Creating a community rather than an institution is a goal that all educators should strive to meet. To do this, school districts try to unify their student bodies by bringing attention to an obstacle too many children face--bullying. In the Technology and Education (TE) classroom, topics involving bullying can be difficult to include in everyday…

The students at the author's alternative, academic-recovery school come from their base schools and at the author's school are able to rewrite their own school stories. Some of that rewriting naturally happens in the library. Many of the students have experiences at multiple schools, but it is not until they come to the author's school that many…

As middle school teachers, the authors want their students to develop voice and agency because they want them to be able to make productive decisions about how to approach mathematics, communicate mathematics, and use mathematics to interpret and transform the world in which they live. They use this article to present two vignettes that examine…

Genius Hour is a time built into the school day or week to enable students to actively create their learning rather than passively consume it. During the time set aside for Genius Hour, students choose what they will learn about, the strategies they will use to learn it, the pace of their work, the materials and resources they will use, and the…

Over the last twenty-five years, the Minnesota Historical Society, the University of Minnesota Libraries, and Minitex have developed a partnership centered on creating pathways to higher education by engaging local middle school and high school students in immersive programs at academic libraries. These activities vary in scope and content, but…

Recounts how an eighth-grade teacher used reflective portfolios with her students to help them overcome their reluctance to write and to get them to see writing as a way to learn about themselves as students and as individuals. States that the teacher wanted students to be enthusiastic about writing as a part of everyday life. (PA)

A British university-initiated action research project emphasized development and evaluation of strategies for enhancing eighth graders' self-regulated learning. Case studies indicated the project had limited success in impacting teaching strategies and curriculum development, and the National Curriculum did nothing to increase the likelihood of…

This practicum project was designed to increase student ownership of learning through student-kept assignment calendars and portfolios. The subjects, 63 junior high school students at a private Christian school, were also involved in frequent, cooperative sessions in which they checked each other's work and offered suggestions, with reports to the…

This paper describes how a geosciences summer program for 50 Hispanic and Black eighth graders with high potential from at-risk backgrounds, planned and executed activities designed to empower these youth by teaching them strategies to develop effective "voice," while concurrently nurturing abilities and inspiring significant career aspirations.…