The authors argue that to help beginning teachers improve their practice, they (as teacher educators) must acknowledge their ongoing development toward becoming professional educators in the school communities they inhabit and with the students they serve. This piece cites numerous examples of teachers reflecting over a two-year period on their…

What does committee work entail? The author outlines the effort and the satisfactions. This essay is a sound byte of what needs to be said about the professional benefits one can experience when becoming a full-fledged, participating NCTE member through committee or task force work.

Responds to Ken Donelson's "Professionalism: English Teachers' Rights and Responsibilities" (EJ v77 n4). Argues that English teachers are professionals regardless of public perception, but they lack a perception of themselves as professionals. Concludes that teachers don't need more lists of requirements, but more respect for diversity…

Reflects on experiences attending a recent conference for the National Association for the Teaching of English. (EL)

Presents eight teachers' accounts of professional growth activities designed to empower teachers to make choices for professional renewal according to their individual needs and interests. (RS)

Notes that the issue of leadership and management has become a hot topic for school principals and administrators with books, magazines, and articles urging participatory corporate management techniques. Suggests newer management styles developed in the private sector offer some valuable approaches. (NH)

Recounts a teacher's experiences on a trip to Africa. Describes her pleasant moments with her fellow travelers; her appreciation of the natural setting; her visit to an impoverished native school; and her confrontation with a Maasai warrior. (TB)

Describes the author's experience with the Secondary Section of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Recommends that educators should belong to NCTE's Secondary Section--one primary reason is that the "English Journal" is published by NCTE for secondary teachers. Considers how because reading it regularly can change…

Gives responses of nine practicing teachers to the question, "What book or article published since 1987 has had the most significant influence on your teaching and on teachers you know?" Provides citations, summaries, and overviews of the works. (HB)

Reflects on the author's 30 years as an English teacher. Ponders how and when the job turned into a professional career, and what it means to be a professional. Notes mentors along the way who promoted the enrichment of his teaching career. Encourages new teachers to take the step into professional opportunities and to stretch into new arenas of…

A teacher-researcher uses the metaphor of recycling along a continuum to describe how teachers adapt the ideas of their colleagues with varying degrees of change based on their different contexts. The objective of recycling is not only to reduce waste but also to extend use and the key to lasting changes in mind is sustained participation in…

Describes a visit with an educational leader, Louise Rosenblatt. Notes that Rosenblatt is a teacher, and from her teaching, both in the classroom and in other forums, she has led educators to think about teaching, and about what is valuable. Notes that for secondary teachers, the National Council of Teachers of English's Secondary Section offers a…

Describes the results of a secondary school English teacher's decision to apply for the National Endowment's summer seminars, from reassessment of her own academic history to joining with other teachers in an intensely intellectual experience. (MM)

Shares insights of an English teacher gained through a variety of teaching experiences. Describes how the Bay Area Writing Project provided effective strategies to improve the teaching of writing. (NH)

Discusses the activities and accomplishments of a high school English teacher during a year's sabbatical leave. (RBW)