This essay is a descriptive review of the child. It was written in preparation for a collaborative, inquiry-based protocol that was developed at the Prospect School in North Bennington, VT. Focusing on Aisha, a twelfth-grade student, this descriptive review discusses the following: physical presence and gesture, disposition and temperament,…

Arrival stories are said to be typical components of anthropologically informed ethnographies in which the ethnographer as "stranger" comes face to face with research subjects as "others", establishes a context for the research and perhaps uses the story to justify the validity of his or her observations. The notion of a conventional ethnographic…

"The Montessori Observer" is mailed four times each year, in March, May, September and November, to Society members throughout the world. The purpose is to provide news and information about the Society's work in Montessori education, and to extend awareness of Montessori principles throughout the world. This issue contains a feature…

The reflective and interrogative processes required for developing effective qualitative research questions can give shape and direction to a study in ways that are often underestimated. Good research questions do not necessarily produce good research, but poorly conceived or constructed questions will likely create problems that affect all…

While literature on teaching emphasizes the importance of identity in teacher development, understanding identity and the issues related to it can be a challenging endeavour. This article provides an overview of the issues revealed in recent discussions of teacher identity: the problem of defining the concept; the place of the self, and related…

Who am I? What am I about? What is my place in my social group? What is important to me? What do I value? What do I want to do with my life? These are all questions related to what psychologists call identity. Many theorists have argued that we are driven to answer these questions, particularly during adolescence. In this article, I summarize an…

There is a need for culturally relevant teaching in dance education. Many dance teachers have heard the buzz words "culturally relevant teaching methods." Yet these dance educators acknowledge that the "dance culture" is not always synonymous with "culturally relevant." This paper examines the issue of culturally…

While developing critical literacy in our students is a priority for all of us, Wilhelm believes that we must develop a critical literacy of teaching, as well. He asserts that this can best be achieved by 1) teaching through an inquiry context, and 2) taking on a teacher-researcher stance to think both reflectively and reflexively about our…

The purpose of an evaluation, its methodology and design, and the data that evaluators generate represent programs and stakeholders in particular ways. In the evaluation described in this article, the author faced making extensive methodological changes to an evaluation. In the process, she considered and reflected on the implications of these…

Problem statement and background: Feedback is essential to learning and practice improvement, yet challenging both to provide and receive. The purpose of this paper was to explore reflective processes which physicians described as they considered their assessment feedback and the perceived utility of that reflective process. Methods: This is a…

This paper explores the issue of native language (L1) use in adult English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes, re-examining the belief that use of the students' L1 is detrimental to target language learning. We discuss research that (a) documents language use in several adult ESL classes in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, and (b) presents survey…

The aim of this paper is to understand whether student teachers enact reflection differently as they encounter different situations within their teacher education programme. Group memory-work was used to generate and analyse five participants' memories of learning to teach. Three different discursive contexts were identified in the students'…

The concepts and goals that are relied on in intercultural development programs have not been clearly situated in the social contexts of education. "Steps" and "strategies" are applied with varied interpretations to different subject areas. In preparing individuals for encounters with cultural otherness, these approaches often fall short. This…

Faculty-in-residence programs aim to strengthen the intellectual climate in residential facilities. This article presents the author's reflections on nine years of living in a residence hall as a Faculty-In-Residence (FIR) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The author shares an insider's observations on the role he played as a…

Measurement and evaluation are at the core of reliably improving performance. It is through these central mechanisms that performance improvement professionals are able to demonstrate the true worth of their efforts. However, the true value of the contributions they make is inconclusive. This article presents a content analysis of 10 years' worth…