"Lonely Kids in a Connected World: What Teachers Can Do" offers a comprehensive look at childhood loneliness and provides classroom teachers and specialized school professionals a toolkit of research-based intervention strategies. Because children who experience loneliness often feel alone, isolated, disconnected, and alienated, early…

Empower your alienated students to cultivate a deep sense of belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. This fully updated edition of "Reclaiming Youth at Risk" by Larry K. Brendtro, Martin Brokenleg, and Steve Van Bockern merges Native American knowledge and Western science to create a unique alternative for reaching disconnected…

Explores graduate students' sociological perspective, explains barriers encountered in developing that perspective, and describes strategies employed to create a participatory educational environment. Concludes that students' alienation decreased as participation increased in sociological community. (Author/DH)

This article on adolescent alienation defines alienation, discusses the constructs of alienation, suggests questions educators can ask if they suspect a student is feeling alienated, and discusses strategies/interventions school staff and educators can use to decrease student alienation. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Focuses attention on the potential of deliberation for citizenship training in the academy. Offers lessons learned from case studies of courses in communication and political science to demonstrate the degree to which problems faced with deliberation in the wider population manifest themselves in the classroom. Presents examples of how these…

Intended for school administrators and teachers, this booklet describes ideas for improving communication between the school and hard-to-reach parents and the process used to obtain them. In the first section the four steps in the process of obtaining such ideas and information are outlined. These are: (1) arranging the meeting of representatives…

Parents must work actively with teachers to encourage the social integration of disabled children in mainstream classrooms. The ability to initiate and maintain positive peer relationships is necessary for healthy cognitive and social growth in all children, and it helps the disabled helps to overcome destructive cycles of rejection and isolation.…

Describes how being alone, physically and socially, and having personal autonomy can enhance creativity. By understanding the forms and functions of aloneness, art teachers can facilitate the creative process for students who believe that some form of aloneness is essential for their artmaking. (AM)

For camp staff, factors that contribute to the summer doldrums are weather, level of general fatigue, unsatisfied expectations, sensory overload, accumulation of negative "self-talk," and an underlying sense of hurry. Strategies for overcoming summer doldrums involve novelty and stress management, and include promoting health, challenging…

Discusses how the acquisition of literacy, and particularly its acquisition through the whole language approach, may have unanticipated repercussions in the lives of the learners. Proposes four constructive ways of noticing, respecting, and using these repercussions of change in a whole language classroom. (MM)

This book offers the perspective that healthy child development results from family, school, and community environments that support and elicit the innate resiliency--or "self-righting mechanisms"--within every person. The book draws on and integrates several fields of research that support the movement in emphasis from risk to…

Based on a nationwide survey of more than 1,000 adolescents 13 to 17 years old and drawing on the experiences of the 17-year-old author, this book explores social labeling and what it means to adolescents. The book is presented in three parts. Part 1, "What's in a Label?" explains what labels are and how they develop. Part 2, "How…

Fear of controversy, cultural taboos, and fear of homosexuality have prevented many educators from dealing effectively with gay and lesbian young people. The climate in most schools is such that gay teens rarely are willing to expose themselves to the ridicule, harassment, and abuse that comes when they openly acknowledge their sexual orientation.…

A service period for youth is a reasonable idea, considering decreasing employment opportunities, increasing political and social alienation, widespread social pathologies, and the continued expansion of adolescence beyond its physiological and psychological parameters. Youth service has evolved from a federal "Great Society" concept to…

This document presents an innovative curriculum framework for helping individuals aged 16-25 years reconnect with learning and develop the "soft skills" needed to manage their lives and relationships. The guide contains ideas and approaches to help mentors and program managers implement the Getting Connected program, which is designed to…