Every day in K-12 classrooms across the country, teachers are struggling to keep their students focused and on task during instructional time. There are hundreds of theories floating around about how to manage a classroom effectively, but nothing is as simple or as effective in engaging students as the physical presence of the teacher (Brophy,…

By identifying three main sociologies that characterise broad movements in the field since its inception, this paper provides a background to considerations of music education from the perspective of sociology. A fourth sociology is then proposed that may be useful to interrogate the complexities of the field of 21st century music education. This…

Working to match mentors with new teachers, one consideration was the physical proximity of the mentor to the newcomer. If the mentor occupied a room next door or across the hall, this position suggested that the new teacher had easy access to this important resource in times of urgency. Such arrangements are not always possible. In this article,…

Children learn both verbal and nonverbal communication strategies by imitating parents, teachers, and other significant people in their lives. However, most American parents converse with their children for only about 38 minutes per week. In contrast, teachers might communicate with children for up to seven hours each weekday. Each day, teachers…

This paper draws on a wider literature review, completed by the author in 2007, about the effectiveness of teachers' aides (TAs). It discusses the effects of the proximity of TAs on the students with disabilities to whom they are assigned. It also reports on studies where TAs have been trained to support the students to interact with their peers…

Conflict among peers is common, and not necessarily a bad thing. Disagreement, teasing, and conflict are part of growing up, and children and adolescents need to develop skills to resolve these clashes. However, bullying, an extreme form of peer conflict or teasing, can be physically and psychologically harmful. Therefore, it is important for…

In a world of high tech and low touch, it is easy for public relations programs to stray from tried-and-true interpersonal strategies long associated with solid communication planning. New technologies allow communications professionals to quickly send e-mails and telephone calls to selected groups. Social media sites provide users immediate…

In this article, the author discusses the importance of educational leadership's sustainability and finding the right leader to fit in the system at the right time. Just as book quality and preferences vary from author to author and critic to critic, the quality of educational leadership and the culture of individual schools or school districts…