Argues that focusing vision and going beyond imitation is the path by which the teacher becomes a learner and, as a result, a better teacher. Illustrates the individual search for authority of two teachers through two personal stories. (SR)

Many school districts let teachers take computers home over the summer to improve their skills. The article shares strategies about computer use, liability, borrowing, and moving from school to home. It suggests summer projects such as learning to use computerized gradebooks, learning new programs, and computerizing lesson plans and tests. (SM)

Presents, in their own words, teachers in the process of becoming researchers. Shows how research is not just neatly laid out end-products of new knowledge but is also the ticks of discomfort arising from new awareness. Notes that all of the teachers featured were going about their normal daily tasks when they experience major changes as…

Examines teachers' inner reflections and exterior manifestations as they participated in a mathematics-reform effort. Describes the analysis of three elementary mathematics teachers as they struggled with issues of reform and traditional teaching in relation to personal values and beliefs. Concludes that teachers devised personal, complex, and…

Describes an experienced elementary teacher's understanding of the process of change in her science teaching practice. Uses reflective practice and critical introspection to look into her past and deep into her current thinking and practice as a key element of the interpretive process. (Author/SAH)

Research on elementary teaching practices has provided a list of effective teacher behaviors. This list can be used as a menu from which administrators and teachers can select objectives that will serve the teachers as goals for improvement and the administrators as criteria for teacher evaluation. The behaviors listed in this paper have been…

Articles by Grade Teacher's fourth annual summer travel - summer workshop contest winners: Lea Levi, Elsie G. Murray, Elizabeth Dorband, and Emma A. Palminteri.

The module is the second of a series of seven discrete modules designed to assist elementary school teachers in the development of a career education program or to enrich an already established program. Module 2 may be used separately or in conjunction with the other modules. The module contains two units, one which identifies the key concepts of…

The module is the third of a series of seven discrete modules designed to assist elementary school teachers in the development of a career education program to enrich an already established program. Module 3 may be used separately or in conjunction with the other modules. The module contains seven units and is intended to help define self-concept,…

Discusses the ongoing evaluation of classroom activities, program content, and teaching methods, through a process referred to by the author as "documentation." Among items which may be collected as part of this process are materials produced by individual children, anecdotal notes, goal statements, and teacher journals. Demonstrates how this…

Recognizing the importance of collegiality in professional growth, this descriptive study examines one aspect of interaction among teachers--the information that teachers exchange about classroom teaching. Suggestions are offered for the development of collegiality and interview guide questions are presented in the appendix. (JS)

Describes the innovative video programs developed at Scenic Hills Elementary School in Pennsylvania. The programs include a "Kids News" television program, a video exchange program, video productions, and "take home" tapes for parents. (MD)

Examines the use of "directed ethnography," a collaborative ethnographic approach, found to improve the work of Ladino teachers in rural Yucatan community schools. The participating teachers analyze the collected community data and modify their teaching style/curriculum materials to reflect the experience of their Maya Grade 3 students.…

Interviews Gordon Wells of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto, Canada. Wells extends the concept of children negotiating with people in their environment to create meaning to teachers taking control of their own learning and in so doing facilitating children's taking control of their own learning. (HTH)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has supported a wide variety of teacher enhancement projects in order to identify and explore strategies that are effective in bringing genuine, long-term teacher change, and, ultimately, long-term systemic change in schools. In November 1994, with funding provided from NSF (Grant Number ESI-9452859), a small,…