This practicum was designed to address an inadequacy in the knowledge base of ninth grade students with regard to art history and it's connection with historical events. The major goal was to make the students aware of art history and it's significance in human history. The study developed a Ninth Grade Art History Diagnostic Test and an Artistic…

A survey of teachers and students at a high school located in a small city within an argicultural district indicated the need for school administration to seek solutions and strategies for the problem of excessive discipline referrals among ninth graders. A target group of high-risk students (N=20) was identified with chronic discipline problems.…

The practicum described in this report aimed to improve student achievement in a ninth-grade English class in New Hampshire by restructuring the program so that students felt more involved in the course content, delivery, and process. Students in three sections of ninth-grade English who were identified in eighth grade as stable, high achievers,…

A practicum was designed to solve the problem of the lack of desire to read and the poor quality of the reading of 65 inner city underachieving basic skills students. Objectives were to increase motivation to read among the students and to improve the quality of their oral, silent, and reading comprehension skills. Incentives for reading enjoyment…

This practicum was designed to enhance the academic achievement of high school students in English in a suburban community in southeastern New England. Through a 12-week program of study skills introduced in the English 9 collaborative classroom, the practicum aimed to enable students to recognize their best learning strategies. A pre- and…

A practicum addressing the problems of low motivation and poor writing quality of 50 underachieving 9th-grade basic skills students is described in this report. The objectives were to increase motivation among the students and to improve the quality of their essay writing. Peer tutoring was used as a method for encouraging students to help each…

This practicum report describes a study skills program designed to teach organizational skills and notetaking techniques to students in grades eight and nine. The program included in-service teacher workshops designed to promote learning style awareness strategies, foster an interdisciplinary curriculum perspective, and encourage the teaching of…

The high level of prejudice in an average 9th grade world history class was addressed by the implementation of a custom-designed prejudice reduction program. Lessons were drawn from "The Prejudice Book" (Shiman, 1979); "A World of Difference" (Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1986); and "Hands Across the Campus" (Tiara, 1981). Lessons were…

This project was designed and implemented to help facilitate the addition of a high school program to an existing independent elementary/middle school by promotion of a ninth grade at the target school and its eventual transfer to a new independent high school. An objective of the project was to see if 40 percent of parents from independent…

A practicum developed a program of study skills to improve grades of ninth and tenth grade students in English and mathematics courses. The project contained three basic components: teacher inservices on study skills techniques in time management, reading textbooks, taking class notes, and preparing for and taking tests; student lessons for…

A practicum developed and implemented a program to help change students' negative attitude toward writing, with the conviction that if students enjoy writing they will write more and produce writing that clearly communicates their ideas. The practicum's objectives were for 50% of the targeted students to: (1) write for at least 15-20 minutes at a…

A unit to remediate and teach critical thinking skills was designed and implemented for a class of 24 average ninth graders in a small public high school. The unit's aims were to make available teaching materials and strategies using the mass media as a vehicle, thus providing readily available resources and tools to aid in the teaching of five…

This paper presents outcomes of a practicum that was designed to address a need that was created when the Ministry of Education in Ontario, Canada, mandated that all grade 9 classes be "destreamed." A review of educational literature found no methods for ensuring that classes are truly heterogeneously mixed. The practicum was designed to…

This practicum was designed to incorporate the study of geography into a ninth grade world history class with the aim of improving student awareness of the influence of geography upon the historical development of ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. By means of a questionnaire and map tests it was determined that ninth grade world history…

A self-esteem building program was developed and implemented to reduce the failure and potential dropout rate of limited English proficient 9th-grade Haitian students (N=15) who were enrolled in bilingual classes and were selected based on recommendations from their bilingual teachers, referrals for behavior problems, and failure in two or more…