Focuses on the author's desire to create student-led discussion groups, instead of teacher-led groups. Considers specific research questions for student-led groups. Inquires what kinds of writing and discussion students would engage in if given the opportunity to make their own writing/discussion choices. Indicates that students do engage in…

Describes the use of journal writing in science classes. Uses excerpts from student journals to highlight the role of journal writing in allowing students to discover ideas for themselves and use language to piece them together, determining the level of understanding of concepts taught, and identifying exactly what areas need more clarification.…

Discusses the four assessment strategies used in the high school course "Social Advocacy: History, Theory, and Practice." The assessment measures class participation, journal writing, volunteer experience, and written assignments. Explains that the course focuses on social problems and self-discovery. Provides a course description. (CMK)

Describes an integrated curriculum project, Fit Newton's Great Adventure, that combined science, reading, writing, and physical education in cooperative problem-solving tasks. This hands-on learning experience was successfully implemented with at-risk fifth graders at a rural elementary school. Five tables provide illustrations of project…

Lists and describes 10 tips for successfully implementing writing tutorials as generated by English as a Second or Other Language teachers and based on the points they commented on in their journals and class discussions. (Author/VWL)

Describes a course on social inequality that utilizes service learning. Expounds that the writing intensive focus enables students to reflect on their service learning experience, integrate the experience with course work, and relate the experience to their lives. Finds that service learning fosters the students' sense of empathy and…

Most teachers and administrators have witnessed children using a derogatory reference to a group of people as a put down. Put downs usually reference non-mainstream groups who are different in ethnicity, gender, religion, ability, sexual orientation, class, or appearance. Hurtful name calling is but one example of how children express prejudiced…

Long an advocate of literature circles, Daniels recaps the history of literature circles and cautions against the "terminology drift" that labels practices as literature circles when, in fact, they are not. He offers resources that anchor best practice in this area, and discusses how the concept is evolving and expanding. He also introduces us to…

Two major issues are addressed in this teacher research paper: A description of strategies used by students in their dialogue journal writing and a description of strategies used by the teacher?researcher in responses to students' dialogue journal entries. The major findings are that students used L1 as a resource in their L2 for the following…

There is a strong relationship between orthographic-motor integration related to handwriting and students' ability to produce creative and well-structured written text. This relationship is thought to be due to the cognitive load which results when attention is required by writers to write letters and words on the page. Lack of automaticity in…

This collaborative paper explores the process of creating a learning community as a complex learning system in an early childhood graduate course. Reflected here are the course instructor's experiences and those of various students who took the course at different times. This exploration was inspired by the students' (re)created and repeated…

The study inquired into the effect of research-based video-cases on pre-service teachers conceptualizing their understanding of contemporary mathematics teaching. The 43 participants enrolled in a Mathematics Method Course viewed and discussed 5 video-cases of primary teachers teaching. Journal entries, lesson plans, and microteaching observations…

Conducting qualitative research on topics that are emotionally laden can have a powerful impact on the researcher. Recent literature addresses the essential nature of the emotional connection that must be part of the qualitative research process. However, for the most part, it neglects the issue of self-care strategies for the researcher that are…

A landscape painting metaphor was used to report the implications of this study of 33 graduate students preparing to become elementary and secondary school administrators who kept personal journals during their enrollment in an Issues of Diversity class at a private Midwestern university. The journals forced their cultural lens to be transparent,…

The authors describe a social approach to learning in community service learning that extends the contributions of three theoretical bodies of scholarship on learning: social constructionism, critical pedagogy, and community service learning. Building on the assumptions about learning described in each of these areas, engagement, identity, and…