This book shows prospective teachers how to use the language arts to connect diverse students to the world around them and help them develop their own literate voices. It considers the integrated nature of the primary language arts--reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visually representing. The authors encourage preservice and…

English for Academic Purposes literature is often criticized for its very functional interpretation of language (e.g. Benesch, 2001) which ignores the intellectual, cultural, and social side of learning in an attempt to appear "neutral." Furthermore, writing is the EAP skill area which seems to provide students with the most difficulty.…

This document consists of the three issues of the serial "The Teacher Trainer" issued during 1992. Articles include: "Resistance to Change in Teacher Training Courses"; "Teacher Training Games Series: Game 6: Language Bridge"; "How Trainees Can Provide a Resource for Staff Development"; "Do Unto Them As…

A variety of assessment methods and instruments can and should be used to evaluate the performance of individuals and groups. Some possible assessments are described, including (1) adaptive testing; (2) anecdotal records; (3) assessment centers; (4) behavioral checklists; (5) behaviorally anchored rating scales; (6) checklists; (7) computerized…

This report summarizes a qualitative study that examined girls in six middle schools representing a range of geographic locations and settings as well as the racial and ethnic mix found in schools across the United States. The schools were all involved in educational reform efforts. The report examines how girls negotiate middle school and gauges…

A discussion of teacher evaluation offers a definition and rationale, and explains a few of its traditional forms. Common uses of teacher evaluation for personnel management, accountability, and improvement of teaching are described, and a distinction is made between formative and summative types of evaluation. Teacher evaluation, often based on…

Growing Up Strong (GUS) is a curriculum designed to develop strong mental health in preschool through sixth grade students. This document contains a GUS teacher's guide for preschool classrooms and masters of materials that can be sent home with preschool children to promote family involvement in GUS. Part I of the four-part teacher's guide…

Differences in actual classroom behaviors in teaching with technology between novice and expert teachers were studied for six middle-school mathematics teachers from a large urban/suburban school district in a major metropolitan area. Teachers received inservice training in the use of calculators, and their students were issued calculators for the…

The Mathematics Assessment Process (MAP) for the Middle Grades gives teachers and school reform leaders new tools to examine and systematically realign mathematics programs. MAP engages an interdisciplinary coalition within a school in an exploration of mathematics instructional excellence. Through an extensive self-study, a school answers the…

Instruction should emphasize generic skills as much as it does occupational or domain-specific skills. Generic skills enable people to: (1) cooperate and communicate for group problem solving; (2) identify and define problems in complex environments; (3) seek, acquire, and synthesize new information; and (4) adapt to changes in the problem-solving…

A study examined teacher-student interaction in Kentucky's secondary and postsecondary vocational education classrooms. It investigated whether sex bias or inequities were present and what might explain such differences. A literature review focused on studies conducted at different grade levels with relation to sex bias and classroom interactions.…

Students in two college freshman composition classes (one American and one English as a second language) at a southern university researched the theory of contrastive rhetoric by exchanging pen pal letters and by progressing through a sequence of five formal assignments with revisions. These assignments led the students to consider their own…

Two fifth grade classrooms representing the extremes of classrooms where students perceived high and low differential teacher treatment were studied to obtain a more in-depth picture of the nature of classrooms that are expected to have contrasting effects on students' expectations and self-evaluations, and to begin to explore a model of classroom…

Results are presented from the first two years of implementation of Detroit's Peer Teachers as Mirrors and Monitors Project. The data describe reading and mathematics achievement in grades 1-4 at two schools which participated in the project interventions, and one comparison school. Results indicate that: (1) teachers' appropriate use of time…

Modeled on a similar study conducted in Scotland, this study reports on preschool children in two cities of England's Midlands Region (Birmingham and Coventry). Subjects had special needs including physical, mental, behavioral, speech, and second language problems; in addition, some were gifted. A survey identified children with special needs in…