Extended quotations from informal interviews with eight families focus on the experiences of parents in adjusting to life with a handicapped child. In the first part of this paper, seven interview questions probe the following issues: positive and negative experiences with other people's reactions; most and least helpful actions by others; effects…

The House select committee met to hear testimony from parents, children, service providers, and researchers concerning the effects of job and income loss on families in central Illinois. The testimony of the first panel consisted of personal narratives. A high school student whose parents may move the family in order to find better paying jobs…

A resource unit on the Navajo way of life, for grades 4-6, contains sections on Navajo history, art, and crafts, homes, music, poetry and games; Navajo and Pueblo cookery (including recipes); traditional Navajo dress, ceremony and legends; and successful Navajos, past and present. Sections include text, vocabulary words, drawings, maps, and…

Recounts the personal experience of returning to the elementary classroom in a rural Ozark school after 30 years in teacher education. Describes how the teacher and the school are often the only hope of children who are engulfed in economic poverty and lack personal security. (NEC)

The days following September 11, 2001, were characterized for many by a startling clarity, as if someone had applied a magnified lens to life's everyday routines and every moment, every gesture, every word exchanged with friends, colleagues and family was more nuanced and precious than before. The decision to publish this volume of essays was…

Based on the experiences of a participant observer (weekly playground volunteer) over the course of one school year, this paper recounts the experiences of first through third graders during recess and discusses the importance of outdoor play for providing children an opportunity to speak and act unfettered by adult expectations, thereby promoting…

This briefing paper provides background information and reports on the achievements and future challenges of the Preschool Grants Program of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Section 619 authorizes grants to states to provide special education and related services to children, ages 3 through 5 years, with disabilities. This…

The Life History Project at Denmark's Roskilde University is a 5-year research project that was initiated in 1998 to examine learning and participation in adult and continuing education from a life history perspective. The project was designed to build on a broad range of qualitative interview studies and case studies into learning processes. The…

Markus and Nurius (1986) are credited with developing the concept of possible selves, which represents individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they fear becoming. It has been applied in research and practice with adolescents exploring career choices; adults in transition; and older adults envisioning…

A phenomenological hermeneutic approach was used to explore the process of being and becoming a distance learner and ways the distance learning environment is inhabited or known. The study's author analyzed her own distance learning experiences and those of three other individuals (two females and one male) with an interest in education and…

This book draws on interviews with 47 former participants in one- and two-room schools, primarily in the northern part of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Chapter 1 presents a history of the one-room, one-teacher rural school, discussing the school consolidation trend, pupil transportation, and the three factors most instrumental in the one-room…

This book details the experiences of a teacher in a Haitian-populated preschool in an urban area of the United States, focusing on the development of literacy and English as a second language. An introductory chapter describes the children, some of their personal and cultural background, their classroom demeanor, and the context in which they were…

A teacher of English in China describes his experiences teaching the listening component of a summer course designed to help 37 doctoral students improve their English skills before beginning an agricultural economics program. In the listening component, students were to gain experience in notetaking while listening to extended academic lectures.…

This essay examines the ways in which education, as a discipline, has been influenced by feminist scholarship in the field. It explains that foundational studies by feminist scholars have examined sexual differences in identity and ways of knowing, and have challenged the arrogation of feminine experience and viewpoints to generalizations of male…

In an interview, Lloyd Hackney, Chairman of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), responds to questions about black higher education and the role of HBCUs, including HBCUs' public image, the effects of Dr. Hackney's own educational experience on his views, the Clinton Administration's actions,…