Describes using an outstanding portfolio created by an average fifth grader to study and reflect on the author's teaching and to consider connections between her teaching, the Michigan Language Arts Content Standards, and her District's new standards-based curriculum. Discusses the portfolio process, preparing for portfolio presentations, and the…

Discusses the possibilities for pleasure, community, and collective meaning making among fifth- and sixth-grade students and various adults (teachers, parents, and school staff) during their prolonged engagement with a single literary work, Lois Lowry's "The Giver," as they read and reread the novel, annotating the text with their…

Reports a recent classroom analysis of Latino students who were doing well academically (as reflected both in teachers' assessments and in achievement tests). Finds that teachers were theoretically equipped, able to make curriculum judgments, and received support from colleagues. (MS)