Centerpiece Archives

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Centerpiece Spring 2007
• Rice Model Lab Expands to Include Elementary Teachers
• Directors' Column: Inviting Learning
• New Offices for the Center
• Research in the Public Interest: Taking the Lead On the Dropout Crisis
• School Literacy and Culture Joins with HELP for Kids to Create New Classroom Worlds
• Patsy Cooper: The Choices We Make in Early Literacy Learning
• We Are All Neighbors
• School Science and Technology Hosts MATS Annual Conference
• Pipettes to Go: High School Teachers in the Rice pH Model Science Lab Get Creative

Centerpiece Fall 2005
• Ron Sass: Learning is a Participatory Experience
• Lee High School Students Head for the Coast
• Model Science Lab Teachers Summer Travel Enriches Classroom
• School Science and Technology Continues to Grow
• First Year Teachers Describe Life in Schools
• Storytelling in a Preschool Classroom
• Play, the Profession of Children

Centerpiece Summer 2005
• New Center Board Chairman: Ed Segner
• Coppola's Book Praised in Teachers College Record
• Model Science Lab Teachers Earn Travel Grants to Africa and Beyond
• School Literacy and Culture Teachers Receive HAAEYC Honors
• Thanks to Our Generous Supporters
• 2005 Summer Creative Writing Workshops
• Biology Professor Sass Retires after 47 Years at Rice
• A Teacher's Reflection on a Year of Storytelling
• Center Advisory Board Member Kirkland Wins Teaching Award

Centerpiece Winter 2005
• From the Co-Director's Desk
• Storytelling Grows at Bear Boulevard
• Josephine Smith, Longtime SLC Supporter
• Vivian Paley Visits SLC Miniconference
• Racism Explained to my White Daughter

CenterPiece Fall 2004
• Coppola Publishes Book on Teaching Well with Technology
• School Writing Project Teacher Wins Educator of Distinction Award
• Banks Addresses Multiculturalism and Social Justice at 2004 Creekmore Symposium
• Stories at The Arbor School
• Leaving Children Behind: Valenzuela Edits New Book on Losing Latinos from Public Schools
• Faking Equity: High Stakes Testing and the Education of Latino Youth
• The Power of Exclusion: Stories Behind the Numbers

CenterPiece Spring 2004
• Dr. James A. Banks to Speak on Multicultural Education at Hazel Creekmore Symposium
• Classroom Storytelling Project Brings "Outstanding" Benefits to William Smith Head Start and Fort Bend ISD
• Diversity Within Unity: Essential Principles
• School Science and Technology Expands to Clear Creek, Pasadena, and Dickinson ISDs
• Uncovering the Stories Behind the Dropout Rates
• Judy Radigan, Advocate for Children
• School Literacy and Culture Project Participates in Dual Language and ESL Program at Herod Elementary School
• A Cultural Collaboration: Cultural Conversations and Teach for America
• pH Lab: Nanotechnology Comes to 9th Grade
• Elementary and Middle School Students Shine at School Writing Project Readings
• Lydia Smith Named Teacher of the Year at Challenge Early College High School
• School Literacy and Culture Project Hosts 5th Annual Miniconference

CenterPiece Fall 2003
Celebrating 15 Years!
• Linda McNeil Receives Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Our Stories, Our Common Thread
• Asia Outreach Expands Teacher's Horizons and Teaching
• pH Lab Challenges Teacher's Old Assumptions
• Rediscovering a Passion for Teaching at the Model Science Lab
• School Science and Technology Integrates Technology into the Science Classroom
• School Writing Project Honors the Voices of Teachers
• An Oasis of Creativity and Writing
• Teacher Brings Classroom Storytelling Project to Peru
• Teachers Learn to Reflect and Create a Sense of Community
• Vivan Paley and the Classroom Storytelling Project at NAEYC
• CAST Conference

CenterPiece Spring 2003
• Ron Sass Inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame for Science, Mathematics, and Technology
• School Literacy & Culture Project Shares TEA Grant with William Smith Head Start
• Deborah Meier Talks about "Building Trust in Schools" for Creekmore Symposium
• How Do We Create Communities of Learning -- Schools and Democracy
• Interactive Wolf Workbooks Promote Scientific Inquiry and Analytic Thinking at the Model Science Lab
• Model Science Lab Teachers Present at National Science Teachers Conference
• School Science Project Fosters Parent Involvement in Student Achievement
• Students Share Their Stories at the School Writing Project Readings
• Houston-Area Teachers Study in China
• Vivian Paley Sees Teaching as a "Moral Act"
• Children's Stories, Lives, and Literacy: Lessons from Vivian Paley
• Epistemological Beliefs for Life: Are Classroom Settings for Real Exchanges of Knowledge?
• Student Lives: Role and Influence of Agency in Daily Negotiations in the Classroom

