Argues that Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" motivates students to write by opening up issues of adolescence, self-esteem, identity, rebellion against unjust authority and laws, individual dignity, and personal control over life and working conditions. Provides a summary lesson plan…

Argues that Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" should be read in its entirety, and that it should be considered a classic text for its continuing impact on the minds of readers from 1845 to the present. Cites incidents in which college students have marveled at Douglass's prose, and how…

Discusses the use of the ecological autobiography as a tool for enhancing an understanding of one's self and the human-earth relationship. Presents a five-step process for developing one's own ecological autobiography and suggestions on how to make the development of autobiographical essays a part of environmental education programs. Contains 28…

Autobiographical accounts of two adult educators address questions of what it means to be an adult educator in an environment of individualization and reflexivity. Cultural conditions that give rise to similarities and differences in their accounts, such as postmodernism and popular culture, are identified. (SK)

Marie G. Lee, an Asian American growing up in the Midwest during the '60s and '70s wanted to be "normal". She uses this background to explore the search for identity in her characters as well as her self. Lee finally realizes that identity isn't a goal to be achieved but it is something that evolves like life.

Teachers' lives have been the focus of much recent research on teaching, and we now have rich, detailed understandings of how teachers develop a 'teaching self,' in the context of concrete details of biography, school settings, relationships and educational systems within which teachers work. What we lack is a sense of the teacher in a place--a…

The authors review competing theories concerning the emergence and early development of autobiographical memory. It is argued that the differences between these accounts, although important, may be more apparent than real. The crux of these disagreements lies not in "what" processes are important, but rather, the role these different processes…

This paper examines Block's (2001) claim that whereas the notion of method no longer plays a significant role in the thinking of applied linguists, it still plays a vital role in the thinking of teachers. In order to assess Block's claim, four sources of data on teachers' beliefs were examined--two direct sources of data: (1) interviews with…

Cochran-smith, Davis, and Fries (2004) reviewed the research, practice, and policy of multicultural teacher education during the last decade of the twentieth century and the first few years of the twenty-first century, and pointed out that the field needed to include inquiries that involve the work of practitioners who are studying their own…

This action research project was aimed to improve geometry students' achievement and the retention in a suburban public high school over a one-year implementation cycle. The curricular design was influenced by Dweck's (2006) theories of growth mindset, educational standards, and directives outlined by the National Council of Teachers of…

Each autumn, the author leads a group of teenagers around Walden Pond, once the home of Henry David Thoreau, and proves that a whole curriculum--from history to philosophy to science--can be taught outside of a conventional classroom. The pond--located in Concord, about 20 miles west of Boston--is where Thoreau built his famous cabin and wrote…

This article is about life story work with people with learning disabilities. It talks about reading and writing stories, and listening to them. Telling your life story, writing it down and talking about it with others can be an important part of self-advocacy for people with learning disabilities. Life stories are helpful when they are told or…

Explains unique aspects of native American autobiography. (MKM)

Argues that by closely examining, editing, and rewriting actual autobiographical texts, students can learn how their own writer-oriented materials can be transformed into reader-oriented materials. (RAE)

Examines four autobiographical self-narratives to see not what they are about, but how the narrators construct themselves. Proposes that an individual's ways of telling and conceptualizing eventually become recipes for structuring experience itself (past and future). (SR)