While student agency is considered an important aspect of classroom learning, opportunities to support and promote agency can be easily missed. This book addresses the inner dimensions of student agency to show what it is, why it is needed, and how it can be translated into instructional practices. In Part I, Locating Student Agency, Vaughn offers…

What if multilingual learners had the freedom to interact in more than one language with their peers during classroom assessment? What if multilingual learners and their teachers in dual language settings had opportunities to use assessment data in multiple languages to make decisions? Just imagine the rich linguistic, academic, and cultural…

"Teachin' It!" is a hands-on guide to cutting-edge research and classroom strategies that redress the graduation gap in community and open-access colleges. Drawing from the author's 30 years in the education field as a math and college skills instructor, teacher educator, and researcher, this book describes an asset-based model that…

All too often, managing a classroom means gaining control, dictating guidelines, and implementing rules. Designed for any teacher struggling with student behavior, motivation, and engagement, "Developing a Learning Classroom" explores how to create a thriving, learning-centered classroom through three critical concepts: relationships, relevance,…

The standard definition of "personalized learning" stresses instruction that is varied in pace, method, objectives, and content for each student and tailored to the student's interests and preferences. Technology is seen as a means to efficiently manage this level of differentiation, access a cornucopia of learning opportunities and…

Diversified small groups in the classroom provide a good opportunity for students to share information and ideas with each other. The research on cooperative small groups points out the benefits of these interactions and describes the process as a powerful forum for developing students' critical thinking and higher-order skills: (1) Cooperative…

Our nations' classrooms appear to be in trouble, with many students complaining that they feel alienated and many teachers saying that they are overwhelmed. Hence, these classrooms seem to be more like "battlegrounds," than "connecting places." Since it may be very counterproductive to maintain this type of an atmosphere within our classrooms, the…

Describes the "cultural pursuit" activity, a class activity in which students try to match descriptions of unusual or interesting skills and experiences to fellow students. Suggests the activity helps students get to know each other and feel connected to the class. (SR)

Describes pressures and conditions which encourage academic dishonesty and offers tips for its detection and prevention in college political science classes. Significant influences include: pressures to succeed, classroom logistics, testing methods, punishment severity, faculty and administrator attitudes, fear of litigation, bureaucratic red…

Explores the idea that basic writing students, when positioned in a classroom setting where safety and trust are paramount, will be willing to take risks. Notes that successful risks will lead students into a more positive relationship with their own writing abilities. Concludes that success in writing leads to a more open-minded approach which…

Maintains that students can be taught antiprejudicial thinking by infusing their school experience with critical thinking about knowledge and life. Lists ten attitudes considered essential to the development of critical thinking and reviews classroom characteristics which support prejudice reduction. (JDH)

Attempts to capture the lively and passionate nature of RTEACHER listserv conversations in which participants shared concerns and visions about how to use classroom practices and environments to promote vocabulary growth for all students. Considers how students' curiosity about words results from contacts with teachers who are fascinated with…

Suggests that educators can provide the nurturing and encouraging atmosphere, the sense to say what works and what does not, and the freedom to let the students express whatever their synaptic processes produce without the fear that their lives and grades depend on it. Presents a "Top Ten List" of the best "rules" in teaching poetry writing. (SG)

This study explores how adults' perspectives, intentions, blockages, resistance, and fascinations are reconstructed during a mathematics course in adult basic education. These aspects are discussed as important building blocks for developing theory in adult educational research. Adult mathematics education was compared in different institutional…

Discusses the need for teacher supervision in distance learning classrooms based on experiences at three high schools in South Central New York. Highlights include teacher attention at the home site versus remote sites, student satisfaction with teacher help, the possibility of cheating, and student attitudes about the presence of teachers. (LRW)