The yearning for spirituality and social responsibility in HRD illuminates the need for reflective practice in professional education to be transformed by multiple sources of information and praxis questions. Theological reflection, a form of reflective practice, is contextualized by praxis questions, spirituality, and social analysis. An…

This anthology of 32 autobiographical tales is based on both personal and professional experiences. The anthology's eclectic tales offer: recalled moments of childhood wonder; anecdotes about remarkable and not-so-remarkable students; lessons from the pulpit as well as the battlefield; and stories of painful loss, hilarious mishaps, and awesome…

Noting that teachers' research is found in personal journals, professional conversations, computer networking, formal research studies, and publications or presentations, this paper answers, in outline form, a series of questions on the expanding role for special needs educators. These questions are: what "teacher as researcher" means;…

This paper shares ideas from a research project involving more than 75 teachers in five states. The teachers participated in groups of 12-18. They received support as part of the research project. The groups met with a facilitator every 2-3 weeks to have conversations about teaching and learning. They learned from and with each other as they…

A female African American educator with dreadlocks in a class of predominantly white college students begins each semester by warning students that the terms "black" and "white" will be used regularly. She also points out factors that might inhibit speaking in class, such as white students' fears that awkward phrasing of their…

For those working in adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) settings, finding practical options for professional development is a concern. The field has a range of program types, a largely part-time workforce, limited financial resources for training, and varied policies and requirements for professional credentialing or certification.…

In response to state licensure standards, Ashland University, Ohio, revised its teacher education program. The faculty pondered how to build in ways that would ensure students were making connections between their courses and field experiences while simultaneously reflecting on their own growth. Portfolios appeared to be the solution. The…

This research reports results of a survey of content area educators who completed an in-service content area reading course in May 2000. Educators completed two surveys, one each year following the course to determine the most effective content area strategies utilized during the two years following the course. In the surveys, teachers reported…

This book focuses on learning as a social process. The language of teaching and learning within classroom literacy lessons, and how this language contributes to building a culture of learning, is a key principle that underlies each concept presented in the book. Each of the chapters asks teachers to examine the interactive nature of classroom life…

This study examined a fifth year teacher, who had participated in an original project assessing the effectiveness of metaphor within collaborative reflection to help prospective teachers define, explain, and challenge their beliefs about learning and teaching science. Results found that using metaphor as a tool for reflection helped the teacher…

A study was conducted at a program in rural southwest Virginia to determine whether Head Start parents and adult basic education/high school equivalency program students use critical thinking skills. More than 50 definitions of critical thinking were collected, and Bloom's Taxonomy was reviewed for background information. The teachers' manual for…

This article likens education to playing a game. Whereas students think of education as a finite game--as something to beat--educators see the educational process as an infinite game, and hope to instill in students a desire to pursue knowledge for its own sake, to value their time in the process, and to be prepared for life's surprises. In David…

This paper offers a brief description of the Taiwanese elementary school system. It also outlines the current teacher training system, emphasizing the differences between the old "Normal Education Art" and the new "Teacher Education Art". One section describes the three major reforms that Taiwan's mathematics curriculum has…

This book is intended to be a practical guide to the encouragement of reflection in teaching and learning within the context of the British higher education system. The book emphasizes the use of questions for focus; the use of examples to answer the questions; more generalized discussions based on the examples; the use of ordinary language…

The question explored in this report is whether electronic networks are effective tools for creating and sustaining reflective teacher communities. Over the past two decades, computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies have been used in a variety of efforts aimed at fostering teacher learning and teacher collaboration. A study sought to…