Advances in science and technology, globalization of trade, international competition for markets, ethnic conflicts, and the limits of the planet's ecosystem have brought global issues and the people of the world to doorsteps and classrooms. With the increasing interaction among peoples of the world, skills in cross-cultural communication,…

Character education has been part of the educational and societal landscape for millennia. Through consensus, school communities teach and model traits that influence the character and moral development of children. Children learn character traits from others--both good and bad--whether that is intended or not. To avoid leaving character education…

Every 29 seconds, a U.S. student gives up on school. That's 124 students every hour; 2,979 every day; and more than 1 million every year. Most dropouts interviewed later in life stated they believe they could have succeeded in school if they had been given the right opportunity, and a special report in "Time" magazine reported "a full 88% of…

Most Monday mornings are noisy affairs where students and staff members are catching up on the events of the weekend. Sometimes these events are disputes that have festered over the weekend and are now ready to get settled. When a confrontation between students occurs, noise levels accelerate, students begin running, and an unnerving combination…

An interview is a multifaceted and complex process that begins long before and can end many days after the actual face-to-face interview. The process can be quite intimidating for recent graduates or young teachers with little job search experience. This article offers suggestions that can demystify the interview process and provide an opportunity…

Children of today may be the first generation in the United States in more than 200 years to have a life expectancy shorter than their parents. Low levels of fitness caused by physical inactivity and poor nutritional habits of many of today's youth may be a contributing factor. Combating low fitness levels with physical activity is of utmost…

While every child has individual needs, living in poverty further compounds the issues many students bring to school. This reality was brought home to the author in a way that compelled her to take a hard look at her approach to teaching. What started her reflection was a professional development experience on understanding poverty. The principal…

Three times a year, all students at one elementary school are universally screened using Curriculum-Based Measurements (CBM). This process allows school-based reading intervention and data teams to determine how students are responding to core reading instruction and which students would benefit from additional instructional support. This type of…

Though American life in 1923 was significantly different than the present day, authors John Dewey and Diana Brannon share similar concerns about character. Historically, educators as far back as the 1800s have felt an obligation to the community to transcend the primary purpose for schooling by including character education in their curricula.…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB 2001) has the faculties of every public and charter school scrambling to drive test scores of seven identified groups of children (African-American children, Anglo-White children, children with disabilities, Hispanic children, children of poverty, children with English language limitations, and Native-American…

Among a number of lessons, this commentary suggests that oftentimes the grade a student receives in a class is not truly reflective of what that student learned. Certainly, assigning grades--at least for those who take their role as educators seriously--is one of the toughest tasks confronting the classroom teacher. Again and again, one reflects…

Many novice teachers have the requisite skills, dispositions, and commitment to succeed, yet are leaving the profession in huge numbers. Despite induction and mentoring programs in many schools, approximately 50 percent of new teachers quit within their first five years. Perhaps what these teachers need is motivation inherent in a different kind…

Regardless of the discipline, the quest to provide developmentally appropriate learning tasks for all students is a continuous challenge for most teachers. Teachers want and expect all students to be successful; but, in reality, students tend to exit in the same order as they entered--with the most skilled students performing better and getting…

The topic of innovative curriculum planning piqued the interest of teacher educators at a public southeastern university, where it is commonplace to grapple with such concepts. In this paper, the authors describe a study of curriculum integration focusing on social studies and visual arts. The study participants were university level students…

Involving communities in the process of curriculum development may not be novel, but it seems lacking with regard to controversial issues such as lessons on diverse family structures, homosexuality, and other special situations. Disparity in values and convictions can lead one person to support a decision, while another person might hold an…