Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences helps teachers nurture students' unique intelligences. This article explains how one teacher reinvented her curriculum and teaching methods to meet all students' needs, highlighting a unit that introduced the concept of diverse strengths and open-ended exploration of the seven intelligences through…

Four major teaching strategies for linking humor and learning are identified: (1) to perform as models of humor; (2) to select learning materials that foster the expression of humor; (3) to elicit expressions of humor; and (4) to be responsive and appreciative. (LB)

Provides nine fully integrated library media activities to be used in connection with specific curriculum units in art, social studies, health, mathematics, and science. Library media skills objectives, curriculum (subject area) objectives, grade level, resources, instructional roles, activities and procedures for completion, evaluation, and…

Outlines 76 activities that teachers and parents can use with prekindergarten through fourth-grade students to help improve their (1) auditory and visual discrimination; (2) comprehension; (3) creative writing; (4) inquisitiveness; (5) map reading ability; (6) numeration; (7) oral expression; (8) reading; (9) reasoning; and (10) spelling and…

Six strategies for assessing young students' writing and tracking their progress include conducting a survey regarding students' thoughts on writing, focusing anecdotal notes on students' writing, meeting for quick conferences, fixing students' work to celebrate growth, sharing rubrics with students, and keeping notebooks and portfolios. (SM)

At the end of the year, elementary students fear loss of daily routines, impending empty days, problems at home, and uncertainty about September. Teachers can help by promoting classroom discussion, acknowledging everyone's mixed feelings, mentioning that students will see teachers in the fall, gathering information about summer activities,…

This "Afterschool Action Kit" contains tips on what the community can do to support afterschool programs. The kit is a useful tool for parents, community members or practitioners, and gives advice on finding or starting a quality program, identifying program needs and what resources to tap for help. The kit notes that Americans agree that…

A number of recent reports have called for increased teaching of "problem solving" and "critical thinking," particularly at the elementary level. This paper provides descriptive and evaluative data on a 9-month inservice program in mathematics for 89 elementary school teachers and 6 elementary school principals from 22 different schools. The…

Classroom discipline methods are changing with the times. Assertive Discipline is a 20-year-old program designed to help teachers successfully manage students' behavior. In the 1990s, it involves building a rapport with students and creating a discipline plan at the same time. The paper details the basic principles of the Assertive Discipline…

The Positive Classroom Management program trains teachers to mean business without being dragged into fruitless power struggles and student backtalk. The program helps teachers learn to take control of the situation by remaining calm, thinking before speaking, and using effective body language. (SM)

Presents suggestions to assist elementary teachers in engaging their students in investigating real environments to develop true self-esteem and learn to cope with occasional frustration or negative feedback. One sidebar discusses how much self-esteem is enough. Another sidebar suggests questions to ask before praising a child. (SM)

A fifth-grade school teacher discusses the usefulness of brainstorming as a prewriting activity and illustrates how she used this activity with her students. (MP)

Many schools are beginning to use Response to Intervention (RTI) in the classroom, and educators have found that it has made a difference for many students. The purpose of RTI is to identify those children who are struggling in school and to ensure that each of those children receive just the right instruction or intervention to be successful.…

This booklet reviews research on the middle school environment, the characteristics of the middle school student, and the factors involved in teaching effectively at the middle school level, and then proposes a method that middle school teachers can use for analyzing their own classroom behavior and their instructional options. The booklet's first…

Counselors must consider social change as they design programs to maximize student potential, personal growth, self-determination, and self-responsibility. There is also a need for counselors to develop, implement, and evaluate counseling programs for culturally diverse students. The book is intended as a textbook for courses in elementary school…