One More Year To Remember
Dan Lukiv

june 1

asparagus 
points upwards beside the
bee hives

june 2

a dog
chases a seagull--
a crab scurries

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Helping Children Cope with a Myriad of Common Developemental Challenges
Susan “Sukki” Herman

Introduction

Historically, the first several years of formal education have been designed to teach students basic academic skills.  Recently, however, educators, parents and counselors have discovered that books have the ability to help students better understand themselves and expand their world, helping these children tackle many of the problems they face on a day-to-day basis.

            While “reading, writing, and arithmetic” are still paramount curriculum found in the first few years of formative elementary education, the use of literature has been incorporated through a process known as “bibliotherapy.”  Bibliotherapy can be defined as “. . . using books in a way that [is] ‘therapeutic in the sense that they can help children work through a crisis’” (qtd. in Stamps 1).  Bibliotherapy can provide students with the tools necessary to assist them in dealing with a myriad of common developmental challenges, including: the management of conflict, overcoming fear, the development of problem-solving skills, and the building of self-esteem.  Encapsulated in conflict are hurdles of both an emotional and physical nature, social as well as internal.  It is common for children to experience fear; some fears persist through the years while others change.  These fears can range from the fear of the dark, to the fear of failure, to the fear of terrorism and natural disasters.  Problem solving includes a variety of issues and will be examined from the bibliotherapy perspective which uses select literature to address many of the common development problems children face within universal populations (Stamps).
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Preservice Teachers' Efficacy and Their Beliefs about Education
Lisa A. Witcher, et. al.

           Efficacy has been most often defined as a personality trait that enables one to deal effectively with the world (Barfield & Burlingame, 1974). More specifically, Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001) defined teacher efficacy as a teacher’s “judgment of his or her capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of students’ engagement and learning, even among those students who may be difficult or unmotivated” (p. 783). Efficacious people demonstrate behaviors that allow them successfully to produce desired outcomes and exercise control over events that affect their lives (Bandura, 1977, 1986). For example, people with high self-efficacy in various domains of human functioning tend to perform more challenging tasks. They set higher goals and adhere to them. Once an action has been taken, high self-efficacious individuals expend more effort and persist longer to accomplish a specific task than do their counterparts with low self-efficacy (Schwarzer, 1992). When faced with setbacks, persons with high levels of self-efficacy tend to recover more quickly and maintain commitment to their goals (Schwarzer, 1992). One domain that has received considerable attention with regard to self-efficacy is the field of education (Henson, 2002).
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