Argues that the continuation of teacher education through additional college work will make teachers aware of a greater number of options to help solve the increasingly complex problems associated with literacy learning. Describes the author's experiences upon going back to school for an advanced degree. (RS)

Describes a teacher's experiences during a sabbatical year in Germany. Reports that, after being a student for a year, the teacher felt a new bond with her students. Notes that learning a new language gave the teacher a new understanding of what learning involves. (RS)

Principals must create conditions that ensure that professional growth is part of school culture, remembering to create consensus, promote shared values, monitor the effort, ensure systematic collaboration, encourage experimentation, model commitment, provide one-on-one staff development, offer purposeful staff development programs, promote…

Clarion University of Pennsylvania has developed and implemented a model health-education emphasis for preservice teachers. The program addresses key issues in health education and offers professional preparation for providing health education as part of an overall comprehensive health program for schools. (SM)

Presents the perspectives of six advocates for quality staff development, including a principal who emphasizes questioning; a director of communications for parents who emphasizes reading clues; an educational consultant who recommends sharing information; a board of education member who recommends educating oneself; a school superintendent who…

Supplies instructional materials necessary to carry out a training session for educators and parents concerning the development of personal and interpersonal responsibilities for children with behavior difficulties. Participants learn to plan and implement strategies to help students with personal and interpersonal responsibilities and are given…

Discusses how the literature chosen for classroom instruction does not often address issues that confront students, and that teachers are faced with students who often do not want to read printed matter. Suggests winners of the Caldecott Award provide teachers with easy access to literature that will greatly enhance their knowledge of contemporary…

This article offers suggestions for videotaping classroom instruction in order to allow teachers to conduct self-evaluation through self-observation and to develop hypotheses regarding the functional relationship of their behavior to that of their students. Methods of defining, scoring, and graphically displaying behaviors are explained, and…

In successful schools, teams of teachers meet regularly to examine student work through assessment and change their instructional practice accordingly to get better results. Staff developers should advocate simple but effective improvement mechanisms. The paper discusses what many improvement plans do wrong and recommends systematically reviewing…

Discusses the introduction of technological innovations into schools, suggesting that rather than relying on authority-driven initiatives, leaders should initiate change by developing teachers' learning capacities, thus creating environments with widespread commitment. This ensures that the commitment to the initiative is sustained rather than…

Very few people would disagree that the work of the principal is multifaceted, hectic, and fraught with uncertainties, and given the ongoing press for accountability, the very work of the principal as instructional leader is shifting to ensure "results." There are myriad day-to-day activities that take principals away from the important work of…

This handbook presents findings of a 2-year study that examined the role of the substitute teacher. Findings showed that the problems with substitute-teacher programs were a result of nonmanagement rather than mismanagement. The book offers recommendations for designing, implementing, and maintaining quality substitute-teacher programs. The first…

This article examines some popular theories of classroom management in an effort to generate practical suggestions for teachers and administrators who deal with youngsters on a day-to-day basis. The suggestions are presented in an alphabetical arrangement and cover many areas of concern to educators. Some of the topics covered are: audience,…

With nationwide acceptance of writing across the curriculum, educators are now realizing the next wave in curriculum reform: speaking and listening across the curriculum. There is a movement to introduce speech across the curriculum of secondary schools and higher education. To learn any subject or interest area, students will utilize the skills…

Supporting efforts that promote the lifetime habit of reading professional literature should be a priority of administrators and teachers. Initiating teacher-led workshops, encouraging opportunities for collaboration, and providing time for working together are a few positive steps that complement conventional approaches to professional…