Every day in so many ways, children are surrounded by language: from the language of home and family, to the never-ending bombardment of environmental print, to the clash between school admonitions to use "standard" English and their peer groups' specialized and invented speech. According to the author of this book, students love to…

This collection of 20 essays on topics vital to literacy education, a follow-up to "Becoming Political," aims to be essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the past, present, and likely future of literacy education. The essays provide equal parts of theory, strategy, and hope for all who are interested in supporting literacies…

Most books about teacher education processes are generic in their descriptions. This book, however, is designed to enable staff developers and teacher educators to help teachers become effective in their teaching of the reading and writing processes. The book offers specific suggestions for planning and implementing a literacy professional…

Reading and writing are interrelated. What has been read provides material for writing. This paper focuses on reading endeavors that provide subject matter for writing. The paper first recommends reading poetry to the class and states that the teacher should have ready for use an anthology of children's literature. Children can write poems for…

The 1998 "High Schools That Work" (HSTW) assessment contains good and bad news about the reading performance of the 23,900 career-bound students who participated in the assessment at experienced HSTW sites. Based on these findings, this research brief answers the following three questions: What progress are HSTW's sites making in…

This document deals with testing in intermediate communication arts for seventh graders in Missouri public schools. The document contains the following items from the Session 1 Test Booklet: "Swimming in Snow" (Diana C. Conway) (Items 1, 2, and 5); "Discovery" (Marion Dane Bauer) (Item 13); writing prompt; and a writer's…

This document deals with testing in intermediate communication arts for seventh graders in Missouri public schools. The document contains the following items from the Test Booklet: "Under the Rice Moon" (Rhiannon Puck); "Dogspirit" (Gary Paulsen) (Session 1, Items 4, 5, 6, and 8); a writing prompt; and a writer's checklist. It…

This document deals with testing in communication arts for 11th graders in Missouri public schools. The document contains a short poem "Signs for My Father, Who Stressed the Bunt" (David Bottoms) for students to read and gives four questions for students to answer (Items 15, 16, 17, and 18) in Session 1. It also provides scoring guides…

This document deals with testing in communication arts for seventh graders in Missouri public schools. The document first provides an article about adventures on and around an island near the coast of Nova Scotia entitled "The Secret of the Oak Island Money Pit" (Sharon Barry). The document instructs students to read the article and then…

This document presents 13 detailed lesson plans for use with limited English speaking students in grades K-12 who also have disabilities. Although the formats vary, each lesson plan usually provides information on learning objectives, appropriate grade level, type of disability, correlation with national or state standards, subject areas…

A collection of humorous plays with real-life settings and contemporary characters, Just Deal with It!, includes readers theatre scripts that poke gentle fun at annoying traits, school-based dilemmas, or the embarrassing moments that are part of growing up. With resolutions that emphasize creative solutions, good humor, or cleverness, these…

This book provides an inside look at an extraordinary teacher, Linda Rief--specifically, how she converses with students and promotes their conversations among one another. The book offers insights into Linda's teaching that even she had not seen. It presents an inside look at Linda Rief in action as she establishes goals, teaches, triumphs, and…

In this interdisciplinary curriculum unit for kindergarten, students gain an appreciation for the challenges facing the United States when the Declaration of Independence was written. Students work in groups to create their own pretend declaration of independence and develop a flag, national anthem, monuments, and plans for holidays. The student…

This framework addresses reading, writing, speaking, listening, and written and oral English-language conventions for the full range of learners across all grade levels. Each grade level contains sections on Standards and Instruction, Curricular and Instructional Profile, and English-Language Arts Content Standards. The standards give special…

This book is meant to be used with the 1997 publication "Challenge Standards for Student Success: Language Arts" by providing additional student work to illustrate grade level standards. The works are intended to provoke discussion among teachers about whether or not a student has met the language arts standards and about what kind of…