Presents the viewpoints of a tenth grader on novels for young adults that portray troubled teens dealing with alcoholism, drugs, depression, suicide, sexual abuse, and violence. Suggests that contrary to adult opinions that these novels are not always age-appropriate, they in fact broaden teens' outlooks and prepare them for the real world. (LRW)

This feature is a collection of brief essays recently written by Japanese and Chinese gay youth, followed by commentary from several leading educators and scholars. Akihiko Komiya's "Difficulties Japanese Gay Youth Encounter" provides excerpts from the stories of six gay youth and their everyday lives, based on their letters in…

In this article, the author describes lessons she learned from graduate school in the Midwest. All her life, her skin color meant nothing to her. It was just a part of who she was, nothing more, nothing less. She knows she is stubborn. She does not give up easily. She knows she loves to read, she loves to write, and that nothing is more important…

This unique study used qualitative research methodology to investigate the first 18 years of parenting experiences of a mother of a child with autism. The purpose of this single case study was to record and understand the effect of autism on a mother's life retrospectively, to identify and analyse issues and themes that have shaped her life, to…

The purpose of this paper is to better understand how critical pedagogy and multicultural education can help meet the challenges that world language teachers experience in the teaching of culture. The authors believe that eliciting and understanding the voices of foreign language student teachers is essential to help them learn to mediate their…

By evoking the concept of memory pictures, the author recalls her early years as a teacher. Rather than calling herself a beginning teacher, she characterizes herself as a fledgling teacher to capture the insecurity associated with the first years of teaching. This experience is narrated through five memory pictures: (1) the new school's many…

This study compared the narratives of three groups of advanced speakers of Spanish with different learning backgrounds. The first group was made up of heritage speakers; the second group was composed of missionaries that had recently returned from a two-year sojourn in a Spanish-speaking country; and the third group comprised students who had…

A college teacher of both freshman English and English as a Second Language (ESL) recounts the addition of computer networking to her ESL classroom and its effects on student attitudes and performance. When computerized instruction and networking capabilities, already used in freshman composition, were added to the ESL class, a variety of expected…

An educator participating in a community college Puente class as both participant and observer analyzes the structure and experience of one writing assignment representative of the program's objectives. The Puente program combines teaching, counseling, and mentoring to California community college students as a means of promoting learning,…

This paper chronicles a process of structural change in the College of Education at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Data for the study were derived from interviews with 40 of the participants, plus archival material collected from the college planning office. The paper summarizes some of the historical context surrounding the change and…

This paper explores some forms of inquiry that are becoming influential within teacher education. In particular, the document focuses on forms of inquiry variously called "stories,""narratives,""personal knowledge,""practical knowledge," or in one particular genre "personal practical knowledge."…

This paper, in presenting a view of curriculum as praxis, contends that empowerment is neither allowed nor given. Rather, it emerges as curriculum practitioners engage in a process which consciously seeks to be empowering. The view of curriculum as praxis develops from reflections of curriculum studies taught in higher education programs, and from…

This book presents a framework for discussing the action of teachers in public elementary schools as the 21st century approaches. An educator with almost 30 years of teaching experience speaks from the perspective of teacher and parent. He tells tales about his family and his life as a teacher; he shares his social and moral philosophy and what he…

This paper explores the idea that writing and reading, the creation and interpretation of text, provide a model for the study of teacher education and research. It examines the development of one teacher educator who creates a community of third- and first-person voices through the re-examination of one of his published papers. Reflective writing…

The life story of Esther Burnett Horne records the memories and experiences of a Native woman born in 1909, who was both pupil and teacher in Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools. An introduction by Sally McBeth examines methodological and cultural concerns of collecting and co-authoring a life history. In Chapter 1, Essie begins with oral…