This author has often heard teachers refer to kids as "experts" when it comes to using technology. She has found, however, that, while they may be great at navigating a new app or figuring out how to use the latest gadget, kids are not experts when it comes to properly communicating and ethically handling everything that goes along with…

Fostering Healthy Futures (FHF) is a randomized controlled trial of an intervention for preadolescent youth placed in foster care because of maltreatment. As part of the FHF program, graduate students spend sixteen to twenty hours per week mentoring two youths in foster care and receiving intensive training and supervision. During summer and fall…

This paper uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate how the Young Women Leaders Program, a mentoring program for at-risk adolescent girls, supports mentor commitment, prejudice reduction, and increased understanding and acceptance of diversity among the undergraduates serving as mentors. The results suggest that particular mentoring program…

Although research has clearly demonstrated the benefits of mentoring for mentees, much less is known about how mentoring impacts mentors and, in particular, their professional development. Using a mixed-methods design, this study investigated the impact that mentoring youth had on the professional development of first- and second-year university…

Mentoring is often considered a gift of time and resources that a mentor gives to a mentee. However, research suggests that mentoring has benefits specifically for the mentor. This study analyzes written reflections of twenty-five mentors who took part in a National Science Foundation-funded program that encouraged middle-school girls to engage in…

University schools of education are challenged to prepare future teachers using best practices. Knowledge of brain research helps provide one piece of a multidisciplinary conceptual framework for educators as they articulate and enhance effective teaching. This qualitative study discovered recommendations for the best brain-compatible…

Knowing the great impact education has on a nation, the author decided to investigate the education systems in America and Japan. The aim of the study was to answer how educational systems or practices in Japan and America differ, and how Japanese practices might improve those of American educators and administrators. Besides many similarities,…

For fifteen years, the presenter has engaged college students in discussions and writing assignments that pertain to the outstanding characteristics of their most effective teachers--"effective" meaning that these teachers made the most significant impact on their lives. Based on those recurring themes, the conclusion is that effective teachers…

In olden days, back in the Oldcountry, it was much easier to choose. Back then the Club Manager told you what costume to wear. Even the Ax-wielders recognized the advantages of the Costume: it reduced resistance to their ministrations. Ordinary people came to recognize the advent of the Costumed Ax-wielder as a sign of their own shortcomings. If,…

In 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized public vouchers for use in religious schools (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 122 S. Ct. 2460), the battle over school choice, rather than being ended, was actually begun in earnest. But now the fight involves "Blaine amendments": statelevel constitutional amendments passed in the nineteenth century to…

For nearly half of his professional career, this author admits he was wrong about how to help students achieve. During almost thirty-six years as a college administrator and instructor, he designed programs and services, taught classes, and conducted workshops with one purpose in mind: to help students gain maximum benefits from college and…

Like Chip Anderson, whose essay you read earlier in this issue, I was initially taught to use the deficit-remediation model with my students. Even in that negative context, though, and with no exposure at all to strengths-based education, I unconsciously based my early teaching on four of my five Clifton StrengthsFinder signature themes:…

Much criticism has it that teachers are ill prepared in college for the reality of their jobs in schools. Little attention has been paid, however, to how teachers are subjected, once they have been hired, to group-think processes of indoctrination, usually called "staff development." Staff development works not infrequently to increase their…

In the opinions of 52 high schools students who kept journals regarding their feelings about school, schools are irrelevant, dull, sterile, or worse; they despised unenthusiastic teachers teaching uninteresting lessons from textbooks. The increased emphasis on testing and accountability will probably will not change these opinions. (JOW)

An experimental group studied Macbeth in an independent, constructivist setting using multimedia; the control group studied traditionally. Eleven of 23 experimental students and 2 of 21 in the traditional class failed. In an experiment with Hamlet, the results were reversed. Students were most successful when the teacher was actively involved,…