Discusses the "Biographic Literacy Profiles Project," a seminar for teachers and administrators which focused on developing an alternative to current assessment methods in elementary language arts. Shows how the process of changing assessment patterns can reflect the same integrative, holistic goals that teachers have for working with…

Describes the use of language analysis and speech-act categories (declarations, assertives, directives, commissives, and expressives) to deal with meaningful classroom concerns, thereby enabling the teacher and students to work more effectively together. (KEH)

Uses the philosophy of Taoism as a metaphor in describing the whole language approach to language arts instruction. The discussion covers the key principles that inform the whole language approach, the resulting holistic nature of language programs, and the role of the teacher in this approach. (16 references) (CLB)

Describes an integrated reading/language arts program designed to meet the needs of Chapter 1 sixth grade students. States that one of the basic tenets of the program is that children learn best by actively participating in language activities, not just reading about language skills. (RS)

Recounts the development and implementation of a new language and literature program into the kindergarten curriculum at the Lincoln-Eliot School in Newton, Massachusetts. (BB)

The computer is not just a teaching tool, but a teaching medium. Purchase of appropriate software to achieve worthwhile instructional goals is essential. There are several software titles for elementary school educators to consider seriously in mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts. Included is a sampler of effective elementary…

Presents early childhood teachers with whole language ideas for helping young children establish a sense of illustratorship; these include studying favorite authors or illustrators, teaching children to recognize salient features of book illustrations, establishing a sense of audience, displaying children's drawings and writing, and publishing…

Provides eight fully developed library media activities to be used in conjunction with specific curriculum units in mathematics, physical education, reading/language arts, science, and social studies. Objectives, curriculum objectives, resources, instructional roles, activities and procedures for completion, evaluation, and follow-up are described…

An educator within Hawaii's PETOM (Preservice Education for Teachers of Minorities) program discusses student evaluation, reflecting upon his own teaching and assessment practices and examining culture and multiple learning styles. Because traditional assessment is not always appropriate, teachers must be willing to be creative, involving students…

The article relates one teacher educator's experiences teaching a course in language development to college students in Hawaii's PETOM (Preservice Education for Teaching of Minorities) program. The teacher learned about building on background knowledge, starting with students' experiences, and providing opportunities for dialogs with students. (SM)

This article describes an authentic assessment approach used in English/language arts and mathematics with gifted students in Texas elementary and secondary schools, which focused on developing instructional experiences that challenge gifted students and documenting student progress over time. The use of portfolios was valuable for both…

Describes a thematic, interdisciplinary, middle-school curriculum that integrates visual and language arts. Curriculum embodies three principles: (1) visual and verbal responses depend on meaningful interaction among the artist (writer), the art object (text), the viewer (reader), and the environment (context); (2) visual and verbal thinking are…

Examines the drive to develop a national set of standards for the English Language Arts curriculum. Addresses the issues of what standards are, what the current standards terrain looks like, what sort of standards could be set, and what the dangers are in the process. Offers suggestions for educators to begin the process of developing useful…

The article explores the creation of whole-language learning, examining educational reform since the 1950s. It presents descriptions of whole-language learning, noting confusion about its definition and debating whether it is a reaction to poor reading and language arts teaching or response to criticisms of teaching since the 1950s. (SM)

Uses a teacher's thematic unit on endangered species to share how technology can help to make meaningful connections across the curriculum. Shows how the unit includes science, social studies, mathematics, art, language arts, and music. (SR)