Establishing a communication-rich classroom can be difficult. This article describes the process and findings of a practitioner action research study addressing the question of how teachers can interact with their students while they are working in groups to encourage and enhance student-to-student communication. Recommended research-based teacher…

Employers need a systematic approach for sorting and selecting the best new hires, and hiring may be enhanced by the use of teachers in the process. This article discusses information-rich job advertisements, behavior-based interview questions, and how to objectively evaluate candidates in preliminary and on-site interviews. Candidates' past…

Too often, teachers encountering difficulties with classroom management focus only on the students rather than critically examining the influence of their own approaches on student behavior. Given the particular challenges that middle school students present, certain practices and expectations exacerbate management issues, and a lack of awareness…

Given that many high school students come to school unmotivated to learn, the purpose of this article is to examine various motivational constructs and to determine if educators are incorporating the most effective motivational strategies. In fact, adolescents vary from adults physically, cognitively, emotionally, and physiologically and,…

In this article, the author describes her use of dramatic performance to promote tellability in narrative writing within a seventh and eighth grade English and language arts classroom. By experiencing dramatic performance, the students were able to actively and physically perform the writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing.…

School bullying, also referred to as peer victimization, has increased rapidly in recent years and can be extremely harmful if schools and teachers do not establish effective bullying-prevention programs. Recent data on the number of students who are victims of bullying indicate that between 30 and 80 percent of students in schools report being…

Teachers, parents, and librarians are constantly looking for methods and materials that engage students as readers and motivate them to increase the time they spend reading. In this article we describe findings from a study of middle schoolers' magazine reading habits that gave us a close look at the power of magazines as supplemental supports for…

The incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is increasing in the United States. The rate of diagnosis, combined with the trend towards more inclusive classrooms, means that general education teachers will most likely be teaching some students with ASD. In their teacher preparation course in special education, pre-service teachers learned about…

High school teachers who engage students through active learning in their classrooms can more fully understand this instructional practice by examining the theories and strategies underlying the cognitive perspective of educational psychology, which addresses the development of knowledge in the individual mind. Two theoretical explanations,…

Many free online tools exist to complement algebraic instruction at the middle school level. This article presents findings that analyzed the features of algebraic tools to support learning. The findings can help teachers select appropriate tools to facilitate specific topics. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)

Media messages are increasingly packaged in ways that blur distinctions between genres. The U.S. Army National Guard's recent campaign incorporating rock stars and popular music to appeal to potential recruits exemplifies this trend, as commercials and music videos become one and the same. Given this increasing trend, critical media literacy…

Teachers can help minority children close the academic achievement gap in intermediate and middle school by combining literacy instruction and content-area material. This connection improves reading achievement and increases curriculum knowledge, even if students have previously experienced difficulty with primary school reading. Fortunately,…

Teachers today are more aware of differences in the way students learn and that a wide variety of strategies must be employed when teaching. Major musical films, when appropriately excerpted, can provide an entertaining and unique way of addressing valid instruction objectives in both the cognitive and affective domains. In this article, the…

Students enter classrooms with different abilities, learning styles, and personalities. Educators are mandated to see that all students meet the standards of our district and state. Through the use of differentiated instruction strategies, educators can meet the needs of all students and help them to meet and exceed the established standards. In…

In this article, the authors examine the role revision memos played in composition classrooms. Both authors used the memos to help students reflect on their writing and continue revising. The memos also served as guides for the instructors as they responded to their students' writing. The memos were a reminder that the instructors needed to focus…