There are many challenges that lie ahead for families of children with special needs. It is indeed a time for conquering the unknown and diligently exploring the options in an effort to locate, understand, and ultimately embrace the as yet undiscovered beauties of the new setting. This paper will consider some of the issues relevant for parents,…

This article presents a review of three chapters in "Part II, Section D: Teaching Curriculum" of "The SAGE Handbook of Curriculum and Instruction" (F. M. Connelly, M. F. He, J. I. Phillion, Eds.; Sage Publications, 2008). These chapters ["Teacher Education as a Bridge? Unpacking Curriculum Controversies" (Marilyn…

Notes that Prawat claimed that Dewey was indebted to Peirce, that Dewey never gave Peirce the credit he deserved, and that Dewey's acceptance of Peirce's ideas in 1915 represented a discontinuity in Dewey's thinking. This paper concludes that a comparison of two versions of Dewey's "How We Think" (1910 and 1933) does not provide the…

Discusses and reviews the book "Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students and Their High School" by Samuel G. Freedman which prods the reader to examine the educator's role in society. Reflects on the book from a teacher's perspective. (MG)

Reviews Patrick Shannon's "Broken Promises: Reading Instruction in Twentieth Century America," which presents arguments to demonstrate that basal readers have led to a reversal of the roles of teacher and textbook in reading instruction. Relates the author's experiences in trying to help teachers turn away from basal readers. (RS)

Reviews six professional books through the authors discussions of their roles as classroom teacher, reading resource teacher, curriculum developer, and change agents. (MG)

Written by leading special education researchers with the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities and the University of Kansas, this comprehensive yet accessible reference provides administrators with practical guidelines for launching RTI in their schools. Highlighting the powerful role that RTI can play in prevention, early…

Reviews three books that argue that the teaching profession is being deprofessionalized by the demands and policies of "neoliberal globalizers." Discusses the nature of hope in these global times and its role in developing alternative proposals to the current process of intensification of teachers' work. (SV)

Reviews and critiques two current books on the function and role of teachers as researchers: Marilyn Cochran-Smith's and Susan L. Lytle's "Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge" and Ruth Shagoury Hubbard's and Brenda Miller Power's "The Art of Classroom Inquiry: A Handbook for Teacher-Researchers. (HB)

The overriding assumption of Lillian Weber's work as revealed in this collection of her speeches and writings is that the interface between teacher and child is the center of educational effectiveness, and that the success of education depends on the teacher's ability to draw the child's own meaning-making into classroom life. (SLD)

This review of "Linguistic Genocide in Education or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights?" by Tove Skutrabb-Kangas (Erlbaum 2002) finds the book a useful guide for examining language policies in education but suggests its argument is weakened by the invisibility of teachers in the analysis and the loaded and inflammatory language used.…

In a recent article, D. Stewart has misrepresented the positions of some of those who view teachers as facilitators of learning. The author defines four principles that represent a sensible interpretation of facilitating learning. The idea of the teacher as facilitator actually holds great promise for improved teaching. (SLD)

Reviews three books in the professional literature that discuss ways early childhood teachers can support science learning in young children. (BB)

This book offers ways to answer questions about public trust in teachers. Discourses on teachers as transmitters of moral and cognitive virtues and on the unsatisfactory nature of competing models of theory-practice relationships are grounded in an interpretation of Aristotle's Phronesis as moral wisdom. Education is only one of the purposes of…

Maintains that "Fostering Children's Social Competence: The Teacher's Role" masterfully distills multiple research findings into relevant trends and guidelines for early childhood educators and provides specific observations connecting abstract concepts to classroom reality. Notes limitations, including the omission of important issues such as the…