Superintendent in West Chester County, New York, describes her experiences teaching fifth-grade students research and writing skills while continuing to serve as superintendent of schools. (PKP)

Reviews recent studies on new faculty and on graduate students aspiring to a faculty career, documenting deficiencies in graduate education and the need for better bridges between doctoral preparation and the actual work of faculty. (EV)

Identified the effects of reform initiatives on teaching, assessment, and homework practices. Surveys of teachers involved in reform projects indicated that reform significantly related to teaching approach, which mediated between reform and assessment and homework practices. There were significant links between grade level taught and homework…

A college teacher discusses his experiences of departing from the established literary canon to teach Sherman Alexie's "Reservation Blues" as part of an upper-level American literature survey class. Students reacted to the novel and its characters, evaluated Alexie's writing techniques, and discussed their personal experiences with Native…

Provides six remembrances by teachers and students of the Teachers and Writers Collaborative on the occasion of its 35th anniversary. Discusses the quality of colleagues and the excitement of teaching. Notes the motivating influence of this teaching on students. (PM)

This article explores the conceptual and operational distinctions between effectiveness and expertise. Interviews, observation, and review of related literature suggest: (1) effectiveness and experience are necessary but not sufficient for achieving expertise; (2) expertise is specific to subject matter and context; (3) expertise can be explained…

Elaborates upon the assertion that composition studies is potentially a postdisciplinary inquiry which sometimes requires teachers to call upon knowledge from various disciplines to convey ideas to students. Identifies "narrative knowledge" as the kinds of tacit awareness that comes to writing teachers as a consequence of their work. (SG)

This article examines the psychic closeness/distance between teacher and student; in addition, it addresses issues of identity and intention, as they play themselves out in the realms of the unconscious and conscious and within the school. (IAH)

Responses from 38 state directors of vocational education revealed that 68 percent of states required a master's degree for certification as vocational education administrator; 58 percent did not require vocational administration graduate credits; 73 percent did not require administrative experience; and 36 percent did not require occupational…

Deplores the widespread practice of having graduate students with no teaching experience teach composition classes. Advocates (1) having tenured faculty teach one composition class per year, and (2) requiring graduate students to take a course in teaching composition before teaching it. (SR)

Results of an ethnographic study of 31 beginning secondary school teachers indicate that these teachers, in response to 4 school-based constraints (time, work conditions, teaching assignment, and student behaviors), shifted away from university-based learning as a guide to their classroom behavior.(IAH)

Reports results from surveys of secondary school teachers regarding what they are doing with respect to homework, grading, and testing for students with and without disabilities. Discusses implications for inclusion programs. (SR)

Describes the results of a study of how four new teachers framed and interpreted their daily concerns during their first year teaching. Examines several collective themes that emerge from discussions and interviews. Presents an episode from each teacher's classroom. Explains how the results of the research are being used to refine a teacher…

Describes an English teacher's struggle to improve her writing instruction by improving her own writing process, incorporating a commentary or reflection step. The teacher used journal writing with her high school students to help them reflect upon their writing of short stories. (KS)

Discusses whether professional research journals should publish teachers' stories about teaching. Finds appeals to the metaphor of teachers' voices weak. Recommends subjecting the existing archive of stories about teachers to a rhetoric of inquiry to assess representations of teaching. Proposes that the current conception of the research journal…