This publication presents reports on four small-scale research projects conducted by educators that helped them explore ways of "doing literacy" and "doing literacy research." Focus of the projects was to learn more about how to do research by completing a work-based project related to literacy. "Teaching and Researching…

This article describes action-oriented teacher research in which teachers use information students reveal about the competent aspects of their lives as learners to direct their teaching efforts. The article notes methodological considerations of this approach and applications to the study of special education. (Author/DB)

K-3 teachers participated in a project to align teaching, learning, and assessment with the NCTM Standards. Goals included developing assessment models and helping clarify the link between assessment and teaching. Assessment criteria were based on student performance rather than correct answers. Cooperative learning and support structures were…

From 1988 through 1995 a group of researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education collaborated with teachers from nearby schools on research to address questions about teaching for understanding and linking research with practice. They describe the theoretical foundations underlying the Teaching for Understanding framework, the process and…

Research on how students in a university composition class generate and use ideas not only yielded data on the process of invention, but also altered the structure of the course and the teacher-researcher's attitudes toward teaching writing. To facilitate the study of invention, researchers instituted several changes in the course format. They…

Surveying a project that was conducted through the Center for the Study of Writing at Carnegie Mellon University, this book details the classroom inquiries conducted during the 4-year project (1988-1992) by 33 teacher-researchers from secondary and postsecondary classrooms. The articles and their authors are: (1) "Teachers as Theory…

This booklet offers a brief history of teacher lore, examines its theoretical bases, and summarizes its professional value, discussing how preservice teachers, inservice teachers, and others can use teacher lore for professional development. Teacher lore, or teacher narrative, includes fiction and nonfiction, oral storytelling, print, film,…

This collection of papers focuses on what is known and practiced in professional development. Part 1, "The Purposes of Professional Development," includes (1) "Educational Purposes and Teacher Development" (Maxine Greene); (2) "Going Public: The Imperative of Public Education in the 21st Century" (Carl D. Glickman and…

This book presents the story of two teachers, one black and one white, who confronted the boundaries of race, describing their journey through distrust, anger, and fear as they grappled with race in classroom teaching. It explains how the white teacher, guided by her African American mentor, learned to effectively teach African American students.…

This booklet contains 10 papers addressed to teachers wishing to make the case for service learning through action research on their own service learning programs. "Introduction" (Jay Smink) examines the need for teacher-based action research and evaluation. "Connect Service with Evaluation for Good Learning" (Robert D. Shumer) explains the…

This guide is designed to assist professional development facilitators responsible for helping Virginia's adult literacy practitioners develop and implement the professional development plans that constitute a key component of the state's professional development system for paid and volunteer literacy training providers. The following are among…

Considerations unique to classroom research and problem-solving where the teacher is English-dominant and many students speak English as a Second Language are examined, and advice is offered to teachers. The discussion reflects the specific concerns of a group of graduate students in teacher education. An approach is outlined, in a conversational…

This book describes a new approach to teaching and learning cultural studies. Borrowing the idea of ethnography from anthropologists, it argues that language students can be taught methods for investigating the cultural and social patterns of interaction and the values and beliefs that account for them. Doing an ethnographic study while living…

This book extends ethnography beyond the work of university researchers to include classroom teachers, student teachers, and teacher educators. It provides ways for student teachers and others to develop lenses for seeing the patterns and practices of life within classrooms. The book describes how developing "ethnographic eyes" can help student…

This article discusses an action research project that investigated how a 10-year-old boy with learning disabilities, whose first language was Korean, was supported. His individualized instruction involved labeling items in the room, reading sentences that included priority sight words, practicing with consonant blends and vocabulary words, games,…