Teacher-parent conferences: Learning from each other

Parent-teacher conferences offer important contact and provide opportunities for discussing a child's progress. Here are some tips on conducting productive conferences.Janis Bullock is instructor of Early Childhood Education at Montana State University in Bozeman.     

Exploring the Impact of Prior Experiences in Non-Formal Education on My Pedagogy of Teacher Education

The purpose of this article is to use self-study methodology to analyze critically the impact of 30 years of non-formal education on my development as a teacher educator. I begin within a particular conception of self-study research and make a case for situating martial arts as non-formal education. The data for this article are presented as a series of episodes, in which I write a short paragraph about each phase in my development as a martial artist and comment on my approach to learning and teaching, where appropriate, during each episode. At the end of the article, I draw several links to self-study literature and to my own understanding of teacher education. In so doing, I demonstrate the value of examining the impact of non-formal education experiences as a teacher educator.     

GRADUATES' VIEWS ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF THEIR HIGHER EDUCATION TO THEIR GENERAL DEVELOPMENT: A Retrospective Evaluation for the United Kingdom

Using a data set on 12,000 UK graduates, weexplore graduates' satisfaction with the contributionthat higher education (HE) has made to their generaldevelopment. Using an ordered logit model, weinvestigate which graduates are the most likely to evaluatefavorably the contribution of their HE. We makeinferences about the relationship between the type of HEand its contribution to general development across a number of facets. Exploiting the historicalcomposition of the data, we also examine the extent towhich these contributory effects of HE to generaldevelopment erode or diminish as the graduates age. This approach permits some critical insightinto whether HE influences development over the courseof one's life.     

Learning through block play

Early childhood educators are greatly concerned about the value of classroom materials for young children's development. Blocks continue to be favored by many as a way of facilitating the developmental domains in children. In fact, blocks are considered the most useful and most used equipment in preschool and kindergarten programs. (Benish, 1978; Kinsmans & Berk, 1979). Variations in shapes, sizes, and weight foster learning experiences from infancy through early childhood.Janis R. Bullock is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.