The issue of class size is a complex and contested topic that has divided opinion for many years. Whilst many teachers believe that smaller class sizes assist in enhancing outcomes, a number of policy influencers, policy makers and researchers argue that it has little influence on success in learning and that decreasing class sizes is not…

Purpose: Even as sites for higher education work to transform curricula and strive for greater diversity among students and faculties, little is done to create safe, inviting environments for people to openly discuss the contradictions and challenges in teaching about differences. The authors' purpose is to examine multiple and intersecting…

This personal reflection looks at the benefits of using performance pedagogy in the Shakespeare classroom, both in terms of a general understanding of the period and a student's personal connection to the text. Though the essay acknowledges our profession's ongoing dialogue in this area, it mostly seeks to look at how a student may change once she…

The author, a 5th-grade teacher at an independent boys' school, gives a first-person account of how her constant assessments and requirement that her students be active participants in their own learning gainsays the need for high-stakes, standardized testing. She posits a "living assessment" that is intertwined, interactive and…

This article addresses the topic of teaching and how graduate students in higher education, as future faculty members and other types of educators, learn to support the faith identities of their future students. Through a series of guest teaching opportunities at different institutional types, the author shared her understandings of the spiritual…

The win-win approach to solving conflicts, which has become popular in the business world, should be a natural for the school environment. Win-win thinking can foster a cooperative school climate by meeting educators' and students' needs for dignity, belonging, and respect. Yet win-win thinking faces a number of obstacles in schools, writes…

When Alexis Wiggins returned to full-time teaching after having a baby, she took with her an idea from the book "A Path With Heart" by Buddhist Jack Kornfield. The idea was that each day might go better if she viewed everyone she encountered during that day, including any student or parent who seemed to make her teaching life harder, as…

This article explores, from a teacher's perspective, how David Levin's course, "Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms," and the entire field, could benefit from recognizing where and when teachers could adapt such strategies to even better address the needs of their students. Such a change could have tremendous benefits for…

Herein, Leland Spencer provides a review of four book selections while reflecting on paradoxes regularly faced by feminist teachers (and scholars, activists, and thinkers). The books include: (1) Bradley, Harriet. "Gender." Cambridge: Polity, 2012. Print; (2) Murphy, Michael J., and Elizabeth N. Ribarsky, eds. "Activities for…

Dr. James Lytle's discussion of the "destruction" of the School District of Philadelphia was indeed a bitter pill for Indi Ekanayake to swallow. As an educator who is both an alumnus of Teach For America and a charter school employee, Ekanayake feels as if he might be a representative of the types of people whom Dr. Lytle is…

Bullying has been an ongoing problem for students, but the issue is becoming more critical with changes in the society and the school systems. A bully is no longer "a person who hurts, frightens, threatens, or tyrannizes over those who are smaller or weaker". According to Tracy Cross, the definition of a bully now is evolving to include any person…

Lori Horvitz's book contains 26 essays from queer students and educators exploring how sexuality can affect classroom dynamics. Although the book's title references lesbians, it also encompasses bisexuals and highlights friendships between gays and lesbians. In addition, many of the essays discuss social justice initiatives as well as illustrate…

This article provides a commentary on the Reggio Emilia approach from a Vygotskian perspective. In particular, the article considers how Vygotskian rationalism and Vygotsky's theory of concept development cohere with the Reggio Emilia approach. The article argues that these aspects of Vygotskian theory are applicable to, and can strengthen the…

Inspired by a variety of early childhood educators' observations and writings, the authors reflected on what a joyful classroom looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Although "joy is a developmental need and a vital necessity", the current emphasis in early childhood and elementary programs on assessment, accountability, and increased academic…

It is self-evident that, given a group of very active young children and four walls within which to contain them, certain decisions have to be made fairly rapidly: what happens, where it happens, and when seem to be the most obviously pressing. When and how does differentiation come into play? Is it only when making decisions about grouping the…