Imagine a fourth grade classroom filled with 26 students all equally unique in their abilities, successes and challenges, talents, likes and dislikes. What is a teacher to do to meet all of their instructional needs? What about their behavioral, social, and emotional needs? Differentiated instruction (DI) is an approach to teaching that suggests…

This study shares the story of a mentor teacher and student teacher during a yearlong student teaching experience. It looks at how working with an educative mentor (prepared and supported to enact this role) can make a difference in the instructional practices and beliefs of a novice teacher, specifically by providing the student teacher with the…

Enrollments in blended learning programs are growing, creating a challenge to find educators who understand blended learning pedagogy. The purpose of this study was to identify and understand the challenges and pedagogical transformations of elementary educators who recently adopted blended learning. The concerns-based adoption model provided a…

This study was to examine self-efficacy perceptions of elementary teachers, kindergarten through fourth grade, and determine whether or not teacher self-efficacy perceptions differ related to classification area of district, certification held and experience of working with students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (E/BD). In addition,…

This paper draws from a larger study conducted in Kenya, which was a narrative inquiry into a teacher's experiences of teaching the HIV/AIDS curriculum using a child-to-child approach. The two major research questions of this study were: 1) What are the experiences of a teacher teaching the HIV/AIDS curriculum using a child-to-child curriculum…

Describes a 30-year-old new teacher's first year in an Oregon fourth-grade classroom, as he grapples with his students' diverse learning needs, inadequate textbooks, the isolation of being a rookie, and the pressures of simultaneously engaging his students' interest and meeting state standards. Lists four helpful books for new teachers. (SV)