The teaching activities presented in this document focus on motivating students in the classroom. The paper describes (1) using stick figures to teach the use of adjectives, (2) using pen names in a covert letter writing project to teach writing skills, (3) increasing creativity in composition topics by brainstorming about ways to use bricks, and…

Describes ways to accelerate reading and language skills by experience stories, creative writing, and books. (TO)

This advisory list contains instructional media appropriate to the language program in schools for primary through senior high school grade levels. Entries, selected from those materials submitted by publishers which received favorable reviews by educators, are arranged by type: books, films, filmstrips, games, kits, recordings, or slide sets. An…

Two plans were developed to provide in-service training to teacher aides in a large urban school district: one, an intensive program involving 30 hours of training divided into five all-day sessions or 12 shorter sessions; the other, a year-long program providing a series of 17 two-week modules from which teacher aides could choose. This paper…

In a sixth-grade unit, students learned about people's facial expressions through careful observation, recording, reporting, and generalizing. The students studied the faces of people of various ages; explored "masks" that people wear in different situations; learned about the use of ritual masks; made case studies of individuals to show…

Films can be an effective method of teaching English, the humanities, and social studies to students from the junior high school through the community college level. This book in part a guide and in part a teacher's memoir, sets forth a rationale for using films in the classroom to encourage reading, writing, thoughtful discussion, and an…

The purpose of this study was to develop and field test a series of modules designed to prepare preservice education students to teach elementary-level language arts. The program included units on creativity, creative writing, listening, handwriting, and spelling. Field testing was accomplished with 37 preservice students enrolled in a language…

Listening lessons, working in pairs, content area reinforcement, and study skills are helpful elements of a successful reading program. (JH)

Noting that a gap exists between desired and actual literacy levels in the United States, this paper argues that the issue of literacy should be addressed holistically. Proposing that the communication skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking are integrated and support each other, the paper reviews research indicating the…

The resource book is designed to help teachers and other school personnel use arts activities to mainstream handicapped and gifted students into the regular class curriculum. The first section contains guidelines for developing basic processing skills of perception, interpretation, understanding, expression, and evaluation. The second part of the…

Prepared by classroom teachers in a Phoenix elementary school district, this handbook provides information for use in initiating writing practice in both the language arts and the content areas at all elementary school grade levels. The major sections of the handbook provide (1) techniques for motivating students to write; (2) activities at the…

Research has shown that secondary school teachers are generally unable to rank text passages accurately according to their reading difficulty. To determine if this was true of elementary and middle school personnel, 177 teachers, administrators, and supervisors attending a summer reading workshop were asked to rank order each of five 100-word…

Focusing on ways to integrate the components of the language arts curriculum, this guide provides a framework for use in curriculum development. The guide offers a statement of philosophy that views the language arts curriculum as an integrated program involving the interactive processes of composing (through speaking, writing, and visual…

Isolated examples of creative adaptation show that Jean Piaget's theories of childhood development provide the conscientious teacher with a veritable warehouse of innovative and thought-provoking principles with which to construct a meaningful foundation of language arts experimentation. The elementary Piagetian principles for evoking creativity…