This paper proposes teaching strategies that promote positive interactions and scholastic success among Native American students. It is written from the perspective of a non-Native educator who has taught on reservations and at a federal boarding school. While the strategies are geared to the teaching of Native students, the underlying principles…

Prospective teachers in early field placements may gradually develop more mature concerns for pupils if they are given opportunities to reflect upon classroom experience. This study provides information concerning a reflective inquiry model compatible with early field placement. Participants were 12 student teachers engaged in classroom teaching…

This paper compares and contrasts the author's adult learning experiences with those of another adult learner in order to understand the inter-relationship between the domains of education and "work and love" (Merriam, 1993) imbedded in adult development theory. The author interviewed a female colleague of similar age and place of…

Anxiety can impede language learning. By using the Community Language Learning method, a teacher helped young Spanish-language learners in Puerto Rico break through almost impenetrable social and psycholinguistic barriers that threatened their capability of learning a new language. This method focuses on strategies that reduce anxiety as the…

This review of "Teacher Lore," a book of essays, highlights what teacher lore is, teachers' stories and ideas, and learning from teacher lore. The book invites teachers to look searchingly into their daily practice in order to understand the mystery and intangibles of teaching. It is recommended for preservice and inservice teachers. (SM)

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 study examined autobiographical narratives written by preservice English teachers who described their new experiences in student teaching. Subjects, 18 young men and women enrolled in a one-year combination teaching credential and masters degree program at Stanford University, described in writing a major classroom experience. Fourteen of the 18…

Draws on 13 years experience teaching behavior-disordered students to identify effective teaching methods. Discusses the importance of honesty, fairness, consistency, persistence, intuition, praise, and humor in the teacher-student relationship. Provides eight guidelines for developing a workable and suitable classroom reward system. (JHZ)

Cultural studies courses offered to undergraduate students of foreign languages tend to rely on canonical works that avoid sociopolitical perspectives and present the culture of the "Other" within the dominant world view. There is an urgent need to move from these traditional curricula to more engaging programs that capture the…

An award-winning teacher shares her strategies for improving attendance, homework completion, and English proficiency in a fifth-grade class in Nunavut. She tailored the curriculum to her students' academic and cultural needs. Her students thrived on the security, success, and sense of caring that her regime of structure, discipline, and…

Seven brief articles by teachers in Foxfire's East Tennessee Teachers' Network discuss the developmentally appropriate application of Foxfire core practices in grades 4-8, and describe class problem-solving related to student behavior problems, community-based projects, changing student attitudes, and use of Foxfire-style projects with special…

Entries from the teaching journal of a teacher of behavior disordered students illustrate her inner struggle as she turned away from the traditional philosophy of classroom control and the progress of her students as they accepted responsibility for their behavior and learning. (SV)

A teacher recalls how the first years of Foxfire coincided with her first years of teaching Kiowa students in Oklahoma. A curriculum derived from the region, inspired by ideas that became known as the Foxfire core practices, and delivered via small group work and facilitative teaching, generated student interest, innumerable activities,…

As part of an effort to learn from reflecting on personal history and autobiographical writing and analysis, this paper shares one teacher educator's experiences in learning to teach. The process of learning to teach a field experience course for elementary school teacher candidates at a teachers' junior college in Taiwan is described. The…

This study was conducted in order to examine programmatic and personal dimensions that interact to shape a future teacher's beliefs and practices. The study charted stages of preservice teacher development through dialogue journal case study analysis of eight students representing divergent academic disciplines and cultural biographies. The…