Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Head Start Parents' Perceptions Of Parental Involvement During Their Children's Transition To Kindergarten : A Phenomenological Study, Dawn Angela Barberis

Dissertations and Theses

Schools are recognizing the importance of parent involvement in children's education, but they often struggle to work with families living in poverty whose definition of parent partnership may differ from that of school staff (Lareau, 1987). Parents who live in poverty may feel inferior to school staff due to their lack of economic and educational resources. They may lack the expertise to be able to effectively communicate and work with school staff in making decisions that affect their children. With the increased expectations that schools place on families in supporting their children's education, this mismatch between the resources and experiences …

Crossing Borders, Building Bridges, Gayle Y. Thieman

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article is derived from the presidential address delivered at the NCSS Annual Meeting in San Diego on November 30, 2007.

Through collaboration and involvement, we can meet the five critical challenges facing social studies educators today.

Killer Waves, Fiction To Fact: Fiction To Inspire Nonfiction Research In The Intermediate-Grade Classroom, Barbara Ruben, Barbara Liles

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

A description of a literature-based unit on tsunamis that uses the emotional connection of fiction as a stepping-stone to informational research. This unit uses literature circles to motivate curiosity in young readers about science. The emotional connection a reader has with fictional characters bridges fiction and nonfiction and makes nonfiction research more relevant. As is true in all learning, when students have an authentic reason to explore informational text, the learning becomes deeper and more lasting.

Research Summary: Courageous, Collaborative Leadership, Vincent A. Anfara Jr., P. Elizabeth Pate, Micki M. Caskey, P. Gayle Andrews, Larry G. Daniel, Steven B. Mertens, Mike Muir

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

While courageous, collaborative leadership has not been formally recognized as a “model” by those who study educational leadership, there is a wealth of information about collaborative (i.e., participatory) leadership and a growing corpus of literature focused on courageous leadership. As in the development of the ideas connected to collaborative leadership, the world of business is taking the lead in delineating what courageous leadership means. Some of this literature has even surfaced in the realm of religious studies (Hybels, 2002). Simply defined, courageousness in leadership addresses the necessity to step outside the box and take chances to help the organization establish …