Discusses briefly five books that can help teachers learn about how conversation works and help their students gain language competence. (SR)

The purpose of this paper is to examine a problem that exists in relation to teaching methods and which has quite possibly served to limit the value of many promising methodologies that have been developed. (Author)

The authors give advice to teachers on correctly presenting assignments by discussing these questions: What information should an instructional assignment convey? What criteria should be considered in phrasing an instructional assignment? And what means can be used to clarify an assignment? (Author/SJL)

Discusses the use of "real talk" in the classroom (to develop critical thinking skills), where teachers share their views and reasoning processes with students and listen to students' points of view about topics they care about. (SR)

Article considered the place of the special child in the regular classroom and how the regular teacher and the special teacher can cooperate to assist the special child make the transition from special to regular education. (RK)

Purpose of the article is to provide a working format, or structure, for a positive approach toward helping the teacher understand and control classroom discipline at the psychological verbal level. (Authors)

Discusses insights gained by working with teacher-researcher teams in Pittsburgh Public Schools investigating portfolio reflection. Describes using reflection to create student-teacher dialog, and shows how expanding this dialog makes learning visible. Notes that this mutually satisfying classroom dialog about writing and learning expanded to…

Explains the various "verbally reflective devices" that students use to throw the responsibility for their actions back on the teacher. Offers suggestions for dealing with such devices. (FL)

Argues that effective authoritarians establish their authority in the classroom only so that eventually they can relinquish it to students, who must learn to become responsible citizens of school and society. Offers three principles for promoting good classroom discipline. (FL)

Reviews the literature on teacher clarity and communication skills, then describes a study showing that teachers must be trained in ways to reduce vagueness terms, mazes, multiple utterance questions, and overall frequency of questions posed to students. (FL)

Offers 12 disciplinary procedures, progressing from gentle to severe. Discusses the importance of starting with the gentle procedures before moving on to the more harsh ones. (FL)

Argues that effective classroom management is based upon teachers creating caring relationships with their students. Describes the author's experience creating such relationships and how classroom disruptions diminished dramatically. Offers 15 strategies to improve teacher-student relationships. (SR)

Discusses how to use homework as an effective teaching method and offers creative sample assignments. (SRT)

Uses research findings to show when educational leaders can use humor to increase their effectiveness and how they can use it more effectively. (FL)

Educator outlines a program designed to build up a corps of dedicated professionals who not only can teach but also are able to fill the role of supervising teachers. (Author/RK)