Essays on the author's experiences in her first year of teaching: the mistakes she made, what she learned from them, and how she used them to become a better teacher -- and how other first-year teachers can, too.
When teaching computer proficiency to at-risk students, make classroom lessons relevant to their lives and take account of different learning styles.
In this study, the researchers examined the extent to which student-to-teacher ratios and per pupil expenditures differed for at-risk students as a function of being enrolled either at a traditional school or being enrolled at an academic alternative education center. Data, collected from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System, were analyzed across the State of Texas over the 2004–2005 and 2005–2006 academic school years. Statistically significant differences were yielded in student-to-teacher ratios and per pupil expenditures for both school years between the two groups of at-risk students. Alternative education campuses had higher per pupil expenditures than did traditional high schools with large at-risk populations. Implications of these findings are discussed.
When teachers view their mission as one to “save” children, the possibility then exists that they might not “save” them all. In fact, it is not uncommon that a teacher utters the words, “I can’t save them all.” The mission, however, of the teacher is not to “save.” Rather, the mission of a teacher is to reflectively teach and to continuously seek ways to facilitate meaningful learning. In that light, this article examines the notion of what it means to reflectively teach, particularly as it relates to working with a diverse student population relative to different attention spans and capabilities of staying on task.
