Describes personal and professional pressures a first-year teacher faced when confronted with mandated standards in student academic achievement for at-risk students. Focuses on the teacher's efforts to: (1) examine student needs, including addressing test anxiety; (2) adapting classroom methods, including uses of practice testing; and (3)…

Contends that supportive teacher-student relationships can benefit students' social, behavioral, emotional, and academic health. Offers five recommendations for teachers working with adolescents with high incidence disabilities: (1) provide students adult support within school; (2) teach skills for building strong adult relationships; (3) focus on…

Recognizes the need to address the inherent systemic problems in providing mental health services to students, and describes the efforts and problems faced by the Center for the Advancement of Mental Health Practices in the Schools. Asserts that a systemic change requires inclusion of mental health principles in teacher education programs and…

This article shares a personal perspective on school mental health through a discussion of the ways that schools currently address mental health, an example of advancing such work through a school district mental health unit, and reflection on some important lessons learned. The article's appendix lists five sample delivery mechanisms and formats.…

Discusses children's play in conjunction with intellectual development, language, and social benefits. Suggests that play develops personality, encourages personal relations, stimulates creativity, adds to happiness, and advances learning. Encourages parents and teachers to provide children with richly varied play experiences to promote cognition,…

Examines the notion of investing in children and its connection to outcome-based assessment and the philosophy of teaching and learning. Considers the implications of grounding one's work with children in the immediacy of working with them over time and in a community rather than only in future outcomes. (DLH)

Discusses parents' responsibility to provide their children with a moral compass that comprises respect for others, kindness and caring, honesty and honor, and reverence for life. Recognizes that children experience difficulty in achieving goodness and that good behavior sometimes encounters painful consequences. Suggests that parents model…

Describes a graduate early childhood program that emphasizes a constructivist curriculum and a feminist perspective, and reviews feedback from graduates. Presents a constructivist curriculum design, moving from practice to theoretical issues to integrated theory and practice. Discusses classroom strategies of dialogue, dialectic, reflection, and…

Discusses advantages of technology such as handheld computers in classrooms that include children with disabilities. Asks how technological devices affect very young children with or without disabilities and reviews criteria for selecting software, Web sites, and resources for teaching with technology. (DLH)

Discusses techniques for managing toddler circles. Notes that flexible transitions reduce frustration, suggests the importance of flexible and reasonable expectations, and considers the value of instruction grounded in child experience. Recommends materials that can be safely manipulated by toddlers and emphasizes that activity transitions must be…

Presents general background information on migration in South Africa and its effect on education. Described a cross-cultural communication program that addresses creatively the outcomes of migration, including its theoretical model, an application, program operation for learners and educators, and challenges. Reviews lessons learned by migrant…

Describes the founding and role of the nonprofit organization Udbhas, which promotes literacy among children in the slums of Calcutta while providing a level of food, clothing, and social and educational experiences generally absent from their homes. Discusses the children's background and identifies problems in bringing learning to these…

Proposes using illustrated fictional literature to promote in young children aesthetic appreciation of human creations and the natural environment. Defines aesthetics and recommends both "good" stories and books with vicarious encounters as two useful categories of stories with moral reasoning accessible to primary grade children. Offers three…

Describes using drama to provide constant scaffolding as children learn to write stories. The 5-week process begins with collaboratively setting the stage, proceeds with scaffolding for reviewing the elements of stories (punctuation, the sequence of events, characterization, the plot problem and solution), and concludes with independent projects…

Revisits the middle-level school movement. Provides an overview of young adolescents' development, offers representative examples of developmentally appropriate practices, and looks at progress educators have made as well challenges encountered. Emphasizes the importance of understanding physical, pychosocial, and cognitive development in young…