Alan Skelton considers what constitutes excellence in higher education teaching, the central case study being the practice of the UK's most excellent university teachers, as judged by the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme.

L.E.T. has changed countless corporations and private businesses-including many Fortune 500 companies-with its down-to-earth communication and conflict resolution skills. Now, this indispensable source has been newly revised with updated research and timely case studies.

To improve the U.S. education system through more-effective classroom teaching, in school year 2009–2010, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced its Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching. Researchers from the RAND Corporation and the American Institutes for Research evaluated implementation of key reform elements of the program in three public school districts and four charter management organizations.

Explicit instruction is systematic, direct, engaging, and success oriented--and has been shown to promote achievement for all students. This highly practical and accessible resource gives special and general education teachers the tools to implement explicit instruction in any grade level or content area. The authors are leading experts who provide clear guidelines for identifying key concepts, skills, and routines to teach; designing and delivering effective lessons; and giving students opportunities to practice and master new material. Sample lesson plans, lively examples, and reproducible checklists and teacher worksheets enhance the utility of the volume. Purchasers can also download and print the reproducible materials for repeated use. Video clips demonstrating the approach in real classrooms are available at the authors' website: www.explicitinstruction.org. See also related DVDs from Anita Archer: Golden Principles of Explicit Instruction; Active Participation: Getting Them All Engaged, Elementary Level; and Active Participation: Getting Them All Engaged, Secondary Level

How can we really evaluate teacher effectiveness? Systems of teacher appraisal and evaluation are being created across the world in order to monitor and assess teacher performance. But do the models used really give a fair evaluation? Based on international research, the authors argue that teacher effectiveness is too narrowly conceptualised and methods of measuring it are not attuned to the real contexts in which teachers work. They propose a model of differential teacher effectiveness which takes into account that: * teachers may be more effective with some categories of students than with others * teachers may be more effective with some teaching contexts than others * teachers may be more effective with some subjects or components than with others. Building on and developing previous research on models of teacher effectiveness and current theories, the authors open up possible new debates which will be of interest to academics and researchers working in this area throughout the world.

Work takes up a major share of everyone’s life since it is necessary for an individual’s livelihood. In today’s modern world a large chunk of people’s life is spent at work. People spend around one third of their life at their work place. This enormous part of life time spent at work should give satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment for having worked purposefully, constructively, and fruitfully. Working is a critical activity for the preservation of personal health and is important for human beings. It also serves as an energizer for personal identity and boosts the self-esteem of men and women as they take up meaningful work. It also develops a sense of identity, dignity, and worth. Achievement of a meaningful result assists an individual in growing and actualizing his full potential. It improves the conditions of life of a community. While working, an individual is exerting an effort in order to make something, to achieve something, or to produce a desired effect. For human beings, “to be able to do something” means to make it visible that “I”, as the subject, is active in the world, that “I” exist. Working is a meaningful way to prove one’s existence, and hopefully, that it is worth to be lived.