A speech presented to Navajo high school seniors on the eve of graduation challenges students to take advantage of educational opportunities, to set goals, and to continually strive to achieve their plans. Discusses the speaker's own experiences as a disabled Native American pursuing a career in computers and achieving independence. (LP)

Recommends exposure to and interaction with classroom visitors to influence children's views of themselves, learning, and school. Illustrates the effects of a visiting poet and a visit to a butterfly farm on children who have lost confidence in their abilities to read and write. Emphasizes the value of providing opportunities to respond to real…

Examined the effectiveness of the showcase portfolio process as an instructional strategy to enhance the quality and quantity of students' writing and to motivate them to participate in the writing process. Findings supported claims that portfolios are not only an authentic evaluative procedure, but an equally powerful motivational approach and an…

Interviewed 24 students in 2 Ontario secondary schools about their decision to enrol or not to enroll in a French-as-a-Second-Language (FSL) program when it became optional for them at the end of ninth grade. Participants indicated that achieving a satisfactory level of communicative competence in French was important as a motivator to continue…

Describes an interdisciplinary project from the University of Costa Rica conducted to contribute to the improvement of science teaching in primary schools by adopting the Science Curriculum Improvement Study. Changes included the use of woods, rocks, shells, and rain water in science class and integration of science with other subjects. Student…

The traditional approach to grammar teaching provides learners with opportunities to produce specific grammatical structures. This article explores an alternative approach, one based on interpreting input. The rationale for the approach is discussed, as are the principles for designing interpretation tasks for grammar teaching. (Contains 35…

Describes a study involving a set of 3 interviews conducted with 11 community college developmental reading students at the beginning, end, and 2 months after instruction in reading strategies to determine how the students defined their views of reading and of themselves as readers. Reports improvements in reading skills, self-efficacy, and…

Contends that social studies teachers are just as likely to experience student motivational problems as teachers of other subjects. Discusses issues related to student motivation and asserts that the teacher-student relationship is a critical variable. Presents and discusses 10 recommendations and classroom activities. (CFR)

An extensive questionnaire was given to students at a Canadian regional high school serving urban and rural students, who responded to questions about their occupational aspirations and expectations, their values, the obstacles that might prevent them from realizing their aspirations, and the people who supported their aspirations. The results are…

The effectiveness of Strategic Content Learning, an intervention model to promote self-regulated and strategic learning, was investigated. Six adults with learning disabilities chose a task of importance to current or future academic work and were provided individualized support on relevant tasks. Results indicated student gains in task…

A high school teacher sought to interest her English class in literature by developing a curriculum that included popular movies. After eliciting students' reactions to the films, she helped them list the criteria for film quality. She investigated the reasons for their opinions to help them develop critical thinking skills. (SM)

Self-regulated learning is an important component of learning for college students. Students must have greater awareness of their own behavior, motivation, and cognition and of positive motivational beliefs, and must practice self-regulated learning strategies. Faculty can model self-regulated learning and provide appropriate classroom tasks. (MSE)

Describes a social studies computer simulation, "SimCity," that was used to teach seventh graders in a middle school their responsibility to be informed citizens, to participate in local decision making, and to learn to work cooperatively in teams. Realism, relevance, student motivation, and future activities are discussed. (LRW)

Reports on a study of 138 college sociology professors on their attitudes about and techniques for learning students' names. Finds that the number of tactics used for learning names declines as class size increases. Includes 18 techniques for name-learning. (CFR)

Describes an effort to teach French to boys with emotional and behavioral difficulties. The teaching used was based on lexical chunks of language rather than grammatical structures in order to create motivation and maintain interest in the short time available each week. The students greeted the lessons with enthusiasm and grew in self-esteem and…