Discusses seven strategies teachers can implement without cost to help students consciously use techniques to aid comprehension and promote critical thinking. Illustrates the strategies with classroom observations and supporting documentation from leading reading specialists. (RS)

Presents class activities to help elementary students learn about changes in the state of matter by making ice cream. In addition to making observations on the changes of state, students can practice measuring and identifying the properties (e.g., color, size, and shape). (SM)

Describes the activity of soliciting material for and publishing a student-generated literary magazine. Demonstrates the ways in which the magazine was later used by various teachers for their class activities. Argues for the benefits of publishing student writing. (HB)

Describes three "generate" strategies for seeking information in text when expected clues are missing. (SR)

Suggests that understanding the "tools of rhetorical analysis" in relation to persuasion can help business communication teachers better incorporate the concept of consensus building into their courses. Discusses incorporating rhetorical techniques (using metaphors, calling on readers' schemata, and using narratives) into a business…

As part of its multicultural approach, the United Nations International School includes Native American literature and social studies materials in many areas of the K-12 curriculum, as well as encouraging awareness of Native American concerns outside the classroom. Class activities and schoolwide events are described. (SV)

Describes an exercise in which students in an editing class edit stories written by students in a beginning reporting class. Notes that the exercise focuses on coaching (rather than bullying), thus encouraging good reporting and strong writing. (SR)

Examines how kindergarten children's concepts of work and play affect their classification of school activities. Finds that children classify the activities as either play or work on the basis of absence of the teacher, location of activity, level of noise permitted, and the materials used. (RS)

Presents suggestions on how to incorporate elementary student decision making into classroom routine. The article recommends teachers be models, provide food for thought, focus on student strengths, introduce decision-making processes, and provide practice. Seven steps to making good decisions and activities to develop decision-making skills are…

Describes teachable moments and how students' questions, enthusiasm, and motivation lead them through full-steam reading voyages of discovery. (SR)

This unit is designed to strengthen critical thinking and problem-solving skills by allowing students to assume the roles of 1992 Winter Olympic Games planners who make preparations for the event. A reproducible data sheet serves as a resource. Hands-on activities and a critical television viewing activity are included. (IAH)

Offers a teaching tip from each of five college English teachers, discussing "sticky note" critiques, discovering personal style, writing before speaking, audience and thesis feedback, and breaking the ice at the beginning of the semester. (SR)

Offers a narrative based on a real event, in the form of a "docustory," describing that moment when teaching worked--when, in an instructional setting, communication was "perfect,""best," or "excellent." Describes a university course that involves performance and oral history, in which students perform stories of their own or others' loss or…

Describes activities that can be used in library media centers or elementary school classrooms that relate to family ties and traditions. An annotated list of 34 sources of information suitable for kindergarten through third grade is included. (LRW)

Describes the successes and difficulties of a project in which students from ninth to twelfth grades, over the course of a school year, wrote a book on the African American community of Louisville, Kentucky. (SR)