Describes a community project (based on Kenneth Koch's book "I Never Told Anybody") in which students in a ninth-grade English class paired up with nursing home residents, making regular visits to encourage them to write poetry. Discusses finding a place, getting ready, working together, and what students learned about writing poetry and about…

The Rhythm of American Literature, a teacher-made 3-week unit designed for grades 9 and 10, has 3 components: a kinesthetic presentation style, concept development/scaffolding, and foundations for future learning. Students receive a preliminary overview, a notebook with a memorable organization scheme, and a 3-minute lyrical/kinesthetic organizer.…

Student teaching in New York City on September 11, 2001, forced the author to scrap her carefully planned lessons. Instead, she designed a unit to address the urgent needs of the ninth graders in her care. In this article, the author describes the poetry unit she designed to help students deal with the grieving process and allow them a way to talk…

The status of the current standard African languages has been seriously undermined by factors such as the association of the standardisation process with colonial and neo-colonial structures, the lack of function of the standards and the rise of high status non-standard urban varieties. This paper describes the process leading to and some…

We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the role of knowledge-building portfolios in characterizing and scaffolding collaborative inquiry. Our goal is to examine collaborative knowledge building in the context of exploring the alignment of learning, collaboration, and assessment in computer forums. The key design…

The purpose of this document is to provide teachers, administrators, students, and parents with samples of students' performances that exemplify standards in relation to the 1993 Grade 9 Science Performance-Based Assessment Tasks for the province of Alberta, Canada. A sample of 698 randomly selected students from 31 schools did the…

Teens, Crime, and the Community (TCC) curriculum creates an awareness among teens of the crime problems facing our communities and how they affect our nation. It encourages youth to take responsibility for reducing crime and victimization, making schools and neighborhoods safer. Boys and Girls Clubs offer a variety of programs for youth, and TCC…

This packet of materials describes and documents an integrated curriculum of Spanish second language and art instruction offered to freshmen at St. Charles High School (Illinois). The model is the first step in development of other interdisciplinary programs in the school district. The course is designed to improve students' international…

Lessons from a ninth-grade course which integrates social studies skills development and economic concept teaching are outlined. An overview describes the content of the year-long course and the skill objectives. Course content is divided into three sections: a basic introduction to economics, student interest topics such as the economics of crime…

An overview of a program which coordinates ninth-grade academic English and world history courses is presented along with teaching material for the courses. The classes are taught separately, but the subject matter and major assignments are coordinated by historical period. Teaching materials include: goals and objectives of the program, 13 ideas…

The Benjamin Franklin High School Unit Program in New York City was designed to overcome the serious academic deficiencies identified as criterion for entry into the program: retardation in reading and mathematics and to improve attitudes toward school, increase classroom attendance and participation, reduce the dropout rate, improve self-image…

Higher Horizons 100 is a program for underachieving pupils in the seventh to 10th grades. These pupils are given supplementary and individualized instruction and support services during the day and evening. Students are divided into eight clusters. Each cluster has a staff of six; one counselor, and teachers in reading, English, math, science, and…

A description of the project, its development process, evaluation results, and exportability are included in this overview of WORK-ED (World of Related Knowledge and Educational Development), a program to provide ninth grade students both basic skills in communication and exposure to twelve career clusters. Introductory sections describe the…

The Remedial Mathematics Skills Program funded under Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I serviced students who were two or more years below grade level in mathematics in 50 New York City high schools for the 1974-1975 school year. The program objective was to improve students' computational skills through the use of calculators,…

This report describes a program for improving student responsibility through increasing the effectiveness of students listening to and following directions. Targeted groups consisted of an eighth-grade applied computer technology class, a ninth-grade English class, a ninth-grade biology class, and an eleventh-grade applied physical science class.…