Discusses what five teachers learned when they engaged in a literature discussion group to discuss children's books to develop themselves as writing teachers. Highlights the three layers of talk (emotional responses, exploring the meaning of the book, and exploring the writer's craft) and the role these play in the learning process. (SR)

Describes the development of a program fostering prospective and practicing elementary school teachers' research on their science-teaching practices, discussing the science-education community's recognition of the importance of teacher research, examining beliefs underlying development of the program, describing the program's setting, summarizing…

Describes the Vienna (Austria) School-Based Teacher Development Project, an innovative inservice-teacher-training project that views faculty development as a process that should allow teachers to participate in decision making within their schools. A key feature is that teachers acquire new knowledge and skills while they improve their group…

Compared cooperating teachers' and student teachers' perceptions of student teacher concerns. Measures of instructional, classroom-management, discipline, and attitudinal concerns obtained before and after the internship indicated that before the internship, both groups shared many instructional and disciplinary concerns. After the internship,…

Describes an action research inquiry conducted by a primary science tutor, focusing on his work with preservice and inservice teachers. The paper examines parallels between the research process and the researcher's approach to teaching adult learners. Both were underpinned by explicit epistemological assumptions based on a constructivist view of…

By using injured students to observe and record data, physical educators can get regular, ongoing feedback about their teaching effectiveness and allow injured students to participate in class from the sidelines. The article explains how to work with student recorders, offering a sample student recorder data collection form. (SM)

Action research can be an effective strategy to help school-based professionals build a knowledge base that connects classroom practice and classroom theory. Action research does not build theory and is generally not transferable; rather, it examines why something is happening or might happen in a particular setting and circumstances. Action…

This paper describes the preliminary findings of a training program to develop skills of Dutch primary school principals in coaching teachers for improved teaching. The major research questions addressed whether the 28 school principals who participated in the training program implemented the target coaching skills whether teachers coached by the…

Results of a study which used a research-based model for clinical supervision of student teachers provide evidence that the model's methodology and use of technology foster reflective teaching and promote implementation of sound decision making strategies by student teachers. Research on the interrelated domains of teacher decision making and…

The Partners in Elementary Science (PIES) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is a model Teacher Enhancement project. Its goal was to develop and test a program to help elementary teachers strengthen their science teaching by addressing areas of need, specifically teachers' confidence in teaching inquiry science and helping teachers…

Resulting from a summer workshop concentrating on the writing of elementary school children, this booklet begins by reviewing a number of articles read and discussed by workshop participants. The second section, drawing upon the work of Sheila Schlawin, focuses on the composing process and answers a number of questions that teachers have about…

A three-part method of teacher supervision is based on a developmental approach to early education. The method assumes that children learn by interacting with their environment and respond to the educational environment differently, according to their individual backgrounds, temperaments, and learning styles. An observational record, written by a…

A review of the research indicates that the interface between the findings from research on teaching and staff development of teachers is an important but neglected one. An improvement in teaching skills calls for an interactive or collaborative mode of professional development which is based on classroom interests and the needs of teachers, with…

The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) has been designed to describe change as it affects individuals and to prompt more successful change efforts. CBAM views the teacher as the focal point in school improvement efforts, yet also acknowledges social and organizational influences. This paper describes the application of the model to a curriculum…

Extensive change in the current educational system is needed. The major problems are: (1) Children do not relate their school experience to life experience; (2) The basic purpose, format, and curriculum of schools have not changed fundamentally since medieval times; (3) Fragmented advocacy groups and no central educational organization…