It's all too easy for teachers to focus on building students' knowledge and skills without paying attention to the mental habits that students need to be effective learners. Guy Claxton discusses the need for teachers to design their instruction in a way that promotes resilience, curiosity, independence, and a positive disposition toward learning.

There is a long-held but inaccurate belief that new teachers' expertise and talent is mostly innate and that it peaks and plateaus within their first few years of teaching. William Slotnik and Bryan Goodwin explain that school systems need to abandon this conventional wisdom and instead build true talent development systems that support the…

Helping students become responsible for their own learning is an incredibly challenging task since it requires transforming their previous, passive "sit-and-get" learning style into a go-and-get orientation. The authors present a collection of eight schools that offer valuable examples of how to develop students as self-directed…

Thousands of teachers are exploring the boundaries of their practice together on Twitter, in blogs, and at seminars, and they represent a new generation of educators who are actively redefining how innovation occurs in the schoolhouse. For many of these educators, exposure to adjacent possibilities--the first step toward innovation--starts in the…

A "Walkabout" program for second-semester seniors at a public alternative school is described. Cited as keys to the program's effectiveness are staff commitment of one-half their workload and intensive and clearly defined student preparation. Students not participating engage in a similar but briefer independent learning project in the…

Describes the integration of a Walkabout program into the curriculum of a charter middle school in Chico, California. The Walkabout program provides a structure that enables students to make decisions about their learning based on personal needs and interest. (PKP)

At several New York State high schools, seniors hold internships in architectural firms, Planned Parenthood, dentists' offices, and television and radio stations. Some make documentaries or pursue independent study in various subjects. These opportunities arise through a program (WISE) allowing second-semester seniors to design and complete their…

An education professor describes bewildered responses to basic, if annoying, questions he asks regarding education's role and purpose. There is probably no single thing that everyone has to know. Education is a lifetime, seamless experience, connecting individual episodes into an ever-expanding web of meaning, insight, and understanding. Teachers…

The Challenge education program for student teachers entails selecting and performing challenging tasks in six areas: cognitive development, logical inquiry, adventure, creativity, practical skill, and volunteer service. The program is credited with helping break down sex-role stereotypes, building a sense of accomplishment, and developing…

A successful challenge education program at a small private school is described. Students in grades 10 through 12 spend mornings on traditional academic subjects and afternoons on both guided and independent challenge projects. (MJL)

The technology revolution may accomplish what 10 years of education reform could not. Traditional preparation programs no longer allow teachers to maintain "sage" status since they cannot know as much as the Internet can make available to students. Teachers in cyberspace know computers are about relationships and independent learning.…

Describes the individualized program of Mountain Open High School which at first coincidentally resembed Maurice Gibbons'"Walkabout" concept and was subsequently more consciously shaped by theory. Students move through three phases culminating in challenging independent projects of practical use. (MJL)

This model alternative program incorporates the elements of individualized instruction programs developed through diagnostic/prescriptive techniques, experimentation with innovative teaching practices, and an emphasis on students' use of community resources. In the last 2 years, no students have chosen the option of a "Walkabout"…

The operation of a "Walkabout" program at a large urban magnet school is reviewed. After frequent exposure to supervised community experiences in regular humanities courses students may undertake independent, semester-long Walkabout projects, usually career-oriented. (MJL)

As applied at Lincoln Elementary School in Evansville (Indiana), the Teacher-Directed Inservice Education Program allowed teachers to direct their own learning by contracting for consultation during regular school hours to meet specific needs. The program meets seven guidelines suggested for effective inservice education, including administrator…