The classroom practices discussed in "Effective Second Language Writing" reflect various trends and methodologies; however, the underlying theme in this volume of the Classroom Practice Series is the need for clear and meaningful communication between ESL writers and their readers. While approaches differ, two core beliefs are constant: ESL…

This book describes the program Active Citizenship Today (ACT), a hands-on learning project to make learning come alive for students and integrate student learning with the larger community. This handbook accompanies the student book, "The ACT Field Guide." The book is divided into two sections with six chapters. Section 1, "The Whats and Whys of…

The purpose of this project is to teach students the relationship between volunteerism, good citizenship, and the continuing maintenance and enhancement of society through the examples of the volunteerism of great women community leaders in the St. Louis (Missouri) area. Each unit in the book contains a story or stories, vocabulary, and…

This resource file contains information for Utah elementary school teachers to help their level 3 students meet the state's instructional objectives in the social studies. This particular student level emphasizes comparative communities and environments. The following disciplines are covered in the resource file: psychology, anthropology,…

This manual presents a sequence of assignments to encourage students to commit themselves to a writing project in which the content is derived from their own purposeful investigations of subjects within their local community. Introductory information explains how the instructional sequence works, indicating that: (1) students are asked to…

Intended to supplement the fifth grade textbook "Young Consumers" (part of the "Law in Action Series" by West Publishing Company, 1980), this guide contains 22 lessons each of which includes a classroom visit from a community resource person. The guide is a product of the Urban Consumer Education Project, a cooperative program between the St.…

Describes how less able students were motivated when assigned the task of inviting and being responsible for guest speakers from the community. (CRH)

This paper discusses service learning, arguing that the pedagogy of service learning offers a framework in which students can remember and apply more of what they learn than in traditional content based and faculty centered curriculum. Service learning strategies recognize that we retain 60% of what we do, 80% of what we do with guided reflection,…

This social studies curriculum unit for grades 10-12 provides activities designed to focus students on actual case studies of sustainable community initiatives. The first activity guides the students in a discussion about the terms "civil society" and "sustainable community" to understand how the two terms are related. In the second activity two…

Describes a service learning program with a focus on literacy called the Student Literacy Corps. Describes how urban elementary school children, college students, professors, administrators, and community members worked, shared, and learned together. Includes a sample lesson. (SR)

Describes a history program at the Suzanne Middle School, Walnut, California, in which students create, design, and promote local history activities. Emphasizes the accomplishments of the program, including a rise in the school's state test scores from the twenty-second percentile to the ninety-fourth percentile. (RW)

Presents a lesson that focuses on specific places in Chicago's Black Metropolis and examines the process by which buildings become historic structures. Explains that the lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file, "Black Metropolis Thematic Nomination," and could be used in a unit on 20th-century urban…

In 1860, 226,000 (47 percent) of the US' 478,000 free blacks lived in free states, and thus totaled over five percent of the black population in America. Though oppressed by popular prejudice and a range of legal and institutional constraints--in 1847, blacks at a convention labeled themselves "slaves of the community"--African Americans outside…

This work emphasizes the culture and characteristics of native people as they relate to legal education and information programs and serves as a guide for designing and implementing these programs. The literature review stresses five program requisites: (1) community commitment to the program, (2) incorporation of traditional laws and customs in…

Maintains that content-rich, meaningful curricula can provide learning opportunities to all students. Describes an informal, nonprofit community-based learning program that extends the school's curriculum beyond the classroom by providing access to multimedia resources. Presents an 11-step collaborative model for the project. (CFR)