The idea of active learning was first introduced to kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong in 1981 when they received their in-service teacher education. In a two-year, school-based project, 60 teachers in five schools were asked to create collaborative videos about models of good practices after sharing "effective" teaching episodes with…

Reflection is a commonly accepted practice and considered advantageous in teacher education programs. Teachers are encouraged to think critically about their beliefs and teaching styles with the intended goal of fostering greater professional and personal development. Nonetheless, researchers have noted the challenges inherent in encouraging…

A powerful tool for creating culture while, at the same time, a cognitively rigorous exercise, Indigenous-language immersion could be a key for producing both language fluency and academic success in culture-based schools. Drawing on seven years of critical ethnographic research at Ojibwe schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin, this researcher…

A national literacy professional development project reduced the achievement gap for students experiencing difficulties in reading or writing in 91 of New Zealand's schools. It was based on two premises: coherence within and between the multiple levels of the schooling and educational administration systems, and a focus on evidence-informed…

Principles of the Reggio Emilia approach are a catalyst for thinking about practices in early childhood education. Teachers in the child care system of Reggio Emilia encourage us to think about our image of childhood and the ways we interact with children, plan curriculum, and design environments. This article examines experiences in a rural…

Powerful learning is the premise that the type of education provided for gifted children works well for all children. This long-range study examined the usefulness of elements from a more aggressive approach to powerful learning than the one implicit in the accelerated schools model--specifically a teacher checklist, collegial coaching, reflective…

What is the nature and role of reflection for teachers? How is teacher reflection influenced by environmental/situational factors? Examination of stated beliefs and observed practices of four 7th and 8th grade mathematics classroom teachers were used as evidential sources to help answer these questions in this interpretive investigation. Multiple…

This paper explains how teachers can set up good research problems to study in their classrooms. The purpose of the research is to provide teachers with a tool for reflection, change, learning, and renewal in student-centered classrooms. Teacher-researchers learn to ask critical questions, collect data, document findings, and share results with…

Research has shown that close ties between early childhood teachers and parents are helpful for children, but many teachers have mixed feelings about, or feel unprepared for, such relationships. This study, drawn from a larger study of preservice and beginning teachers, used narrative inquiry to trace the development of an early childhood…

Reflective journals have been used widely in teacher education programs to promote reflective thinking (Freidus, 1998; Carter & Francis, 2000; Yost, Senter & Forlenzo-Bailey, 2000). Smyth (1992) advocated that posing a series of questions to be answered in written journals could enhance reflective thinking. It was for this reason that…

As part of a larger project on effective numeracy teaching practice a number of teachers took turns to teach a small group of students in front of their peers who were located on the other side of a one-way window. Observing teachers were asked to comment on what they noticed "in-the-moment" and suggest labels or metaphors that captured the…

Since teachers are the key to educational reform, teacher self-evaluations are critical aspects of change. In an inservice course on teaching reading comprehension through retellings, teachers were asked to examine their practices and reflect on a different method of assessing student comprehension. Focus was on teacher change and fears of change…

"John Dewey and the Art of Teaching: Toward Reflective and Imaginative Practice" is an engaging and accessible introduction to the art of teaching as seen through the eyes of John Dewey. Authors Douglas J. Simpson, Michael J. B. Jackson, and Judy C. Aycock provide a lucid interpretation of the complexities and art of teaching in contemporary…

This lecture, by a professor of English and literature who is a recipient of the AAU (Association of Atlantic Universities) Instructional Leadership Award, states that the lecturer does not have a lot of faith in faculty development as a way of improving university teaching. The lecture also states that the professor is generally skeptical of…

This 19-minute VHS videotape introduces the structured reflection protocol, a tool designed to help teachers learn by working together and by using student work as a beginning point for their learning together. The videotape shows scenes of the structured reflection protocol being used in diverse school settings (elementary, secondary, rural,…