Teachers who participate in the Teacher Institute on Science and Sustainability (TISS) at the California Academy of Sciences commit to intensive professional development--that is, two two-week summer sessions, four evening workshops, and four Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings throughout each school year--focused on creating more…

This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. This month's issue describes preservice elementary teachers learning engineering principles from engineers. Few elementary teachers have experience with implementing engineering into the classroom. While engineering professional development opportunities for inservice teachers…

During the past five years, the authors have collaborated to provide elementary school teachers with professional development that focuses on both mathematical content and pedagogy. All the professional development was created in keeping with the best practices. Many conversations evolved around the role of a coach and the most effective ways to…

Teachers often have questions about how the strategies they learned at a professional development (PD) workshop will work with their students. Wouldn't it be great if teachers had the opportunity to practice implementing new strategies during PD so that they could hone their skills before returning to their classrooms? That's what 35 teachers got…

This book focuses on online pedagogy and the challenges and opportunities incumbent in the transformation of a face-to-face college course. It is intended as a resource and support for new online teachers--a source of ideas and strategies from a variety of disciplinary perspectives as well as pedagogical perspectives--and for those experienced in…

From summer programs in archaeology or Russian to teaching abroad for a year or more, there are many opportunities available for teachers. This article describes unique programs in archeology, geology, astronomy, botany, and oceanography that are available as summer programs; master's programs in languages, administration, writing, and Teaching…

Research Experiences for Teachers (RET), funded by the National Science Foundation, offer teachers an opportunity to participate in current, hands-on scientific research in laboratories across the United States. These experiences provide an avenue for teachers to understand the process of research and gain insight on emerging technologies with the…

The authors examined peer coaching in the context of the Mentored Implementation Program developed in the Appalachian Mathematics and Science Partnership. The experimental design contained 6 teachers receiving peer coaching with their 202 students and 5 teachers in the control group with their 105 students. Teachers considered peer coaching a…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

The National Writing Project (NWP) is the nation's premier professional development network dedicated to improving the teaching of writing. The NWP network comprises nearly 200 local sites in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. This report presents the results of a seven-year survey study of teachers participating in NWP summer…

Teachers can easily identify what subjects their students have trouble with, whether it is transcription and translation, glycolysis and fermentation, balancing chemical equations, or vector analysis of forces acting on an object. Yet, no matter how teachers try to make these complex issues more accessible to students, or how new editions of…

Two articles combined here describe aspects of the Akron, Ohio Public Schools' summer foreign language immersion camps for both students and teachers. The first article, "The Akron Story Part I: Summer Foreign Language Camps" (John D. Durden and Sandra K. Strauber), outlines the structure of the camps, in which students live in simulated…

This unit was created as a result of a summer institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. The Center's goal is to improve student learning of foreign languages in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). To this end, the Center provides professional support for foreign language…

This volume examines learning, teaching, and reflective practice. It is a personal account of a summer institute held in 1989 during which 21 teachers engaged in an exploration of writing and reading. Among metaphors discussed at the institute, one of the most powerful was the notion of teaching/learning being created from a fabric of interwoven…

This unit was created as a result of a summer institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The Center's goal is to improve student learning of foreign languages in kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12). In the summer of 1996, the Center offered the Culture and Children's…