Provides guidelines for using classroom observation and feedback to improve teaching skills. (CM)

New Orleans, fondly known in better days for its spectacular cuisine, cool jazz, and good times, was the leading story on television news broadcasts the world over when a massive hurricane came. As Katrina took its destructive path, culminating in the devastating rupture of ill-prepared levee systems, the world was riveted by stories about the…

Effective educators plan reading instruction by considering all of the contributing variables: the students' background knowledge, cultural heritages, oral language, strengths and needs, home influences, as well as the current educational environment and the type of text (expository, narrative ...). Each variable is powerful and could easily…

Immigrant children can find it especially difficult to establish their place in the classroom community. As children of immigrants, the authors have experienced, first hand, the difficulties that one faces when placed in a new culture and have seen how this aspect of their backgrounds affects them and their families. Consequently, they created…

If educators are to bridge the black/white achievement gap, they must find a way to engage low-income and minority youth in academic learning. While ample evidence indicates that some teachers are highly effective in engaging students, the persistence of the achievement gap suggests that most are far less effective at engaging African American…

Classroom libraries are a literacy necessity; they are integral to successful teaching and learning and must become a top priority if students are to become thriving, engaged readers. Students who have ready access to books in their classrooms have better attitudes about reading, reading achievement, and comprehension than their peers with less…

Discusses demeaning practices in the classroom and cites examples of research results which would help teachers respect children's rights and dignity. (ED)

Maintains that the priorities parents set for their children are influenced by the parents' own needs and ways in which those needs have been met, and that priorities set by parents may be inadequate for meeting their children's needs. Parents must work towards balancing priorities for children in such a way that both parents' and children's needs…

A view of open education is given in this anecdotal report of visits to primary schools in England. (NH)

Describes aspects of mainstreaming a visually impaired three-year-old child into a Montessori preschool, discussing assessment of the child, sites available for enrollment, introduction into the site, Montessori teacher and special education teacher coordination, the child's adjustment, peer reactions, and teacher intervention. (RH)

Discusses child rearing practices which can be learned from the Cosby Show. Consistently interwoven in the dialog each week are family guidelines related to self-esteem building, independence, trust, values, and humor. (RJC)

Explains how offering children "library time" during the first 15 minutes of the school day can provide the teacher time to take care of other class management tasks. (HOD)

Independent learning and self direction is emphasized in an upper-grade classroom in Eugene, Oregon. The children take part in activities like spinning thread, role-playing, and constructing picture-story books for kindergarteners. (ST)