Discusses the QUASAR Project, which has worked with middle school teachers in disadvantaged communities in order to help increase the relevance of mathematics by making connections between the mathematics taught in school and the lives of students. (16 references) (MKR)

A reading specialist who worked in a high-poverty urban elementary school that initially did not have an exemplary reading program provides seven lessons that can serve as a guidepost for other reading specialists. Several approaches that led to improved reading achievement of upper elementary school children are described. The seven lessons, when…

The New York City Public Schools provides this series of strategies for teachers to use during Kids Week (February 17-21, 1992). These strategies, which seek to promote harmony among students, are designed to: give students opportunities to become aware of and appreciate the city's diversity; instill sensitivity and understanding among all…

A curriculum guide for the primary levels of reading instruction in the Chicago public schools for Assyrian-speaking, limited-English-speaking students and written entirely in Assyrian, consists of guidelines for instruction of word attack, comprehension, study skills, and literature at each of the two levels specified. (MSE)

Schools committed to the success of all children must have an array of activities designed to enable learning by addressing barriers to learning. An enabling component for schools encompasses six areas of program activity. This unit, "Introduction to Classroom Focused Enabling as a Key Element in Addressing Barriers to Student Learning," is the…

Describes a year-long study in a combined fourth- and fifth-grade classroom that observed student participation in literacy learning activities. Notes that as students participated in reading, writing, and talking about quality literature, they learned to make sense of texts by using contextual clues and connecting the reading to their own…

This article discusses a primary level mathematics research program, Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), which investigates the impact of providing primary teachers with access to a structured, coherent body of knowledge about children's thinking in mathematics on teachers' knowledge and beliefs, their instruction, and their students' learning.…

This teachers' guide to activities celebrating Women's History Month focuses on women whose important contributions have been omitted from history textbooks. Women's History Month grew from a 1977 celebration of Women's History Week and is intended to bring women's history into the school curriculum. International Women's Day, celebrated on March…

This elementary school curriculum guide, the subject of a citywide teach-in in the New York City schools, provides facts, lessons, and learning activities designed to provide information about and to prevent the use of crack, a form of cocaine. The lessons are divided into two groups, one for grades K-3 and the other grades 4-6. The primary…

This secondary school curriculum guide, the subject of a citywide teach-in in the New York City schools, provides facts, lessons, and learning activities designed to provide information about and to prevent the use of crack, a form of cocaine. The guide covers the facts about crack, the reasons given for using crack, strategies for saying no to…

Describes the positive impact of using reading and writing workshops (as described in Nancie Atwell's "In the Middle") in an urban school. Argues that the workshop format can work for large classes composed of students at many different ability levels and from many different cultures and races. (RS)

Discusses links between poverty and student performance and achievement. Describes service learning and social reconstructionism (the relationship between school curriculum and the political, social, and economic development of society). Offers an example from an inner-city urban high school English class, describing social reconstructionism for…

Observes that kids and teachers are sabotaged by the way urban schools are funded, organized, and run. Advises city teachers to never assume students cannot learn something the teacher wants to teach, to teach literature that both teachers and students will love studying together, and to remember that students themselves are a valuable resource.…

The Volunteer-led Investigations of Neighborhood Ecology, or VINE Program, gives children opportunities to discover and investigate the plants, animals, and ecological relationships that exist right in their own neighborhoods through hands-on natural science investigations. It was established by Denver Audubon Society members as an urban education…

Describes a six-week curriculum unit to assist Hispanic immigrant students entering mainstream urban elementary classrooms. Emphasizes interviewing activities that "empower" the new student and heterogeneous group activities that break down prejudice among the mainstream students. (FMW)