Sherry Bever-goodvin

A basic strategy used when designing programs for students with exceptionalities is to provide them with appropriate challenges. Much attention is paid to challenges in the areas of mathematics and logic, music or sport. The same cannot be said for intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences. However, to develop more'balanced'individuals, who can prosper in an increasingly diverse and globalized world, we need to pay more attention to these. Global learning, with its emphasis on cross-cultural communication and ...

PurposeTo identify the attitudes and traits of teachers with an at‐risk student population in a multi‐cultural urban high school.Design/methodology/approachA research team consisting of doctoral students and their faculty advisor used an appreciative inquiry model to identify attitudes and traits of teachers who supported effective teaching in an urban high school with a high at‐risk student population.FindingsThe research team's findings indicate that those perceived as effective teachers were culturally responsive, sought small successes, encouraged students, flexible, and caring. They also formed meaningful relationships with students, had caring attitudes, and viewed themselves as difference‐makers. The research team also found a number of non‐supportive teacher attitudes and traits: blaming, racial attitudes, frustration leading to inflexibility, co‐dependency leading to encouraging the neediness of students, and lack of respect for the contributions made by the surrounding...