Cognitive coaching, a process allowing teachers to explore the thinking behind their practice, can reveal incompletely developed areas of individuals' cognitive mapping. Cognitive coaching uses a three-phase cycle (preconference, observation, and postconference) to help teachers improve instructional effectiveness by becoming more reflective about…

This study investigated the extent to which instructional objectives in eighth grade English classes provide criteria for a program in English for the early adolescent student. The study was conducted in eight representative eighth grade classes in public schools in Los Angeles County where eighth grade English teachers had signed Stull Act…

This eighth grade lesson plan asks students to work in groups of four. They must: (1) decide whether to join the Union Army or the Confederate Army; (2) decide under which General they will serve and in which battles they will fight; and (3) once this decision has been made, assign the following roles for team or group members: photographer,…

Instructional materials for helping eighth-grade students to expand their driving-related vocabulary and to become familiar with the driving laws and knowledge needed to pass the California driver's examination are presented in this unit from the Greenfield Express Management System (GEMS) program, a California Demonstration Program in Reading. A…

This handbook, intended for English language arts teachers, principals, curriculum and testing specialists, superintendents, and all educators interested in preparing students for the grade 8 California Assessment Program (CAP) writing assessment, provides the practitioner with information about the content of the test, the rationale underlying…

This survey reflects new developments in the mathematics curriculum as emphasized in the curriculum frameworks and state-adopted textbooks. The first section describes the procedure for the development of the survey and the rationale for the topics and types of questions included on the mathematics portion of the test. The second section describes…

In 1998 for the first time, the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) administered a writing assessment at the state level. This report describes the writing achievement of California eighth-grade students and compares their overall performance to students in the West region of the United States and the nation (using data from the…

This eighth grade lesson plan asks students to research and analyze primary source documents about early factory labor (mill workers during the period between 1840-1860) showing their hours of labor, ages of laborers, reasons for working, and working conditions. The lesson plan asks students to read a historical novel about the time,…

Provides lesson plans for using popular software (Oregon Trail and the PFS U. S. History Database) and selected instructional television programs for integration into instruction on the westward movement. (JDH)

In 1877, Standing Bear and his people, the Ponca (Indians), were forcibly removed from their land in northern Nebraska and sent to Indian Territory. Since no provision for food or shelter had been made for them, a number of the tribe, including Standing Bear's son, did not survive the harsh winter. In defiance of the relocation order, Standing…

This monograph provides activities for beginning algebra students to develop an understanding of the meaning and use of letter symbols, to show applications of algebra in their own lives, and to develop an understanding of mathematical processes through investigation. The activities included were developed by considering the students' mathematical…

The workplace research of Sylvia Scribner provides a model with which to study relationships between socially and institutionally organized practices and individual cognitive processes as well as to explore relationships between practices and processes in writing and the teaching of writing. Observations and conversations in one inner-city,…

This study was designed to compare (on locus of control and several achievement variables) middle school students who have been instructed for two semesters in a cooperative learning study skills class with those who have been instructed for two semesters in a competitive study skills class. Seventy-six eighth graders were given a semester of…

Students play the roles of delegates to the U.S. Constitutional convention in this grade 8 interdisciplinary history and language arts unit. After reviewing the activities of the men involved in the convention (Patrick Henry, George Mason, Luther Martin, Richard Henry Lee, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton), participants prepare…

This paper describes a study that investigated the interchangeability of four different assessment methods for measuring middle-school students' understanding of science concepts. The four methods compared were hands-on tasks with associated multiple-choice and written justification items, written analogues of the hands-on tasks, and two types of…