My Background and Interests
My interest in teaching began when I was in first grade. I loved “teaching school” during my elementary years and recruited younger children in the neighborhood to be my “students.” Thus, I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I enrolled at Texas Lutheran College in 1960: to become a teacher. I loved observing in the schools as part of my course requirements, and I was particularly interested in the students who struggled to learn. During my junior year, I transferred to the University of Houston to complete my degree because that institution began to offer an endorsement in special education. Since my graduation in 1964, I have gained knowledge and experience from a number of perspectives. Because I was a military wife, I experienced many moves. As a result, I had an opportunity to work in a variety of settings throughout the country. For example, I have taught students with mild mental retardation in self-contained classrooms and students with learning disabilities in a resource room. I have also worked as a special education consulting teacher and as an educational therapist in a hospital setting for adolescents with emotional/behavior disorders. In addition to my special education experiences, I was also a general education teacher for students in grades one, four, five, and six. Prior to completing my doctoral studies at the University of Kansas in 1993, I was an elementary school principal. I am currently a Professor of Special Education at Texas Woman’s University where I prepare teachers at the undergraduate and graduate levels to teach students with disabilities. I am also an active member of the Strategic Instruction Model Professional Development Network. My research interests focus on issues related to teacher preparation and on the research and development of instructional methods that can be used to teach students how to learn and be successful in inclusive settings.

The Story Behind the Quality Assignment Routine
My idea for the Quality Assignment Routine originated during the time I was a doctoral student at the University of Kansas in 1990. I distinctly remember attending a Council for Learning Disabilities conference in Austin, Texas, that year. The keynote speaker was Dr. Edward Deci. Dr. Deci spoke about his research on self-determination. He described the many classrooms he had visited in which he had observed students actively engaged in classroom learning activities that did not fit the typical “worksheet” format. He stated that student interest in learning in those classrooms appeared to be high; they were having fun and were acting excited about learning compared to students in the classrooms in which students were completing multiple worksheets to demonstrate their mastery of knowledge and skills. I had observed the same phenomenon over the years.

Later, I consulted with my doctoral advisors (Jean Schumaker and Don Deshler) and explained to them that I was interested in conducting research with both students and teachers to identify what they believed to be the characteristics of assignments students enjoyed completing while meeting important learning goals. In addition, I wanted to explore the necessary instructional procedures for teaching students how to be successful in assignment completion. They approved my plan.

To identify teacher and student perceptions on the characteristics for planning and presenting high-quality assignments, I conducted focus-group discussions and survey research with middle-school teachers and academically diverse classes of students. Their ideas, coupled with what I gleaned from the literature on student motivation and assignment completion, resulted in the planning and presentation phase of the Assignment Completion Routine. Also, because effective assignment completion habits are life skills, the REACT Strategy and the PACE 1, 2… Assignment Checking Routine were developed and included in the Quality Assignment Routine. The lessons related to these strategies teach students how to listen to and record important assignment information and then how to check their work for quality before turning it in to the teacher.