One college history teacher finds lively and constructive classroom discussion in a survey course is primarily a result of the teacher's attitudes toward and assumptions about students. The teacher must create a safe atmosphere in which students can speak, and be direct and respectful with students, which clears the classroom of anxiety and…

The purpose of assigning writing that will not be formally graded is to assist students in learning subject matter and to create a classroom context that encourages active learning and interactive teaching. Offers three examples of college-level writing-to-learn assignments used in various disciplines, and some ways teachers can respond to such…

Electronic dialogues tend to be rapid, informal, and public. When college teachers use computer technology to respond to student writing, they have an opportunity to rethink and reinvent the ways in which they teach and by which students learn. Despite some new concerns and problems, this mode of communicating does not evoke the same response that…

Reflection on religious issues is an essential part of education. In secular colleges and universities, religious topics under study should be highlighted, with discussion, challenges, and critique encouraged, not dismissed or ignored. Faculty should openly express their convictions when relevant to the subject or a student's concern. Dialogue can…

Discusses effective use of teacher language in guiding children to interact verbally. Presents technique of repeating the last three words of a child utterance, followed by the word "and," which encourages children to continue talking. Suggests that coupled with positive body language and genuine interest, this technique supports verbal…

Presents classroom data from over a 10-year period on group work in practice. Findings indicate that collaborative learning tasks need careful planning of both the task and classroom organization. Transcripts of children's talk are analyzed to determine how the composition of the groups, the task set and the classroom organizational strategies can…

To examine classroom discussion, observations were made in 20 college classes and surveys were administered to 20 faculty and 579 students. Results indicate that little time was devoted to interaction and few students participated. However, teaching techniques (praise, probing for elaboration, accepting answers, repeating students' answers, using…

This article provides a theoretical framework for teacher sensitivity and responsiveness, describes the evidence that supports this focus, and delineates the research, interventions, and challenges that bear upon the enhancement of teacher-child sensitivity and responsibility in early childhood special education. A pilot program for facilitating…

A study involving three students (ages 7-12) with deaf-blindness found their special education teachers were highly responsive, although physical preoccupation with other students occasionally prevented them from being able to provide responses in accessible forms. They struggled with expressing themselves in forms that were accessible to the…

Compares Native American and Caucasian students' perceptions of teacher good will and delivery communication competence as well as attitude toward school. Finds that Native American students perceived teachers to have less good will and delivery competence and had more negative attitudes toward school compared to Caucasian students. (SR)

This commentary on four studies on instructional discourse highlights the possible reasons for variations in instructional engagement within and across the studies, discusses the challenges to engaging student with learning disabilities in discipline-based instruction, and stresses the value for the learning disabilities field of greater attention…

Measures preferences students express for communicator styles of their instructors. Finds the most preferred styles were friendly and attentive, followed by relaxed, impression leaving, animated, dramatic, open, precise, dominant, and contentious. Finds that other variables such as IQ, demographics, and students' learning style preference were…

Discusses pedagogy and classroom dynamics, in particular the interaction between teachers and female adult students. Considers the question of authority. Considers the argument that older students have the "authority of experience," which provides them with power over the teacher. Discusses the possibility that professors give more latitude to…

Describes class discussions in an undergraduate English fiction class. Draws a parallel between students' reactions to reading material and the instructor's own responses to fiction as an undergraduate. Suggests that a literature teacher can depart from the usual role of telling students how they must read a given story. (SG)

Colleges are grappling with decisions on whether ethnic studies courses should be required. Asian American students are responsive in Asian American studies courses when the class composition is largely Asian. With more White students in class, the Asian experience must be translated in a different way and Asian students become more reticent. (VM)