Small schools can provide an environment well suited to new and improved forms and models of teacher professional development. A compact faculty size can support close interpersonal relationships, resulting in greater teacher collaboration on interdisciplinary units and personalized teaching plans for all students. Thus, the necessity and…

This fastback provides practical information to help teachers better fulfill their roles in the mentoring process. The first section, "Introduction," explains the importance of the mentoring relationship. The second section, "Characteristics of a Good Mentor," highlights four core concepts: a mentor leads through example, a mentor leads through…

In professional development, attention to both collaboration and critical thinking in the various interactive socialization processes of teaching practices should be essential strategic elements in a formative environment. This study presents contributions from the teleinteractive dynamic established in a virtual environment for the critical…

An ethnographic study of teacher teaming was conducted at an urban high school, exploring the effects the teaming process had on teachers' and students' experiences. Heritage High School was a relatively large urban school in the Midwest, employing over 100 teachers and serving over 1,200 students. The school has a graduation rate of only about…

This monograph discusses using collaboration and consultation to teach children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in the general education classroom. After an introductory chapter, Chapter 2, "Collaboration and Consultation: Promises and Limitations," compares collaboration and consultation as they relate to serving…

This paper examines the impact of ethnocultural diversity on the process of collaboration. Section 1 shares stories of several different experiences with collaborative efforts, highlighting key assumptions about how people work together and how culture impacts assumptions. Section 2 discusses problems and issues related to collaborating. For…

This paper describes a study that investigated Western Australian senior high schools' cultures. Researchers developed the School Cultural Elements Questionnaire to examine six aspects of school culture: professional values, emphasis on learning, collegiality, collaboration, shared planning, and transformational leadership. A group of 422 teachers…

This study compared the attitudes of elementary level collaborative and traditional cooperating teachers regarding their supervisory skills and confidence levels. It also examined how teachers collaborated and how collaborative cooperating teachers perceived Clinical Master Teaching (CMT) meetings. Student teachers were placed in schools with…

The Interdisciplinary Teamed Instruction (ITI) Project was a 2-year project aimed at determining the effects of ITI on teaching and learning and at validating the effectiveness of a professional development model to facilitate development, implementation, and evaluation of ITI. Through summer institutes and onsite workshops, project staff provided…

This study examined inservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusion, surveying teachers' perceptions of their professional competence in working with special education students and in collaborating to plan and implement instructional programs. Professional training needs were also identified. Teachers from 90 schools in southeastern Alabama…

This paper discussed using vertical teaming as a way to organize multi-year curriculum planning for academically talented adolescents. Vertical teams include educators from different grade levels in a given discipline who work cooperatively to develop and implement a vertically aligned program aimed at helping students acquire the skills necessary…

The College of Southern Idaho, a two-year, institute of higher education (IHE), and the College of Education at Idaho State University, a four-year IHE, have joined together to create a model to ensure that aspiring teachers have the same opportunities for a quality education no matter where they complete their first 2 years. The institutions have…

The generally accepted concept of inclusion is that students with disabilities attend classes with their general education peers with direct support from special educators. This digest, written in Spanish, discusses the rationale for inclusion in middle schools, explores recent research on inclusion, and discusses barriers to implementation. It…

This book provides a collection of strategies for teaching leadership. It includes the creative use of films, classics, and fiction in teaching leadership; teaching leadership to specific audiences; team teaching and collaboration; and assessing outcomes. Following are the chapter titles and authors: "Blockbuster Leadership: Teaching Leadership…

This report provides baseline data on professional development and training needs for teachers of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs). Surveys administered to LCTL teachers working in higher education addressed a range of issues relating to the following: the teaching context; the teacher's professional background and qualifications; the…