Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

This paper discusses the initial development and testing of a Web-based instrument for collecting daily data on instruction. This teacher log was developed for use in the Study of Instructional Improvement, a longitudinal study on school improvement in high poverty areas. The researchers wanted to further develop the potential of teacher logs by experimenting with Web-based technology and computer branching. The 1998 teacher log study tested the feasibility of using a Web based instrument to collect data on instruction. Seven elementary teachers used the log to report on 29 mathematics and reading lessons. Researchers observed classroom instruction, completed log reports, and wrote detailed narrative descriptions for 24 lessons. All teachers were able to use the log to report on instruction. Data were successfully entered through a Web interface into a database and subsequently used to conduct provisional analyses of both instruction and instrument reliability and validity. The researchers conclude that a Web-based instrument can be used successfully to capture important information about teaching, some of which has not been available before (lesson duration, student attendance for each lesson, and instructional groupings or formats for each lesson). An appendix offers teacher log pilot help pages. (SM)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert