Citizens participating in contemporary socio-scientific issues (SSI) need to draw on local knowledge and personal experience. If curricular developments in the teaching of controversial SSI are to reflect contemporary notions of citizenship then the personal narrative is an indispensable instrument in bridging the gap between the local/personal…

Narrative inquiry in language teacher education aims to understand the experiences of teachers in the particular contexts in which they teach. This article reports on the use of narrative frames as a means of investigating the teaching experiences of university English teachers in China. This study used four specifically designed narrative frames…

Young people have the potential to be creative and skilled storytellers, actors, and writers. They also can become profoundly insightful about the way diversity affects themselves and others, as well as actively challenge bias. "Act It Out" encourages these potentials in students. Augmenting the writing program that many teachers already use, it…

In this essay, the author laments the fact that middle schools are so often neglected both within and outside of the world of education. She issues a call to action for middle school teachers: in order to make communities aware of just how valuable middle schools are, educators should create opportunities to show off what their students are doing,…

TheatreWorks is the third largest theatre in the San Francisco bay area. Through the usual educational programs that $6 million companies tend to offer, it has reached over 100,000 students of all ages in the past 8 years. The TheatreWorks Bridges Projects, however, are special. They are intricate and expansive, work with multiple community…

This study examines 1) how Korean elementary teachers implement curriculum integration in their teaching practice and 2) what Korean elementary teachers experience in implementing curriculum integration. Several issues evolved from the analysis of three teachers' experiences: firstly, the teachers' lack of theoretical frameworks for curriculum…

In this article, the author discusses how narratives, which are part of the common currency of the day, have dramatically changed over the years. Grand narratives, which grew exponentially in the mid-nineteenth century, have now been replaced by two different narratives: life narratives and small-scale narratives. He also discusses how small…

No hovering administrators. No high-stakes tests. No pestering parents. Barb Hagen teaches murderers and sex offenders, and she loves her work. This article describes the experiences of Barb Hagen, a prison education teacher. Barb Hagen could not save the troubled middle-schoolers she taught for 20 years. Now she helps inmates get their lives back…

Early in her life, Nancy King discovered that stories are rich sources of wisdom, imagination, creativity, and comfort. In this essay, King describes her personal experiences developing and using the collaborative storymaking process with young people and adults in various school settings. The author states that collaborative storymaking…

Teaching students the intelligent behaviors they need to succeed in school and later in life is much easier when you have this collection of stories and observations from teachers who have used the principles of ASCD's book "Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind" in their classrooms. Through these first-hand accounts, learn how the habits of…

What turns a good school into a great school? With today's schools under enormous pressure to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), the answers are more important than ever--and this essential guidebook gives K-12 administrators and educators scores of proven, concrete strategies to help their school succeed. Authors Martin Ratcliffe and Melissa…

This article discusses the usefulness of anecdotes as a technique to stimulate learners' interest and thus create a meaningful learning context in the second language classroom. It describes the pattern of an anecdote and how it should be formed as well as the different types of anecdotes. The article offers tips to successfully implement this…

This article describes the independent reading and research project of an early childhood education graduate student who taught in a school district heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina. She surveyed a sample of kindergarten teachers in the district to determine how they were responding in the aftermath of Katrina. The voices of teachers reflect…

Reflecting on one's practice, whether it is a conversation with a single student, a lesson, or a unit plan, is the surest way for a teacher to improve. Going through the process of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) is a journey of reflective practice. The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is a nonprofit,…

This book documents the real-life story of Kendra Yoshinaga, a young speller who won her first qualifying bee at the young age of nine. Now eleven years old, she is preparing for future events after tying for 27th in the 2004 National Spelling Bee. Gail Small, author of Joyful Learning: No One Ever Wants To Go To Recess!, taught Kendra for first,…