This author acknowledges that teachers agree that "adolescents aren't always interested in the topics adults consider important for them to learn." It is easy for adults who have forgotten the wonder and uncertainty of the adolescent years to declare that students today are more uninterested in school and undisciplined in life than…

Through their involvement with the Coalition of Essential Schools, the two high school teachers profiled here reenergized their daily lives and motivated their students toward exciting learning gains. Both teachers changed their practices because their students were not responding as they had hoped. Students' roles have also changed, as they…

Both students and teachers can suffer from anonymity. In a spiritual classroom, redemption means deliverance, or liberation from obligatory suffering. Teaching may be viewed as reclaiming students from anonymity (a powerful form of inertia) and leading them toward deliverance. The teacher is simultaneously liberated by believing in a student's…

Notes that students with a history of failure may be hampered by feelings of incompetence and diminished expectations. States that teachers using responsive instruction become attuned to these perceptions and encourage students to regain control of the problem-solving process. Notes that to succeed, teachers must propose certain goals and…

A 1996 study attributed adolescent remedial readers' low comprehension to poor motivation, lack of experience, and egocentricity. Secondary teachers can help by connecting reading assignments to real-world learning experiences, providing self-directed activities, and inviting collaborative learning and varied self-expression. A San Diego program…

Patience, caring, listening, intuition, and the elements in nature--these are the raw materials of organic teaching and learning. (Author)

Describes how a high school teacher successfuly organized, funded, and involved students and community members in an archaeological dig under the school's front lawn. (IW)

A high-school English teacher explains how she transformed her listless, "drive-thru" classes into "partnership" classes with highly motivated students eager to demonstrate and evaluate their skills. Students could work at their own best pace so long as the work got done and had acceptable quality. (MLH)