Margins
  Donovan A. Landers

THEY ATE EVERY LEAF

caterpillars
crawl,
chew,
devour
green leaves; ...

      Constable Hendley didn't return to take statements about the morning's events, although I saw him attempting to stop traffic from entering the firemen's work area. Corporal Zack came and so did Fire Chief Watson. There was much commotion at the burning Barn as firemen sprayed four parabolic streams of water on the ever-heating building; as police officers studied the situation from assorted vantage points on the autumn-dry school lawn; as the Japanese couple audibly repined from their yard, sometimes in English, about the evils of fire skipping into their paradise; as other neighbors enjoyed the spectacle; as other neighbors looked aghast; as one dog sat across the street and howled; as crowds of people accumulated but stepped back with the heat of the inferno bullying its way into an ever-growing circle of discomfort; as Tom made peculiar noises like a child whimpering...     full text >>>

Lived School Experiences That Encouraged One Person to Become a Creative Writer: Study III of VI
Part II
  Dan Lukiv

If these themes (see September 2005 issue of AEE) define the essence of phenomenon --namely, lived school experiences that encouraged Elizabeth to become a writer--then these themes may help teachers create classroom activities that will encourage others to seriously consider creative writing as a vocation. That is known not as a generalization, but as an extrapolation: "extend known experience [based on Elizabeth's five themes]...to arrive at a useful conjecture [a useful mode of practice]". Some researchers might prefer the term "extension" of findings over "extrapolation". An "extension of findings [of Elizabeth's themes]...enables [teachers] to understand [or create] similar situations [classroom activities based on her themes]". These activities would stand on "logical...[but] not statistical...extensions". The following discussion should help teachers establish a useful mode of practice.     full text >>>

Using De Facto Learning Theory to Understand Urban School Mobility
  Virginia L Rhodes

"All children can learn," is a catchphrase currently making the rounds in education circles, particularly in staff development activities. De facto learning theory challenges the underlying assumptions of this phrase by examining how it is that learning in schools takes place. Using theoretical foundations of Dewey, Maslow, and Vygotsky, this essay will explore the fact that all children are, in fact, learning all the time, regardless of the actions of teachers, the content of the curriculum, or educational policy and practice.

"All children can learn" suggests that some children may have not learned, despite the understanding that humans are learning creatures. It ignores the dichotomy between learning that takes place from a formal "lesson" with the continuous learning that takes place as a result of both formal and informal communication. A more accurate phrase is "All children do learn." Children are learning every minute they are in school. They just don't always learn what's in the lesson plan.

Student mobility--the changing of schools at times other than those planned in the academic program--is used in this essay as an example of an educational problem which can be productively examined by using this new theory.     full text >>>

A Community Perspective of Schooling
  Larry Phillips

This article was written to validate the application of community development technology to school improvement. In addition it lays the groundwork for a student-centered focus for education, parental involvement, and supports multi-culturalism in schools. The article was prompted by various books noting the impact of peer groups and communities on learning, curriculum, and education policy. Further, viewing schools as a community or group of communities was suggested by reviewing the literature related to learning organizations and considering schools as learning organizations.

The concept of community is found in educational literature and used as a basis for describing schools, the relationships therein, and a basis for school improvement. The description of multiple communities in schools is noted and is followed by a review of how communities are described in community development literature. The factors a school could use to describe the active communities and to decide which are relevant to the school are then considered. Some implications for using a community perspective and the technology of community development in the school, classrooms, with the communities, and for individual students are discussed. Notably, the discussion of the implication for individual students establishes the idea of students being members of many communities, and the need to help students reconcile the expectations of those communities.     full text >>>