Argues that regular homophone practice enhances vocabulary knowledge, spelling skills, pronunciation ability, and overall reading proficiency. Describes how card games played with decks of homophones helped to accomplish these things. Notes particular benefits of homophone games to English-as-a-second-language students, and outlines key advantages…

Proposes assigning polemics, suasive essays, and paradoxical encomia as a means to help students write in classical civic discourse forms, which enfranchise the personal in the service of the community. Presents guidelines for each assignment. (NH)

Argues that, under the weight of the culture of materialism, superficiality, and rampant consumerism fueled by sex, drugs, and violence, it is difficult yet critically important for individuals to carve out a space for the pleasures of concentration, and for finding an internal anchor. Describes how a teacher has used silence in support of these…

Describes how some student teachers and cooperating teachers guided pupils in learning phonics through a study of rhyming poetry. Discusses class activities involved in teaching couplets, triplets, imagery in poetry, quatrains, alliteration, limericks, and onomatopoeia, and the rhyme and phonics elements involved. (SR)

Describes a journalism course that used an integrative approach to teaching about the principles, practice, and effects of civic journalism, combining theory, news writing, and evaluation. Describes the class project on the controversial issue of panhandling. Discusses goals of civic journalism and of the project, journalistic methods used,…

Describes the picture book rendition of the operatic story "Aida" (based on the opera composed by G. Verdi) as retold by opera diva Leontyne Price. Describes how this picture book is appropriate for introducing adolescent readers to opera. Describes specific activities for music classes, musical resources, specific art activities, and…

Describes an English-as-a-Second-Language class writing and discussion project in which students retold and explained their favorite folk stories, eventually publishing them in a booklet. (SR)

Explores some of the possibilities and problems of teaching secondary school students about genocide through the study of language used to describe the event. Focuses on Eastern Europe during the Stalin era when a catastrophe known as the "Holodomor" occurred. (PA)

Describes a guest speaker assignment (used in courses such as Communication for Business, Small Business Management, Organization Theory, and others) intended as one step toward correcting gender imbalances. Describes how groups of five to six students contact local female executives to arrange in-class speaking engagements on class topics.…

Presents a case study for use in business communication classes to help students understand and learn both the context and the strategies for communication with business management. Deals with a case requiring difficult negotiation and compromise in a situation where personal beliefs conflict with organizational goals. Includes four assignments.…

Presents a case study for use in business communication classes to help students understand and learn both the context and the strategies for the communication with business management. Deals with a business problem revolving around issues of appropriate e-mail use and privacy. Includes five assignments. (SR)

Suggests ways of bringing poetry into the elementary classroom: matching poems and students; making poetry readings a regular activity; encouraging students to read, recite, or perform poetry; inviting special guests to perform poetry; celebrating holidays, seasons, and special occasions with poems; providing an audience for student poetry; and…

Asserts that because many teachers embrace the use of literature in their classrooms and use many avenues for responding to books, social action can be an important addition to the repertoire of response strategies. Examines support for activism from both the social studies and literacy education communities, and offers guidelines and resources…

Describes censorship and discusses its history. Argues that using "politically correct" language is censorship. Discusses censorship in books for young readers, silent censorship, and solutions. Argues that the best protection against censorship is to read. Lists characteristics of censorship; describes a summer workshop in which…

Argues that mathematics instruction is dependent not just on numbers and their manipulation, but on language, literacy, and comprehension. Uses original examples of mathematical texts to map out a rationale for the teaching of reading in math, and includes a range of practical suggestions for the math teacher that support the "spiraling" of…