Every college has a hot-ticket class. It is perhaps the subject matter or a celebrity professor. Whatever it is, everybody wants to get in. Yet, not everybody can. When an academic course is the hottest ticket on campus, students will go to great trouble to get a seat. This article discusses how university officials decide who gets a seat and…

Dealing with difficult behavior is a matter of awareness of the factors involved in prediction, prevention, and instruction. This means three things: Teachers know, or can be assisted in thinking through the environmental events and contexts that are associated with higher probabilities of problem behavior. Second, teachers can actively manipulate…

Educators are responsible for creating classroom environments that encourages attentiveness and curiosity while minimizing distractions and discipline problems. The author of this article suggests several ways for teachers to maintain a classroom's physical organization in terms of physical, academic, and aesthetic ambience.

From observation-based effective schools research, five essential correlates have been identified: (1) purpose; (2) measurement; (3) leadership; (4) expectations; and (5) climate. This paper briefly describes all correlates and then focuses on climate and expectations as applied to improving science instruction. Although climate originally…

Using a case study approach, this report summarizes a teacher's observations of students working on a personal computer in both classroom and nonclassroom settings. The first section addresses teacher concerns about technology in education, such as fear of replacement by a computer and other symptoms of computer anxiety. Four phases of classroom…

Discusses the inclusion of rules regarding classroom etiquette in an introductory college sociology course. Reports on rules regarding tardiness, leaving early, absenteeism, paying attention, and/or sleeping in class. Concludes that students and colleagues are generally positive about the approach. (CFR)

Offers suggestions for teachers who are interested in constructivist principles, but concerned about the classroom management required to accompany creative teaching. Outlines some procedures for achieving this goal. Includes an extensive list of student activities that can assist classroom-management efforts. (MJP)

The principal of one urban New Jersey middle school chose to deal with a long history of student behavior and discipline problems by making every class single sex. The change helped curb classroom distractions, reduced discipline problems, and restored a sense of order. (SM)

Autonomous learning, which implies the development of attitudes of responsibility and self-awareness related to thought processes on the part of the learner, is examined in the context of the organization and structure of the English public school system. Part 1 discusses autonomous learning and the way in which it may be developed in children…

In an urban magnet middle school serving mostly minority, poor, and low achieving students, the presence of high levels of interracial interaction and positive student-teacher relationships was attributed to the school's curricular, academic reward, and classroom activity structures, and to a faculty subculture that encouraged teachers to foster…

This report summarizes the findings of the Junior High School Transition Study. Section 1 describes the data base used in all three phases of the study. Section 2, "Organization of Instruction," discusses the instructional organization in grades six and seven and the implications for successful student performance in junior high/middle…

Recognizing the necessity of examining the needs of early adolescents and changing the focus of middle grades education in Australia, this report describes the findings from the Northcote Network of Schools, 8 primary and 2 secondary schools collaborating to develop continuity and coherence across grades 5 through 8. The paper outlines activities…