risk" status and later dropout. A recent model of…

This study was designed to better understand the motivational impact of a compulsory Web-based course, "Introduction to Educational Research," on student teachers' enrollment in a four-year teacher education program in a Quebec, Canada university. The hypothesis was that this course, which promoted self-determination, feelings of…

As rural schools prepare for the inclusion of students with disabilities in general classrooms, teachers must be equipped to modify curriculum and adapt classroom environments. This paper reports the results of an analysis of a series of instructional seminars for their applicability to curriculum and classroom environment adaptation. The series…

This action research project examined the impact of using cooperative learning activities and multiple intelligences teaching techniques on the motivation of kindergartners and third graders at two elementary schools in a rural Illinois community. Over 50 percent of the school populations were low-income, and over 6 percent had limited English…

As research through the Internet becomes the method of choice by many students, assessment of Internet materials, student motivation to use traditional research methods, and other pedagogical concerns have become issues in the learning process. This paper describes experiences of faculty from several applied disciplines (i.e., social work, human…

This action research project implemented and evaluated a program for increasing student motivation and interest in school to improve academic growth. The targeted population consisted of 37 high school students in a rural central Illinois community. Twenty-five students were in art classes and 12 were in child care classes. Anecdotal records,…

Focusing on eliminating the disparity of literacy between low income, ethnically or culturally diverse populations and their more advantaged counterparts, this paper describes policies and procedures on how to ensure that all children in Washington State schools attain the highest levels of literacy possible. After some background information, the…

A study was conducted to determine why such a small number (less than 2 percent) of the approximately 9,000 adult male prisoners housed in the 3 complexes of the California Institution for Men (Chino, California) in the mid-1980s were actively participating in the college program offered at the prison sites. Data were collected through interviews…

This action research project implemented and evaluated a program to improve students' lack of effort and use of ineffective learning strategies. Participants were students in one kindergarten class, one second-grade class, one high ability fourth-grade class and one high ability fifth-grade class in a Midwest suburban school. Student and teacher…