Describes a high school composition teacher's research comparing researchers' observations on students' composing attitudes and habits against those of her own students. Emphasizes the importance of classroom teachers' involvement in research. (ARH)

Three favorable reactions to an 11th-grade textbook chapter dealing with the history surrounding the writing of the U.S. Constitution that was written by experts as an example of an ideal textbook are presented. The evaluators thought that the chapter is in many ways exemplary and is a good initial attempt at writing an ideal text. (RM)

After a 16-year absence from the public school classroom, an education professor returned for a semester to teach American history to an eleventh-grade class. He recounts four lessons concerning the need for classroom order, student motivation, teacher efficiency, alternative student grouping arrangements, and student feedback about teaching…

Reading is invisible. Any report of another's reading (beyond the level of word recognition) must rely on some kind of reproduction of the actual experience; there is no way to tap into the experience itself. After completing a pilot study, a small number of adolescents--5 eighth graders and 5 eleventh graders read the first four chapters of…

Experts who had been suggesting criteria for "considerate text"--text that facilitates understanding, learning, and remembering--were challenged to write an ideal textbook. The chapter--"Americans Develop Plans for Government"--that they wrote in response to the challenge is presented here. The rationale and strategy they used…

Discusses using Utopian and dystopian literature in grade 11 and grade 12 English courses to help replace fright over the world's future with concern and commitment to needed action. (MM)

Explores the world of textbook preparation, focusing on the revision of "A History of the United States" by Daniel Boorstin and Brooks Kelley. Describes the process of revising each paragraph in a selected section of the book. Surveys the concerns of teachers regarding textbooks and the interests of the students who use them. (GEA)

In a reminiscence of his first year of teaching (in 1946), a teacher notes: (1) his complete unpreparedness for the task of teaching 11th grade English to 35 teenagers; (2) that his activities were a crude form of testing, and certainly not teaching; (3) that the goodwill and helpful suggestions of the English department chairman were decisive in…

Interviews with 11th-grade students about their most effective teachers indicated that their best teachers cared about their students as well as the subject matter. They integrated the cognitive and affective domains of teaching and learning and were interested in their students as people, acting as positive role models. (SM)

Given that very little is known about the kinds of writing experiences students have in content areas beyond writing for evaluative purpose, a study investigated how writing tasks interact with learning and also how the instructional context in which writing is embedded influences what students contribute to and take from writing. The effects of…

Concerned with redefining instructional theory related to the teaching and learning processes in literature, this paper concentrates on articulating principles underlying literature instruction that can be taught in methods courses and that can become the framework that teachers internalize and use to make daily decisions about their teaching and…

Discussion of performance assessment focuses on a study that was part of the International Evaluation of Achievement of computer education that tested students in grades 8 and 11 on word processing performance tasks. Results are examined to determine the useability, reliability, and validity of the process. (eight references) (LRW)

Roland Christensen describes case-method teaching as a "complicated interaction" that seeks "to blend cognitive and affective learning modes." A Vancouver (British Columbia) high school incorporates Christensen's principles by presenting social studies problems drawn from real events and corresponding to the eleventh grade…

Three schools in Minnesota have designed a shared-resource project to address the areas of career, gifted and talented, and chemical and drug education, to provide guidance and counseling services, to add and enhance course offerings, and to develop an individualized instruction program (IEP) for every tenth- and eleventh-grade student. (MM)

A high school English teacher assigned to a class of underachieving eleventh grade students encountered numerous difficulties with the students' behavior and their resistance to writing. Most were disruptive in class, hostile to reading and writing assignments, and had troubled home lives. To combat the problem, the teacher developed a…