A beginning language arts teacher of students with hearing impairments describes his development from a teacher with well-prepared lectures determined to be in control at all times to a teacher who sees his role as helping to empower students to control their own learning. Several books helpful in this transition are noted. (DB)

This problem-solving activity book offers tools for attacking problems in the classroom and beyond (a reproducible card set explaining problem-solving skills, a math problem-solving grid, problem-solving lessons in science, language arts, and social studies, and a poster following scientists as they fight to reclaim an endangered species). (SM)

Discusses getting children to focus as much on the process by which they do their research as on the content of the research itself. Describes a project with fifth grade students in which children orchestrate their own reading, writing, and talking as they investigate their topic. (SR)

Describes a collaborative project between instructors in language arts and social studies at the middle school level that produced a joint educational venture that made reading and writing more meaningful, challenging, and exciting for students and teachers. Describes a "Who's Who" thematic unit integrating reading, writing, and drama.…

Explores the challenge of making the transition from a traditional basal-oriented language-arts program to a literature-based program. States that initiating a literature-based reading program requires an appreciation and grasp of the whole language philosophy. Offers suggestions for implementing this approach. (MG)

Based on the author's experience with a Rust Belt high school literacy-development project, this article discusses how teachers use process-centered innovations in language arts classrooms, the pedagogical impulses behind the innovations, and their contributions to student learning. Rather than diminishing students' learning, inquiry-based…

Reviews research involving the LOGO computer programming language and its effect on children's achievement in mathematics, language arts, and problem solving, as well as social-emotional development. Identifies some of the unique characteristics of LOGO that may contribute to student learning. (MDM)

Using a unit on earthworms, this article shows how science and language arts can be successfully integrated in a middle school classroom through hands-on observation, interviewing, and writing exercises. The integration process engages students, uses class time more efficiently, encourages dialog, and improves outcomes and appreciation of the…

A qualitative inquiry describes the sociocultural aspects of an urban elementary school serving as the context for a reading/language arts early field experience and examines how the sociocultural factors of this school contribute to the professional development of the preservice teachers who work there and their three supervising teachers. (SLD)

Describes a first-grade classroom to illustrate a classroom environment that supports second-language learners while drawing on linguistic diversity to enrich the language learning of all students. Discusses resources and routines; as well as risks and rewards both in a rich language arts curriculum as well as in the social environment. Describes…

Features activities designed to enhance students' spatial reasoning ability combining geometry, language arts, and visual arts. (ASK)

Outlines a set of conditions in which literacy learning is more likely to occur, based on Brian Cambourne's theory of literacy learning defining eight "conditions for learning." Defines each of these learning conditions, gives examples of them in the real world, and offers examples of what each condition for learning looks like in a 10th-grade…

Reviews 31 collections of children's poetry that help students see the world from a fresh perspective. Notes how they were used in a variety of classrooms and how children responded to them. Organizes the books in terms of: making the ordinary extraordinary; looking at relationships in new ways; new views of the world; and a fresh look at animals.…

Attempting to increase reading engagement, a collaborative team implemented a year-long integration of reading/language arts and science instruction known as Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI). Compared to traditionally organized instruction, the CORI context increased strategy use, conceptual learning, and text comprehension more than…

Discusses how English/language-arts teachers can actively teach students to use a socially critical lens for thinking. Considers three modes of teaching this. Discusses how, once students have a least 10 notebook entries focused on social issues, "noticings," and questions, they should be able to reread their notebooks for themes that have…