Standards can aid educators as they work to produce strong student writers who can create meaningful and skillfully crafted authentic pieces of writing. This once-a-month, yearlong professional development program, conducted during the school day, shifted a district's kindergarten writing program to a writing workshop model that enabled the…

An examination of how the use of descriptive analysis of children's work such as the Modified Descriptive Review process supported professional inquiry and growth for educators and for children they serve, is presented. The Modified Descriptive Review process fed immediate actions as well as the posing and exploring of large questions about…

Follows a four-year journey of the Center for Inquiry as teachers, administrators, and university partners engage in professional inquiry. Describes evolution of processes that have challenged and validated professional development within the culture of inquiry. Notes the Richland School District Two/University of South Carolina partnership was…

Lesson study is a form of professional development favored by teachers in Japan that has gained attention in many parts of the United States. Teachers participating in lesson study immerse themselves in a cycle of instructional improvement focused on planning, observing, and revising. The various ways in which teachers work together in a lesson…

Argues that focusing vision and going beyond imitation is the path by which the teacher becomes a learner and, as a result, a better teacher. Illustrates the individual search for authority of two teachers through two personal stories. (SR)

Describes the mentor program of the Teachers College Writing Project of New York City. (HTH)

Describes how a teacher explores the bullying behavior of a girl in her class to understand how kids negotiate for power within a learning community. Discusses activities she used to explore and examine the behaviors in her class. Focuses on understanding processes and practices, not on fixing or "normalizing" individuals. (SG)

Describes how a classroom teacher's experiences as a second-language learner (during a summer institute in Spain) helped her become a better teacher of her bilingual students. (RS)

Presents a case study of a sixth grade teacher trying to increase her use of literature for language arts instruction. Shows the challenges and successes of attempting to get better at teaching. (PRA)

Outlines how the Talk Workshop Group of England, a support group model, was transplanted to inservice workshops conducted by Bay Area Writing Project personnel. (HTH)

Examines the observations of one participant in an inservice teacher education course on classroom research in the writing process. Discusses what happened to the teacher/researchers as they engaged in the research process, what happened in their teaching, and implications for research and teacher education. (HTH)

Describes the value to the author of taking notes on students at work in her third-grade classroom. Uses the analogy of "Footprints In The Snow" (from her daily morning walk) as a way of thinking about the importance of note-taking in teacher research. (SR)

South Carolina Reading Initiative (SCRI), a long-term professional development initiative designed to help teachers investigate research-based literacy practices and helps to build a knowledge base from which to inform instructional decisions. A model that shares stories about literacy coaches as learners and highlight engagements that believe to…

Describes a teacher inservice project intended to develop a language policy for using writing as a learning tool. Argues that the inservice context for teachers as learners is similar to that of the classroom and that the opportunity for talking should likewise be used for learning in the classroom. (HTH)

Describes how a bilingual school explores an innovative professional development approach that is shaped by teachers' needs and inquiries. Presents an account in process of one school's work with the National Council of Teachers of English Reading Initiative, that organization's first professional development program for elementary teachers. (SG)