This action research study examines the impact instruction informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) with a particular focus on tenor and socio-cultural theory has on sixth, seventh and eighth grade English language learners in an urban school. Over the course of seven and 1/2 months I used Systemic Functional Linguistics with a focus on…

Over the past few years, educators in South Africa have been subjected to many changes in the educational sphere. Not only was a new approach to education, namely outcomes-based education (OBE) implemented, but the curriculum was also changed and now consists of eight learning areas, some of which are groupings of traditional school subjects (e.g.…

This article reports the findings of a school-based intervention project conducted in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka 15 to 18 months after the December 2004 Tsunami. The work responds to the need for culturally relevant programming to address long-term psychosocial recovery of children and adolescents affected by large scale disasters. Program…

Westside Middle School, located in Omaha, Nebraska, serves 950 seventh- and eighth-grade students. Over the last few years, the school's teachers and administrators have evaluated its technology status and needs. As part of this process, the staff members engaged in many activities, including developing a building-level technology plan, organizing…

The purpose of this study was to increase motivation in 7th grade students. Four teacher researchers examined the change in motivational levels as a result of choice strategies. They gathered data from four different classes, 101 students in all, to track levels of motivation. They monitored their levels of observable behavioral patterns with a…

The purpose of this action research project was to increase homework completion through the use of motivating strategies. There were approximately 75 students, 100 parents, and three teacher researchers involved in this study. The three intervention strategies used were 15 minutes of class time, extrinsic rewards, and assignment notebook checks.…

The purpose of this action research project was to improve student vocabulary acquisition through a multisensory, direct instructional approach. The study involved three teachers and a target population of 73 students in second and seventh grade classrooms. The intervention was implemented from September through December of 2006 and analyzed in…

This article describes a three-part classroom guidance lesson that teaches middle school students the definition of sexual harassment, the difference between flirting and sexual harassment, and the harmful effects of sexual harassment. An action research study evaluated the effectiveness of the lessons in decreasing referrals for sexual harassment…