This book offers a selection of stories about teaching, learning, and school life that you can use in a variety of PD formats and settings. Grouped into four categories--students, teachers, administrators, and parents--these tales offer a powerful entry point for thinking and reflecting on your school environment in a new and meaningful way. Each…

Student learning communities (SLCs) are more than just a different way of doing group work. Like the professional learning communities they resemble, SLCs provide students with a structured way to solve problems, share insight, and help one another continually develop new skills and expertise. With the right planning and support, dynamic…

This book presents a logical problem-solving process and contains many tools and techniques to help groups identify, analyze, and solve problems successfully. It is meant to be used by anyone engaged in this activity whether they be facilitators, leaders, or members of problem-solving groups, or managers who have an interest in the problem-solving…

The second research report in a continuing investigation of group communication via computer networks describes a series of field tests designed to identify the basic parameters of human interaction in computer-based teleconferencing. The method used in the tests is described, and the research approach used in analyzing the tests is outlined. Ten…

This book offers philosophical and pedagogical background to help faculty and academic administrators integrate ethics into curricula. The volume suggests the most appropriate way is through instructor-guided discussion of ethical issues relevant to course objectives. The book demonstrates how providing ethical discussions of relevant ethical…

This book presents a wide array of sophisticated problem-solving tools and shows how to use them in a humanizing way that involves all stakeholders in the process. Chapter 1 develops the rationale for educational stakeholders to consider quality tools. Chapter 2 highlights three quality group-process tools--brainstorming, the nominal group…

This book grew out of an actual experience developing and implementing a problem-solving process, using the Paulo Freire approach, for teaching English as a second language (ESL) adult students. This process implies a serious and long-term commitment to developing critical thinking skills. The first part of the book discusses who the students are,…

In this book, the first of a series on functional education for individual, community, and national development, the author shares her understanding of the needs of nonformal education and what may prove useful to fulfill these needs. The content is in three sections. The first one identifies the forces that have converged to give nonformal…

Noting that many teachers and parents are baffled by the repetitiveness of young children's conflict and by their own reaction to it, this book describes how adults can help children find alternatives to hurtful words and fighting by settling differences through a six-step mediation process based on several basic adult-child interaction…

This book describes an inquiry-oriented form of professional development--the New Teacher Group--which provides teachers with opportunities to engage in discussions with their peers about problems experienced in their professional lives. Blending school psychology and teacher education, the book adapts a consultee-centered consultation model…

This book is a guide is for school practitioners who want to know more about planning and conducting focus groups as an aid to decision-making. It emphasizes practical and cost-effective ways to ensure accurate results. After defining the focus group, chapter 1 offers ways focus groups can be used in schools and reasons for using them. Chapter 2…

Written to meet the affective need of adolescent students to share their feelings and concerns with supportive listeners, this document contains 50 guided discussions on various topics relating to three focus areas: the self, the self and others, and stress. Under the focus of the self topics include: personal strengths and limitations; behind the…