This study examines how interpretations of mentoring by trainee mentors (TMs) changed over the course of a mentor training programme, and how this contributed to the TMs' professional development. The context of the study was a mentor training programme for preschool teachers who mentor early childhood teacher students during their practicums.…

This article considers the influence that assessment exerts on poetry education. By means of research conducted in a post-16 educational context in Malta, it shows that teachers' and students' practices in the poetry lesson are determined by the kind of examinations that candidates sit for. When the mode of assessment is constituted solely by the…

The Family Backpack Project provided 249 low-income, prekindergarten children and their families with opportunities to read and listen to audio recordings of 3 sets of books in their homes. Families received English or dual-language texts (English plus Spanish, Arabic, Kurdish, or Somali) matched to their home languages. Children and their…

The perceived value of peer editing to students is unclear. To investigate, first-year students (N = 35) completed a writing attitudes scale and first writing assignment in September 2012. The expected writing requirements were explained and handouts provided, as well as subsequent instructor feedback and grades. A second writing assignment was…

This promising practice explores the use of young adult literature as a supplement to texts in an undergraduate introduction to a special education course. Literature portraying adolescent characters with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were used to build schema of preservice teachers. Participants' knowledge and attitudes about ASD were examined…

This study was based on the hypothesis that students' epistemological beliefs could become more expertlike with a combination of appropriate instructional activities: (i) preclass reading with metacognitive reflection, and (ii) in-class active learning that produces cognitive dissonance. This hypothesis was tested through a five-year study…

This intervention study examined the impact of reading young adult novels that portray people with disabilities on the attitudes of 229 eighth grade students. Students' beliefs and intentions to interact with peers with disabilities were measured on three occasions utilizing the Shared Activities Questionnaire (Morgan, Walker, Bieberich &…

In the county schools, students are assessed every nine weeks based on a writing prompt using a rubric supplied by the county, but the students are often taught using Writer's Workshop. This action research attempted to determine if Writer's Workshop and the use of writing prompts have different effects on first graders' writing ability and…

This paper reports on findings of a qualitative study that explored the experiences, needs and challenges of internationally educated teacher candidates (IETCs) in a large metropolitan university in Canada. Interviews were conducted with IETCs as well as the teacher educator working with them. Findings revealed that IETCs required additional…

For fifteen years, the presenter has engaged college students in discussions and writing assignments that pertain to the outstanding characteristics of their most effective teachers--"effective" meaning that these teachers made the most significant impact on their lives. Based on those recurring themes, the conclusion is that effective teachers…

This paper demonstrates with specific examples from various students' journals how subtly and, at the same time, pervasively ethnocentricity expresses itself, and offers suggestions on how to assess and combat ethnocentric beliefs through writing assignments and classroom exercises in an international business law course at Indiana University. The…

A study determined if exposing middle school students to stories and poems that show what virtues look like, how they are practiced, how to recognize them, and how they work, would have a significant effect on the degree of assimilation of these virtues expressed by the students. Sixth-grade students (n=23) attending a suburban middle school in…