Argues that the language arts curricula of the public schools should be more student centered and that future innovations should be aimed at meeting each student's needs. (RB)

Discusses one teacher's approach to classroom cooking, using four specific cooking experiences. Procedures, materials, and concepts are described. (HS)

Teachers should enrich students' language environment, give children opportunities to practice their language, and allow feedback on language to occur. (DD)

The aims of the Gadsden City School System project to alter language arts strategies in fifth and eighth grade included the promotion of professional growth for teachers and student growth in language arts and reading as well as the production of appropriate televised materials. (LS)

A study provides an organized list of core English language arts standards and benchmarks that are recognized by most or all of the states in the Central Region (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming) and that are found in standards documents that have been rated as exemplary by national organizations. In…

This topical bibliography and commentary highlights the major points of the available literature on the value of using a "thematic organization" for the teaching of language arts classes in grades 6 through 8. It begins with a definition of the thematic organization approach, as culled from the literature. It then presents briefly a few examples…

Viewing the English language arts standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association as a point of departure rather than a final destination, this book presents a number of ways to increase student ownership of learning. The book details a pedagogy that recognizes, respects, and builds from…

The challenge of middle school teaching is brought to life in this book, a narrative companion to the Standards for the English Language Arts developed by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association. According to the book, team teaching and student-created materials form the framework for myriad…

A curriculum map for a year-long, fifth-grade, multidisciplinary project takes a performance view of understanding from Harvard University Project Zero's Research Center. Throughout the project and in each assessment of understanding, learners show what they know about human evolution. This guide to deep disciplinary understanding of the big idea…

This videotape records the stories of 7 scientists, 3 women and 4 men who range in age from 33 to 81. Beginning with their earliest scientific questions and including their most personal ponderings, the scientists reveal their histories and professional obligations to affect the world. Director Michael Apted allows the personal adventures of the…

Why does one classroom hum with productivity and enthusiasm and the one next door sag under the weight of the work? To understand the invisible forces within a classroom of busy children, people must look beneath the surface to the relationships that shape behavior and determine daily patterns of teaching and learning. This book focuses on the web…

This book contains more than two dozen reader's theater scripts to entertain and amuse those in the classroom or library. The scripts in the book--all are reproducible--can help nurture student language arts skills and the power of the imagination with their fractured "takes" on fairy tales and their twisted legends. Designed to…

The metanarrative of modernity as constructed by language arts teaching in Malawian classrooms constructs an identity among Malawians that denies the multiplicity of influences, including the participation of Malawian and other African societies, in the narrative of the creation of school knowledge. It also perpetuates the marginality of…

Data were collected for this action research to determine the value of an extrinsic reward as a self-management tool for motivating eighth grade language arts students. The sample was drawn from students at a school in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The school was one of two middle schools in the city. This convenience sample…