The authors offer a rationale, structure, and method for teaching an experientially based class in using the arts as an adjunct to counseling. They describe the benefits to counseling students, review literature documenting the effective uses of the arts in counseling, and recommend textbooks and other resources. Professional and ethical…

This article recounts how a communications and an engineering department developed a collaborative teaching venture--a linked writing course--to provide mentorship for students learning how to write lab reports. According to faculty and student feedback, and to analysis of pre- and post-course writing samples, the students' writing did show…

This case study addresses the use of the "anchored instruction approach" to restructure educational computing courses to enhance future teachers' learning of technology applications in the classroom. A cohort group of 22 preservice teachers from a typical teacher education institution in Southeastern Ohio was involved in the study. The…

Many universities recognize urgent environmental dilemmas and embrace efforts to move campus operations and university culture toward sustainability. However, the broader academic mission across departments and programs is often slower to connect with sustainability efforts. The Piedmont Project at Emory University offers one model of a faculty…

Today, isolated practice is regarded by most educators, administrators and policymakers as an inadequate way of performing teachers' work. Most teachers and teacher educators embrace the current dominant discourse on the virtues of teacher collaboration, but these beliefs do not always materialize in the way programs of initial teacher education…

Defining a vision based on shared values is a crucial step that administrators must consider as they lead their schools through reform efforts. This article reports findings from a national study of creating professional learning communities in schools and how an organizational framework helped to explain vision development in 18 schools.…

This article describes our experiences as six faculty members at a mid-sized state college whose collaboration grew into a substantive endeavor to improve writing pedagogy and practice across our disciplines of English, Educational Studies, Instructional Technology, Educational Psychology and Counseling. Within our practice, we approach writing in…

Teacher turnover is significantly higher in hard-to-staff schools, and it is costly. Not only are billions of dollars spent annually to recruit and train new teachers, but students who are denied the best education possible often enter the workforce at a disadvantage. The problem demands strategies that work. This report identifies examples and…

Peer coaching, or peer assisting, was established in 1970s by Joyce and Showers. Initially used in teachers' professional development, it refers to a process that two or more teacher peers evaluate current practice mutually; expand skills, extract and build new skills; share ideas, and review & solve problems of classroom teaching in a way of…

This study describes how a physical education teacher collaborated with a second-grade teacher to plan and implement an interdisciplinary unit, and it identifies factors that contributed to the teachers' actual collaboration. One accomplished elementary physical education teacher, one experienced second-grade classroom teacher, and 35 students…

People faced with collaboration challenges are often reluctant to be honest about problems because in many schools collaboration is a norm. But whereas most special educators are intuitively skilled at working with others, "problematic professional encounters are inevitable barriers that will appear occasionally in the life of every special…

The current need for physical activity has extended beyond the limited time given to students in physical education classes. In order for students to receive appropriate levels of physical activity (i.e., at least 60 minutes per day), it is necessary for physical educators to incorporate physical activity opportunities outside the traditional…

This article describes how the author changed a gloomy and outdated library into a cheery and welcoming place for teaching and learning. When the author was hired as the new library media specialist at Tri-County Career Center Library in Nelsonville, Ohio, the library was antiquated, uncomfortable, and not geared for the present-day hills of…

Recently, the Modern Language Association (MLA) called for a major reorganization of undergraduate academic programs and even the structure of foreign-language departments. Typically, the initial two years of language instruction are taught by non-tenure-track instructors with little or no voice in the department. Faculty members mainly teach the…

Principals are anxious to determine which strategies, programs, and other factors contribute to increasing the achievement of English Language Learners (ELLs) so that all students in their schools can experience success. This study investigates the practices, strategies, knowledge, and expectations of an elementary principal that contribute to…