Based on a successful workshop, this book presents the basic elements of narrative and a series of exercises that offer a self-guided set of discussion topics and exercises for a writer, a small group of writers, or a class interested in the craft of narrative prose. Topics addressed in the book are: the sound of language; the narrative sentence…

This paper outlines an activity which is designed to make students comfortable speaking in the classroom environment. The paper states that, used properly, the activity is also an introduction to each day's course topic, and it encourages students to think about and report their own life experiences that illustrate a core construct from the day's…

"Speaking Personally" is the generic name given to one of the regular features of "The American Journal of Distance Education"--AJDE--an interview with a leading personality in the field. As implied in the title, interviewees have always been encouraged to talk in a relatively informal way. Since an interview has been reported in every issue of…

This paper discusses the need for and the design requirements of generic chatroom software that is readily configurable to particular domains and that is also extensible. The architecture of a client/server chatroom generation system, ChatterBox, implemented in Java, is presented. The following components of ChatterBox are described: (1) the basic…

This paper discusses how students' participation in conversation and classroom activities potentially evidences and constitutes their cognition. Participation is viewed in terms of reflective discourse, a construct from the literature, and is described in the context of two Year 11 students together designing a simple aplet for their graphics…

The development of a scientifically literate society is dependent upon effective communication. Accordingly, the Benchmarks for Science Literacy, which defines science literacy goals for United States students K-12, contains an entire section on communication skills. One of the skills described in the Benchmarks is that "students should be able to…

This viewer's guide is designed to encourage discussion about the issues covered in the four-part public television series "Liberty & Limits: 'The Federalist' Idea 200 Years Later" that aired during 1997. The series examines whether the current U.S. political system still matches the vision of its founders. The guide offers: an essay…

Designed to help teachers get started using literature circles in their classrooms, this book gives teachers a boost to begin, offers some insights from other teachers, and helps teachers clarify where to go next. It notes that literature circles (or literature study groups, book clubs, or discussion circles) take many forms and engage students in…

This economics unit of study consists of 10 lessons. Each lesson sets out key terms (such as demand, scarcity, monetary costs, property rights, and cost/benefit analysis); outlines the national content standards addressed; lists objectives; provides teaching and discussion ideas; suggests sample interactive discussion problems and sample small…

Argumentation is treated as an aspect of communication theory and in light of audiences' social values. (CH)

Development by a university counseling center staff of a training procedure to help students interact productively in small groups to learn academic material is described. After refinement of the program (entitled Education Through Student Interaction), emphasis was placed on teaching faculty to train students by means of this procedure. (Author)

Described a course whose primary objective would be to give meaning and significance to individual lives by relating them to their collective history, a period from the early part of the twentieth century until the present, in which older people have lived.

The article discusses the task of becoming an effective college teacher. (Author/RM)

Discussed is a day program which has provided psychiatric treatment for 135 emotionally disturbed children under 5 years of age and their parents. (DB)

Eighty subjects were randomly assigned equally by sex to self-positive or self-negative discussion topic groups in which they either received or did not receive verbal comment from the interviewer. A silent interviewer produced less discrimination of self as a concept, and depending upon the positive or negative direction of subject verbalization…