Examines why editors publish certain books and trends in book publishing: memoir, business, management, history, spirituality, religion, science, self-help, and fiction. Provides an annotated bibliography of 21 books predicted to do well in the fall of 1997. (PEN)

Discusses autobiographical stories of one Caucasian and three African American female doctoral students during their "rites of passage" in educational administration departments. Although not generalizable, the four stories offer nontraditional students' varied perspectives and experiences. Training program recommendations cover five…

Reviews the literature on the role of self understanding, language, theory of mind, attachment security, and parental style in children's autobiographical memory development. Discusses evidence that social-cognitive factors appear to interact with parental style in producing children's first verbal memories. Emotional factors, such as attachment…

Reports on a study of eighth graders who were given a series of lessons in which they were asked to write narratives about themselves. Suggests that "lifewriting" helped students, especially English-as-a-Second-Language students, to understand themselves and their pasts better and helped them to become more engaged by the possibilities of writing.…

Responds to an article published in an earlier issue of this journal that outlined a way to create an "autobiography club" for new teachers in which they might share within a group their experiences and problems. Suggests a series of studies that might be conducted to complement and parallel those initiated by the first author. (HB)

Suggests that Benjamin Franklin's autobiography contains many useful messages for today's students. Discusses Franklin's list of virtues that he followed in an attempt at attaining moral perfection. Includes temperance, industry, justice, tranquillity, and humility. Describes the message of Franklin's lesson as one of achieving through effort…

Describes the instructional framework of a college-level developmental-reading class that is founded on two principles: connecting the reading and writing processes, and encouraging students to bring their lives to their reading and writing. Discusses the course framework, course readings, pre- and post reading and writing activities, and…

Proposes an approach for critical engagement with autobiographical text. Argues that by becoming better aware of the teller's intentionality and his/her insights gained from telling a (re)constructed version of self, the listener and the teller can engage in personal and socially transformative dialogue. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/WRM)

Reflects on the idea of a person being constructed through his actions, and the role of the teacher in enabling such actions. Argues that the way a teacher shapes the classroom is, in effect, a lens through which children can be viewed and visions of the educational process both shape and are shaped by the teacher. (Author/WRM)

Explores an approach to autobiographical research based on a notion of "outlaw genre" autobiography, referred to as "biomythography". Describes the use of photo essays to learn about prospective elementary teachers' stories of science and science education. Calls for an examination of hegemonies extending from students' personal histories as…

For many years I have engaged future mathematics teachers in activities that focus on emotional dimensions of their learning. Even those teachers who were able to reconstruct themselves as learners of mathematics had difficulties with changing their practice. Through a series of autobiographical stories, I examine my own experiences as a teacher…

Recent discoveries about brain function explain how best practices in adult learning may lead to adult learners' developmental growth.

Through three semesters of teaching the nonfiction essay, an instructor has come to terms with the fact that she has yet to attempt the type of personal essay that she asks her students to write, essays in which personal experiences with death are shared. However, a reminiscence on death through a recounting of her reactions to and understanding…

Students cannot trace all the sources that inform who they are at a given moment, but all of them can explore a wide range of sources that inform their sense of self, clarify their values and their relationships to the world and others in it. Writing about family fits especially well into a sequence in which students narrate a personal experience,…

This book, part autobiography and part manual for teaching dyslexics to read, argues that dyslexia can be more a gift than a handicap. It recounts the life of a dyslexic reader who became an educator, i.e., how "luck" enabled him to learn to read, and how "ignorance" and "stubbornness" enabled him to teach other…