Students with intellectual disabilities are among the least likely students to spend a significant amount of time in general education classrooms. When they are included, they may spend their time on non-academic learning experiences. Universal Design for Learning is a lesson planning framework that can guide teachers in inclusive lesson planning.…

While the primary focus of the Common Core Learning Standards is in improving literacy and math, elements of Social Studies topics and skills are emphasized. Primary source analysis and understanding multiple perspectives are just two examples. This article is grounded in a qualitative analysis of integrated instruction in two elementary…

Three preK-6 U.S. university methods instructors-researchers (literacy, science, social studies) joined 17 Title I school teachers for collaborative lesson planning and teaching within the preK-5 school setting. Each team's goal was to create and teach interdisciplinary curriculum units using U.S. English language arts Common Core State Standards…

Research shows that pre-service teachers face traditional approaches to teaching literature in their student teaching placements that contrast with the progressive strategies covered in their graduate education programs. This article describes 4 teacher candidates' (TCs') contrasting assumptions about the teaching of literature in secondary…

Teacher candidates who worked with small groups of children during a semester long pre-student teaching practicum developed four point rubrics for each of the lesson plans they created on a weekly basis. The scope of this practicum is discussed along with an action research project pertaining to the rubric assessments they utilized. Findings…

This research explores the interdisciplinary collaboration between music therapy and language arts through the implementation of a psycho-educational unit of study. The effect on student motivation, engagement and academic motivation as reflected in approach, persistence, and level of interest were compared to baseline data collection. This study…

This study examined how preservice English Language Arts teachers learn to teach and use their knowledge of content, pedagogy, and technology during an English education course focused on technology. Seeking to address a gap in the research, this study utilized a case study methodology to look at preservice teachers' learning about the flipped…

This article reports on an action research project conducted in a public school in Bogotá, Colombia, with tenth grade students. We decided to develop it because of the students' needs as well as the em phasis of the PEI (Proyecto Educativo Institucional = School Institutional Project), which is based on the requisite of improving reading…

This practicum was developed to increase the use of instructional technology as a teaching strategy among elementary classroom teachers by implementing a series of inservice workshops and mentoring programs. Workshops designed with teacher input were developed and presented to the staff where the writer worked. Interviews were conducted…

This document is a collection of materials used in a pre-student teaching practicum in language arts, in which each pre-student teacher is assigned to work with two or three children in the fourth or fifth grade for six lessons combining reading and writing with the use of the computer. The document also includes forms and questionnaires used in…

In this language arts unit, high-ability students in grades 4 through 6 study the concept of change by reading autobiographies of writers from various cultures and by looking at change in selected lives. Selected stories from "Junior Great Books" were chosen for their probing of issues of identity. Other literature selections are drawn…

This unit of study for high-ability language arts students in grades 2-3 uses an inquiry-based approach to investigate literature in an interdisciplinary curriculum. The guiding theme of the unit is the recognition of change as a concept that affects people and their relationships as well as the world around them. The unit provides the vehicle for…

This language arts unit of study for high ability learners in grades 5-6 highlights persuasion in oral and written form, focusing especially on oral communication. Emphasis is placed on providing evidence for opinions. Students must cite passages from literature to defend their points of view in discussion as well as in written arguments.…

This unit of study for junior-high level high-ability language arts students explores five themes in 19th century American history through literature of the times: romanticism, transcendentalism, abolitionism, industrialism, and feminism. Each of the five "isms" has its own "literature box" that contains appropriate documents…

This language arts unit of study for high-ability junior-high students looks at the historical events and social issues of the 1940s through the literature of the decade, including novels, short stories, poetry, essays, letters, and newspapers. Numerous opportunities for reading, writing, listening, and speaking are incorporated into the unit.…