Describes how one teacher used an instructional Web site to encourage student learning, explaining how such Web sites can create teacher development opportunities. The paper explains how to get teachers to build and use instructional sites and how to empower teachers to participate and innovate. Sidebars describe the school, explain what makes a…

A teacher's attitude--whether good or bad--trickles down to the students. According to Tom Carroll, who serves in the capacity of president of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, there is no teacher shortage but a horrendous turnover and attrition problem. Teachers who are leaving are constantly being replaced. The conditions…

This article describes the critical experiences of a middle school mathematics teacher as she progressed from a novice to a knowledgeable creator of technology-enhanced learning activities for her classroom. During an eight week intervention, cognitive apprenticeship strategies (Collins, 1991) were utilized in a partnership with the teacher until…

Practitioner research is defined as systematic inquiry-based efforts directed towards creating and extending professional knowledge and associated understandings of professional practice. A review of "primary research" articles published in the "Australian Journal of Early Childhood" revealed that only a small number involved…

A cacophony of voices is continuing to place mandates on education and yet the voices of teachers are seldom heard. Teacher education can attempt to address this issue by facilitation of advocacy experiences via service-learning. The experiential and transformative nature of service-learning is illustrated through three case studies in which…

This text examines the forces that keep educators and students from feeling fully empowered, that is, gaining the power to self-actualize and to facilitate this process for others. A feminist perspective is used to consider directions for educational reform and innovation broadly under an umbrella philosophy of empowerment, suggesting a paradigm…

Describes effective aspects of a 4-day inservice teacher education program offered in the context of Britain's Brunel Able Children's Education center. Discusses the nature of higher ability in children, identification of ability, classroom strategies, and the role of questioning. Describes a learning project based on word explorations to…

States that in early 20th century Germany, elementary school teachers were seen as low-level civil servants and their teaching methodology was dictated to them by the state. Explains that to free themselves from political and religious authorities, school teachers began advocating a child-centered, active-learning approach based upon recent…

The superintendent of a wealthy, rural school district describes the unique context of schooling reform in Westchester County, New York. Pressures for reform coming from parents and the community lead to interschool competition and spark micropolitics that spill out into the community. Successful schools have greater autonomy and empowered…

Describes a mathematics early intervention program that involves faculty development to help teachers identify, then assist, first graders at risk of mathematics failure. The program incorporates tools and learning activities based on recent research about children's early numerical learning. The course highlights the benefits of clinical…

The Lewisburg (Pennsylvania) Area Middle School has successfully implemented an alternating-day block schedule that has yielded improved academic performance. The positive effect may derive from administrative support, teacher empowerment, and community agreement. The culture of the traditional schedule and school year remains essentially intact,…

This document provides a history of the relationship between higher education faculty and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Highlights include the first AFT higher education local formed in 1918, the role played by the union in the expansion of the G.I. Bill following World War II, increased activism in the 1950s and 1960s to win…

Teachers will discover new instructional ideas and resources for the classroom, new visions for the school and district, and new ways to view their work. This volume combines two powerful perspectives that will help use the Internet to support literacy learning: (1) The stories of exemplary teachers who successfully use the Web in their…

Interviews Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, the 2002 Teacher of the Year at Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Explains how Sheryl has pushed technology to its limits in an effort to help her students push their own limits. Contends that technology provides the perfect medium for offering children the chance to build their own experiences, construct their…

Contrasts teacher educators' desires to change student teachers' beliefs and values with their need to foster professional autonomy. Suggests that there exists an unrecognized 'indoctrination dilemma' inherent in preservice teacher education and concludes by pointing to the need for teacher educators to re-examine their intentions. (Contains 29…