CenterPiece Fall 2002
• Ron Sass Named Harry C. and Olga Keith Wiess Professor of Natural Sciences
• Vivian Paley to Give Keynote Address at Fourth Annual Miniconference
• The School Writing Project Embraces the "Seriousness of Play"
• In Search of Tomorrow in Children's Books
• How Did Houston Annenberg Challenge Reforms Affect Children's Learning?
• Integrated Physics and Chemistry Focus of New Model Science Lab at Lee High School
• Science as a Way of Thinking in the School Science Project
• Through Race-Conscious Eyes: Reading In Schools We Trust by Deborah Meier
• Trust, Not Standardized Testing, Is Essential to Successfully Educating Children
• Excerpt from Deborah Meier's In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization
• Reading, Writing, and Cultural Connections Summer Institute Receives Enthusiastic Reviews
• Asia Outreach Sponsors Third Faculty Development Institute

CenterPiece Spring 2002
• Our Children: Are Public Schools Giving Them a Fair Shake?
• Powerful Learning: Instruction at the Center
• Teaching in TEAMS: Authentic Mentoring Strategies for Science Teachers
• Model Science Lab Teachers Learn to Question in Ways that Stimulate Students' Thinking
• The Classroom Storytelling Project: The Power of Young Children's Stories
• Cultural Conversations Project Transforms Teachers and Their Classrooms
• Teachers Learn to Listen in the School Writing Project
• Video Projects Reflect Spirit and Positive Impact of the Center on Teachers and Children
• Teachers Learn to View the World from a Different Perspective in East Asia Institute
• What Mothers Really Know About Literacy Learning: The Myth of the 3,000 Books

CenterPiece Fall 2001
• Assessing Learning
• Assessing Science Understanding in the Model Science Lab
• Alternative Assessments in the School Science Project Show Gains in Teaching and Student Achievement
• Alternative Assessments are Key to Meaningful Instruction in the Classroom Storytelling Project
• Crafting Conversations: Learning to Listen and Learning to Write in the School Writing Project
• Assessing Pre-Service Teachers
• Alternatives to High-Stakes Testing
• Learning at the Center
• The Trouble with Testing
• Making Assessment Authentic: The Policies We Need
• Subtractive Schooling Receives 2001Critics' Choice Award
• Cross-Over Study: Teachers in Desegregation

CenterPiece Spring 2001
• Science Teaching/Science Learning by Dr. Harcombe is "lively and informative"
• Dr. Bobbi Samuels Teams Up with the School Writing Project
• What Keeps Teachers Going?
• Latinos & Educational Equity
• Life After Hopwood: Percent Plans in Higher Education
• Recent Center Events
• School Writing Project Student and Teacher Readings
• Does Race Matter? White Teachers of Black Children
• "I Wrote a Story." The School Literacy and Culture Project Teams Up with HISD and Head Start to Get Pre-Kindergarten Students "Ready to Read"

CenterPiece Fall 2000
• Cultural Conversations is a "Premier Program" Reports Dr. Arnetha Ball
• Contradictions of School Reform Tells the Real and Complex Truth about Standardized Testing
• Recommended Reading
• Oil and Kids Do Mix During the EEI Summer Institute
• Teacher Participation in School Science Project Leads to Significan Increase in Student Learning
• Sharing Writing is a Risky but Mutually Rewarding Exchange for Teachers and Students
• Creating an Intimate Space in the Classroom Sparks Student Creativity
• Faculty Development Institute on East Asia Offered This Spring

CenterPiece Spring 2000
• Teaching: A Source of Celebration
• Making Knowledge Accessible
• Student Achievement through Science
• Teachers and Students Study Houston's Watershed
• Action Research Improves Teaching
• Storytelling Approach to Literacy
• A Paradise Lost: Opportunity to Listen Links Teachers
• "What's In This for Me?" African American and Latino Teachers Gain from Cultural Conversations
• Valenzuela Wins Major Book Award
• Ways of Worldmaking in Asian Cultures
• Whole School Change: Coalition of Essential Schools Texas/Greater Houston Area