To explore how media analysis and production can be integrated into existing curricula, Clark University developed the Re-Visioning Project for secondary teachers. A humanities-centered institute was based on rich professional-development experiences, stressing learning and teaching activities, analysis of practice, and development of shared…

Details the University of Colorado (CU) Assessment Project, designed to help teachers create and implement classroom-based performance assessments to complement mathematics and literacy instructional goals. Notes patterns of change, including: instructional and assessment practices with greater emphasis on conceptual understanding; higher…

A college English teacher describes the anxiety and resentment of students during in-class writing assignments and the successful classroom use of meditation and body movement. Movement seemed to relax the students, change their attitudes, and release their creative impulses to write. Implications related to the body-mind connection are pondered.…

Used data from class observations, interviews, and stimulus recall reports to examine how two inservice English-as-a-Second-Language teachers' personal practical knowledge informed their practice. Descriptions of tensions they faced in the classroom showed that their personal practical knowledge was embodied in people, fluid in response to…

A study used the "met-expectations" framework to examine effects of postgraduate work experience on tenure acquisition. Pretenure faculty with academic postdoctoral experience had better time management skills, were clearer about work priorities, experienced less work stress than inexperienced faculty. Early work stress was associated with lower…

Discusses a University of Arizona History and Philosophy in Art Education course and its use of distance education. Focuses on conversational learning, describing the two forms of student interaction and the use of reflection on the distance education experience. Provides some topics to consider when using distance learning. (CMK)

Reports on a study that aimed to develop teaching cases for instrumental music education methods courses through analysis of current teaching practice. Using a case study design based on four experienced instrumental music teachers, the study documented daily interactions, decision-making skills, and use of pedagogical knowledge. Offers research…

Reflects on the author's long, demanding, and rewarding career as a teacher and administrator in community colleges. Describes how she found herself an advocate of change in the profession in the 1970s, the differences she sensed and thrived upon in the community college experience, and how flexibility was the key to successfully teaching the wide…

Explores whether Postgraduate Certification in Education student teachers felt that the Individual Action Planning (IAP) process either gave them personal control or controlled them. Concludes that neither elements of empowerment nor discipline are an adequate conceptualization of IAP, although from the student perspective feelings of 'control'…

Fifth-grade teacher describes her experience teaching Chippewa-Cree children at Rocky Boy Elementary School on the Rocky Boy reservation in Montana. (PKP)

Discusses two student teachers' contrasting stories about their attempts to access experienced teachers' wisdom (via interviews), highlighting the shifting power relations between students and their cooperating teachers. Their stories illustrate how student teachers can be powerful yet powerless and suggest that student teachers can develop a…

Offers brief excerpts from oral history interviews with eight National Council of Teachers of English leaders on a variety of topics, including: formative years; becoming interested in teaching; experiences as a beginning teacher; teaching writing; being an African American teacher; literature and humanness. (SR)

Examines methods for recording personal accounts, personal narratives, teachers' stories, and narrative interviews for the purpose of understanding how teachers make sense of problems in their lives and work. Reflects on how the ethics of caring helps resolve concerns for the presence of teacher's voices in the interpreting and writing of…

Suggests that an inclusive definition of art can lead to more meaningful forms of elementary art education. Discusses who does and should teach art while addressing the reasons why elementary teachers are hindered when it comes to teaching the arts. Discusses different approaches and recommendations for improving U.S. art education. (CMK)

A teacher of a special education class of 7- to 10-year-olds took her students outdoors to stimulate their interest in learning. Schoolyard nature study and environmental field trips led to schoolwide presentations and television performances about recycling and conservation. Peer teaching was an important learning strategy. These students…