A monthly exchange of tips, projects, ideas, and resources, which are all activity oriented and can add interest to the elementary classroom. (Editor)

Suggests sources of information on minimum competencies and minimal competency testing, including publications and conference proceedings, policy statements from professional organizations, and resource lists available from various organizations. (MKM)

Defines oral language development, discusses findings from adult-child interaction studies, and presents classroom implications. (DD)

A series of activities to help junior high school students build a conceptual model of communication. Through games and reading selections, students become familiar with dialect and jargon; consider the thesis that language is behavior; and understand how easy it is to fail to communicate with other people. (Author/AV)

Activities to increase student awareness of problems related to learning to communicate with others. Students develop profiles of their classmates and role play scenes from their partners' daily lives. (Author/AV)

Children learned the language arts concepts of capitalization and punctualization better when playing games, and learning was greatest when active games were played. (MM)

Adapted from the forthcoming book, "The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms," defines forms, summarizes their histories, quotes examples, and offers teachers, students, and beginning writers suggestions on how to read and compose in each form. Discusses free verse, ghazal, epic, prose poem, line, spoonerism, imitation, and villanelle. (JG)

Presents results of a survey that suggests that high school journalism courses help students gain language arts skills better than required or elective English courses. (JC)

Presents a media production unit for grade 3 which combines library media, art, language arts, and science skills to produce a slide-tape program of original poetry. Unit goal, subject area objectives, performance objectives, materials, procedures/activities, and evaluation are described. Five resources are listed, and a sample script is included.…

Provides seven fully developed library media activities to be used in connection with specific curriculum units in music, physical education, reading/language arts, science, and social studies. Elements described for each activity include objectives, curriculum objectives, resources, instructional roles, activities and procedures, evaluation, and…

Creative uses of Apple II microcomputers in classrooms are described. Projects involved topics ranging across the curriculum, with many involving writing and most using AppleWorks software. (MNS)

Presents three teachers' anecdotes concerning relinquishing control of the learning situation to the students: seeing through a child's eyes, letting a child write longer pieces with invented spelling rather than being concerned with neatness, and letting students select and interpret poetry instead of teachers doing it for them. (HTH)

Reviews recent research suggesting that teachers may unintentionally perpetuate social class stratification during reading instruction. Explores possible solutions to the unequal treatment of social classes during reading instruction. (HTH)

Summarizes the results of research on oral and written language processes and lists problems with computer software that does not reflect that research. (AEA)

Describes one third grader's development as a writer as she participated in classroom writing workshops (peer and teacher feedback) and, in particular, her development as a reviser of her writing. (HTH)