This paper presents a professional development model to support the implementation of word study in the middle school grades. The first section provides a rationale and considerations for the model. The following section discusses the theory and instructional methods of word study focusing on word sorting and word hunts. To confirm the…

Introduction: "Handwriting Without Tears"[R] program (Olsen, 1998) has been suggested as an appropriate set of procedures to teach students with and without disabilities skills in written communication. Unfortunately, there has been little research in the peer reviewed literature where the program has been employed to teach children with…

Kindergarten student teachers face a unique set of challenges as they strive to meet the needs of very young children. This article presents ten suggestions for ensuring a successful experience. They are based on the authors' many years of experience in working with student teachers placed in kindergarten settings. Arranged in Letterman fashion in…

McCarry, a first grade teacher, formed a voluntary writing group, Writers' Lunch Club, that met the developmental and individual needs of children and inspired enthusiasm and writing success. In the article, she explains the guidelines, compares the club's writing strategies with those in the classroom, and lists tips and benefits.

The early childhood practicum course is the venue through which college students synthesize prior learning about developmentally appropriate teaching practices and apply it in supervised fieldwork settings. Prior research identifies that while this course has a central place in the preparation of teachers, there are acknowledged gaps of…

For a great portion of the history of the American education system, multiage education was the norm in one-room schoolhouses throughout the nation. The current graded, curriculum-centered approach in the U.S. appeared during the mid-nineteenth century with the rapid economic development and massive immigration into the country. Concurrently, some…

This article discusses how amusing mistakes can make for serious language instruction. The notion that close analysis of language errors can yield insight into how one thinks and learns seems fundamentally obvious. Yet until relatively recently, language errors were primarily treated as indicators of learner deficiency rather than opportunities to…

Advances in neuroscience are providing information about the brain and its development. Some researchers propose that childcare workers need to understand this information because it confirms their importance and their use of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP). Given the fact that childcare workers could benefit from this insight, it seems…

In order for children to receive the best in quality care, early childhood teachers must have a deep understanding of child development and developmentally appropriate teaching methodologies that can only be acquired through accessible and sustainable professional development. This type of professional development for many students comes in the…

The traditional kindergarten program often reflected a rich but generic approach with creative contexts for typical kindergartners organized around materials (manipulatives or dramatic play) or a developmental area (fine motor or language). The purpose of kindergarten reflected beliefs about how children learn, specialized training for…

One of the biggest present challenges for teachers, especially in primary classrooms, is the need to address the content standards in all subject areas with the same amount of instructional time. While curriculum integration continues to be a powerful strategy to meet this challenge, teachers often find it difficult to bridge the gap between…

This study investigates what preservice elementary school teachers assume about children's capacities to learn about equity issues and how teachers might translate teaching for social justice into actual classroom practices. Participants said they did not see the age of their students as a barrier to teaching for social justice, although their…

Providing high-quality education in juvenile justice secure care settings presents unique challenges for the administrators, teachers, and staff who are responsible for the education, rehabilitation, and welfare of youths committed to their care. The United States departments of Education (ED) and Justice (DOJ) recognize that while these…

This paper analyzed 10 commercially available functional curriculum models designed for secondary students with mild-to-moderate mental impairment. The models were examined with respect to the inclusion of functional curriculum components, the domains and subdomains of adulthood, the materials identified by the model to be used to deliver the…

Based on teacher questionnaires and close ethnographic observation of 40 first-grade students, this article explores the learning possibilities the arts present for teaching young children and fostering developmentally appropriate practice. Its aim is to reinforce the value of the arts already being used in early childhood classrooms and to…