African American students face myriad problems that are pervasive, multifaceted, and sociohistorical. Self-empowerment is identified as a means of maximizing the educational potential of African American students using the Comprehensive Support Model (CSM).

This paper examines how to incorporate a feminist pedagogy into teaching World Regional Geography in order to empower students to seek social change. This paper also addresses the fragile relationships that develop in the feminist classroom, such as challenging students' inherent prejudices in a safe and comfortable setting.

Explores literacy performances as a way for students to empower themselves and effect social change. Describes a literacy group called Story Time in a youth-run center for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youths. Concludes that literacy performances are a way into opportunities for social change for any marginalized reader and…

Argues that the artists workshop, a parallel approach to readers-writers workshop, empowers children to express inner thoughts and feelings and helps students and teachers form a classroom community of learners. Describes routines of the workshop, the ways in which writing and literature connect to art, and the climate that encourages children to…

Describes a teaching framework that allows instructors to become facilitators rather than the knowledge source; it also encourages social construction of knowledge and independence. Cites the seven stages of EMPOWER: elicit, monitor, pose, organize, web, engage, and reflect. Notes that these stages take students through a prereading strategy, a…

Outlines "Bullybusters," a psychoeducational drama developed by a school's counseling and drama departments. The program depicts the negative consequences of the various forms of bullying, while informing students how they might overcome bullying's adverse effects. Subsequent classroom discussion sessions were successful in getting students to…

Sophia Njaa, a senior at Maine's Portland High and a student representative on the district's school board, is one of a growing contingent of students across the country who are becoming more involved in school decision making through youth-empowerment programs. Her school board seat was established in 2004 through a collaborative effort between…

"STOP the Violence--Students Taking on Prevention" is a program designed to involve students and address school violence at its core from the peer-to- peer perspective. Developed by members of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), the program empowers young persons to recognize, report, and reduce the potential for youth…

Organization and word processing software programs empower students with disabilities to become more independent in their writing. In this article, the authors describe techniques for incorporating organizational programs and word processing features into the writing process. Beneficial features include word prediction, voice output, spell…

Resilience is a set of attributes providing people with the strength and fortitude to confront overwhelming obstacles. The best way to prepare resilient youth for an uncertain future is to help them develop feelings of competence, belonging, usefulness, potency, and optimism via authentic, ongoing school experiences and critical examination of…

Sponsored by Guatemala City's innovative Childhope/Pennat program, 30 teachers coach working children under trees in the park, in the streets next to their stalls, and in small, makeshift "mercado classrooms." Children learn how to do simple math, read official documents, understand their country's history, and manage a small business.…

When a Connecticut school's assertive-discipline plan failed to generate a sense of ownership and community, faculty replaced rewards with schoolwide celebrations and consequences with problem solving. When students misbehave, teachers encourage them to reflect on their behavior, consider its effect on others, and devise appropriate restitution. A…

Describes a discussion on child advocacy that the author initiated among fifth graders. Children were surprised at being asked for their opinion on improving their educational situation. Their main problem was getting adults to listen. Advocacy, as one child affirmed, is a matter of making a case carefully, vividly, compellingly so that others…

Describes how an innovative application of new technology, in a Graphics of Journalism course, not only accommodated a physically challenged student but empowered her to fully participate in the learning process, and allowed her discover and develop talents and skills that may lead to career opportunities not previously imagined. (SR)

This article details a five-phase construction plan designed to guide students through the process of planning service learning projects with students responsible for all steps and the teacher assuming the role of facilitator and guide. Service-learning projects are encouraged as a means of including students with disabilities in their community…