An ethnographic study examined three new teaching assistants (TAs) from July 1995 to July 1996 at a state university. Data included observing their classrooms, gathering artifacts, and talking about their experiences to determine what types of training and experiences lead to a successful TA and what elements or characteristics comprise a…

The Center for Vocational Professional Personnel Development conducted a needs assessment in order to plan and deliver staff development workshops in the 34 vocational schools served in Pennsylvania's central region. Respondents from the 30 participating schools were 30 administrators and 600 teachers (371 vocational and 144 academic teachers and…

Aimed at junior and senior high school teachers and artists in residence, this book urges teachers and students to read and write poetry "as though their lives depended upon it," and to breathe life into classroom writing traditions that are not hands-on or intense. Each chapter is set in the classroom. Poems by students and teacher…

Noting that assessment continues to be at the forefront of the speech communication discipline and the academy in general, this paper reflects on one speech communication department's struggle to make assessment meaningful and doable. The Speech Communications Department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock uses such "low tech"…

Sue Gehn teaches first grade at Cottage Grove Elementary School in Cottage Grove, just outside of Madison, Wisconsin. She achieves excellence in mathematics by applying the concepts of Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI).The CGI approach is a philosophy founded on the notion that teachers must assess, and understand, the present knowledge that…

This Digest defines service-learning as both a philosophy of education and an instructional method. As a philosophy, service-learning reflects the belief that education should develop social responsibility and prepare students to be involved citizens in democratic life. As an instructional method, service-learning involves a blending of service…

The nine-volume Survey Kit is designed to help readers prepare and conduct surveys and become better users of survey results. All the books in the series contain instructional objectives, exercises and answers, examples of surveys in use, illustrations of survey questions, guidelines for action, checklists of "dos and don'ts," and…

A case study was conducted to examine the implicit beliefs and practices of one white high school mathematics teacher in the context of race. The study explores the subtle ways in which the dominant, hegemonic ideology and discourse saturates everyday life in schools. The teacher studied was a white females mathematics teacher in a small town high…

A study examined students' reactions to the Student-Directed Discussion technique (an attempt to develop a class "text" from the students' joint construction of meaning) as used in a methods course on language development. The students (25 of 27 were present the day of the survey) responded anonymously concerning whether they thought the…

Various theoretical frameworks approach teacher change differently. If teacher candidate supervisors adopt one form of supervision without understanding the assumptions and implications of other models, they risk being too narrow. To help supervisors in their role, an explanation of how a supervisor might intervene from six different perspectives…

This report presents the manner in which a systemic approach of combining standards, assessment, and accountability into a unified set of laws and regulations has been coming onto the state scene for the past 2 decades. A complete performance-based education accountability system includes four components: standards and assessment, multiple…

Having taught for nearly 30 years in Britain's first Rudolf Steiner school, Francis Edmunds founded Emerson College, an adult education and teacher training center where he was active until his death in 1989. This book contains a collection of Edmunds' writings on Steiner education mostly excerpted from "Child and Man,""The Michael…

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a mnemonic approach to teaching about the solar system to non-leveled Grade 9 students versus a traditional outline format. A mixture of 54 regular and special education students participated in the control group receiving facts about the solar system through lecture and transparencies and recorded the…

This paper examines the value of using cross-cultural studies for teaching critical thinking skills to college students. Critical thinking has been narrowly defined as an ability to think logically, abstractly, and objectively. Recently, however, a new model of critical thinking suggests the importance of adding multiple perspectives as a crucial…

This report provides guidelines and a process for people with disabilities living in Massachusetts to follow to evaluate employment service options that will allow them to receive services best meeting their individual needs. Strategies for finding out information about the different programs and a checklist are given by which to evaluate…