The importance of students' nonverbal communication in classroom interaction is pointed out in this short essay. Several examples of nonverbal communication are provided in order to illustrate the confusion in classrooms which can result from teachers' lack of understanding of pupils' conscious and unconscious attempts to communicate nonverbally.…

A study investigated the relationship between teacher writing apprehension and the uses of writing in various classrooms. Subjects were 192 secondary school teachers who completed a writing apprehension measure and a questionnaire that elicited information about their teaching experience, subject and grade level taught, and the number, length,…

Trained and untrained teachers (N=37) of gifted students (grades 2 through 6) were observed and compared in the areas of individualization, cognitive quality of interaction, response patterns, and overall differentiation. Teachers were trained in applying B. Bloom's taxonomy to questioning techniques and in using management strategies for…

The Vance Richards Verbal Fluency Test was utilized to study the sex role attitudes of 33 female students enrolled in either undergraduate or graduate teacher education programs. A specially developed classroom simulation instrument and direct classroom observations were also used in an attempt to determine the degree to which teachers' attitudes…

A study was conducted to determine whether the Stallings Effective Teaching Practices inservice training program contributed to improved teacher performance in the Cincinnati, Ohio, Public Schools. The study had two major objectives: (1) to assess the degree of improvement in selected teacher practices after training; and (2) to investigate the…

The purpose of this 2-year study was to examine the relationship of choice of play-style and sex of child to the type of feedback (positive or negative) children receive from teachers and peer groups for their behavior. A list of 33 child behaviors and 15 teacher and peer reactions was used to observe the behavior of 67 children (32 boys and 35…

The diagnostic approach is probably the most comprehensive approach to classroom discipline because it is designed to prevent the recurrence of symptoms by discovering and treating the causes of behavior problems. The diagnostic model of discipline presented here interrelates the mental and behavioral processes the teacher undergoes when dealing…

This research was undertaken with the idea that it may be possible to learn about teachers' work lives through the investigation of teacher behavior and attitudes in an out-of-work setting. Group and individual behavior of teachers who habitually gathered at the same bar on Friday afternoons was observed in order to examine patterns of interaction…

This paper describes generalizability theory as an extension to the analysis of variance approach to reliability which allows the researcher to attribute variation to multiple sources, and a number of reliability coefficients to be calculated for most observational contexts. The applications of generalizability coefficients to characterize the…

The relationship between the student teaching experience and attitude changes was investigated. Twenty-six student teachers and 41 control-group students responded to a Teaching Attitude Questionnaire both before and after field experience. This questionnaire assessed attitudes toward teaching, levels of anxiety, and imagined feelings as a…

Observational data on six first and second grade teachers were analyzed qualitatively to determine whether any of these teachers provided "assisted learning" during reading instruction. Assisted learning was defined as the teacher's intentional efforts to structure the students' learning experiences so that they could learn more easily.…

Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS), a new quantitative method of employee performance evaluation, is advocated for teacher evaluation. Development of a BARS consists generally of five steps: a representative sample of potential raters generates the scales; the group identifies the broad qualities to be evaluated; the group formulates…

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable instrument for observing the behaviors of caregivers in infant day care centers. Identification of custodial and developmental tasks of infant caregivers was accomplished by a review of the relevant literature, narrative recordings of infant caregivers, and verification of the tasks by a panel of…

This study investigates the relationship between teachers' beliefs and practices in three kindergarten classrooms and identifies four factors which seem to influence that relationship. Information about the classrooms was collected using the classroom disclosure approach, a form of educational criticism which combines and adapts methods from…

College students in nine intact beginning speech classes served as subjects for a study testing the effects of humor on student recall of lecture information. The 156 subjects were exposed to one of three versions of an audiotaped lecture. One version amplified eight points in the subject matter with humorous material; and a third version (the…