Offering a variety of thoughts and courses for consideration, the theme for this particular issue is electives. Chapters include "How Can They Hear You When They're Snoring? An English Elective for Non-Motivated Students,""'The Literature of Alienation': An English Elective,""Elective Courses in English; A Giant Step toward Individualization and…

Offers an alternative to current beliefs about holistic learning and teaching. Describes task hierarchies that are closely based on children's information processing skills and that proceed in a systematic fashion from lower to higher levels. (AEW)

This study compared scores of blind, deaf, and non-handicapped high school students on the Rational Behavior Inventory. An analysis of variance yielded no significant differences among scores of the three groups. Regular class students achieved significantly higher scores, indicating greater rationality, than subjects from classes for slow…

Typing special material of interest to high school students but on a third or fourth grade reading level is a way of instructing reading comprehension to slow learners at Bayside (New York) High School. A STAR (Students' Typing and Reading) lesson is described. (MF)

For disadvantaged youth who leave school without vocational qualifications, as well as unskilled 20-30 year olds, a combination of work and initial vocational training is an especially suitable strategy. Constant supportive counseling and adapted examinations would also help. (SK)

A two-dimensional framework consisting of knowledge forms and intellectual operations was used to analyze curriculum materials, teacher-mediated instruction, and student use of information on essay and traditional criterion-referenced measures in two sixth-grade general science classes. Results suggest low-achieving students may need more exposure…

Presents a method of teaching science that employs two kinds of graphic organizers of information, the matrix and the branch-out strategies. Argues that these methods are particularly relevant for slower learners. Provides graphic examples. (HB)

Provides a rationale for differentiating spelling instruction in the classroom according to ability level. Summarizes recent developmental research that helps to explain how K-grade 2 students progress in learning to spell. Discusses diagnosis of children's spelling and presents a classroom instructional plan. Appended are graded spelling lists…

Reviews the research literature on strategies and techniques employed by successful language learners and discusses the results of a questionnaire administered to 85 students, which dealt with specific learning tasks and their individual strategies. Responses of 18 A students are compared with responses of 18 C/D students. (Author/AMH)

Results of the pilot study indicated that the matching cloze procedure--which does not require language production skills--may provide the classroom teacher of educable mentally retarded children with an evaluation procedure which is both psychometrically and ontologically valid, as well as being easy to construct. (Author/DLS)

Presents tips to teachers of slow-learning junior high and high school students in social studies courses. To help teachers make the material in the textbooks more interesting to students, the article suggests developing an instructional strategy and creating reading guides geared to their students' reading level. (DB)

School radio is useful if it has motivating power and can be understood and acted out by the students. The series "English for Juniors" is recommended as an example. Methodological points for the teaching of weaker students are presented. (IFS/WGA)

It was found, among other things, that rural Ss performed significantly below their mental ages more frequently than urban Ss; and that between the chronological ages of 10 to 14 years, while urban Ss appeared to perform as expected from mental ages, a significant number of rural Ss performed below expectations. (Author/DLS)

The authors contend that current trends in education are both disenfranchising and ignoring children (particularly the slow learners and borderline retarded) who could benefit from individualized instruction. Problems with the reliance on clinical judgement to identify handicapped children are discussed. (SBH)

The article summarizes assumptions and components of the Direct Instruction Follow Through Model (K-Three) including curriculum, increased teaching time, efficient teaching techniques, thorough implementation, and increased teacher expectations. Research findings are summarized including achievement and affective data, performance of students with…