Strategic grouping can transform reading instruction in the middle grades from a hit-or-miss learning experience to a targeted, responsive one. This book features a practical and field-tested model for small-group differentiated reading instruction in Grades 4-8. Jennifer Berne and Sophie C. Degener offer a clear, detailed discussion of how to…

Describes the creation of an opera based on Aesop's Fables which was written, composed and performed by middle school students. Student groups created scenes based on the fables and devised methods for realizing them musically. Activity organization and student evaluation methods are discussed. (AM)

In most cases, suspension represents playtime. In a Louisiana middle school, suspended students are given one of many books (related to their offenses) to read. If students fail a comprehension test, they must read the book during in-house detention. Suspension becomes both punitive and productive, since the books and accompanying exercises are…

Describes how a fifth-grade teacher, who had been sharing evaluation with her students for some time, made the change to writing report card comments together with her students, thus sharing evaluation in one more way. (SR)

A teacher of deaf fifth graders recounts the use of math logs to help students to write about their math experiences and thus generate, comprehend, and express mathematical ideas and knowledge. The process also helped the teacher pinpoint math problem areas and assess and monitor students' understanding of math concepts. (DB)

A culture of testing permeates schools. Many teachers cannot separate instruction/instructional improvement from outcome measures designed for accountability. The article discusses the effects of standardized testing and examines a study of teachers' beliefs and practices concerning reading comprehension instruction that indicates accountability…

A sixth-grade gifted class studied the history of philosophy, including selections from such philosophers as Plato, Confucius, Buddha, Marcus Aurelius, and Moses Maimonides. Readings drew on fundamental features of child experience, such as their sense of justice, concern for moral values, and questions about reality. The paper describes classroom…

Describes a storytelling project in the midst of a language arts unit on folk tales in a sixth-grade class, how the classroom teacher and the media specialist worked together, how the students' storytelling was assessed, and students' enthusiastic response. (SR)

The manual introduces the framework of STARS (Striving Together and Reaching Success), a program for serving behaviorally disordered students in grades 1-8. The underlying philosophy is to provide a consistently structured instructional program to promote successful reintegration into a less restrictive educational setting. An overview section…

FITNESSGRAM, a computerized program for scoring and reporting students' physical fitness status based on specific tests, has been a resounding success in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, public schools. The program provides feedback to students and permits evaluation of physical fitness efforts on a school-by-school basis. (PP)

Describes how Michigan's English Language Arts Assessment (ELA) takes parts of the old fifth-grade writing assessment and fourth-grade reading tests, adds new elements, and wraps everything around a theme. Presents a seven-step activity to help prepare fourth graders for the ELA. Concludes that the overall impact on scores is not known. (SG)

Although many parents and educators hesitate to involve children in a regular course of drug therapy, Ritalin often proves beneficial to Attention Deficit Disorder sufferers. Diana, an intelligent, easily distracted middle schooler, was helped by a team approach using evaluation, remediation, behavioral therapy, medication, and a supportive…

This document is a conference presentation on the use of portfolios as an evaluation tool for middle school music students. All of the pages are suitable for use with an overhead projector. Areas covered include reasons for teaching the arts as both an intellectual discipline and vocational education; Illinois state goals for musical learning for…

Looks at the educational philosophy and goals of integrated thematic instruction (ITI) as used in the daily activity of a fifth-grade classroom. Shows how ITI employs research on how the human brain learns to provide students with a learning environment and an integrated curriculum that provides each student with multiple conduits of formative…

Discusses how a fourth-grade language arts teacher (who had moved from basal instruction to a program based on students' selection of literature) used "circle discussions" to satisfy, in part, the accountability concerns of parents and administrators. Notes that these discussions of literature among the students became an integral part…