While learning to quilt, and subsequently seeing quilting everywhere, one teacher decided to make a quilt with the theme of herself as a teacher. Quilts are stories told in visual form, and connections exist between curriculum theory and quilting. During a Master's program, the teacher learned about various curriculum theorists and was amazed at…

Effective school restructuring requires teacher motivation and action to transform knowledge about change into reality. This paper defines and describes what is meant by "professional learning community"; describes what happens when a school staff studies, works, plans, and takes action collectively on behalf of increased learning for…

This paper describes experiences from a summer internship in a North Carolina wilderness program for youth 8-18 years of age with a diagnosed learning disability or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Children with ADD are trial and error learners, which makes them excellent candidates for experiential learning. Children with ADD are seekers of…

This collection of 10 "Write Partner" newsletters presents articles and other materials that help seniors ("Senior Partners") to use their experience and good will to write to children ("Junior Partners") and to assure the children of their intrinsic value and encourage them to learn and succeed. Each issue in the…

This paper describes a practicum designed to give 12 low-achieving first-grade children more time to improve their communication skills, to promote knowledge development, and to motivate children to become enthusiastic about the reading and writing process. Whole language, creative drama, and different styles of writing were utilized in the…

This study examined how the awarding of tenure affects senior professors' interests in teaching and research and whether effects are uniformly negative, positive or different depending on the task. A conceptual model was used that involved intrinsic interest and extrinsic rewards, work context, and individual background variables. Data were taken…

This paper is premised on the belief that school leaders can influence the climate and culture of schools, thereby affecting student learning outcomes. Leaders for Change, an inservice training program developed and tested by the National Center for School Leadership, was greatly influenced by the thinking of Doug Mitchell, who, in "Principal…

A study determined how exposure to learning writing as process through writing workshops would affect the attitudes of fifth grade students. Subjects had no experience with writing as process. At the outset of the school year, the participants, 23 fifth-grade students in a northeastern New Jersey school, were administered the "Emig-King…

Interest may be conceptualized as a variable which affects both motivational and cognitive activity. The purpose of this study was to systematically apply a theoretical model of interest to a classroom setting and explore whether students' interest in mathematics could be increased. The theoretical model of interest is presented and followed by…

An adult learner task force at a small liberal arts college conducted a telephone survey of a random stratified sample of approximately 40 recent graduates from 3 college programs to identify factors perceived as contributing to the graduates' academic success. Additionally, a focus group was convened to assess faculty perceptions of institutional…

This practicum was designed to provide low-achieving first graders with the opportunity to improve their concept of what a word is and motivate children to become more enthusiastic about the reading process. Cooperative learning, cross-age tutoring, and skill-oriented instruction were utilized in the classroom during the 3-month period to…

The restructuring movement is seen as the best way to reform and revitalize education. Restructuring is making individual schools the focus of change and empowering those closest to students with the responsibility and authority to effect changes responsive to student needs. This publication concentrates on teachers' and principals' roles as the…

A mail survey of students enrolled in distance education classes in library science and health education and promotion was conducted after the courses were first offered in the fall semester of 1991. The 77-item questionnaire explored attitudes, opinions, and preferences relating to the Intercampus, Interactive Telecommunications System (IITS),…

This book is intended to assist parents in helping their children become confident learners and self-reliant individuals who succeed in school. The book maintains that children become confident learners by developing high self-esteem, strong motivation, self-discipline, good health and fitness, and the ability to deal with stress. Following an…

This study examined 60 children from the first, fourth and seventh grades to discover their beliefs concerning alcohol. A vignette procedure method was used to assess the development of children's knowledge of adult drinking motives and beliefs about the causes of adolescent drinking. Children's expectations about the interpersonal consequences of…