This book reports on conversations in which elementary schoolteachers--who have taught in urban settings for an average of 20 years each--reflect on their professional work. The conversations in the book testify to the teachers' ability to engage young people in active learning--and their stories of teaching and learning verify that difference…

The monograph contains followup data on the classroom and personal - professional attitude development of 112 graduates of North Texas State University in their first year of elementary school teaching. Evaluation was accomplished through principals' reports, classroom observation, and projective and self-assessment tests that measured general…

Based on an ethnographic study in an urban classroom of 7- to 9-year olds, this book examines how young school children use popular culture, especially superhero stories, in the unofficial peer social world and in the official school literary curriculum. In one sense, the book is about children "writing superheroes"--about children…

This publication investigates what happened when a Chicago public school first-grade teacher radically changed her teaching practice and embraced a holistic literary approach. The practice of shifting patterns of control in the classroom and the construction of knowledge in a setting where most children are bilingual is explored. The nine chapters…

This book discusses primary education of the poor in the city of Mumbai, India. It focuses on the city of Mumbai itself and the poor who live in it, answering questions such as What makes the city the way it is? What does it mean to be poor in Mumbai? and How does the poverty of the poor in Mumbai affect their chances of receiving a basic…