This article describes an upstate school in New York that integrates animals into their curriculum. Milbrook School has all the usual classes one might expect at a high-caliber private high school. Millbrook is a school with a zoo in its center. Or maybe it's more accurately described as a zoo surrounded by a school. Either way, it's an unusual…

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis created a curriculum that focuses on jazz music, which he asserts can cure what ails today's students, because its unique musical characteristics (collective improvisation, call and response, solos, and unexpected rhythms) demand respect and patience as musicians listen to one another and collaborate. The article suggests…

In this article, the author describes how four seasoned Chicago educators keep their teaching fresh. He learned that none of them do quite the same thing in the classroom twice, and none teaches like the other. They do, however, have one key trait in common: they are self-propelled. Their best source of professional development is not a mandated…

To win new readers, many newspapers are now wooing students and teachers. They offer youth-oriented pages and sections that simplify adult news or examine topics of special interest to teens. Teachers tend to consider newspapers worthwhile educational tools. The article describes how various newspapers deal with students. (SM)

Traveling classrooms for carnival kids didn't really come on the scene until the 1990s when Linda Brewer, a teacher of the Conklin International Academy, helped the idea get off the ground. The trade publication "Amusement Business" lists 325 carnivals in its annual booking guide, but fewer than a dozen shows have schools because it is expensive…

Describes how a white teacher at an all-black boarding school made "Hamlet" palatable to his students, turning Hamlet's tragic tale into one the students could call their own. He modernized the story of "Ham-Ice" and his wife, "Q-Trude," and had students act out scenes. Next, he had students watch a film version of…

Describes innovative programs for teaching elementary school students. In Illinois, students learn about the artists Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Donatello using the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. An Oregon program prints student poetry and places it on cafeteria tables. In rural Texas, students learn about restaurant etiquette through play…

This article tells about how teachers with little or no background in music at Aynor Elementary School in South Carolina are using the guitar to reinforce spelling, rhyming patterns, vocabulary words, history lessons, and math and science facts. Since 2003, 24 of the school's 30-odd teachers have learned to play well enough to accompany their…

Describes the Lab School of Washington, a private school for students with moderate to severe learning disabilities which focuses on students' strengths and teaches students using a blend of arts, multisensory learning, individualized attention, and nontraditional school experiences. About 90 percent of students from this successful school go on…

Describes the Detroit Dance Collective, a group of professional dancers who work in K-12 schools to infuse schoolwork with movement, finding areas where curricula link. The group attempts to motivate all types of learners through movement. Michigan officials contend that using dance in the classroom is a critical teaching strategy that reaches…

This article reports how students at Seattle's public Alternative School #1 carved a long lasting connection with the native Haida people of Alaska. These students created a 40-foot canoe with the guidance of Robert Peele, an artist and a descendant of Haida royalty, whose ancestors once carved a 63-foot canoe now on display at the American Museum…

In this article, the author discusses how children's book character Flat Stanley has linked students around the world and describes how teachers used the appealing character as a tool to bring reading, writing, geography, and other subjects to life through a classroom exercise. Often folded or laminated for protection and accompanied by…

Reports on the use of simulators to provide students with field trips of the future. This technology offers convincing, real-world, first-hand experiences in a small space within a few minutes. Simulators have found their way into museums and science centers around the nation, although they are still too expensive for most school districts. (SM)

This article profiles author and activist Grace Llewellyn and her cult classic book, "The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education." Llewellyn's book, which she published in 1991, created a controversy as it teaches kids everything from how to convince parents to let them leave school to how to…

Describes the work of Storytelling Arts Inc, a nonprofit group that sends storytellers into New Jersey schools to spin age-old yarns and encourage young children and their teachers to speak their mind. The nonprofit's main goal is to inspire low income children to master the language arts. Teachers note that storytelling helps students with their…