"I am convinced that sharing ideas and strategies with fellow teachers is at the heart of education," says Ida Lynn (Kaufman) Cowart, who teaches at Bess Streeter Aldrich Elementary School, a two-year multi-age center for second- and third-graders in Omaha. Mrs. (Kaufman) Cowart's classroom, the "ideal laboratory" as she calls it, has hosted over 40 teachers and teacher-candidates and has been featured in a learning styles video that will serve to train future teachers. Mrs. (Kaufman) Cowart is responsible for a number of projects and pilot programs; she has developed the Brownie Company project to give students an actual experience of the business world; she has piloted a program of exchange among students from diverse cultural and ethnic communities; and she has expanded the school's Everyday Publishing Company program to include informational and resource materials researched, authored and published by students.
