Members' Resources > Articles / Speeches

The Goodlad Occasional: Volume 1, Issue 6 June 2, 2006
[ John Goodlad ] has been writing a series of short occasional papers that have been addressed to principals in the Seattle area who are working with the University of Washington’s “Teachers for a New Era” project. These may be useful to you in local leadership development sessions, classes, in-services and other events related to the NNER, the IEI, and the Agenda.

Life on the Borderlands: Action Research and Clinical Teacher Education Faculty
Robert V. Bullough, Jr. - Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling (CITES) Brigham Young University (Bob_Bullough@BYU.Edu) and Roni Jo Draper, Lynnette Erickson, Leigh Smith and Janet Young
Department of Teacher Education
Brigham Young University
Published in Educational Action Research Journal, 12(3), 433-453. Used with permission.

Abstract

Seeking to soften the gap between clinical and tenure-track teacher education faculty, a year-long action research seminar was conducted. Using data from observation notes, interviews, and a taped seminar session, the authors explore the seminar from its very rocky beginning to its conclusion. Drawing on the concept of “communities of practice” (Wenger,1998), the authors explore reasons for the hesitancy of the clinical faculty to share the results of their studies and their struggle to find legitimacy within the university.

Posted: 16-March-06

Participatory Action Research and the Quest for Teacher Educator Community Solidarity
Robert V. Bullough, Jr., Roni Jo Draper, Kendra Hall, Leigh K. Smith, Janet Young, Brenda Sabey, & Shaun Brooks
Department of Teacher Education
Brigham Young University
Published in Teacher Development, 9(1), 79-84. Used with permission.

Abstract

Desiring to overcome sharp feelings of disconnection, a year-long participatory action research seminar involving both clinical and tenure-track teacher education faculty was formed. Working in teams with tenure-track faculty support, clinical faculty set research questions but they were reluctant to assume project leadership. In part, because of intensifying pressures associated with impending program accreditation, the projects languished. Nevertheless, the boundaries separating the two faculties and communities of practice softened, and friendships were formed and strengthened. Drawing on insights from positioning theory and Wenger’s research on communities of practice, the authors conclude that friendship may be a precondition for re-imagining the established relationships and understandings that currenlty fragment teacher education.

Posted: 16-March-06

Lecture by Alan T. Wood: "Can Democrats and Republicans find perfect happiness together?"
“Washington Week” at the University of Washington, Bothell — April 23, 2005

Shared Goals and Collaboration in Action: Four Projects to Enhance Student Achievement by Susan K. Green, Ph. D. Center for Pedagogy, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C. 1Mb

Abstract

With the current stress on accountability, linking Professional Development school (PDS) activities and initiatives to improved student outcomes is imperative. This article describes four ongoing collaborative efforts at one PDS with measurable outcomes related to impact on students. These projects include involvement of arts and sciences faculty, introduction of innovative assessment techniques, and action research projects for student teachers. The four projects may stimulate ideas for highlighting the key goal in PDS efforts of enhancing student achievement.

'Disposition' Emerges as Issue at Brooklyn College by Jacob Gershman - Staff Reporter of The New York Sun May 31, 2005

Brooklyn College's School of Education has begun to base evaluations of aspiring teachers in part on their commitment to social justice, raising fears that the college is screening students for their political views.

Democracy Lab: Liberal Learning for Strong Democracy by James T. Knauer, in LiberalArtsOnline (April 2005)

In a recent article in LiberalArtsOnline, James T. Knauer makes a case for the "natural synergy between civic education and liberal education." Knauer, who directs the Pennsylvania Center for Civic Life at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, argues that nurturing an informed, engaged citizenry requires effort--especially in an era when public discourse is dominated by "shout radio" and "pervasive spin." "The capacities, habits, and dispositions of strong democratic citizens can be learned well by the many," he writes, "only when supported by a culture that nourishes and replenishes these characteristics from generation to generation."

Higher education plays an important role in the transmission of such democratic values, and stressing civic education in college can strengthen our democracy while also contributing to student learning, Knauer claims. Pedagogies based on deliberative dialogue, for instance, can help students "gain a deeper understanding of competing perspectives on complex public issues"--and in the process help them clarify their own thinking. Knauer points to Democracy Lab, an online learning community run by the Center for Civic Life, as an example of how effective this approach can be. By allowing students from across the country to engage in thoughtful dialogue about pressing issues, he says, Democracy Lab models the kind of civic participation that is the foundation of a strong democracy.

The full text of James Knauer’s article is available in LiberalArtsOnline, the online publication of Wabash College’s Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. AAC&U’s Web site features many resources on civic engagement, including the Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement, a joint project of AAC&U and Campus Compact.

The English Journal Vol. 94, No. 5, May 2005: Voices of Democracy edited by IEI Leadership Associate, Louann Reid:

Educating for Democracy: The Vital Role of the Language Arts Teacher
by Ann Foster and Cori Mantle-Bromley - 977Kb

According to Corinne Mantle-Bromley and Ann M. Foster, English language arts teachers more than any others help students to connect skills they learn in school with the larger purposes of democracy. Therefore, they contend, “the future of our nation depends at least in part on the commitment of our current language arts teachers toward democracy and social justice.”

Copyright 2005 by the National Council of Teachers of English. Used with permission.

Democracy in Schools: Truly a Matter of Voice
by Lois Easton - 837Kb

Lois Brown Easton describes an alternative high school where democracy is truly enacted. The students’ personal voices are valued, which helps them develop power, responsibility, and authority over their education.

Copyright 2005 by the National Council of Teachers of English. Used with permission.

Visit the online bookstore of the National Council of Teachers of English to order single copies of this issue of English Journal and to obtain a subscription to the journal.

Advance Announcement of the next issue of Educational Forum. It is a blockbuster issue on many topics related to leadership. The authors are a great sample of international practitioners. The writing is superb with Andy Hargreaves serving as the academic editor. This issue may be ordered from the KAPPA DELTA PI .
Posted: 03/25/05

Check out the op-ed piece, "Let's Call a Truce in Battle Over Religion and Politics" published in the Greenville News by A. Scott Henderson, Furman University, South Carolina
December 2004

See the Kappa Delta Pi RECORD, Vol 41, No. 1, published in the Fall of 2004. This edition of the journal features the work of the Agenda for Education in a Democracy and the writing of many of our NNER colleagues. Back issues available through the KDP store.
Published in 2004