Hi, Herb. I'm no expert on teacher education but I have absorbed quite a bit from an excellent teacher educator whose advice strikes me as unusually pedagogically wise most of the time. He's a student of George Hillocks, who is no friend to many in ATEG because he (with my colleague Michael Smith) co-authored a (now infamous) meta-analysis of research on traditional grammar instruction that concluded it has no positive effect on students' writing. Hillocks is in Chicago and HIS work with teacher educators in urban/ inner city settings impresses me MUCH. I should add here that my thoughts about education are based on my interests in schooling in very rural and very urban settings -- & may -- perhaps -- be less relevant to suburban school teaching. A student-centered approach is one that subordinates concern for content to concern for the students' learning it. Content is important only insofar as it enhances students' abilities to learn more of it. Reflective practice, students' reflexivity -- these are the buzz words within NCTE and they do characterize the teaching of many (not all) of the teachers I know who are successful. For an overview of (in my view) excellent principles for teacher education check out the TAPPP website at Univ. of Georgia: The Teaching As Principled Practice Project (TAPPP) Home Page: 0000,0000,fefehttp://www.coe.uga.edu/~smago/TAPPP/TAPPP.htm Whether or not you share them, I think they offer a fair guide for how to cast an NCTE proposal. Judy At 03:01 PM 11/28/00 -0500, you wrote: >I haven't been active in NCTE, and I'm relatively new to the ATEG >list, which may explain why I'm wondering about Judy's assessment >that "One thing that NCTE adherents agree on is that students' >lives should take center place in a curriculum, >so finding a way into grammar that is relevant to STUDENTS' >social realities might be one way to bring grammar 'back.'" I've >seen statements like this as a matter of educational philosophy, >but how does it translate into content and curriculum? > >Herb Stahlke > >Judy > >To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html >and select "Join or leave the list" > >Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/