Initial teacher licensing is intended to provide public assurance of core competence in classroom settings. Core competence's implicit vulnerability is mediocrity. In daily practice, many educators appear satisfied in reaching a merely acceptable level of performance, thus minimizing the period of effortful skill acquisition required to attain…

The work students create should help them develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed in the adult world. In this article, the authors identify adult roles essential for young people to develop and outline ways teachers can use curriculum standards to create assignments and assessments that prepare youths for those adult roles in society.…

The authors describe the creation of their monthly reading circle, in which teachers can discuss new books for their classroom, and get credit for doing so. They claim that after three years, the reading circle has become a passionate community of lifelong learners and educators striving to expand their own learning and ways of teaching. Details…