Discusses a strategy for maintaining middle level classroom discipline by opening class discussions about the three values underlying any discipline program: respect, responsibility, and empathy. Considers class discussion of the value and flexibility of rules. (JPB)

Discusses the use of collaborative learning techniques in academic bibliographic instruction. Highlights include writing composition process and theory; enhancing communication between librarians, faculty, and students; encouraging collaboration between librarians and faculty; and enabling students by sharing responsibility for the educational…

Advocates the promotion of certain values in the middle school curriculum, including the promotion of students' personal efficacy, competence, responsibility, affiliation with learning events, awareness, and an ethical perception of self. (JPB)

Discusses ways a commercial art class at the middle school level helped students connect ideas and feelings and modes of expression within themselves, connect skills they were learning in school with what they perceived in life, and extend their ideas and expression to connect with the community. Notes how these connections motivate students to…

Discusses how to keep students from dropping out of distance education courses, based on experiences at the British Open University. Highlights include students taking responsibility for their learning; time management skills; managing study space; maintaining good communication; establishing learning communities; and responses to student email.…

Constructivist theory recognizes the student's value as thinker. Thinking ability hinges on the capacity to ask and consider important questions. Teachers need question-driven problem-solving strategies that are comprehensive, adaptable, discriminating, productive, and transferable. This article explains four types of situations and accompanying…

One first-grade teacher integrated character education into the existing curriculum. She used a job chart to teach responsibility and teamwork, and helped the class develop a constitution. Her framework was based on the Character Counts! Coalition's crucial character traits: respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and…

Each fall, thousands of high school graduates launch into the next phase of their academic careers: college. They arrive on campuses across the United States full of hope and optimism, trepidation and anxiety. All intensely feel both the eagerness to excel and the fear of failure. The author shares his experience of dealing with college first-year…

School-based health centers are an integral part of the health care delivery system for low-income children. Medication adherence for these patients may be challenging because the student is often responsible for bringing home the prescription and receiving the instructions. This study assesses medication fill, initiation, and adherence rates…

This paper steps outside of conventional frameworks of schooling and examines inclusion from the perspective of eight young people and adults who play Scottish fiddle music in a group. The participants were asked to talk about their experiences of playing and their involvement with the group in practice and performance sessions. The group had been…

Presented at the National Conference on Student Assessment in Orlando, hosted by the CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers), June 2008. This presentation explores use of the assessments within the classroom and how those choices can affect performance and learning.

For students with disabilities, a big factor in their successful transition from high school to postsecondary education is accurate knowledge about their civil rights. The purpose of this guide is to provide high school educators with answers to questions students with disabilities may have as they get ready to move to the postsecondary education…

Developing more effective conceptions of the high school may require radically reducing its size. In today's big high schools, size ensures that control of students is a primary concern and prevents the development of a collegial atmosphere among teachers. Although research provides ample evidence of the superior social climates of small informal…

In a previous book entitled "Zapp! The Lightening of Empowerment", a new system for motivating employees and improving productivity in a corporate setting was presented. This book adapts that empowerment guide to the classroom with workable, hands-on suggestions to help educators motivate their students and themselves. Empowerment in…

This guide for student first-time borrowers presents the basic facts about subsidized Federal Direct Stafford/Ford Loans and Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford/Ford Loans. Components of the guide include: (1) a section providing such information as amounts that can be borrowed, interest rates, loan fees, the various repayment plans, and loan…