The author's middle school has created a mediated set of electronic learning resources designed to more effectively meet students' research needs. These research strategies help students with a variety of reading skills and allow students, and their teachers, to focus on higher-level thinking activities because the resource collections provide…

Grounded in the premise that students can learn about the world, nurture the impulse to care about others, and still meet required educational standards, this book outlines a middle school curriculum in which students can learn to identify with, investigate, and then act on social issues. It offers teachers the following resources: an extended…

Student research projects fail as a reading development technique if students have not mastered the skills necessary to complete the project or if the project's purpose is not clearly defined. When presented effectively, however, these projects provide a highly motivating and meaningful context for using reading skills. Viewed as a method of…

This guide is a sampler of ideas and activities based on 22 minimum objectives in speech, reading, writing, and research that have been identified for American literature study. Many of the activities involve an integration of several skills that are cross-referenced to other skills in the margins of the guide. A separate section on research…

This book offers educators an instructional tool for teaching essential research skills to middle school students. Moving beyond the typical theoretical approach, the book provides a broad range of strategies and learning activities that teach young learners how to master the process. The 14 chapters are as follows: (1) "Teaching Research in a…

Recommends using primary source documents in middle school history instruction and examines several strategies for making them more accessible. Describes a course on 17th-century social reformers that utilized paraphrasing of the historical language used in primary documents followed by focus questions and class discussion. (MJP)

Describes instructional strategies using primary sources in middle school history instruction. Maintains that students need to make critical, personal connections to material before they understand it. The strategies examined use visual aids, living history presentations, realia, music, and primary documents. (MJP)

Shows how the library/media resource center can become the centerpiece for active social studies learning in the middle grades. Briefly outlines a program beginning with an introduction to the library, followed by some rudimentary bibliographic instruction, culminating in group and individual projects. (MJP)

Consisting of material designed for practical application in the English classroom and representing all educational levels, this collection of articles contains a selection of the best presentations given at the fall 1986 meeting of the Southeastern Ohio Council of Teachers of English. Following an introduction by guest editor James L. Creighton,…