Grounded in self study and personal and professional reflection, this is an inquiry into how seasoned, long time and close to retirement teachers can do their best work on a shifting college landscape in a changing world. Recognizing teaching and learning as the college's core business, the author explores mentorship, community among…

I examine the development of my political clarity and its relation to the exercise of humanistic violence as a K-12 teacher in the United States. Reflecting upon my experiences as a classroom and community educator, I conclude that the mission of forging a new humanity is currently not possible from within the U.S. classroom. Presenting a series…

The accepted framing of mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as part of mathematical knowledge for teaching has centered on the question: What mathematical reasoning, insight, understanding, and skills are required for a person to teach elementary mathematics? Many have worked to address this question in K-8 teaching. Yet, there remains…

Collective bargaining is common in American public education, but its consequences are poorly understood. We focus here on key contractual provisions--seniority-based transfer rights--that affect teacher assignments, and we show that these transfer rights operate to burden disadvantaged schools with higher percentages of inexperienced teachers. We…

College-level students arrive fairly confident in their research abilities. When the university began a new requirement for information literacy competency in the General Education Requirements, distance library faculty had the opportunity to teach an online section. A technologically savvy health science librarian and technologically challenged…

This article promotes project-based learning in English education as a way to combat the loss of cultural relevancy under the pressures of standardization. Project-based learning, a specific pedagogy consistent with Paulo Freire's problem-posing theory of education, is one way to create student-centered learning experiences that allow students to…

Responding to "In defence of writing" by Havard Skaar, published in issue 43.1 of this journal (April 2009), the present article argues that (1) compared with text production "from scratch," producing texts through copy-and-paste requires a different type of--rather than less--semiotic work, and that (2) digitally produced writing may involve the…

Several research studies have been conducted with novice and experienced teachers when teaching within and outside their subject specialism. This paper aims to review a number of these studies and highlights key points concerning the teaching of different science subjects at secondary level and teachers' level of self-confidence. Teachers face…

Recent research has explored the connections between universities and the cities/places in which they are located. Increasingly, emphasis is placed on the economic role of the university and on universities as urban stabilizers that can mobilize investment and advance development goals. This article explores a different charge for the university:…

This article evaluates the incorporation of issues of sustainability as a central orienting theme into an American Government course. Issues of sustainability are at the forefront of the American political agenda and are intricately linked to our ability as a nation to prosper economically, socially, and physically. In this course, students are…

As public budgets have grown tighter over the past decade, states and school districts have sought ways to control the growth of spending. One increasingly common strategy employed to rein in costs is to offer experienced teachers with high salaries financial incentives to retire early. Although early retirement incentive (ERI) programs have been…

The relationship between teachers' beliefs and practices is generally understood to be a complex one. In recent years the topic of language teachers' beliefs has attracted considerable research interest, mostly in the form of case studies of teachers in particular contexts. A number of such studies focus in part on the relationship between beliefs…

Various initiatives at national and faculty levels are carried out to improve teaching quality at Malaysian universities. Measures such as auditing and accrediting university programs and obtaining certification for quality management help improve program management and standardize students' learning experiences. However, these do not guarantee…

To address shortfalls in the preparation and achievement of U.S. students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), instruction in these areas must begin in the elementary grades, as early as kindergarten (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 2007; Natural Academy of Sciences, 2007; National Research…

This article brings together two studies which contribute to the examination of the nature of professionalism in education by focusing on the perspectives of two under-researched groups namely "teaching assistants" and teacher educators working "either side" of the school teacher. The projects were conducted in, and framed by,…