Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) is an effective and interactive approach to teaching mathematics and science. This approach involves the course instructor and peer leaders working with teams of students in weekly workshops. In this article, the authors state that peer leaders play a key role in the success of the peer learning teaching method. They…

The overall aim of the project was to engage early childhood teachers in investigating and improving their expertise in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The intention of the project was to develop a research environment through which researchers and kindergarten teachers worked collaboratively, using action research methodology, to…

This article explores the responsibility of teacher education programs for creating effective dialogue among the educators they train and certify in the profession of education. This article details: (1) the manners in which dialogue occurs across race and the significant need to open this dialogue; (2) the need to close the gap between the…

Students are rarely given the opportunity of being decisionmakers in class, and when they are, they may feel unsure of how to organize their own learning. However, over time they come to appreciate the benefits of a more active engagement in learning English. In this paper, I describe a procedure based on Exploratory Practice (EP) for guiding…

Using a writing journal with adult literacy students is an effective way to introduce them to writing while working with their reading, self-esteem, and confidence levels. One type of journal that combines the skills of reading and writing is the reader response journal. In these journal exercises, the students read a story or section of a story…

A study investigated the effectiveness of an intervention for improving adolescent writing and speaking using mathematical language. The targeted population consists of high school students in a growing, middle- and upper-middle-class, suburban community located west of Chicago, Illinois. The problems of writing and speaking using mathematical…

This paper examines the English listening journals of 23 Taiwanese university students learning English. The listening journal requires that students listen to one English language program a week, write a brief synopsis, and comment upon self-listening abilities and the program, including what s/he learned. Journals are graded according to effort…

This self-administered self-study examined a high school teacher's thought processes during the planning and teaching of lessons, and after the lessons had been completed--identifying levels of reflectivity, interactive thoughts, and decisions. Video tapes, teacher journal entries, and peer interviews were used to help stimulate recall and explore…

Students are advised to enroll in WAC 101--a writing across the curriculum "Stretch" course--based upon SAT scores. Two types of "at risk" English composition students usually comprise a WAC 101 Stretch class. The first type are the familiar students who are underprepared for college writing courses, while the second are…

Classroom language and literacy practices need to be reconceptualized to account for the valuable role talk and interaction play in the process of learning to write. Teachers should construct learning environments within which interaction between students and teachers is the primary focus. The participation framework of kindergarten journal…

This guidebook explores the role of journal writing in community-service leadership and learning. Specifically, it offers suggestions to community-service leaders to help engage their teams in reflective journal writing. The introduction provides an overview of the history of journal-keeping. Chapter 1 provides a rationale for the use of…

This action research study investigated a model of professional development designed to encourage elementary language arts teachers to adopt a more reflective approach to literacy instruction. The model consisted of monthly negotiated-topic study group sessions, theoretically-based reading, and dialogue journal writing. This paper focuses on the…

This paper describes one teacher's use of a videotaped mystery series to stimulate students' entries in dialogue journals. Students are shown an episode of the mystery in class and are then asked to write a personal response to it. The aim of the journals is to enhance student confidence and writing skills. Results of an analysis of the journal…

A study investigated the features of discourse in the written student-teacher interaction in dialogue journals. It was assumed that such an activity would encourage the negotiation of meaning and roles, and that the data would provide evidence of that negotiation. Data were drawn from 32 journals written by 16-to-18-year-old students in an Italian…

The purpose of this research with teacher education students was to explore the value of writing reflective journals. Data came from interviews, surveys, and informal conversations with students in an educational psychology course. The students were first asked if writing the journals helped them to reflect on their established beliefs, then…