This Dissertation in Practice (DIP) utilizes Action Research methods to answer the question of: What is the impact of utilizing an authentic study of an author's life and literary works to increase students' motivation to read in a third grade gifted and talented classroom? Through intentional questioning and inquiry, the following Chapters…

Heterotopias are counter-sites of enacted utopias through which reality is simultaneously represented, contested and inverted. They are physical or mental spaces where, although norms of behaviours are suspended, there are connections with a plethora of other spaces. This article constructs a collective biography as a heterotopology of the…

Drawing from Cervantes-Soon's (2012) framework of "testimonios" as confessions, counter-narratives, and "consejos," we explore how writing letters to our children serves as a process of historical documentation, healing, and a passing down of social justice principles and family history. Additionally, we expand on…

Extensive linguistic research and theorising relating to maintaining the family heritage, as bilingual or multilingual family in differing language contexts, is currently available. Substantial research beneficially explores approaches to multilingual parenting, outcomes for individuals through parent and child perspectives, among linguistic and…

In this column the author discusses several major works that came out in the 50-year period from the 1920s to the 1960s, as well as real-world examples that show that differentiated curriculum works and can make a difference in the lives of gifted learners. In the 1920s, Leta Hollingworth's work advocated a specialized curriculum for gifted…

Based on reflections from over a decade of research, scholarship, and programmatic applications, this article provides evidence of impact from the work of Professor Andy Hargreaves with a specific focus on his concept of contrived collegiality. Explorations into matters of emotion provided an entry point through which the author has addressed the…

This qualitative case study discusses teachers' emotions, in particular two elementary teachers in a school serving a high-poverty, high-minority population. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological system framework, we examined how these teachers' internal psychological characteristics transact with external environments to produce emotions. Both…

This teacher research studied second graders' small-group, peer-led discussions about three genres of literature--realistic fiction, biography picture books, and science information books--across one school year (during three units in the fall, winter, and spring). It set out to explore how this peer talk, in general, mediated children's responses…

The use of biographies in counseling young men who are gifted is recommended, to assist them in dealing with such issues as underachievement, self-inflicted pressure in athletics, cultural alienation, and father-son relationships. Biographical works that may be used and strategies for using this counseling approach are examined, including case…

This article outlines the design of a new service-learning component central to a graduate course on teaching elementary and middle school writing. The service-learning involves course participants acting as mentors to middle school students as they write personal histories of local African American, Cape Verdean, and Puerto Rican senior citizens.…