Uses anecdotal evidence to investigate elementary and secondary school reading teachers' perceptions of their own development as readers. Analyzes positive and negative factors that influenced these teachers both in school (such as teachers, instructional practices, learning environment) and out of school (such as family reading, library exposure,…

This book documents the "brave new world" of teacher, administrator, school, and student accountability that has swept across the United States in recent years. Its particular vantage point is the perspective of dozens of new teachers trying to make their way through their first months and years working in schools in the New York City…

A teacher of a graduate course in severe learning disabilities developed a guided self-study project designed to move her students from a vocabulary-laden understanding of disability to an understanding of their students' unique and complex ways of learning. Self-study activities included learning about one's own learning style and how that…

Intellectual freedom is a concept fundamental to all libraries. It enables library customers to access a wide variety of materials in numerous formats, and is a concept dear to the hearts and minds of a democratic society. Libraries are often challenged by individuals and groups concerned about the availability of certain materials. The first part…

Noting that the movement from young adulthood through coupling and the transition to parenthood may be among the most universal adult developmental transitions, this book uses a qualitative analysis of family narratives to examine the meanings that family members ascribe to the developmental process of becoming a family. Addressing issues of…

This book presents 13 stories of Native American college students struggling for survival on several planes--intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual--and striving for success in their own terms in a cultural setting not their own. Although all the students attended Dartmouth College and graduated, the salient common theme of the stories is…

This book is a collection of stories describing the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, based on the author's internship in the Italian preschools and a 4-year adaptation effort in one American school. The book's prologue describes the author's work before using the Reggio Emilia approach, the history of Reggio Emilia, the…

This book approaches school reform from the perspective of high school students and their individual views of life within their high schools. Included are essays from students who have behavior disorders, attention deficit disorders, and learning disabilities. The introductory chapter suggests that administrators, teachers, and students all live…

This study determined the role of self-efficacy on women's selection of math-related careers. Unlike a similar study conducted by Zeldin and Pajares (2000), this study included African-American women. It centered on Banduras (1986, 1987) four sources for self-efficacy perceptions (mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasions, and…

This nine-chapter book, written in Europe by a French-speaking Swiss educator, explores the rationale for using educational biography approaches in adult education and presents examples that illustrate various uses of these life history activities. Chapter 1 provides an introduction and overview of educational biography, and Chapter 2 describes…

This paper explores the university supervisor's role in the Professional Development School (PDS) context, examining the influence of the PDS context on one student teacher supervisor's practice at Penn State University and the surrounding school district. The primary vehicle around which the PDS was structured was a 1-year internship for senior…

An approach used to help bridge the distance between home and school for bilingual/bicultural immigrant families is described. First, the various roles of the classroom teacher as cultural storyteller, cultural healer, and cultural worker in the relationship between the schools and homes of bilingual students is explored, drawing on recent…

This paper discusses the author's personal experiences in developing and implementing a problem-based college mathematics course for liberal arts majors. This project was initiated in response to the realization that most students are dependent on "patterning" learning algorithms and have no expectation that self-initiated thinking is a…

The Write for Your Life project allows students to examine life events that affect their health and well-being by creating spaces for them to inquire into the circumstances of their lives. This paper examines Write for Your Life in a Texas middle school with a diverse student population, focusing on three students' writing projects. (SM)

This article uses the issue of custody relinquishment to illustrate ways in which research can be used in the policy change process. In the case studies profiled, research was most effective when combined with family stories. The stories gave the problem life and the research helped find families with stories. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)