A teacher at Upland Hills School (Royal Oaks, Michigan) describes how he and groups of seventh and eighth graders built a 175-foot bridge across a gully between the school and an outdoor environmental education area. Students received basic design and engineering instruction at a nearby university, and parents and community provided support and…

A Catholic-school teacher of grades five and six reflects on her first year of teaching and describes how Foxfire training led her to introduce group decision making and planning into her classroom. Resulting class projects including a newspaper, a play, and a booklet of ghost stories are described. (SV)

A fifth grade teacher in a rural Kentucky school discusses three years of classroom experiences applying the Foxfire approach, focuses on the democratic decision-making process and the importance of student self-esteem, describes student-project problems and successes, and lists student accomplishments. (SV)

Describes the beginnings of the Foxfire instructional approach; its spread in eastern Kentucky, supported by the Eastern Kentucky Teachers Network; and its special relevance for rural and Appalachian children. Includes comments by teachers and students about their educational experiences and class projects. (SV)

A high school teacher describes the learning activities his students initiated to make math more meaningful. Students determined the height of objects without direct measurement, graphed statistical information from the presidential primaries, studied the evolution of architecture by building gingerbread models, and researched land-use problems at…

Examines the early experiences of a Peace Corps teacher of English as a foreign language in Botswana, Africa, followed by his time as a teacher trainer and early graduate-school experiences. The case study offers personal and professional insights about new teachers, teacher preparation, language learning, and multiculturalism. (Author/MSE)

It is generally accepted that to live and work in the remote regions of Australia requires specific skills and expertise to accommodate the shifting demands of outback life. For professionals assigned to such areas by employing bodies, this is particularly the case, and teachers are no exception. In addition to such personal attributes,…

The author was not a great student in high school, yet she had ambitions to succeed as a psychologist. She also had difficulty attaching herself to one friend or a group of friends with which she felt comfortable. She was the only self-identified Native student in her high school, however, and there were no support groups or clubs for Native…

In this study, 12 preschool teachers in Queensland, Australia were given opportunities to record and describe their work within their specific teaching context, as well as within the wider contexts of the school campus and the educational and social system. Subjects kept a reflective journal each day over a 2-week period, and entries frequently…

The essays in this monograph are intended to give visibility to the nature and nobility of teaching. The volume is a reflective celebration and an elevation of the call to teaching. Chapter titles include: "Acts of Teaching"; "A Good Question"; "A Good School"; "Lessons for Learners"; "A Need to…

The investigators in this preliminary study (currently underway at the University of Towson, Maryland) used the experiences of preservice elementary teachers as revealed by their journals and interviews to obtain insights that will enable them to develop a more satisfactory and professional induction to teaching for beginning teachers. A content…

Two Native people describe their respective journeys to healing, journeys that involved the rediscovery of language and culture. In Part I, "Healing the Tears of Yesterday by the Drum Today: The Oneida Language Is a Healing Medicine" (Grafton Antone), the first narrator taught the Oneida language to adult students at a community center.…

Personal narratives from first-year English teachers reveal that the social system of the schools in which they teach, the instructional system and its accompanying curriculum requirements and restraints, and the nature of the student population become dominant in determining teachers' behavior and their attitudes toward teaching. (HOD)

Reviews several recent academic autobiographies in an effort to correct conservative criticism of academia as elitist, ideologically rigid, and didactic. Works by Richard Rodriguez, Mike Rose, Alice Kaplan, and Julius Getman reveal a broad range of experiences and viewpoints. Discusses the rewards and drawbacks of academic teaching. (MJP)

A professor giving a lecture/performance on Native American history to Mexican American second-graders wrestled with the limits of what he could tell the children about their own Native American identity and about Our Lady of Guadalupe's origin as Native goddess. The relationship between postcolonial scholarship and performance theory is explored…