Describes what teachers at four demonstration sites throughout Michigan do in their classrooms as they appropriate and incorporate the Michigan English Language Arts Framework standards into their daily classroom instruction. (SR)

Offers an overall perspective on how standards demonstration sites--places teachers come together to study standards and to grow in their teaching--have functioned in Michigan to help State Department of Education personnel, school district personnel, and university personnel collaborate to make the Michigan English Language Arts Framework…

Discusses 13 books for teachers that describe the what, how, and why of literature-based instruction in a variety of classrooms across the country. (SR)

Provides an annotated bibliography of research in the teaching of English published from July 1995 to December 1995. Includes annotations on books, articles, and dissertations. Divides the annotations into sections on historical studies, researcher education, teacher education, and writing. (TB)

A new teacher conducted a study of the short story through dialectical journals, linking her New York University expository writing students with inmate/students at Eastern Correctional Facility. Her experiences inspired the Goals 2000 Design for Differentiation Project and Socratic seminars for eighth-graders. (MLH)

Describes 30 children's books published in 1999 selected by the National Council of Teachers of English's Children's Literature Assembly as being notable for their potential to enhance language awareness and usage among children in grades K-8. (SR)

Presents results from an informal survey of 50 individuals of all ages about the Harry Potter phenomenon. Offers four suggestions for the English language arts classroom about a place "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" might have in a school's curriculum, dealing with transforming text, understanding genre, responding to texts with personal…

Describes how to develop a storytelling unit that will culminate in a festival in which all students can successfully participate and perform. Outlines the entire process, including research, "talk-abouts" and details, in-class activities to help students develop their tales, periodic evaluations, and the festival itself. (SR)

Explores the potential of hybridity for supporting critical pedagogies that seek to transform the knowledge, texts, and identities of the school curriculum. Draws on microanalyses of oral and written texts constructed by a Latina student perceived to be struggling academically. Shows the student interweaving home, school, and peer language…

Explains the process of using science journals with first and second grade students in three activities to explore the instructional sequence. Suggests some strategies to use journals more effectively and makes recommendations on important points for student evaluation. (YDS)

Notes that a major goal within the language arts block is learning to recognize and write the letters of the alphabet. Presents 4 reasons that have been suggested as to why early letter knowledge exerts such a strong influence over learning to read and write. Presents descriptions of 12 websites dealing with the alphabet. (SG)

Presents the author's acceptance speech when named 2000 Outstanding Educator in the Language Arts by the Elementary Section of the National Council of Teachers of English. Shares her life story to argue that teachers' actions have the potential to add, deepen, or change current trends and events within the struggle for educational justice. (SG)

Describes how and why the author teaches students to evaluate the purpose, content and functionality of web pages. Includes a one-page web page evaluation sheet. (SR)

Evaluates the effectiveness of a contingency contract for a ninth grade male student with behavior disorders enrolled in a self-contained special education classroom. The contingency contract was used to help him with written communication in punctuation and capitalization. The effectiveness of the contract was examined through a multiple-baseline…

Describes some uses skillful teachers have developed for the unassuming post-it note in assessment, reading, and classroom-based inquiry. Discusses how these uses represent some of the most significant positive trends in literacy instruction for early adolescents, and show increased concern for personalization in an educational system that has of…