A teacher discusses her transition to a new school and an innovative program based on Foxfire practices. Journal entries reflect the frustrations, self-doubts, and personal growth that resulted from her teaching experience. She attributes her personal growth to reflective journal writing, a core practice of Foxfire. (LP)

A resource room teacher of elementary students with mild disabilities and behavior disorders describes student successes in running the school store, telling Appalachian folk tales to primary classes, and carrying out other Foxfire-inspired projects. Student comments are included. (SV)

After 18 years of using a traditional approach to teaching, a middle-school teacher turned her classroom into a shared learning experience by giving students the responsibility to make choices about their education. To reassure parents who were skeptical of the Foxfire approach, she continued to interject traditional learning activities. (LP)

A teacher relates how Foxfire and authentic assessment have changed her view of teaching, learning, and the nature of classwork itself. Proposes that conventional education not only supports belief in a large competence gap between students and teachers, but also perpetuates misconceptions concerning the nature of knowledge, self-worth, and…

Using the Foxfire approach, an elementary school teacher taught young children about democracy through participation in classroom decision making. Activities included student discussion and decision making about a classroom theme and class rules. Includes student comments and drawings about what democracy means, both in and outside of the…

A teacher reflects on what he learned from his students and educator Earl Kelley's writings, when 30 years ago as a beginning teacher, he attempted a democratic approach to teaching junior high school science and math. This approach encouraged student collaboration in the planning of learning activities, community projects, and student assessment.…

A high school teacher and four students restructured the curriculum for a shop math class based on Foxfire practices. The students, former underachievers, gained support and raised monies for building a gyroplane by writing grants, meeting with school administrators, and taking part in community speaking engagements. (LP)

A teacher at an alternative school for at-risk students discusses the development of student assessment that increases students' self-esteem, convinces students that learning is fun, and prepares students to return to traditional school settings. She found that allowing students to participate in the assessment process successfully quantified the…