This monograph describes the Curriculum Inquiry Cycle (CIC), a professional development process that supports educators in making curriculum and instruction decisions responsive to state standards, local needs, and student characteristics. It is designed to improve learning and teaching, with the classroom as the central focus. The CIC has four…

This book discusses how to make teaching more active, vibrant, imaginative, and innovative. It includes case studies where readers design lessons to follow proposed methods. It also includes a professional development plan for use by administrators with a group of teachers or for self-teaching. Chapter 1, "The Continuing Debate and Some Unexpected…

Research on increasing teacher effectiveness is presented in this book. Chapter 1 outlines a framework for investigating and understanding teacher effectiveness, with attention to the following components: teacher and student characteristics; curriculum; classroom environment and management; teaching; and learning. Chapter 2 describes the two…

This volume describes Total Quality Management (TQM) in the higher education classroom and guides college faculty in implementing TQM to improve their teaching. Chapter 1 introduces TQM and gives pointers on how to begin implementing it. Chapter 2 describes TQM approaches and principles including the Deming and Crosby approaches, describes the TQM…

This document presents a collection of specific ideas addressing 24 teaching practices appropriate for developing Personal Teaching Improvement Guides, an individualized approach to improving teaching in colleges and universities. The ideas came from teachers at the University of California (Berkeley) whose teaching was highly rated by students.…

These two documents present (1) a user's guide to the Personal Teaching Improvement Guides Program developed at the University of California, Berkeley and (2) a sample guide. The program uses results of student evaluations (keyed to 24 teaching practices) and descriptions of successful teaching practices to individualize instructional improvement…

A study outlined the processes through which two beginning elementary teachers in the San Francisco Bay area learned to overcome institutional constraints which tended to standardize ethnically diverse students' responses to literature. The study focused specifically on the changes in one teacher's instruction which freed her third/fourth grade…

Teachers who want to act professionally need to participate in the decision making process. Sound knowledge of current theories is essential as is sound knowledge of students' needs as related to the goals of education. Of particular importance is the willingness to try out alternative approaches and to evaluate the effects of different strategies…

An effective staff development program for rural teachers will have identified the needs to be met, will incorporate good management principles, and will make use of a variety of resources--the community itself, nonprofessional staff, business and industry, and shared teaching efforts. Distinctive staff development needs of rural teachers may…

The purpose of this manual is to identify teaching skills and their justification and objectives in a learning situation and to suggest a few of a wide selection of professional activities and services which meet these objectives and satisfy learner needs. The manual is designed for inservice teacher education activities or supervisory programs.…

This article presents a methodological model that can be employed to conduct follow-up studies of preservice and inservice teacher training programs. The model first defines a training need by identifying "what should be" and "what is" in the knowledge, performance, and consequence (reaction to behavior) competencies of…

This ethnic attitude test is designed to be a learning experience in which Colorado elementary and secondary teachers can share ideas, change attitudes if need be, clarify information, and/or reinforce what they knew to be true all along about the multicultural heritage of the state. Participants are asked to indicate the extent of their agreement…

The program of faculty development by growth contracting at Gordon College, Massachusetts, is described and evaluated, and a faculty development manual is presented. Under the growth contracting program, each participating faculty member writes a faculty profile that contains an assessment of strengths and weaknesses, a statement of current…

This workbook, which accompanies eight audio cassettes, offers strategic advice and inspiration to support beginning elementary teachers. Information comes from roundtable discussions with four experienced teachers. Chapter 1 "Teacher as Decision Maker" discusses the decision making process, how to correct decisions, and when to seek wise counsel.…

This guidebook provides information on necessary elements for quality service learning and teacher education (SLATE), emphasizing the nurturing of leadership skills in preservice and inservice teachers. Chapter 1, "Leadership and Service Learning: Interactive Processes that Enhance Teacher Development," describes shared leadership,…