Suggests a model for assessing student teachers based on dimensions of military leadership. The article recommends modifying nine military competencies for assessing leadership behavior: communication, supervision, teaching and counseling, team teaching development, organization and management proficiency, decision making, planning, management…

Teachers need to be trained in skills for coping with increasing conflict and aggression in the classroom. Specifically, they need to be able to (1) teach social problem solving and conflict resolution skills; (2) implement verbal and nonverbal intervention techniques; and (3) physically intervene, when necessary, to protect all concerned.…

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…

Other organizations in the United States have successfully implemented new compensation structures. This publication argues that it is time for education to join these successful efforts and revise teacher-pay systems. The brief provides a short history of changes in teacher compensation over the last century and a discussion of key organizational…

The strategy of diagnostic supervision, and the diagnostic conference, are outlined in this paper. Diagnostic supervision involves the supervisor and teachers in a process of recognizing needs, stating problems, and agreeing on objectives for the teachers' instructional improvement. The diagnostic conference, one tool used within the process,…

This article provides a self-appraisal form which can be used to inspire and rejuvenate teaching performance. Its ultimate goal is to improve teaching skills, either in general or in a particular area. Appropriate references for further reading are given. A sidebar includes one teacher's evaluation of the form and its usefulness. (JL)

Topics urgently needed in the preservice teacher education curriculum are discussed: computer literacy, hardware, software, classroom management, and the changing teacher-pupil relationship in a computer usage setting. (MNS)

This book presents advice, in the form of 11 commandments, on how new and veteran teachers can achieve a classroom environment that promotes exemplary teaching and learning. The advice is designed to help teachers: focus on why they became teachers in the first place; see their students as unique individuals; ask for help from the principal or…

Being able to speak clearly and well is highly salient for classroom teachers. The preservice university curriculum needs to provide sequential activities and experiences for prospective teachers. This paper suggests the various situations in which this might be done. The paper first notes that the university instructor needs to model good…

A self-efficacy quiz for teachers is provided, and guidelines are offered for using the quiz to increase an individual teacher's sense of teaching efficacy. Suggestions are offered for positively altering current beliefs about teaching and students and for addressing a sense of low personal teaching efficacy. (DB)

Seven basic, generic teaching skills to help graduate assistants in physical education include providing realistic planning decisions, plenty of activity time, simple introduction, success-oriented activities, key performance cues, feedback related to performance cues, and simple disclosure. The article provides information about teaching activity…

Offers advice to Head Start teachers on making parents feel comfortable as observers or volunteers in the classroom. Suggests that home visits are a way to become better acquainted with families and offers several ideas for keeping in touch with parents. Provides suggestions on encouraging parent participation and making parents feel welcome in…

Discusses questions that must be explored and answered if content standards are to improve teaching and learning, examining the need for standards, four types of standards, levels of standards, a framework for reform, and the creation of standards. Concludes with recommendations about how educators can use standards to improve teaching and…

It is abundantly clear that increasingly complex, diverse, technological middle level schools require educators to take on new roles. Change is the only constant, and as a result there is a huge chasm between what middle level teachers experienced as students themselves and as preservice teachers and the exigencies and realities of middle level…

Intended to help individuals become better educators, this book can serve as a reference for teaching fundamentals and challenge experienced teachers to expand their repertoire of skills in working with their various audiences. The presentation techniques delineated in the book have proved successful in the classroom, at conferences, and in…