This exploration of an analogic conception of classrooms as workplaces and teachers as executives is divided into five parts. The origin of the author's interest in executive and management skills in teaching is described first. This is followed by analysis of the unfortunate history of the relationship between business management and education.…

Based on the realization that professors' cultural and personal backgrounds affect the way they transmit information and the way they interact with men and women students in their classes, this booklet is designed to help faculty members assess how they are presenting subject matter to their students. The first section of the booklet,…

Student teachers were observed at their practicum sites and in their university courses to determine the relationship of education courses to field experiences in an elementary education program designed to integrate these two components. The curriculum and nature of instruction found at the practicum sites were highly structured, predetermined,…

A review of several classroom observation and survey studies of comprehension instruction, content area reading for homework, and aspects of reading assignments raises the question of whether enough is being done in Irish schools to develop critical reading competency. It appears from these studies that many students are being left to their own…

This study investigated the seating patterns of target students in science classrooms to see if there was an action zone or t-zone present. Fifty-six physical science and chemistry classes were observed using the Brophy-Good Teacher-Child Dyadic Observation System. Target students were identified and their interactions were compared to non-target…

A report is given of the development and implementation of a training manual for eighth-grade mathematics teachers in the Netherlands. The manual is research-based on process-product correlations of effective classroom practices. To test the effectiveness of a 6-hour training period using the manual, nine experienced mathematics teachers were…

A study analyzed and compared the classroom interactional strategies of two teachers of Catalan immersion classes and one teacher of Spanish as a native language in Spain at the kindergarten level. The theoretical framework guiding the study is based on analysis of the native-speaker/non-native-speaker distinction. Two comparisons were made: (1)…

This paper records the experiences of two teacher educators at a small liberal arts college who attempted to deliver instruction in ways that were designed to meet the needs of individual preservice students. The program was individualized for the students in three ways: (1) the pace of instruction was matched with the abilities of individual…

The purpose of this paper is to review the research literature on effects produced by elementary school teachers and to identify implications of the findings for the early education of children prior to the first grade. Current issues in the research on teacher effects are discussed under the following headings: (1) teachers do make a difference;…

Noting that many of the functions undertaken by classroom teachers involve communication skills or skills dependent on an ability to communicate effectively, this paper outlines a course in speech communication specifically for teachers. The paper first lists the teaching, managing, and decision making activities teachers undertake that involve…

The effectiveness of horizontal evaluation for student teachers and their supervisors was explored through a qualitative analysis of three case studies. For the case studies, two of the supervising teachers were university-based, while the third was a secondary school teacher with no prior experience in supervising student teachers. The aim of the…

An understanding of classroom learning requires careful analyses of variables constituting the learning environment. Among those most likely influencing learning are verbal behaviors, since verbal interaction is the principal mode of communication in most classrooms. Thus, the quality of verbal interaction may directly affect the amount of…

This paper briefly characterizes schooling in America in broad terms, describes what is known about the relationship between teacher behavior and student behavior, and explains why certain classroom characteristics are related to student achievement. The paper begins with a description, of classroom practices in American schools, based in part…

The focus of this paper is the preparation for and the improvement of teaching as a craft. The author hypothesizes that, in order to improve the art of teaching, the notion of problem solving as a daily routine, access to resource allocation, and a change in the ethos of teaching to include a mastery of the craft and cooperative efforts among the…

This study was conducted to explore three questions: (1) Do students of different cultures react differently to actions teachers use in their efforts to maintain classroom control? (2) To what extent do these students' behaviors fit the general patterns identified for their cultural groups? and (3) Do students who do not share the dominant school…