Suggestions for creating memorable lessons that keep students' attention include the following: relate what is being taught to students' lives and interests, give students choices, show students that you enjoy teaching, include human emotion and human interest stories, reduce students' negative emotions, make lessons interesting and active, vary…

Objects to traditional scheduling practices in which band rehearsals are not started until well into the academic year. Argues that starting at the beginning of the year offers numerous advantages. Presents a number of lessons that can be employed in early band rehearsals, even before students are familiar with their instruments. (DSK)

Examines the extent to which a group of superior elementary and secondary school teachers employed systematic instructional-planning practices. The two approaches were found to be different in several important ways: teachers did not place much emphasis on specifying objectives, creating objectives-based tests, or making other instructional…

Discusses rules used in the House of Representatives from 1836 to 1844 to suppress discussions of slavery. Presents a lesson using primary documents that allows students to assess the role of the "gag rule" in creating sectional tension and to follow the transformation of an individual in the growing dispute. Includes documents. (DSK)

Sixty-one library and information science (LIS) teachers, identified as "superior," speak in behavioral terms about the way they plan, teach, and deal with students. Then six veteran observers of LIS teaching participate in a listserv discussion and reveal their views about superior LIS teaching, remediation for poor teachers, and adult learner…

Suggests simple planning and instructional strategies to improve student learning and understanding for present and long -term application. The first section discusses learner-related issues. The second section focuses on the lesson plan (the introduction, the lesson body, and the lesson closure). The third section examines other strategies for…

This article presents BASE (Big ideas, Analyzing areas of difficulty, creating Strategies and supports, and Evaluating the process), a unit-planning process that teachers have used successfully with ninth-grade nontracked math classes to help secondary students with disabilities and students who are at-risk to be successful in a "reform" math…

Provides a number of reading and discussion exercises on issue-oriented questions (such as "overpopulation") that may be used for just about any level of English-as-a-Second-Language instruction. Suggests a role-play exercise in imitation of the television show "Dating Game." (TB)

Reviews the NTTI (National Teacher Training Institute) for Math, Science and Technology model that trains teachers to use video and Internet resources to enhance math and science instruction. Discusses multimedia methodology; standards-based training; program impact in schools; and lesson plans available on the NTTI Web site. (Author/LRW)

Presents a biography of Ashley Bryan, an author and illustrator who is known for presenting the African experience based on oral tradition. Includes ideas for promoting his work and includes an annotated bibliography of his books and sound recordings as well as sources for bibliographical information and relevant lesson plans. (LRW)

Classroom music lessons are not usually a forum for addressing philosophical issues, but they can be. Through music and visual media, music teachers can discuss music with middle and high school students in a way that expands how they think about music and their environment. In other words, music teachers can open up space in their music classroom…

While working with music teachers in training at the university level, the author learned how helpful it can be to model a curriculum that mirrors America's changing demographics. As a Native American who grew up on the Stockbridge-Munsee Indian Reservation, in central Wisconsin, she discovered that Native history and culture were absent from…

Lesson and unit plans designed by preservice teachers who developed their plans using the backward design model or a traditional model of curriculum design were compared. Two independent raters scored 153 lesson and unit plans developed by preservice teachers in two different sections of Educational Planning and Management. The plans were…

This study examined U.S. and Chinese teachers' constructing, knowing, and evaluating representations to teach mathematics. All Chinese lesson plans are very similar, because they are all based on the Chinese national unified curriculum in mathematics. However, the U.S. lesson plans are extremely varied, even for those teachers from the same…

The purpose of this study was to assess physical activity levels during high school physical education lessons. The data were considered in relation to recommended levels of physical activity to ascertain whether or not physical education can be effective in helping young people meet health-related goals. Sixty-two boys and 60 girls (aged 11-14…