Describes the use of some read-alouds from Alexandre Dumas'"The Count of Monte Cristo" which helped to demonstrate some principles of learning foreign languages. Describes briefly the read aloud selection, discusses some specific activities that relate to foreign language learning, and discusses specific language arts activities. (SR)

States that group class exercises have the potential to provide important lessons for business education students. Describes organizational communication and marketing classes that applied team formation and team-building exercises to enrich the team experience and differentiate it from typical group work. (PA)

Discusses how teaching young children to make picture books provides opportunities to record and share personal experiences in a format that integrates linguistic and visual modes of thought and expression. Picture bookmaking can empower young children as they gain understanding in how the text and image work together to tell the story. (KB)

Describes a unit that allows students to recognize diversity, understand why diverse perspectives are held, and harness this diversity to improve society. Describes how students use and refine their literacy skills as they first research and report on Jamaica, and then use a Jamaican-created model to build a play that addresses a serious problem…

Describes several ways in which the newspaper is a useful resource for teaching reading skills and for allowing students to model just about all types of writing. (SR)

Contends that Robert Lawson's children's book "Rabbit Hill" (1944) falls within the genre of pastoral literature, in the tradition of Edmund Spenser's "Faerie Queen." Examines the history of the genre and finds reasons for classifying Lawson's book as pastoral. Cites classic elements in "Rabbit Hill." Gives five…

Gives the background of picture books. Contends that they are constantly evolving and now include at least six different categories. Finds they now constitute literature for older audiences. Muses on just who is the audience for these sophisticated books. Furnishes activities which may be adapted for the classroom and help to clarify today's…

Recalls the pleasurable activity of listening to poetry read by a teacher in fifth grade--poems by Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Carl Sandburg. Relates that poetry books were in the school library and that the students wrote their own poems. Finds that, 18 years later, teaching begins each day in middle school with poetry. (PA)

Offers an exercise involving popular culture to help students experience the contemporary power of Shakespeare. Explains that after reading a Shakespeare play, students develop new cereal brands based upon the work's plot, characters, or themes, afterward naming, designing, creating, and displaying the cereal package. Combines literary analysis,…

Provides an assignment for a business communication or a public speaking course from junior high to college level. States a minimum of three oral presentations are necessary for the assignment encompassing an announcement of the awards competition, the voting process and incentives for winning an award, and the ceremony held on the last day of…

Presents a variety of mathematical games from all over the world using pen and paper, or single-board setups. (ASK)

Explores the appeal of historical fiction for young readers and describes its place within any school curriculum. Describes a project in Dorset Middle Schools which used historical fiction to teach medieval history and English. Notes that students' historical thinking was improved, their knowledge of medieval world advanced, and their writing was…

Discusses an English teacher's approaches to introducing English-as-a-second-language students to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Notes that the students responded with more enthusiasm than they had to any other selection they had read, and that the teacher had underestimated her students' ability to understand Shakespeare. (RS)

Describes using Think-Pair-Share (a three-step cooperative learning activity) to complement the sentence-generation phase of the Possible Sentences Activity, a highly recommended prereading vocabulary strategy. (SR)

Author/illustrator Pat Cummings talks about drawing, her favorite illustrators, her first book, her work habits, teaching, inspiration, working with other writers, and offers advice to parents, teachers, and children about art. Lists books written and/or illustrated by Cummings, and suggests activities based on her books using art, language arts,…