New strategies can ignite teachers' imagination to create new lessons or adapt lessons created by others. In this article, the authors present the experience of an algebra teacher and his students solving linear and literal equations and explain how the use of ideas found in past NCTM journals helped bring this lesson to life. The…

English teacher Cris Tovani knows from her experiences teaching elementary school that students are naturally curious. But, too often, students are so trained to be question answerers that by the time they reach high school, they no longer form questions of their own and instead focus on trying to figure out what answer the teacher wants. Tovani…

The study of narrative is an interdisciplinary enterprise actively pursued within literary criticism, semiotics, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, cognitive psychology, and psychiatry. Within education, narratives have found their practical application in two areas. In the curriculum field, narratives seem an obvious choice as organizing…

This manual was designed to assist individuals and groups throughout Texas who are assisting teachers. The manual is composed of 8 sections which include: mentoring models, induction models, other models, adult development, mentoring, induction, instructional planning, and reference material. Also included are the mentoring and induction models…

This study was designed to explore an expert teacher's model of thinking and teaching as it occurred within the social and cultural context of the classroom. The model was then compared with instructional systems design (ISD) to identify similarities and differences between them. To accomplish these goals, the study focused on the process and…

Draws on 13 years experience teaching behavior-disordered students to identify effective teaching methods. Discusses the importance of honesty, fairness, consistency, persistence, intuition, praise, and humor in the teacher-student relationship. Provides eight guidelines for developing a workable and suitable classroom reward system. (JHZ)

Use of a critical approach in a curriculum design course for preservice teachers, by a five-phase process, would offer a beneficial shift away from the dominant "objectives first" models. This approach allows most teachers to reevaluate the processes and perspectives involved in educating children. (86 references) (CJH)

Entrance into the teaching profession is often a situation of disappointment or "reality shock." As shown by previous researchers, teacher burnout is higher in the beginning of the career. Among the causes are inadequate initial teacher training and the lack of initial motivation. In order to study this phenomenon, the transition of 214…

This volume lays out the human factors involved in effective teaching and encourages both future teachers and current practitioners to cultivate the personal and professional qualities found in the kind of teachers they want to be. The single most important factor in a teacher's effectiveness is described as his or her unique style of interaction…

This book presents a conceptual model that supports a comprehensive program for professional development and evaluation. "The Professional Educator Development Model" is a framework that includes both a reconceptualization of teachers' roles and renewed consideration of how teachers' beliefs and desired student outcomes influence teacher…

This paper reports the findings of a year-long study of 11 preservice teachers' perceptions of the first year of a teacher preparation program. These students were interviewed individually at least four times, and reported that learning concrete teaching methods was one of the most valuable aspects of their preparation because these methods could…