Intended to help teachers present Indian legends for the maximum benefit and enjoyment of students, this guide provides background information and learning activities for seven legends derived from the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Winnebago tribes. Introductory material discusses the history and purposes of tribal legends and outlines student objectives…

The teaching activities presented in this document focus on teaching students the language of science through reading and writing. The first activity engages students in writing everything they know about a particular science topic, devising questions for further study, reading and gathering information to answer the questions, developing specific…

A study explored whether teaching the comprehension skills of inference, drawing conclusions, sequencing, and cause and effect would increase student achievement in reading and language while at the same time imparting social science content. Subjects, 197 eighth grade students in the experimental group and 192 eighth grade students in the control…

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has put steady emphasis on teachers' inquiring minds and on their awareness of the arts, particularly the arts of using and interpreting language. NCTE's inquiries have been concerned not only with literary and linguistic scholarship, but also with curricular matters, teaching procedures, and such…

"Motivation" is a regular column feature in issues of the journal "The Reading Teacher." Each column presents techniques for motivating students to read that have been submitted by readers of the journal. This compilation gathers together ten columns appearing across 1984-1985. The ten columns deal with the following topics: (1) listening and…

Reader-writer conferencing was examined as an alternative or complement to the direct assessment of writing. Criteria guiding development of a framework for analysis of reader-writer conferencing were summarized as: (1) achievability; (2) transfer to other domains of writing; (3) importance of the outcomes; (4) inter-scorer agreement; and (5)…

Written by English teachers considered successful in directing collaborative learning, this collection of essays focuses on the effective use of collaborative learning in the English language arts classroom. The essays and their authors are, as follows: (1) "None of Us Is as Smart as All of Us" (Dana Herreman); (2) "Collaborative…

Two approaches to the study of long-term effects of different prekindergarten (pre-K) programs in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) were studied. In one study, limited English proficient (LEP) students attending AISD kindergartens in 1981-82, 1982-83, and 1983-84 were followed to see if those who attended pre-K showed an…

The major purpose of this book is to describe the basis, features, and future of the whole language movement. Topics included in the book include: (1) a description of what is known about language and language development; (2) presentation of a whole language perspective on literacy development, involving both reading and writing; (3) presentation…

Teachers from the Austin Independent School District were identified as providing exemplary instruction to elementary Hispanic limited English proficient (LEP) students based on a comparison of predicted versus actual achievement scores in reading, language, and math. Predicted performance was based on equations generated by stepwise linear…

Teacher-developed units which integrate art with other subject areas in the elementary grades are described. The program creates an integrated wholeness by having students study units focusing on a central theme, which can be explored through different subject areas, including art. Reasons for art education are listed; for example, art develops…

This manual presents a program of instruction, the Basic Skills Instructional System, which coordinates a number of teaching strategies into a single instructional system. Section 1 describes the organizational phase of the system: (1) teacher expectation; (2) resistance from low achieving students; (3) avoiding confrontations; (4) management of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effectiveness of a linguistically based and a nonlinguistically based spelling program on the spelling competency of elementary pupils; (2) the effectiveness of spelling…

Developed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, this booklet contains the competencies, item specifications, and sample items for the language arts competency tests for grades three, seven, and ten. Each competency statement contains a brief description, sample items, content, question form, and response form. The booklet also offers…

Designed to provide information to special educators on software that is available for special-needs students and to serve as a reference source for regular educators and administrators, this bibliography is divided into eight areas: reading and language arts; learning skills; mathematics; consumer education; occupational and vocational education;…