This paper reviews current literature about three tools used by teacher education programs and school districts to assess teacher candidate quality. It presents a matrix which aligns the underlying dimensions of teacher knowledge, dispositions, and skills for the STAR Teacher Interview, the Teacher Perceiver Interview, and the Praxis III Teacher…

This paper responds to the questions: "How do we shape classroom life to reflect a spirit of social justice and equality, of tolerance and respect?" It presents a philosophy and a set of practices by which preschool classrooms may become communities that work for everyone. The paper begins with an observation of a preschool classroom and notes…

This paper examines how teaching within a traditional classroom benefits from insights and techniques developed through online teaching. A critical assumption underlining it is that much online instruction would be performed by faculty members who also teach, as part of their work load, traditional face-to-face classes. The format of the paper…

This paper describes three classroom settings in which students with disabilities were successfully and fully included. In the first setting, a multi-age classroom has been established for first and second grade students with mild disabilities, students at-risk for academic failure, and typically developing students. A general education teacher, a…

This study describes and analyzes the emerging literacy of kindergartners in one bilingual classroom, and focuses on three Spanish-dominant Puerto Rican children in that class. Using a qualitative approach, the study investigated emergent literacy in the classroom, home, and church contexts. The unit of analysis was the literacy event, any…

Responses to a classroom climate instrument were made by 859 students in fifth through ninth grades in three urban and suburban midwestern school districts. Correlational analyses assessed relationships between scales measuring attitudes toward social interdependence and attitudes towards relationships with peers and teachers. Subjects with high…

Degree of lesson complexity was examined and related to the type of approach used by eighth grade teachers. Results indicated that teachers adapt to the perceived complexity of class activities and to students' behavior cues, using direct instruction more frequently in mathematics and science than in the humanities and language arts. (Author/PP)

Students perceive low achievers as the recipients of more frequent negative feedback and teacher direction and of more work and rule orientation than high achievers. High achievers are seen as receiving higher expectations and more opportunity and choice than low achievers. (PN)

A self-awareness checklist is provided for teachers to assess the safety of their classroom environment. Aspects of school safety included in the checklist are: student behavior policies, teacher responsibility, facilities and equipment maintenance, and planning for emergency procedures. (FG)

Sixty-four teachers and student teachers from rural and urban schools were given the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI) and the Classroom Environment Scale (CES) to investigate the relationship between teaching style and classroom learning atmosphere. Results indicated teachers create classroom sociopsychological climates consonant with…

Emphasizes that learning is influenced by the student's active response to instruction. Teachers are advised to remain aware of student responses by initiating work contracts with students and are encouraged to help students learn to respond appropriately to instruction by arranging the classroom environment so that attention and motivation are…

In his class on the sociology of education, a professor attempted to reduce the inequities caused by differences in gender and in socioeconomic background. A community-oriented situation was created in which individuals were made to feel comfortable in an unstructured learning environment. (JN)

Presents journal entries concerning the methods, classroom illustrations, conversations, and results of teaching fiction writing to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students at a New York City junior high school. (RL)

Classroom behavior was observed over a six-month period in 68 junior high school classes to determine (a) the temporal stability of the behavioral indexes and (b) reliable trends over the school year. A certain deterioration occurs in late spring and observations obtained in midyear are less likely to be distorted. (Author/GK)

After a brief description of recent trends in educational discipline, the article notes some common features of disciplined classrooms: mutual respect, clear expectations, organized teaching and learning, materials geared to learning style and ability, warmth and caring, opportunities to release tension, educationally sound penalty system, and…