Nine writers reflect on what it is like to talk with their readers in schools. One theme prevails: the importance of face-to-face encounters to the writers as well as the readers. (HOD)

The authors briefly review 12 children's counting books and describe how a group of preschoolers reacted to each. (SJL)

Student's perceptions of the faculty advising process were found to be relatively undifferentiated, emphasizing student's reactions to perceived social skills of advisors, with minimum awareness of technical functions. This view was contrasted with faculty perceptions, which are more complex. Implications for training and evaluation are discussed.…

A western North Carolina study explored how 31 teachers and 35 students viewed implementation of the 4 x 4 block schedule in five high schools. Students overwhelmingly favored the schedule. Advantages included getting better grades, participating in school-sponsored clubs during the school day, having less homework, and graduating a half-year…

Outlines a pilot study undertaken by staff of the Open University (Great Britain) to gain feedback from students on the effectiveness of support of their students' learning as an aid to staff development. The use of questionnaires is explained, and tutor responses to students' comments are discussed. (Author/LRW)

Academic engaged time of six children with low-incidence disabilities in general education elementary classes was compared to six students without disabilities from the same classes and six students without disabilities from different, non-inclusive classes. No significant differences were found between academic responding and task management…

States that trust is a necessary component of a student-teacher relationship for maximal learning to occur. Finds that highly assertive teachers did well with assertive students but fared poorly with less assertive students. Concludes that the positive relationship of teacher responsiveness with student trust was not affected by differing levels…

Examines students' ability to understand definitions of novel verbs--in 2 experiments upper elementary students received definitions of pseudowords paired with sentences using those words and evaluated use as appropriate for definition given. Finds students' judgments about these sentences were not substantially different from chance, suggesting…

Illustrates the power of responsive teaching and how one teacher used a modern poem about cruelty to address a recent incident of her own students' cruelty to a classmate. Notes that the class responded with compassion, tolerance, and a sense of caring for those who are different. (MG)

At Arizona State University, undergraduate teacher candidates were asked to make biweekly journal entries relating course content to beliefs and knowledge about teaching, classroom applications, children's probable responses, and personal reflections about teaching and learning. Many students organized their entries according to a…

This article, based upon a survey of 3000 teachers in 92 Illinois high schools, presents data on homework use by teachers. Data is provided on the amount, frequency, structure, purposes, and types of homework assigned to students. The level of school and parental support is also assessed. (IAH)

Examines strategies that students use to signal comprehension problems in classrooms, specifically, requests for clarification. Finds strategies differ with regard to the type and amount of communicative effort required of participants. (MS)

Describes a 7-year longitudinal study of drama at Arizona State University that involved 30 participants who started the study as kindergartners. Focuses on final exit interviews with selected participants. Concludes that theater is necessary for some children and that theater may become more valuable if children can be convinced of the personal…

This article questions the presentation of rules in the classroom and explores some of the different senses of the term "rule." After making some basic distinctions, the article considers implications for the classroom and suggests there is no single approach to the presentation of grammar rules, and that learners should be encouraged to…

An approach to teaching foreign languages that acknowledges the importance of individual readers' responses to literary texts read in the course is discussed. (20 references) (VWL)