This article shares the experience of a teacher investigating the tension between a mandated literacy program and his desire to teach in response to his perceptions of students’ needs. Qualitative teacher research methodology is used to study the impact of mandated literacy practices on teaching and learning; and to answer the question: how is my teaching situated within the literacy program? Data, collected through a research journal, were analyzed using a Foucauldian lens of discourse, and reading theory. This study unveils the mechanisms supporting mandates, and conflicts between theoretical and practical applications of mandated practices and the teacher’s instructional beliefs.

The Quagents system provides a flexible interface to the functionality of a game engine. The goal is to make interactive games a useful research and teaching vehicle for academics. Quagents is freely available, and runs under Unix/Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Intelligent agent controllers may be programmed in any language that supports sockets. A communications protocol between the controller and the bot resembles that between the high-level software and low-level controller of a mobile robot. More complex APIs may be built on the protocol that support complex interactions like trading. We describe the Quagent architecture and research and teaching applications.

This article reports on a study investigating how elementary teachers experienced the literacy initiatives that have been implemented in schools across PEI over the past five years. Such initiatives included the implementation of standardized instructional and assessment materials across the board and the emphasis on consistency of program use, reporting, and evaluation. Data were gathered through an online survey and interviews. Throughout this study, issues of professionalism, emotional impact, and teacher resistance were explored. This article focuses specifically on the issue of teacher professionalism and its relationship with prescribed curriculum. Findings suggest that professionalism is challenged when teachers attempt to adhere to the fidelity of program processes. However, fidelity to the purpose of a program would allow for teacher decision-making and autonomy within the context of any given program or practice.Ce texte présente les résultats d’un projet de recherche explorant la manière dont les enseignants de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard ont vécu la mise en place d’actions en littératie au cours des cinq dernières années. Des données ont été recueillies à l’aide d’un sondage en ligne et d’entrevues. Au cours de l’enquête, des problématiques relatives au professionnalisme, aux impacts émotionnels et à la résistance des enseignants ont été explorées. Cet article s’attarde particulièrement à la question du professionnalisme enseignant dans le cadre d’un programme prescrit. Les résultats indiquent que lorsque les enseignants tentent de se conformer scrupuleusement aux processus du programme, ceux-ci le font au détriment de leur professionnalisme enseignant. Cependant, être fidèles aux objectifs du programme permettrait aux enseignants de préserver leur capacité à prendre des décisions et leur autonomie et ce, au sein de n’importe lequel programme ou milieu de travail

When I was asked to teach the entire literacy curriculum to my grade six students in only five months, I implemented reading conferences as an instructional practice to deepen students’ reading comprehension. Classroom events related to reading conferences, student decision-making, and instructional planning were recorded in a journal. This study reflected a shift from traditional teaching to a student-centered approach wherein student learning was used to guide instruction. Findings demonstrated how instructional practices were changed to reflect student learning and how the use of reading conferences promoted dialogue between teacher and student.

Increasingly, severely handicapped students are receiving functional, chronologically age-appropriate training in a wide variety of natural community environments. When instructional personnel utilize this approach, they generally find that instructional materials they have utilized in the past are no longer appropriate. This paper discusses six characteristics of instructional materials and instructional materials adaptations that can be used as decision rules for instructional personnel developing and adapting materials based on a community-based training model. Five examples of instructional materials based on the above are illustrated and described.