For students to become proficient critical thinkers and decision makers, they must be involved in a continuous process of skills acquisition and application. This article presents and illustrates an action model (comprising perceptions, thought processes, actions, and closure) allowing middle school students the opportunity to design their daily…

Discusses the importance of students learning to make a difference in the community. Until recently, young people had many real responsibilities, but now, such opportunities do not occur naturally. The article examines what parents and schools can do to encourage youth service in the home, school, and community. (SM)

The Toughlove network, which currently includes over 500 parent support groups, is comprised of parents and teen offspring on the verge of suspension. Parents and children attend separate meetings; parents learn limit-setting and supportive behavior; and troubled teens learn to make some difficult changes and accept responsibility for their…

In addition to encouraging teachers and the schools to recognize and utilize cultural diversity, it will be necessary to persuade minority students to cross-cultural boundaries and make the effort to learn the language and culture of the school so that they can achieve success. (EVL)

Discusses essential learning techniques (homework, studying, and notetaking) that students need to facilitate their own learning and improve their academic performance. Teachers can help students develop these skills by defining specific skills, selecting a few examples to illustrate them, critiquing or correcting imperfect examples, providing…

Empowering children to use the Internet safely and responsibly is essential. Students can also be taught to communicate positively with others. The CyberSmart! School Program offers a framework that teachers can use to discuss the Internet with students and raise awareness. Tips regarding etiquette, advertising, and privacy protection are also…

Profiles two San Antonio high schools' creative discipline approaches to supplement their official policies. At one high school, staff find out what "carrot" will work for grounding their "frequent-flier" kids. This usually involves devising attendance/behavior contracts for earning driving or other privileges. The other school has an…

Advocates abolishing school custodians and training school students to clean up their own messes. Personal responsibility has two philosophical bases: pragmatism and "educational reconstructionism," holding that schools must not only transmit the culture, but transform it. Other countries, such as Japan, stress student maintenance of a…

Key ingredients for achieving academic success include being prepared, taking responsibility for one's learning, making an effort, and completing homework every day. At Shaker Heights (Ohio) Middle School, after-school programs (academic sessions, a homework center, a homework hotline, and a university tutorial program) help students complete…

Presents four mistakes made with students and four criteria for developing student independence and responsibility, namely student ownership, student-active learning, student accountability, and student control. Discusses the method of student-directed learning (SDL), the role of emotions in learning, course modification for SDL, and results of…

The subject of discipline is often confused with classroom management. Although related, classroom management and discipline are distinctly different topics. Classroom management deals with how things are done. It entails structure, procedures, and routines, to the point of becoming rituals. When procedures are explained to and practiced by…

Students must learn to balance what they can expect from faculty with what they need to do themselves to make the classroom a safe and welcoming climate for everyone. (Contains 1 figure.)

Grading policies such as refusing to accept late work, giving grades of zero, and refusing to allow students to redo their work may be intended as punishment for poor performance, but such policies will not really teach students to be accountable, and they provide very little useful information about students' mastery of the material. This article…

Higher education is--or should be--a caring, helping profession but education practitioners and decision makers sometimes confuse caring "about" students with caring "for" students. Colleges and universities often take good care of students but consequently do not require or allow students to become competent, productive contributors to their…

The Activity Based Learning (ABL) is unique and effective to attract out-of -school children to schools. It facilitates readiness for learning, instruction, reinforcement and evaluation. ABL has transformed the classrooms into hubs of activities and meaningful learning. Activity-based learning, naturally leads to cooperative learning. Since group…