Polishing up the pattern: The ending ofThe Owl Service

Andrew Taylor has worked in both Primary and Secondary schools and now teaches at North Riding College, Scarborough, in North Yorkshire, England. He is soon to begin a secondment to the National Curriculum Council in York, as a Professional Officer for English. He has published previously on the Real Books controversy in the teaching of reading and is interested in the use of literature as a support for young children's writing.     

Reflecting on Teaching: the benefits of self‐evaluation

Essential to the improvement of teaching effectiveness is evaluation. Evaluation can take many forms, but any process directly involves the teacher. Self‐evaluation is a process whereby teachers collect the data on their own teaching effectiveness and analyse the information to consider improvement to that teaching. This process can be undertaken in a number of ways. However, the unique benefit of self‐evaluation is the close involvement of teachers in the consideration of the effectiveness of their own teaching. This article considers different methods of self‐evaluation and suggests a technique that has been found to be successful.     

Children’s attributions about teachers’ intentions

Hostile attribution bias (HAB) has been shown to predict aggressive behavior, especially toward peers. The current study examined whether HAB is also related to conflict with teachers, an important predictor of academic and social success in school‐aged children. A total of 282 second to fourth grade boys in 74 classrooms completed a self‐report measure of HAB toward teachers, while their teachers assessed conflict in the teacher–student relationship. Results supported the presence of a positive relationship between HAB toward teachers and conflict with teachers. These findings suggest that HAB toward teachers may be an indicator of difficulties and, pending further research, a potential avenue for intervention to improve teacher–student relationships.     

Child psychiatrists' view of father-daughter incest

Mental health clinicians, charged with treating a growing number of incestuous daughters, have little empirical data on which to base their clinical judgments. The present study explored the hypotheses of child psychiatrists on the impact of incest. The results suggest that these clinicians view incest as almost always causing serious psychological disorder. While there appears to be little agreement on the nature of acute sequela, disturbed heterosexual functioning was frequently cited as a long-term consequence. In addition, the results suggest that psychiatrists consider factors related to the make-up of the incestuous family, and not the actual sexual behavior, as most pathogenic. The implications of the present results for future research are discussed.     

Teaching beliefs of non‐formal environmental educators: a perspective from state and local parks in the United States

The purpose of this study was to investigate the teaching beliefs of non‐formal environmental educators who work in state and local parks. Findings reveal that teaching beliefs are much more complex than purported in the literature. Three broad insights are offered: including roles and responsibilities of the non‐formal environmental educator, various approaches, and conceptions and characteristics of non‐formal environmental education. The implications are important for training future non‐formal environmental educators in local and state parks.     

Educating homeless young children

Desiree, a four-year-old homeless child, spent the night in a subway station and has been in three different emergency shelters during the last nine months. Despite her transient life, she has missed only 10 days of her Head Start program during the school year.Sally Koblinsky is Professor, Family and Community Development, University of Maryland. Martha Taylor is Associate Professor, Food, Nutrition and Food Service Management, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Stacey Relkin is Staff Assistant, House of Representatives Democratic Caucus.     

Cerebral hemisphere asymmetry: Methods,issues, and implications

This is the seventh ERIC/ECTJ Annual Review Paper, preparation of which was supported by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearing-house on Information Resources, Syracuse University. The material in this article was prepared pursuant to a contract with the National Institute of Education, U.S. Department of Education. Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters. Points of view or opinions do not necessarily represent the official view or opinion of the NIE. - Ed. The author’s own research discussed in this article was supported in part by research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and from the National Science Foundation.